The Retro Gaming Gift GuideThe retro console that actually gets played, chosen honestly for the UK
Not the cheapest box on the marketplace, and not the one stuffed with games nobody had the right to sell. The retro gift worth giving.
ToA gamer
Give the games, not the grief
CH 01Why a retro console is a brilliant gift
A retro console is one of the few gifts that lands with almost everyone. For the parent who grew up on a Mega Drive it is a straight line back to being ten years old. For a curious kid it is a game they can actually finish in an afternoon, without a download, a login or a season pass. And for a collector it is the one hobby where the old thing is the good thing. It photographs beautifully, it costs a fraction of a new console, and it will still be working long after this year's must-have gadget is in a drawer.
There is one warning to get out of the way first, because it is the single most common gift-guide trap and it matters. The cheap "retro handheld" with hundreds or thousands of games built in is not a bargain, it is a box of stolen goods. Those units almost always ship preloaded with pirated copies of games the seller has no licence to distribute, and the hardware itself is usually the cheapest available, prone to failing within months. We will not point you at one, and the good news is you do not need to: everything below is officially licensed, legitimately sold, and genuinely nice to receive. If you want the full reasoning, skip to what to avoid.
So this guide sticks to hardware you can buy with a clear conscience, sorted by budget. Prices move, so treat the figures as a guide and check the current price before you buy.
CH 02The picks, by budget
From a small extra to the centrepiece under the tree, these are the ones worth your money. Every one plays properly licensed games.
Under £30 · the top-up
A single game they'll love
The perfect small gift for someone who already owns the console. A single officially licensed Evercade cartridge (around £25 each, now that Blaze has moved to a single cartridge price) drops a whole curated collection into their hands. For a collector, a genuine boxed original game does the same job with real nostalgia.
The honest bit A cartridge is only useful if they own an Evercade or a Super Pocket to play it on. Check before you buy.
Around £60 · the crowd-pleaser
The Super Pocket
Our pick for most people. Made by Blaze under the HyperMegaTech name, it is a proper little handheld that comes loaded with a licensed set (the Capcom, Taito and Atari editions each bundle a themed line-up), and it takes Evercade cartridges too. We reviewed it and scored it highly: real games, a fair price, no grey-market baggage.
The honest bit The screen is small and each edition's built-in games are fixed unless you add cartridges. Prices have crept up lately, so check the current figure.
Around £100 · the library
The Evercade EXP-R
Step up from the handful of built-in games to a growing shelf of them. The Evercade EXP-R (around £100 at the time of writing) is the cartridge system in full: 45-plus collections spanning Capcom, Atari, Bandai Namco, Interplay and more, all fully licensed. It is the gift for the person who wants a proper collection to build on.
The honest bit The console is the price of entry; the games are separate cartridges. Budget for a cart or two to go in the box.
The big one · £90 and up
A statement piece
For a showstopper, the Atari Gamestation Go is a large portable with 200-plus built-in licensed games and a real trackball and paddle (it launched at $179.99 in the US, so expect roughly £150 or more once UK pricing lands, and check before buying). Or a Numskull Quarter Arcade, an officially licensed quarter-scale cabinet from roughly £90 for older titles up to £250 or so, is a gorgeous shelf piece as much as a game.
The honest bit The Gamestation Go is a proper investment, and the Quarter Arcades are collector display cabinets first, everyday consoles second.
Worth a word on the mini consoles, the little plug-and-play NES, SNES and Mega Drive machines. When they were on sale they made lovely gifts, but many are now discontinued. Nintendo stopped making the NES Classic and SNES Classic back in 2018, and others have appeared only in limited runs. You can still find them secondhand, but usually at a premium, so treat them as a nice surprise if one turns up at a fair price rather than a reliable go-to.
CH 03Gifting the real thing
Sometimes nothing but the genuine article will do, and for the right person an actual original console with a couple of real games is the best gift on this page. There is a weight and a smell and a satisfying clunk to a real cartridge that no all-in-one reproduces, and it is the difference between a novelty and a keepsake.
