Fire stick works fine. Retropie is the simplest setup for a Raspberry Pi. You can also just buy one of those Anbernic handhelds with HDMI out. Most of them have bluetooth for additional controllers. I recommend replacing the OS with something like Knulli.
I'm hoping to find somewhere that sells them pre-built, even if I still have to add the OS and emulator(s) myself. If I can score an already assembled Raspberry Pi either in or easy to put into one of those mini SNES cases, I will be over the moon.
A Raspberry Pi is pre built haha, there is nothing to build (unless I suppose you consider inserting an SD card to be "building"). Those cool mini SNES cases are really just enclosures.
For what it's worth, I saw the RetroFlag "SuperPI" SNES case in person once and was really impressed with the quality.
Raspberry Pis are not difficult to tinker with. Don't let your intimidation stop you from trying to assembly one the way you want. Just don't be walking around on a carpet before touching it and it'll be okay. The circuit boards can slip out of your hand and land on the table and be just fine.
Get a RPi5 4gb, a case with a fan that connects with the standard fan pinout (for simplicity. No special scripts needed), and put Batocera on it. It's a very easy to use retro gaming software.
The cool thing about a small SBC like a RPi is that you can try different operating systems out without loosing your old data by simply swapping the micro SD card with a different thing, then just go back and it'll boot like nothing ever changed. You'll learn a lot and not be intimidated anymore.
If you go this route you're welcome to DM me for help setting it up.
I appreciate it. I'm digging for a comprehensive step-by-step guide of some sort, but having someone available to contact with specifics will be super helpful. It doesn't look much different than building a PC, which I've done many, many times.
Multiple layers to this:
Setting up a Pi (form factor) device is pretty trivial these days. Retroarch has Retropie and if you don't care about trans rights, that is a great choice. I think there are a few "flash and play" distros that rely on ES-DE which is way better anyway since it actually encourages using the "real" emulators instead of kludged repacks.
That said? Raspberry Pis in general are REALLY expensive these days and that has led to a general scaling up of the competitors. I... have a lot of complaints with Russ's format and focus but https://www.youtube.com/@RetroGameCorps is basically exactly about cheap kinda sketchy "straight out of the box" "retro consoles" that sound like exactly what you are looking for.
Well if ur smart TV based on android just install retroarch and install emulator of SNES in there and then upload Roms that it.connect Bluetooth gamepad and here we go :) I am myself playing ps1 games on my smart TV box
I have a Hisense Google TV, so it may be on Android-based? I never considered looking for an emulator on the TV itself. Not sure how to add ROMs to my TV, but I can certainly store them on the flash drive I've been using for movies and shows.
Sounds like usual android tv go to play market install any file explorer which support ftp server then connect to it remotly upload apk file from website of retroarch and upload roms either in same way and then install apk retroarch from gui of file explorer and then it will appear on in ur apps list
Holy shit! What an absolute game-changer this was. I had no idea I could install Snes9x directly to my TV. Was a bit tricky getting it to recognize the ROM directory, but everything is running now. Just waiting on some wireless SNES controllers to come tomorrow. The old USB one I have has been difficult to get working. Any time I hit B or Start it opens YouTube. I've tried absolutely everything in the input config. I think it's just old and wonky.
Anyway, thank you so much!
Easiest? An SNES Classic if you can find one for sale. It is really just a trivially hackable linux pc that comes with SNES controllers and has a nice interface. For something you can definitely buy new and don't want to have to hack anything, probably a steam deck with the dock and a controller because of how easy it is to set up. All of those options are much more expensive than something like a raspberry pi with retropie, but they are easier.
All of the SNES Classics I've found are either counterfeits, or listed on marketplace for $200, stating that they usually sell for $400, so I have to assume those are probably counterfeit as well. It sucks because I remember seeing one years back at a Bed Bath & Beyond of all places, but wasn't financially stable enough at the time to sensibly buy one. Regretting that in 2025.
But an SNES Classic would be incredible, if only for the aesthetic and knowing it's all going to work through HDMI.
I need to find a good guide for putting a Raspberry Pi together and setting it up for emulation.
Damn, sorry for suggesting it in that case. I didn't have a hard time getting the SNES Classic at the time, but the NES Classic was a fight. I ended up having to spend far more than it was worth to get one.
Retropie has a video on their setup guide that can help with the emulation front. Setting up a Raspberry Pi itself can be a little annoying if you've never done it before, but there are tons of guides out there. Just keep in mind that they run off of a microSD card, so you usually install by using a card reader on a PC and installing the image onto the card before you do anything else.
I actually stopped using all of Pis because of little annoyances that added up, but I am a very picky bastard so don't let that totally dissuade you.
Community to talk about emulation & roms.
RULES:
1.) No bigotry
LINKS:
Emulation Wiki - Your source for everything emulation :)
[WIP] Emulation Links Wiki - My personal wiki for emulation links, please help contribute!
r/Roms Megathread - Megathread of Roms
RetroArch - RetroArch is the popular front-end to libretro which is a simple API that allows for the creation of games and emulators.