The Old Skool Classiq 3 HD Is Officially the New Gold Standard When It Comes to All-In-One Consoles (Review)

Retro gaming is one of my favorite things to take part in. I’ve been captivated by these older titles, even since I was much younger. Sure, I may have had a fancy new PlayStation 2 and Jak and Daxter waiting for me, but that Jakks Pacific Atari Plug & Play console commanded more of my time. And my neighbor down the road, with an ancient NES, always captured my attention. As I get older, I’ve found myself craving these older titles, maybe to escape the money-hungry reality of newer games. Or, maybe I just want to escape into something that feels like comfort food. Either way, buying older consoles is expensive, and I’ve found that the Old Skool Classiq 3 HD is officially my new favorite way to play these games, at a fraction of the cost of buying a pre-owned console.

English, Japanese, European; The Old Skool Classiq 3 HD Handled Everything With Ease

One thing I’ve learned in my journey collecting retro games: you can typically buy EU or JPN copies of the same game for much cheaper. Super Mario All-Stars, for example, can run for $20 or more. Not terrible, but when I can buy a Japanese copy for half the price? I’m going to jump on that. That’s where I was first impressed by the Old Skool Classiq 3 HD. Without missing a beat, I slammed my JPN Super Mario All-Stars cartridge in the console, and it worked without a hitch. The same applies to my copy of Battle Soccer: Field no Hasha, and my EU copies of Goof Troop and F-Zero.

Near, Far, Wherever These Games Are

Standard US cartridges work, but that should be a given. Seeing as the Old Skool Classiq 3 HD is touted to work with NES, SNES, and Genesis. While original Famicom cartridges don’t work, mainly due to the 60-pin versus 72-pin connection, I can only assume that they would work with an adapter. I was unable to test this, and will update as soon as I can. But when it came to playing SNES versus Super Famicom, alongside EU and JPN region Genesis games, the Old Skool Classiq 3 HD handled them all like a champion.

I was also genuinely surprised to see that the option to use either RCA connections or an HDMI connection was supported, as well. Games from this generation lose a lot of their charm when played on a newer television, so being able to plug directly into my Sharp CRT in my Retro Corner was a dream come true. Vibrant colors, excellent sound, and pixel-perfect quality were enough to impress me from the start. But, compared to other “All-in-One” consoles, the Old Skool Classiq 3 HD has a few additional tricks up its sleeves.

While Other All-In-One Consoles Tend to Struggle With This, the Old Skool Classiq 3 HD Can Play Homebrew Games

Earlier this year, I had the chance to play ZPF, a new shmup from Mega Cat Studios. And with a legitimate Genesis cartridge on the way soon, I had to test it out and see if it actually worked on this console. And wouldn’t you know it? It works like a dream. While other All-In-One systems genuinely struggle to get homebrew games like this to run, this worked flawlessly. A near-identical performance to the Steam version, just on proper hardware. I was shocked, and tested out several other games from Mega Cat Studios here. And every single one of them worked. Regardless of whether it was a Genesis game or an NES game, everything worked like official hardware.

So, I had to take it a step further. I’ve always wanted to play Earthbound, but I don’t have the financial resources available to make that happen. Thankfully, Aliexpress has me covered. Reproduction cartridges, while not exactly the “preferred” way to play games, make some of these classic titles much more affordable. So, I ordered a few, just to see if they would boot up on here. And wouldn’t you know it, I can play Earthbound, Chrono Trigger, and Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker without a hitch. Moonwalker was like $3, and I wanted to test it out, don’t judge me.

There are several different switches on the back to help set the correct region for Genesis games, so you may need to fiddle around with that a bit. But beyond that? Everything just works, and it works extremely well.

The Only Real Issue I Have With the Old Skool Classiq 3 HD Is the Overall Build Quality

I’ve been rigorously testing the Old Skool Classiq 3 HD for roughly three weeks now. And I’ve had no issues when it comes to playing games. One thing that I did right away was order a new controller for it, however. The included controller, while ergonomic and light, wasn’t my favorite. It’s passable and very easily playable, but I prefer to use an OEM or close to OEM controller. That being said, it is compatible with wireless controllers from companies such as 8BitDo, so I could play my favorite games unattached and unbothered.

My only other concern is with the plastic that Old Skool used near the cartridge slots. It’s very flexible and feels like it could break rather easily. I have done some generous stress testing on it, mainly to see if I could get it to budge or break, but it has survived so far. And the first few times you place a cartridge in, it is locked in very securely, so you may need to pull a little harder than on an original console.

Beyond those small gripes, however? I’m in 7th heaven when it comes to the Old Skool Classiq 3 HD. For less than $100, I have complete access to my whole library of retro games, and it’s never been easier to play them. I don’t need to worry about swapping between inputs or if my retro console is on the way out. I’ve got my new favorite console on in my Retro Corner, and I can’t get enough of it. Oh yeah, and for those obsessed with RBG like myself? You can make it glow. It’s the perfect way to get some retro goodness back into your life.

Verdict: Best In Its Class

---

The Old Skool Classiq 3 HD is available now for a suggested MSPR of $89.99. A sample was provided for the sake of review.