I was thinking of building a cheap PC with used second hand parts with the purpose of playing old DOS games or emulated Nintendo and Super Nintendo games. I know about sites like Good Old Games (GOG) where you can buy classic games prepared to work on Windows 7 or earlier but I want that retro feel that comes with running them on a native system. Anyone else tried building a retro PC for playing old games?
I don't think you'll fully get that retro feeling with PC emulation, there are still plenty of bugs in the software used to run games that were made even decades ago. Things like DOSbox and ScummVM are useful to a certain extent, but I think what you might want to do is keep an eye on ebay for people selling cheap retro consoles - although this may work out more expensive with shipping, buying the games and getting a tv, it will be more stable. You might even be able to resell the consoles again later when you get bored of them for a profit.
I agree, I think buying the consoles is a much better idea. It will probably cheaper and you can always pair it with a vintage CRT tv to give you that retro feel.
I'm not so sure about that retro PC idea. I mean sure you can play old games on it but it doesn't give you that feeling of nostalgia, playing an old school Mario game on a keyboard isn't as much fun as playing it on a controller, not unless you plug one in. My bet is go out and scour the internet or electronic shops for the good old consoles, its probably much cheaper and I don't think building a PC just to play old games is a good idea, why not just use your current computer? The best way to feel retro is to take a day off, find an NES, go to your room and plug the console on your old CRT television.
