As a fan of retro, I had to check out My Arcade’s Retro Champ at E3 2019. In a market saturated with cool products, this one stuck out to me for a couple of reasons. For starters, this can play more than one type of cartridge. The Retro Champ is capable of playing all NES and Famicom games. The NES goes in the top slot, while the Famicom goes in via the bottom slot. That’s a great way to distinguish itself, but it has more tricks up its sleeve. The Retro Champ can play either on the screen, which is a respectable 7″, or it can use HDMI input to play on your TV screen. It can also play hands on like a Switch, or with controllers that plug in while it’s sitting. And if you needed more incentive, it has a 3-5 hour charge and comes with a cartridge cleaning kit.
I was quite impressed with the Retro Champ. It seemed intuitive and easy to get the hang of. In my time with it, I managed to play some Strider, which was a lot of fun. I didn’t notice any input delay or lag whatsoever. For those who are intrigued, there’s good news and bad news. The good news is, the Retro Champ is pretty affordable at $79.99. The bad news is, it doesn’t come packaged with any games. Which makes sense, considering the lapse in time between when they originally released and now. However, if you’re like me and have amassed a large collection of old games you can’t part with, then you’ll already be able to play a huge library of titles once you purchase the console. Also, if you’re a thrifty type, you can likely pick up a few great NES and Famicom games online or at used game stores for a decent price. Sure, it would have been nice if the Retro Champ somehow came with a few games, but I understand why it doesn’t.
But that wasn’t all I played at My Arcade. I also got to play a teeny tiny Space Invaders Micro Player. The design was so faithful to the original it was even back-lit by blue on the inside screen. It was truly great to play, and my only complaint about it was that you almost had to tilt the machine up a bit to see properly. Other than that, it was a great tribute to my nostalgia, and it is affordable at $39.99. I had a lot of fun checking out what My Arcade had to offer at E3 2019, and would recommend any fan of retro stay tuned to what else they may have up their sleeves.
