GtG Budget Gaming Guide
Surviving Ramageddon!
With AI eating up all the memory and storage, prices of gaming consoles and computers continue to skyrocket. Needing a device to game on? Here is an in depth, innovative guide on how to budget game and survive Ramageddon!
Phone/Tablet - believe it or not your phone/tablet are great gaming devices and not just for mobile games. You can use a bluetooth wireless controller or a wrap around controller to turn it into a full gaming console. I highly recommend GameSir and 8bitDO for quality budget controllers. It is a very powerful emulation device which allows you to play retro consoles like NES, PS1, N64 and more! Just search YouTube for guides by searching for phone emulation. You can also stream games to your phone with services like Amazon Luna and Xbox Game Pass. If you have an Amazon subscription you are already paying for their base service with games like Dispatch, EA FC26, Guardians of the Galaxy, Hogwarts Legacy, Lego, Tomb Raider, Skyrim, Fallout and more! You can also claim free pc games with this as well for your Epic/GoG accounts. There are also some great buy/own games on mobile like Titan Quest, Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance; BattleChasers, Dicey Dungeons and more! We are also just beginning to see the first signs of playing pc games natively on android using Steam so stay tuned!
You can pick up a cheap tablet to game on if you have an older phone or just want a dedicated device.
Amazon Fire Stick 4k - with a 4k Fire Stick plus a wireless controller you can now play game streaming services such as Luna and Xbox Game Pass without the need for expensive hardware. You can buy a 4k Fire Stick for $30 (as of this writing) if you already have a wireless controller. Or you can buy a Fire Stick plus Luna Controller bundle for $99. Plus you can play some mobile titles built into the Amazon store as well. Streaming isn’t the most ideal way to play because it does require a monthly subscription and you don’t own any of the games which cycle in/out but it is an inexpensive option.
Retro Consoles - are another great option for budget gaming with systems like Xbox 360, PS3/4, Wii and many others and still some cheap games though rarer stuff can get expensive.
Retro Handhelds - are a very cheap way to game. I own a lot of them mainly because I like to tinker with them but also to replace my original hardware. For example, I have a Game Boy Advance SP, Nintendo DS and a Sony PSP but they are very old and becoming more fragile. So I’ve found new hardware that allows me to emulation my collection and take that experience back out into the world without risk of damaging my original hardware. Many of the retro handhelds I own are under $100 with most of them under $60. My favorite company is Anbernic and I own at least a half dozen of them. My favorites being RG35XXSP (GBA SP replacement), RG DS (DS replacement) and RG VITA (PSP replacement). You can play them as is right out of the box or load up custom software. If all else fails these will carry me through Ramageddon! And checkout Russ at Retro Game Corps for tons of great videos on retro handhelds from review to guides.
Evercade - has been booming since Sony announced they were ending physical media by 2028. Evercade creates new systems and cartridges with multiples game on them from Atari collections to the new Tomb Raider remasters. You can check them out on Amazon, Funstock or Evercade websites. They make both consoles and handhelds that all use the same cartridges. Another great way to budget game!
PC’s - I know it sounds counter intuitive with Ramageddon upon us but there are still some great deals to be had on current stock. You can also go refurbished machines that are older stock but still very capable for gaming. Checkout places like NewEgg and Amazon for deals on a pc. Also take a look at Toasty Bro on Youtube as they have a lot of videos dedicated to budget pc gaming.
Analog Gaming - my crew has turned to gaming that doesn’t require any electronics such as Collectable Cards Games CCG (Pokemon, Magic the Gathering, Yu-Gi-Oh), table top wargaming (Warhammer 40k) and Table Top Roleplaying ttrpg (old school Dungeons & Dragons, Shadowrun, Star Wars). Even though most of these require family and friends there are some solo experiences for dungeon crawling as well such as One Card Dungeon or Tech Dweebs CRYBT (video) / CRYBT print version. For ttrpg’s you can hit up your local bookstore or checkout digital options from DriveThru RPG. Great thing about these hobbies is you can create your own games! Dice are great, cheap and readily available and all you need to make an analog game.
