Shelf retroconsole arrived: PC Classic for those who cherish DOS-games

Over the past couple of years, several modernized versions of classic game consoles have appeared, which were sold in millions of millions of times, and are still popular today. One of the first companies that decided to shake the old days was Nintendo, which released a modified NES Classic with a couple dozen popular titles in stock.

The project was so successful that for some time the company had to even suspend its implementation - all resources were required for the production of the Nintendo Switch, and the production of NES Classic was suspended for about a year. This was followed by the SNES Classic, which was only slightly less sold by its predecessor. Already this year, Sony became aware of Sony’s intention to release a "rendered" version of the PlayStation One, which, like Nintendo's development, is a hardware emulator built into the classic case. Now there is a console for those who are nostalgic for the times of DOS-games.

Looking ahead, it is worth noting that the price of this “retro PC” is rather big and amounts to $ 99. The company Unit-E decided to release such an unusual device. As far as one can understand, she does not have the funds for a large-scale project, so she decided to collect money for the creation of the PC Classic through crowdfunding.
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If you think you can work in the console and remember how to run the game, then no, you will have to be disappointed. The fact is that the company decided to make its prefix universal and accessible not only to oldfags, but also to users who did not find the “that” era. As a result, the console can work only with games that are built into the memory of the console by default - only about 30 titles, no DOS operations can be performed (at least, on the unmodified console). All this happiness is legalized and sold legally.

Unit-E promises that it will be possible to buy more games - this is the difference between the new project and the console “brothers”. As for the built-in games, the developers have not yet come to the conclusion that it is they who will keep the prefixes in memory. Nevertheless, there is a promise that most of the popular titles of the past will be included in the list.

So, for example, Doom, Quake 2, Commander Keen 4 will be for sure - in any case, they are in the starting video. As for the hardware, there are two USB Type-A ports on the front side of the console, an SD card slot disguised as a floppy drive. There is also a HDMI-out, which allows you to connect the console to almost any modern TV. If desired, you can connect and composite video cable.

The case design was created under the influence of computer design ideas that prevailed 30 years ago. It would be nice if the developers of the “old” console provided an outlet for CRT monitors so that the immersion was certainly complete. But no, only HDMI.



The cost of the console is $ 99, which is quite a lot for a device of this type. Some users are surprised at the price of the console and the fact that in general someone will buy it. But it is worth remembering that the previous incarnations of Nintendo were also not cheap, plus you can play almost 8-bit games on an iron. Accordingly, the experts did not expect the influx of users to the SNES and NES Classic.

Nevertheless, they were bought up like hot cakes. Most likely, something similar awaits the hardware DOS emulator, after which there is probably a lineup of reitroamers and just those who wish to recall their childhood, having replayed 8-bit titles. It is worth noting that the scheme with emulation was used in all previous cases, including PS One Classic - Sony did not reinvent the wheel, but took the PCSX ReARMed emulator to work. This is an open source platform, so anyone can use it, even Sony, which is famous for its proprietary passion literally and in everything - from software to memory cards and cable connectors.

As for crowdfunding, if the project receives funds for implementation, we can expect PC Classic to go on sale. This should happen in early December.