Retro Gaming could Surge in 2026

There really is no escaping the price hikes for everything gaming in 2026 thanks to all the components being gobbled up by AI, but Retro Gamers might just have a leg up!!

If there is one thing about Retro Gaming is its always able to be played on older retro equipment if you have it laying around. That also means that if you are into emulation you are able to do that on older, less capable hardware as well.

If there has been a trend the last few years when it comes to new AA and AAA games, its developers have been building games for seemingly future hardware. It’s like a never ending equipment upgrade game when you build a top of the line computer and a new game you want to play requires components to play it smoothly that have yet to be invented or introduced to the consumer sector.

There is a fair amount of AI coming to gaming to help with things like upscaling which will be helpful seeing as AI is the reason gaming or even consumer computing has become unattainable for many. This also brings into the argument “Fake Frames” which many gamers don’t like.

RetroGaming

Luckily for anyone looking to just play good games there is a never ending catalog of Retro Games spread across dozens of consoles from over the past 45yrs years or so. Some are more sought after than others but all ROMS for emulation are obtainable the same way. [obviously by legally obtaining your own games]

If you have a favorite game from childhood but don’t want to play the exact same game there is an ever growing library of ROM Hacks available which will change those games up. You might also be able to play games you have always wanted to play that weren’t available in your country with new game translations that are also a continually growing space to the emulation space.

Equipment

I’m not saying Retro Gaming wont be effected by things like the RAM price increases we are seeing in early 2026. We have already seen a delay in shipping of the Ayn Odin 3 Ultras do to an increase in cost associated with building the flagship handheld and who knows where the Ayaneo Konkr Pocket Fit is or if we’ll ever see our IndieGoGo pre-orders before retailers do.

As I stated earlier it doesn’t take the same amount of power to run emulators as it does to play new releases. A lot of good games have had years in the emulation scene and some even have their own tweaks allowing even better performance [looking at you God of War on PPSSPP].

The gaming handheld market has had a resurgence the last few years so things were starting to seem a bit saturated. If we learned anything with the release of the Ayn Odin 3 Ultra and some other Snapdragon 8 Elite devices, the equipment to emulate is outpacing the emulators used to game on them. The opposite problem PC and current generation console gamers are having.

This might be a good time to not buy the top of the line retro gaming equipment but instead save some money and purchase devices that meet todays emulation capabilities. For example PS2 hasn’t seen any meaningful improvements [other than officially getting RetroAchievements] in a few year now on Android. If PS2 is the max you want to play, you are safe saving some money getting a less powerful device than if you want to emulated something current gen like the Nintendo Switch.

PC Gaming

Another space that I spend a lot of time in is the PC handheld space. Prices are on the higher side but they are also cut throat right now as major companies are competing for the space. We have seen what seem to be over priced devices followed up for reasonable or under priced handhelds this year. Watch for sales there have been some great deals.

That and there are often discounts on last years handhelds which perform within 15-20% of brand new devices. We are seeing incremental and not generational leaps in performance likely because PC Gaming Handhelds are following the PC manufacturers typical laptop release schedule. The Steam Deck seems to be the only handheld not following this schedule as they have stated they want to wait for a generational leap before they release a Steam Deck 2.

The curve ball to PC Gaming Handhelds and the reason there has been an increase in orders of higher end Snapdragon 8 Elite Android handhelds is the ability for those devices to play your PC libraries. PC emulation is pretty new to the Android space, but thanks to Valves ‘Fex’ layer [designed for Valves new Android VR Headset to play their library] which makes playing your Steam, GOG, Amazon, EPIC and other PC libraries possible on Android.

Playing your Steam library works surprisingly well through applications like GameHub and Game Native. Your cloud saves even transfer over to your Android device, but there are some difficulties with games running DRM software. There has been a problem running DRM games on Linux systems since the beginning of time.

Thoughts

If you love to play good games and don’t want to follow in the hundreds of % increases in prices of RAM, VRAM and Memory, then 2026 is your year to revisit your childhood libraries and get into Retro Consoles and Retro Emulation. Retro doesn’t need to be old, it just needs to be not be current generation [well unless its Switch for some]!

What are the games you are most looking forward to playing this year? Do you ever go back and play your Retro library?

GameOn

CellPhish

This article may contain affiliate links. If you use these links to purchase an item I may earn a commission which comes at no additional cost to you and supports future content.