Category: Retro

Having cut my teeth on computers back in the 1980s, I have a very soft spot in my heart for the aesthetics of the era. I also happen to be a fan of clicky mechanical keyboards.

I love LEGO, and I love Nintendo games, so when I first heard the two companies were partnering up, I thought it could result in some really great collaborations. While the first LEGO Super Mario kits were definitely targeted to little kids, and not overgrown kids like me, their newly-announced set is definitely up my alley.

Like many of you, I love to play retro arcade games. I even have a custom built MAME cabinet in my basement for when I’m craving a little game of Pac-Man, Dig Dug, or Donkey Kong.

Running around a maze with ghosts on your ass and gobbling dots all day works up quite the thirst. It’s important for a Pac-Man to keep hydrated. While Pac-Man Energy Drink is hard to come by these days, there are plenty of other thirst quenchers to choose from.

The Nintendo Switch and its docking station are pretty good looking the way they come from the factory. But that hasn’t stopped people from wanting to customize their game systems to their own liking. If you’re into the look of classic Nintendo game systems, then you might want to build a Switch dock like this one, which a modder built into the case of an old Super Nintendo console.

Looking for a unique piece of furniture for your living room or game room? Well, skip the IKEA and go for something a bit more geeky, I say. This cool coffee table has LEDs built into its top which can display a colorful light show, or even play simple video games.

When it comes to retro gaming systems, SEGA made some of my favorites, including the Master System, Genesis, and Dreamcast. Long before modern mobile devices, the Japanese video game company created one of the first full-color handhelds, the SEGA Game Gear.

Among my many geeky pursuits, two of my favorites are classic arcade games and LEGO. So when I stumbled onto this collection of custom LEGO arcade machines, I had to bust open the piggy bank (aka my PayPal account) – since that’s where I save my spare change to buy stuff that I don’t NEED but that I really WANT.

If you love the retro look of pixel art, check out this little desktop accessory that not only can display custom pixel art, but can play music and work as an alarm clock, among other things.

Among classic arcade and console games, light gun shooters are some of my favorites. The problem is that the technology used for older video game systems required the scanning beam of a cathode ray picture tube to detect where you were pointing the light gun.

You know what makes a good drink coaster? A good old 3.5″ floppy disk. But real floppies have moving parts and irregularities that can make them less than ideal surfaces for balancing some glasses. Never mind that they just don’t look as cool as these colorful pixel art floppy coasters.

Every geeky room needs some pixel art on the wall. But rather than just have some static image, why not go with something a bit more interactive? The Pixel Art Shop has got you covered. This Super Mario Bros.

Since I’ve mostly been using a laptop, an iPad and an iMac, it’s been a while since I had a computer with an upgradeable graphics card. But back in the day, I was constantly gunning for the latest and greatest graphics processors to play games like Quake II and Duke Nukem 3D at the fastest frame rate possible.

Full disclosure: as much as people loved Tetris, I sucked at the game. Every time the blocks started falling from the sky, I’d survive for about two minutes before I got overwhelmed, and they hit the top and my game was over.

Toymaker Super7’s ReAction line of action figures is designed to capture the feel and style of 1970s and 1980s action figures from brands like Kenner and Mego. So in other words, don’t expect them to be screen-accurate or well-articulated.

You know what the ghosts from Pac-Man could use? Plants growing out of their heads, that’s what. Yeah, that makes them much more adorable, and less intimidating for sure. That’s why I love these Pac-Man ghost planters from Dips and Prints.