French company Recalbox have created a one-stop-shop for emulation on HDMI TVs with their standard Recalbox, and now they've set their sights on providing the ultimate retro experience by allowing us to play our favourite old games on the CRTs they were designed for without using multiple cables and converter boxes via their new Kickstarter project, the Recalbox RGB DUAL 2.
Emulating on a CRT TV with pixel-perfect graphics via a Raspberry Pi 5-powered device is undeniably a convenient way for gamers to experience how our favourite games were intended to appear back in the day. Admittedly, we'll always prefer physical media whenever possible, but because of the current boom in retro gaming some consoles and games have reached astronomical prices.
The Recalbox can emulate up to 120 systems, and the great thing about the RGB DUAL 2 is that it can output a composite signal directly via SCART, RCA, or jack. You can toggle between 4:3 and 16:9 screen sizes too depending on your CRT or the console you're emulating, and as you're using a Raspberry Pi 5 there's the option to load up YouTube on your CRT too. I know that feels sacrilegious, but maybe if you need to watch a tutorial for a hard part of a level then it might be quite novel to watch it through your old faithful bulky Toshiba CRT.
Playing Dreamcast games in 16:9 without any distortion is definitely appealing - the last time I tried to do this on a widescreen CRT I felt like my eyes were going to explode. If you're looking to play some old-school Time Crisis too, then the RGB DUAL 2 has support for Guncon 2 controllers. You can output in 240p/480p/240p at 120Hz too, all complete with scan lines for maximum nostalgia. I just need something to hide behind when reloading and the whole experience will be complete!
Head to the official Kickstarter campaign to find out more and to back the project. The RGB DUAL 2 is currently sitting on £75,071 pledged of an £8,548 goal with 23 days still to go, so I think it's safe to say that we'll be seeing the Recalbox heading into our lives very soon! It's currently €99 for a fully built unit or €59 for the inner workings of the RGB DUAL 2.
