The Raspberry Pi was originally developed as an educational tool. It's very affordable, and has quickly become a favorite among hackers. It also has enough power to serve as a compact emulation platform for anyone who wants to load a few ROMs onto an SD card.
Giant video game companies have realized that there is still market share for these types of launches, so the public has almost been anticipating the release of these tiny retro consoles.
These little devices often sell out very quickly after they're released. With so many people turning the Pi into retrogaming machines, shouldn't these mini consoles designed for the same purpose have become an instant hit with hardware hackers?
The first to hit the market was the NES Classic Edition, released in late 2016. It took the market by storm, selling 2.3 million units in its first six months. Shipments sold out almost immediately, with many units resold on eBay at multiples of the original price. The device demonstrated that there was a huge demand for low-priced re-releases of classic consoles.
The formula was so successful that Nintendo released the Super NES Classic Edition a year later. Other manufacturers quickly followed suit. Sega released the Genesis Mini and Konami released the TurboGrafx 16 Mini.
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It wasn't long before enterprising hackers were cracking the machines, offering tips on how to add more games to the NES Mini. Similar hacks are available for most, if not all, systems released to date. Some devices, like the C64 Mini, even officially encourage users to add more software to these re-released systems.
Efforts so far have focused almost exclusively on gaming. Hackers have ported the RetroArch emulator to these mini consoles. This allows ARM systems to emulate a wide variety of systems, from the original home consoles to modern consoles like the Gamecube and Wii, for systems that have the power to do so.
Booting Retroarch is accomplished using a tool called Hakchi on the NES and SNES mini. Due to the lack of USB, the Wii Classic Controllers are the only viable option for those looking for suitable analog sticks to use with the Nintendo Mini consoles.
