This Game Boy clone is an uncompromising approach to the ultimate gamer nostalgia. But there are better options out there. A tad pricey for an old game console. There are better options for tinkerers. Buying it puts money in the pocket of the killer chatbots guy.

With almost laughably low power, a monochrome screen, and unique controls, niche-micro console Playdate shouldn't make any sense in a world of modern gaming. Yet, it's near impossible not to love it. When video game developer and publisher Panic launched its own console, Playdate, back in 2022, it upended just about all conventional wisdom when it came to gaming hardware. Coming just two months after Valve's Steam Deck, the micro-handheld was comparably laughably low in power, brandished a tiny monochrome screen, and took a minimalist approach to physical controls, with only a D-pad, two buttons, and a bizarre crank on offer. Even stranger than the crank was that buyers didn't really know what they'd be playing on it--the earliest games were released in a season pass format, with mystery titles drip-fed to players weekly.

If you're old enough to remember the original, brick-like Game Boy, you'll want to check out LEGO's newest play for adult brickheads. The officially licensed Game Boy building set comes with 421 pieces, including two cartridges for Zelda and Mario games. While you can't actually play them, you can swap out the simulated screens to match. At 5.5 x 3.5 inches (14 x 9 centimeters, for those who live in civilized countries), the set is a near-perfect match for the original handheld from 1989, though the real thing is ever-so-slightly taller. The set includes a display stand for both the main body itself and the Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening and Super Mario Land cartridges.

The lifespan of a games console has extended a lot since I was a child. In the 1990s, this kind of technology would be out of date after just a couple of years. There would be some tantalising new machine out before you knew it, everybody competing to be on the cutting edge: the Game Boy and Sega Genesis/Mega Drive in 1989 were followed by the Game Gear in 1990 and the Super NES in 1991. Five years was a long life for a gaming machine. The Nintendo Switch 2 will be released in a couple of weeks, more than eight years since I first picked an original Switch up off its dock and marvelled at the instant transition to portable play.

The Switch 2 is nearly here, which means the original Switch is entering its twilight years. It's been eight years since Nintendo released its revolutionary hybrid console, and while many fans have spent the last couple of those itching for the device to be replaced, now seems like an opportune time to look back at what its legacy may wind up being (while acknowledging that it still has some life ahead of it). Instead of bleating on myself, though, I turned to the rest of the Engadget staff to see what comes to mind when they think of the Switch, as just about everyone on the team has played with the console. We've collected our reflections below -- some take a bigger-picture view, some are more personal, some contradict others' experiences entirely. There's plenty more that went unsaid. But I think that's part of the Switch's beauty; it's a device that's resonated with so many, in so many different ways, in its near-decade on the market.

Nestled between an original Donkey Kong arcade machine, a mint condition OutRun racing simulation game and booths wired up with GameCubes and Nintendo 64s, the engineer Luke Malpass works away dismantling a broken Nintendo Wii. There has been a steady stream of people bringing in their old game consoles for repairs or modifications, on the house, to Four Quarters, a retro games arcade in Elephant and Castle, which has been transformed into a games clinic for two days. Gabriella Rosenau, 35, brought in her broken Wii that had been in the garage "for years". "I still play my brother's old Nintendo 64 and I love it, but I'd really love to get [the Wii] fixed." "I've done the odd bit of Call of Duty and the PlayStation stuff, but I have more of an interest in the retro games," she adds. Rosenau is part of a growing community who are ditching contemporary video games and picking up the consoles from their childhood, or even before their time.

The stream of new video games seemingly never ends but, for some of us, nothing beats the classics. If you don't feel like hunting through eBay and local game shops for old cartridges to add to your loved one's collection, we've got some other gift ideas for the nostalgic gamer in your life -- from video upscalers for old consoles to retro-themed books and artwork. Using old controllers is a big part of retro gaming's charm, but sometimes there's a fine line between classic and antiquated. For those who like the original PlayStation or PS2, but aren't crazy about Sony's earliest gamepads, the 8BitDo Retro Receiver for PS lets a variety of modern controllers work with those consoles wirelessly. The adapter supports Sony's PS4 and PS5 pads, Microsoft's Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S controllers (including the Xbox Adaptive Controller), Nintendo's Wii U Pro and Switch Pro controllers and most of 8BitDo's own gamepad lineup.

By 2004, video games were well into their adolescence. The war between Sega and Nintendo that defined the early 1990s was in the rear-view mirror – the PlayStation had knocked both of them off their perch, and Microsoft had released the Xbox. The critical and commercial hits of the day were not cartoon platformers but operatic space shooters (Halo) and anarchic crime games (Grand Theft Auto). There were lots of guns, and most games were embracing increasingly cinematic cutscenes. Nintendo, meanwhile, had fallen into third place with its Game Cube home console – but it still owned the handheld game market with the Game Boy Advance.

Believe me when I say: I truly thought I knew the story of Tetris. The puzzle game's journey from behind the iron curtain in 1980s Moscow to multi-million-selling video game has been the subject of countless articles, a greatly entertaining book and a recent film. I have played Tetris in various forms for more than 30 years, from the Game Boy to the Nintendo Switch, even in VR. So when I loaded up Tetris Forever, an interactive documentary on Tetris's 40-year history from the developers-slash-archivists at Digital Eclipse, I wasn't expecting to learn anything new. I was proven very wrong.

A million new video games seem to come out every week, but for some of us, nothing beats the classics. If you know someone who is way into retro gaming but don't feel like hunting through eBay and local shops for gear to add to their collection, we're here to help. Below we've rounded up a few of our favorite gift ideas for the nostalgic gamer in your life, from video upscalers for old consoles to retro-themed books and artwork. Using old controllers is a big part of retro gaming's charm, but sometimes there's a fine line between classic and antiquated. For those who like the original PlayStation or PS2, but aren't crazy about Sony's earliest gamepads, the 8BitDo Retro Receiver for PS lets a variety of modern controllers work with those consoles wirelessly.