Setting up a Retro Corner Was the Best Decision of My Gaming Life

Although all of the newest technology continues to blow my mind, I can’t escape my roots. Growing up in the ’90s, there are times I yearn for the simplicity of what once was in the world of gaming. Before HDTVs were commonplace and before online gaming was as massive as it now is. I yearn for what is considered “retro,” and now that I own a house? I could make it happen.

my retro adventure All Started With a Gift From a Friend

I was minding my own business when suddenly, a message rang up across my screen. A friend of mine was cleaning out their childhood room and stumbled upon stacks of their childhood games. Anything from Resident Evil 4 to Tony Hawk Underground 2 was here. Alongside a stack of strategy guides and old Game Informer mags. He wasn’t sure what to do with all of these classic titles and asked if I wanted them. I offered to pay him, but he wouldn’t accept a dime.

Alongside all of these classic, retro games, he also dropped off his original Xbox and PlayStation One consoles. They needed some TLC and a little bit of cleaning. But, they still worked exactly as they did back in the day. I set off to work, making sure I could restore them to their former beauty.

But, I needed an extra piece of equipment to make everything shine exactly as it should: a CRT TV. Sure, I could plug these consoles into an HDTV, but the quality would be desecrated in the meantime. So, I took to Facebook Marketplace to find the deal of the century. But, it turns out that when people are giving away a free CRT in 2024, there’s likely something wrong with it.

If It’s Too Good to Be True, It Likely Is

I drove an hour and a half each way to pick up an Insignia TV for my newly imagined Retro Corner of my home office. After getting it home, hooking it up, and playing a little bit of a recently acquired copy of Mad Dash Racing — which I totally didn’t buy because of my devotion to a particular green gecko — I noticed a few things.

After playing for a while, the picture would suddenly start warping. I thought it may have been too cold in my office or something, so I turned up the heat. I kept playing, and the image quality just kept getting worse and worse. Finally, after I couldn’t take it anymore, I lugged this 80-pound behemoth into the basement and set off to find another CRT. I snagged a SHARP, which I’m sure is identical to the same model I had growing up, for $40, and got to work.

After ordering a switcher for the RCA cords, alongside a few accessories that would make playing extremely expensive games a little more reasonable, I was all set. I was ready to bask in the glory of my childhood once again.

And it was just as glorious as I remembered. The first thing I had to do was put my hand up to the screen to bask in that fuzzy feeling of the CRT screen turning on. From that point on, I knew that everything was going to be alright.

Revisiting some of my favorite retro games is what inspired me to start Waypoint Wishlist. Even if I get the chance to jump into a remastered version of one of my favorite games, I’ll never forget where my love of gaming first started.