It does take a little more care. Buy from somewhere that tests and guarantees its stock rather than a mystery marketplace listing; our guide to the best UK retro game shops is the place to start, and most will happily sell you a console that has been checked and cleaned. Pair it with one or two boxed games the recipient actually remembers, not a random bundle. And think about the screen: an original console looks its absolute best on a period display, which is exactly what our CRT guide is for. Get those three things right, the shop, the games and the screen, and you have given something that gets set up and stays set up.
CH 04What to avoid
The golden rule: if the pitch is "thousands of games built in" for a low price, walk away. That is not generosity, it is piracy sold as a feature, and it is the one line this site does not cross.
The preloaded ROM handhelds. The very cheap import handhelds and the "500-in-1" or "data frog" plug-in boxes almost always come stuffed with pirated games the seller had no right to distribute. It is straightforwardly illegal, the brands offer little support, and the hardware is typically the cheapest going. Buy licensed hardware instead, or an empty device you load only with games you legally own.
Broken or incomplete originals. A tempting "spares or repair" listing is a gamble, not a gift. Corroded battery saves, yellowed shells, missing leads and dead consoles are common. Buy tested and guaranteed, ideally from a shop, and make sure the power supply and AV cable are included.
The region and cabling trap. A console or game bought abroad may not run or display correctly here. UK and European machines are PAL; much of the world is NTSC, and the two do not always mix. Our PAL vs NTSC guide explains what plays with what before you accidentally gift something that will not switch on.
CH 05FAQ
What is the best retro console to give as a gift?
For most people the honest answer is the Super Pocket or the Evercade. Both are made by the UK company Blaze Entertainment, both play officially licensed cartridge collections, and neither asks the recipient to know anything technical. The Super Pocket (around £60, following a July 2026 price rise) is the pocket-money option; the Evercade EXP-R (around £100) is the fuller library. If the person you are buying for is a serious collector, the best gift is often a genuine original console and a real boxed game rather than any all-in-one.
Are mini consoles like the NES Classic still available?
Mostly not as new stock. Nintendo discontinued both the NES Classic and the SNES Classic back in 2018, and several other plug-and-play minis have come and gone in limited runs since. You can still find them, but as secondhand items at inflated prices rather than on a shop shelf. If you want something officially supported and easy to buy new today, the Evercade and Super Pocket are the safer bet.
Is the Evercade any good?
Yes, and it is one of the few retro systems we happily recommend without an asterisk. It uses physical cartridges of properly licensed games, so nothing about it is piracy, and Blaze keeps releasing new collections. We reviewed the Super Pocket, its pocket-sized sibling, and scored it highly for exactly this reason: real games, a fair price, and no grey-market baggage.
Are cheap retro handhelds legal?
The hardware is legal; what is loaded on it usually is not. The very cheap handhelds you see everywhere, and the "hundreds of games built in" boxes, almost always ship preloaded with thousands of pirated ROMs the seller has no right to distribute. That is the line we do not cross and would not ask you to gift. Buy hardware that comes with licensed games, or buy an empty device and add games you legally own.
What retro console is best for a child?
A Super Pocket is the usual winner: it is inexpensive, hard to break, needs no setup, and comes loaded with age-appropriate arcade classics. For a family living room, a mini console or an Evercade on the TV works well too. Just avoid handing a child a cheap import stuffed with pirated games, both for the legal reason and because those units are notorious for failing within months.
Will a retro console work on a modern TV?
The new all-in-one systems will: the Evercade, the Super Pocket and the plug-and-play minis output HDMI straight into any modern set. An original console is a different story, because most output over old analogue connections that a new TV handles poorly, if at all. If you are gifting the real thing, read up on region and cabling first, and consider pairing it with a CRT for the picture it was designed for.
Still not sure which one suits the person you are buying for? Tell the recommender who they are and what they loved, and it will point you at the right machine.