Retro gaming’s enchantment never quite goes out of style, but if you’ve ever booted up a childhood favorite on a modern TV, you might’ve felt like something’s a little off. The pixel art that seemed so sharp and vibrant on a CRT monitor now tends to appear fuzzy or stretched on modern displays. So, what’s going on with this change in appearance—and how are retro enthusiasts retrofiting their configurations to maintain the magic?
Years ago, games were designed around CRT TVs. Those antiquated screens had much lower resolutions than the HD and 4K screens we utilize today. CRTs showed pictures with horizontal lines, occasionally skipping one line out of every two in an approach known as interlacing. It resulted in retro graphics having a smooth, blended quality by nature, which caused pixel art to appear unified. But when you run those same games on today’s TVs, the hardware is forced to upscale those small pictures onto a much larger screen. The effect? Images that are fuzzy, skewed, or downright incorrect. There’s a very popular video demonstrating Princess Peach with smeared-out features on a 4K screen—it’s not a pretty sight.
The root issue boils down to resolution incompatibility. Old 8-bit games may have performed at 256 x 240 pixels, whereas current 4K TVs have a resolution of 3,840 x 2,160. New TVs attempt to stretch the previous pictures to match the screen, but it never goes as planned. CRTs, however, resized the picture such that the whole thing looked neater and more colorful, even though the graphics were basic compared to the modern era.
To solve for this, most retro players use contemporary devices that make vintage consoles get along with modern TVs. One such popular device is the Open Source Scan Converter, or OSSC. It converts signals from ancient systems (such as 240p) and doubles up the lines to more closely match HD displays. The good news? It accomplishes this in real time, without giving you the input lag you occasionally experience when a TV attempts to upscale by itself. That being said, OSSC isn’t flawless—it can handle interlaced signals like 480i poorly, which is why consoles like the PlayStation 2 tend to be plugged in with component cables instead.
SCART cables are part of the equation. Prevalent in Europe and Japan, SCARTs supply high-definition RGB signals that render vintage games clearer. Though North America never embraced SCART on a large scale, enthusiasts today do use SCART-compatible switches such as the GSCARTSW to hook up multiple consoles to units such as the OSSC—all for the sake of maintaining picture integrity.
Even the model of TV you watch makes a difference. OLED TVs such as LG’s CX series are great for contemporary gaming, but struggle with retro material. Surprisingly, some retro players rather like more aged versions, such as LG’s 9 series, which have full 48 Gbps HDMI bandwidth and high refresh rates. Those are not so important for 8-bit graphics, but every slight adjustment counts.
If you’re looking for a modern solution that still feels true to the original hardware, FPGA-based consoles like the Analogue Mega SG and Super NT are a great option. These systems replicate the hardware of classic consoles down to the circuitry. That means no software emulation, no operating system interference—just a faithful, lag-free retro experience that feels exactly like it did decades ago.
Ultimately, retro gaming is all about that nostalgic feeling of fun. You’re gaming on an old-school CRT, a high-end upscaler such as the OSSC, or an FPGA console, and the objective is one: to play those old games as they were originally intended. And thanks to the passion and vision of the gaming community today, that magic exists.
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