The question is simple: What’s the best way to play retro games on a portable device? The answer is slightly more complicated.

Everyone has holes in their gaming history. I’ve never beaten a Zelda game, for instance. I know, I know. If only there were time. As it turns out, situations like airplane rides where you’re stuck in one place are perfect for chipping away at one’s towering pile of shame. But you can’t have all your games with you all the time… CAN YOU?

Reminder: it is illegal to use ROMs that are not your own!

The 3DS offers a number of old games on Virtual Console, but that’s a pretty small library in the grand scheme. There are handheld emulation devices, but they can be underpowered, limited to certain platforms, difficult to tweak, and pricey for something that may not work very well. Laptops, while flexible, are bulky, expensive, and frankly overkill for what we want to do.

So what’s the solution? What provides maximum flexibility, portability, and is reasonably priced? My pick: a Windows tablet, specifically the Dell Venue 8 Pro.

The Tablet