Do you ever hanker after the video games of your childhood? Wouldn’t it be cool to be able to play retro games on your modern devices?
Every Friday I share one of my favourite finds of the week — a website, tool or an app that has impressed me.
My Friday Favourite this week is Argon – Play Retro Games on the Devices You Already Own.
What is it?
Argon is an app for Android that lets you play retro games from the 1970’s, 80’s and 90’s on your modern smartphone and other devices.
How much does it cost?
Argon is currently free while in public beta.
Play Retro Games on the Devices You Already Own
It’s no secret that I’m a huge retro gaming nerd fan.
While Remembering My First Computer, it conjures nostalgic feelings of fun playing titles such as Pitfall!, Lode Runner and Boulder Dash.
I’ve had a blast before now attending the Retro Computer Museum Gaming Day and have built up quite the collection of retro machines in my own mini-museum.
So you can imagine my surprise when I was attending the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas last year — the home of cutting-edge technology — and met Brian Hall of Mark/Space, Inc. who was promoting Project Argon (as it was then known).
Argon allows you to play retro video games from platforms such as the ColecoVision, Intellivision, Vectrex, Atari 2600, 7800, and Lynx on your Android Smartphone (iOS devices are to be supported soon).
I’ve found Argon to be a fully-featured emulator that gives an experience that is virtually identical to the original games.
As well as some classic games that you’ll recognise, you can also explore over 100 unique indie retro titles.
Mark/Space will be adding new consoles and new games regularly.
You can play games using the touchscreen on your smartphone, but I invested in a 8Bitdo SN30 PRO Bluetooth Game Controller Compatible with Switch PC, Wireless Gamepad for PC, Windows, Android, macOS, Steam, Raspberry Pi (Grey Edition) which makes the games even more fun to play.
I’m a huge fan of the Vectrex console from the early 1980’s. Despite owning a Vectrex and the entire game catalogue, I absolutely love playing games like Mine Storm and Spike (my first introduction to voice synthesis) on Argon!
The on-device emulation that Argon uses means you won’t need any streaming data, so you can play wherever and whenever.
Unlike playing games of our youth, when turning off the device meant your progress was lost, Argon allows you to save game progress at any point.
Going forward, Argon will be offering a subscription that also allows cloud Saves — the ability to load and play your saved game on any device.
Argon also lets you play games from your own collection. This isn’t something I’ve tried yet, but opens up a world of possibilities!
How can I get it?
To download Argon for your Android device and to find out more visit the Argon website.
You can also follow @markspaceinc on Twitter or visit the Mark/Space Facebook page.
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Richard Tubb is one of the best-known experts within the global IT Managed Service Provider (MSP) community. He launched and sold his own MSP business before creating a leading MSP media and consultancy practice. Richard helps IT business owner’s take back control by freeing up their time and building a business that can run without them. He’s the author of the book “The IT Business Owner’s Survival Guide” and writer of the award-winning blog www.tubblog.co.uk
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