Upgrading your phone or tablet after a couple of years has become the standard cycle we’ve all found ourselves in. When our contracts run out, it’s time for something new! Having so many old, seemingly obsolete pieces of hardware lying around gathering dust seems like a waste of potential. There should be something we can do to transform these old devices into something new and fun, filled with purpose. The best thing you can do is turn that old Android device into a games console.
Finding Your Device
Yes, these old devices are much less powerful compared to the brand-new model you now own, but compared to consoles you can buy online or in the shops, gaming on Android can still be a high-tech way to play. Consoles that include the likes of Raspberry Pi 4 have much less computing power than tablets you would find close to a decade old.
Old phones used in your day-to-day over the last three or four years can still include processors like the 8-core ARM Cortex, running at over 1.5 GHz. Finding an Android with a 4-core Intel Atom processor running at 1.8 GHz is easy and has more than enough power to transform into the perfect gaming machine, especially when you add in a full HD screen, high-quality audio and speakers, capacitive multi-touch, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, plus supreme battery life.
Finding the Right Emulator
The kind of emulator you get depends entirely on the internal specification of your old device (that’s even if you want to install an emulator, there are many Android-exclusive games perfect for a dedicated console). A mid-range device around ten years old will have all the necessary performance power to emulate every 8- and 16-bit console, like the Nintendo Entertainment System, Super Nintendo, Nintendo 64, Sega Mega Drive, and PlayStation Portable.
What Do You Need To Start?
The great thing about transforming your old Android device is you can download all the software you need entirely free from the Google Play Store and varying sites found on the web. It’s as simple as that to get your console up and running.
For a more console-like feel, introduce a gaming controller to your console, which could either click around your device or connect via Bluetooth, removing the use of the touchscreen capabilities that can sometimes intrude on our game display. When you build your console, you’ll have access to 1000s of amazing titles played from the 80s, 90s, and beyond.
Choosing the Right Software
To get a basic console up and running, you only need to download two pieces of software, and the great thing is both can be downloaded and installed directly from the Google Play Store.
The emulator you should begin with is the RetroArch. There are two variations of this software on the store, with the preferred version being the RetroArch Plus, but this requires Android 8 or above to run. The RetroArch Plus has a much more comprehensive selection of actual emulators but is the same as the standard edition. The RetroArch standard version is suitable for devices running Android 5, and although it has fewer emulator options, the majority of the things you would like to play are available.
If you find neither of these emulators works, the software you want to download is a dedicated APK file from the Libretro website. This file removes the Google Play Store restrictions, unlocking complete access to the entire range of emulation cores.
The second piece of software you need to download is an emulator front end — not an essential download but something that heightens the gaming experience overall.
Here are the steps to take:
- Download and install both pieces of software.
- Install the emulation cores you want inside RetroArch.
- Download your game files onto your device.
- Ask Dig to scan your game files and attach them to the emulators.
- For each system to tell Dig which emulator core you want to use,
- Play to your heart’s content!
Downloading Game Cartridge ROMs
To start playing your favorite games on your newly developed retro gaming console, you need some gaming ROMs. Roms are actual pieces of gaming software that have been copied from a game cartridge, allowing them to run in our emulators.
Finding the correct ROMs usually consists of a simple Google search, but it is essential to be careful when browsing ROM sites. These sites should allow you to download a zip or 7z file with the game software featured directly from their website. If you find a website that asks you to install download managers or anything other than the game file itself, it’s your cue to run away and close everything down.
Your Android Games Console
There you have it; your Android games console is complete, filled with all the best titles from through the ages. If you want to add anything extra to boost your experience even further, more modern devices can connect with VR headsets and stream onto your television.
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