Recently I’ve been testing the GCHD Mk. II from EON, an ingenious little device that can extract the highest possible native resolutions from a Gamecube and output via HDMI, and it’s a phenomenal upgrade from any other solution I’ve used. While an agnostic option like the Retrotink can of course take Gamecube output via composite or SCART, the GCHD shows why a console-specific solution can go the extra mile, offering simultaneous digital and analogue output (and optional separate audio for both), as well as individual settings per resolution type which most users won’t need to touch but can make a huge difference in weird setups.

Unfortunately we in Australia have an extra handicap when it comes to video, as our old consoles and games were designed to PAL video standards and were often treated as second class citizens compared to American and Japanese gear. In Gamecube’s case the PAL system is capable of displaying in near-HD 480p, but PAL games were stripped of this ability, so software hacks are needed to get your local collection to its full potential. This, plus the GCHD’s $200 asking price, means its appeal is likely limited to Nintendo diehards.

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Once you’ve got your video hookups sorted, stretching your cables from the TV to a coffee table so your controller can reach the couch is probably the last thing you want to do. Fortunately, most systems can be easily upgraded to use wireless pads.

My go-to company for retro controllers is 8BitDo, which makes excellent wireless old-school replicas. For maximum convenience you can buy a 2.4Ghz set — which comes with the controller and a wireless dongle — or for more flexibility you can get separate Bluetooth dongles and controllers. For example get a Bluetooth dongle for your Super Nintendo, and you could pair it with your Nintendo Switch Pro Controller or PlayStation 4 pad.

8BitDo also has great original controller designs if the old-school shapes don’t suit your purposes. Some new ones I’ve been testing — which should be in Australian retail stores soon — include the highly customisable Pro 2 and the tiny Zero 2. The former offers a SNES-style layout but with sticks, rear paddle buttons, calibration software and Switch-compatible motion controls, while the latter is about the size of a large thumb but somehow isn’t uncomfortably cramped.

Again, there are more bespoke options if you’re just looking to modernise a single console. I love Hyperkin’s Admiral wireless controller for the Nintendo 64, which offers a vast ergonomic improvement, as well as Retro-Bit’s officially licensed wireless pads for the Sega Mega Drive and Saturn.

Finally, if you’re just embarking on a retro gaming journey, a significant barrier will be sourcing games themselves. Titles for many older systems are becoming scarce and expensive, while the oldest games (and the mechanisms that read them) are beginning to decay. Buying games from eBay or retro stores can fast become extremely expensive, and none of that money goes to the companies or developers that originally created them.

Gadgets that let you take digital copies of games (pulled from your own collection or downloaded from the internet) and play them on original hardware have boomed thanks to recent developments in integrated circuit technology. Everdrive is a leader in this space, producing high-quality cartridges that can program themselves on the fly to behave exactly like any official cartridge on the market. Meanwhile so-called optical disc emulators have recently provided an option for replacing ageing spinning disc drives with solid state storage, such as Terraonion’s MODE for Dreamcast and Saturn.

The days of needing to frequent dodgy and virus-filled websites to find digital copies of games is long gone, as preservation efforts worldwide have lead to collections available in places like the United States’ archive.org. Unfortunately Australia’s copyright laws are among the strictest in the world, and even making digital copies of games you own on cartridge or disc is technically illegal, meaning many important games from decades past are not available to us.