Emulators, which are programs that perform like (or emulate) old pieces of hardware, have been around for decades. I remember Colecovision emulators for PCs in the late 1990s that let you play ancient games on a fairly new computer with a screaming Intel 486 processor.

But the best thing about modern emulators are their file size and playability. There are emulators for almost any game machine under the sun including arcade machines (using an emulator called MAME), the Nintendo N.E.S. and the original Game Boy. To play them you technically have to own the cartridges of software you’re attempting to emulate, but this is not always the case.

These old games — along with many “homebrew” titles designed for those old platforms — consist of only a few kilobytes of code but offer hours of play on nearly any laptop. There are also emulators that run on iPads, iPhones and Android products, but it’s a bit harder to play some classic games with on-screen controls. A keyboard or a dedicated handheld is the way to go.

If you want to experience the full glory of these old games, look into a device like the Caanoo, sold by ThinkGeek for $169. This handheld runs a compact version of Linux and, out of the box, is fairly barren. However, once you install emulators onto it — including, but not limited to, programs that play games designed for the Atari 7800, 2600, the Neo Geo CD and, surprisingly, the ancient Vectrex gaming system — then the real fun starts.

The average gamer will consider titles from 1985 far too outdated for his or her taste, but these games were designed for maximum playability on severely underpowered hardware and are considered classics of the form. Even if you can’t run the latest first-person shooter on your old work laptop, you can definitely play a few levels of Galaga.

The world of emulators and the games they play is fairly complex and arcane but a quick Google search for “NES emulator Windows” (or “NES emulator Mac”) will bring up a plethora of options for the folks who never had enough quarters to ever finish Double Dragon in the arcade. All that’s left for you is to try to remember the Konami code in Contra.