Best NES/SNES emulator(s)

[vulcanlogician]

Is it $100 to build or to buy? I can handle classic controllers, no problem. So long as the emu system is just as responsive as the original console, it won't bother me.

You can buy them loaded for around $100. You can build one yourself for around $50-60, but then you have to load all the ROMs on it too.  You can buy SD cards with around 10K Roms on for around $20.  I hope it's okay to link this, but this is the same seller on Ebay who I bought mine from.  I sent the guy a message before I purchased it, and he was nice enough to use a different case color and added about 7500 ROMs on it for free.   It came with two classic SNES controllers.  He has various listings, but that should at least get you heading in the right direction with it.  They're pretty nifty if you just want to play the older Atari/Nintendo/Sega games, but there are also some games from other systems like NeoGeo and Turbo-Grafx-16.  Some I couldn't tell what they were from because they're listed as MAME (Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator).  Everything is also alphabetized and mine came with Kodi installed.

I checked out the ebay link. Does it come with ROMs on it? Or do I need to acquire them myself?

[T0 Th3 M4X]

You can buy them loaded for around $100. You can build one yourself for around $50-60, but then you have to load all the ROMs on it too.  You can buy SD cards with around 10K Roms on for around $20.  I hope it's okay to link this, but this is the same seller on Ebay who I bought mine from.  I sent the guy a message before I purchased it, and he was nice enough to use a different case color and added about 7500 ROMs on it for free.   It came with two classic SNES controllers.  He has various listings, but that should at least get you heading in the right direction with it.  They're pretty nifty if you just want to play the older Atari/Nintendo/Sega games, but there are also some games from other systems like NeoGeo and Turbo-Grafx-16.  Some I couldn't tell what they were from because they're listed as MAME (Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator).  Everything is also alphabetized and mine came with Kodi installed.

I checked out the ebay link. Does it come with ROMs on it? Or do I need to acquire them myself?

I'm pretty sure the one I linked comes with ROMs, but the link may have changed or expired since it's Ebay.  If you bought or built one, I could actually send you the ROMs.  I have an SD card with about 10K of them on it.  If you send a message to that guy selling on Ebay, I'm pretty sure he would preload them regardless, as he did it for me.

[vulcanlogician]

I checked out the ebay link. Does it come with ROMs on it? Or do I need to acquire them myself?

I'm pretty sure the one I linked comes with ROMs, but the link may have changed or expired since it's Ebay.  If you bought or built one, I could actually send you the ROMs.  I have an SD card with about 10K of them on it.  If you send a message to that guy selling on Ebay, I'm pretty sure he would preload them regardless, as he did it for me.

Awesome. I think this is the route I would go. Thanks for the info.

[T0 Th3 M4X]

I'm pretty sure the one I linked comes with ROMs, but the link may have changed or expired since it's Ebay.  If you bought or built one, I could actually send you the ROMs.  I have an SD card with about 10K of them on it.  If you send a message to that guy selling on Ebay, I'm pretty sure he would preload them regardless, as he did it for me.

Awesome. I think this is the route I would go. Thanks for the info.

No prob.

It's interesting once you get it set up and start playing those games you remember.  They're not quite the same 30-some years later.

One of the reasons I got mine was because my mom used to love an old game on our Colecovision called "Ladybug."  Similar concept to Pacman, but you're running away from bugs and can escape them by rotating walls throughout the mazes.  Of course the controls aren't quite as fluid as games of today, so it was a completely different experience trying to time the movements.  Still fun for the sake of nostalgia.

[Shell B]

Seconding the RetroPie. Tibs made me one and even bought a 3D printed case for it. It's fucking awesome.