I use a sbc device with emulators now a days. It’s the perfect “pick up and put down” situation for me. I’d really recommend looking into it especially for quality of life things like save states and being able to pick up where you left off exactly.
As for deciding what platforms to play, my biggest advice is looking at how many buttons a controller has. I don’t see people talk about this a lot, but when I’m looking to play a simple game, my first thought is “how many buttons do I feel like using?”
With this thought in my mind I’ve been gravitating towards things like GBA, SNES, N64, and when I want something a little more complex, Ps1 or Dreamcast.
Custom Robo for N64. Cute little 3d shooter where you have a robot made of 5 customizable parts that you can mix and match to build the strongest robot and be the greatest “robo commander”. I think people say the idea was a “sci-fi collectible game loosely similar to pokemon”.
Decided to give the first Silent Hill a try finally. Figured on my small MM+ and it being an older game graphically it would be easier to handle but uh…nope! Still scaring the shit out of me :)
Don’t think its considered retro yet, but I wish I could forget every second of it I played. The complete emotional Rollercoaster I went through playing that game was incredible.
One of the few games where I really felt like I was the “super important protagonist” and the world really depended on me.