How to Play Arcade Games of the 80s At Home for Free

The 80s was the Golden Era of games. If you were born in the 70s-90s, you probably had an amazing childhood.

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You will be familiar with the popular Arcade games of the 80s to 90s – Pac-man, Super Street Fight II, King Of Fighters, Dungeons and Dragons, Captain America and The Avengers, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – Turtles in Time and so on.

If you are feeling nostalgic, why not try playing these arcade games of the 80s for free at home? Here are a few ways you can do that to bring back those fond memories.

Play Arcade Games Online

There are many sites where you can play these classic arcade games for free online. The problem however is that playing online using your keyboard lacks flavor and you feel that something is not right as that was not how we played arcade games of the 80s.

Besides this, the games are usually re-rendered and the texture and graphics are not quite the same as what we played back then

Buy an Arcade Console and Have Unlimited Plays

I personally own an Arcade emulator console. These are usually pre-loaded with a respectable arcade games list or have the option for downloading online and expanding the games library.

All you have to do is to connect it to your TV or Projector using a HDMI cable and you are good to go. Invite your family and friends over and organize a Street Fighter II Tournament.

This is one of the activities I enjoy so much that I have included it in my list of 10 Fun Things to Do At Home.

These arcade emulator consoles or not too expensive and considering that you get unlimited credits, you will soon get your return on investment.

Warning Word of Caution

The thing that I have to caution you about is not to get too carried away with the unlimited credits. Part of the fun back then when we played games in the arcade was the pressure of having limited quarters.

Spend 2 quarters on Street Fighter and that was 2 quarters lesser to spend on X-men. The game was truly over when we ran out of quarters.

So, in order to maintain this pressure, I always gave myself only 5 credits for each game. If the game was over after 5 credits, I would have to start over instead of continuing with unlimited credits.

I find that by disciplining myself in this way, I challenge myself to really improve in these games. There is a sense of satisfaction in being able to progress further into the game with the same 5 credits.

In this sense, I think that I am also doing justice to these classic arcade games of the 80s. After all, who wouldn’t be able to complete a game with unlimited credits? In fact, aren’t we looking for a challenge when we play arcade games? So, make it challenging

My Home Theater Set Up for Playing Arcade Games

Here are some pictures of my set-up in my home theater with my Arcade Emulator Console. It comes with 2 separate joy sticks and can support up to 4 players.

You can buy an Arcade Emulator Console easily from Amazon. I have looked through and studied the different products on Amazon. This one has 1200 plus games already pre-loaded which is a big plus. If you are like me and just want to plug and play, this is the one to get. Games are smooth and have no lag and can be easily downloaded online.

There are other options out there that can support 4 players at the same time. This will be a fun thing to do at home for play games like Captain America and The Avengers, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Sunset Riders

Get Your Nostalgic Fix

Playing classic arcade games of the 80s at home alone or as a group can be a very entertaining way to reminiscence about the past. It can also be an opportunity to share your memories with your kids and have great fun at the same time.

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