Hyperkin RetroN 1 HD -White

I was honestly skeptical about how much better an 8-bit console could look on a modern TV, but the HD upscaling on this thing is clean and crisp without ruining the pixel art. It took me straight back to Saturday mornings, and the build feels sturdy enough to survive my clumsy nostalgia.

The HDMI output makes it dead simple to hook up to my modern TV, and the picture is surprisingly crisp for 8-bit games. My old carts fired right up without any finicky wiggling, which is more than I can say for my original hardware.

Plugged it in and blew the dust off my original Mario cartridges — the HDMI picture is crisp enough that I finally see details I missed as a kid. Setup took under two minutes, and the controller feels surprisingly close to the original. Retro night just became a weekly thing at my place.