Gaming Gift Guide 2013: What are the Best Gifts for a Retro Gamer?

If the gamer in your life likes things retro-style, check out this list of oldschool cool merchandise.

Article by Cassandra Khaw Contributor

Updated on Jan. 16, 2019

This article first appeared on USgamer, a partner publication of VG247. Some content, such as this article, has been migrated to VG247 for posterity after USgamer's closure - but it has not been edited or further vetted by the VG247 team.

'Tis indeed the season for festive goodness and wanton purchases. With Black Friday and Cyber Monday barely behind us, the question needs to be posed: if you failed to do your Christmas shopping last week, what now? Never fear. Now that we've exhausted the cheaper options, it's time to delve into the eclectic, the eccentric and the all-out weird. We're creating a series of outlandish, original and just plain crazy gift ideas suitable for, well, pretty much anyone. As long as they enjoy good things. We can't help you if your friends have bad taste. This article is all about:

Gifts for the Retro Gamer

Kokiri's Emerald

Help someone re-live the glory days of the Nintendo 64 by sending them this excellent interpretation of Kokiri's Emerald from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Though far from the most elegant piece of video game-inspired jewelry you'll be able to find on etsy, dweebishdelights' Kokiri's Emerald is charming, cheaply available and easily paired up with these equally delectable earrings.

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A380 Pocket Emulator

Pffft. Developers these days. They think they know what gaming is, what with their crazy save points and their intricate plots. In my day, we had nothin' like that. You were lucky if you could walk for ten minutes without having to start from the beginning. The A380 Pocket Emulator is everything that is good about the contemporary generation brought together for one noble cause: to provide its users access to every classic console game ever. The retro handheld is fully configurable and will work with any of the ROMs you find online. (We don't officially condone the usage of such software, of course.) It even doubles as an eBook Readers and an audio recorder.

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The Hyperkin Retron 5

The Hyperkin Retron 5 was supposed to be available December 10th but complications arose. On the bright side, this may mean you now have the perfect excuse for present-related tardiness. Want something great? You're gonna have to wait. And the Hyperkin Retron 5 is honestly quite spectacular. It's nine vintage consoles rolled into one, a hardware emulator that comes packaged with a custom Bluetooth controller purportedly capable of working with any system. It's supposed to be less than $100 and, unless something else comes up again, will be available next year. Woo.

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NES Controller Print Set

You'd probably have to work real hard if you want to turn these into something truly revolutionary but why go out of your way to design toddler-sized origami masterpieces when you can use these as the final accents in your Nintendo tribute chamber? There's not much to be said here. They're prints. For the wall. For your nerd cave/game room/(wo)man bunker. How much more awesome did you need them to be?

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Need more gift ideas? Check out our other lists!