Cheap Console games can be a god-send if you have kids (big or small) to entertain for hours or days at a time.

You can skip down the page to my recommended option by clicking here, but keep reading to see everything, as there is a choice for every budget in this post!

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There are lots of ways to find cheap video games (or even free ones!) for all tastes and abilities, but the options will largely be determined by what systems you have available to you.

The chances are, you have a lot more available to you than you think.

To break this down into something manageable, I’m going to split this up into sections, depending on what people have at home:

• Cheap Console Games
• Classic Console Games
• Cheap PC / Mac Games

Cheap Console Games

There are two main ways to get cheap console games, depending on how fast you want to get them.

Cheap Console Games on eBay

The cheapest way of finding any game in my experience is on eBay, especially if you go for a second hand game.

You can find old games, new games, rare games, games they don’t make any more, you name it, they usually have it.

If you have an older console, you can often get multi-game cartridges for them which are excellent value, but slightly dodgy.

If you buy a game and it doesn’t work or you don’t like it, you can always return it. The only downside to eBay versus my next method is that it will take a few days for your game to reach you.

For more advice on buying from eBay, check out my guide on it here.

Cheap Console Games Online

If you have a recent Playstation or XBox console which has an internet connection and is capable of downloading games, you may be able to find some great deals on sites like G2A.com.

The prices on G2A will tend to be similar or a bit higher than on eBay but nearly always lower than buying direct from Microsoft or Sony,

The advantage of buying from G2A is that you will get your game code straight away, so you can start downloading your game within minutes.

For obscure or less popular games, G2A might end up being more expensive than the official outlet, but for most titles (especially popular ones) G2A will be cheaper.

Classic Console Games

If you want to play old classics like Sonic, Mario and Zelda, there are several ways to do this, namely:

• Buy an official Console
• Buy an unofficial console
• Get an emulator and play the games on PC / Mac / Android

Cheap Official Consoles

There are two options going down the ‘Official’ route, buying an original console or a new ‘mini’ one. Your choices are limited to either Sega or Ninitendo.

Sega have the Master System (8-bit) and the Mega Drive (16-bit) and Nintendo have the NES (8-bit) and the SNES (16-bit).

Original Consoles

You can still buy original Consoles on eBay and at car boot sales, however, I have been stung with this in the past and would not recommend it for the following reasons:

• Working consoles and games tend to be relatively expensive
• Many don’t work properly
• Don’t work on new TV’s without adaptors

If you are looking for ‘Cheap’ then this isn’t it, but if you are a purist or you know exactly which game you want to play, then go for it.

A working 16-bit console (SNES or Megadrive) will set you back £40-£60 with no games.

You can then expect to pay £7-£10 for games individually, possibly less in bulk but if you are looking for ‘that obscure game you used to play’ then you might be better off trying to get a Multi game cartridge instead.

New ‘Mini’ Consoles

Nintendo and Sega have both produced ‘mini’ versions of their consoles which have 40-50 games built in and work on HDMI TVs.

These are not ‘cheap’ either but they are better value than buying an old one off eBay.

At the start of the Corona Virus Crisis in 2020 stocks of the new consoles disappeared from the shelves of UK stores as soon as all of the schools were closed, but the same thing happened each Christmas before that since they were released.

When this happens, the prices on eBay go through the roof too, so you need to be careful.

The main advantage to buying an official mini console over any of the other options is that you know it will work and do what it says on the tin.

Cheap Unofficial Consoles

Again, there are two paths you can tread on the ‘unofficial’ console route:

• Knock-off
• High Quality hybrid

Cheap knock-off consoles

‘Knock-off’ consoles can be found on eBay and AliExpress and will usually be a rip off of one of the Sega or Nintendo ‘mini’ consoles mentioned previously.

The difference is that these consoles tend to come with 600-800 games, not 40-50, making them much better value. They are usually a lot cheaper too.

Having watched a few reviews of these and nearly bought one, I found that most of the consoles claiming to be a ‘Mini Super Nintendo’ (SNES, 16-bit) were actually just mini NES consoles (8-bit) with a different case, and were drastically inferior.

It is possible to find HDMI and traditional AV versions of these consoles too, even in the UK (on eBay) but there were a few other complaints from online reviews, such as:

• Some games didn’t work
• Many of the games were repeats
• Came with a plug from a different region

High Quality Hybrid Consoles

Since the advent of the Raspberry Pi, people and companies have been producing mini computers which can play just about any console game ever made.

This is probably my favourite option and the one I almost went for. In hindsight I regret not buying this and went for a cheaper emulation option instead. (More on that in the next section).

Consoles like this can have over 20,000 games on them and they tend to be made by people from retro gamer communities who are obsessed with older games and still love playing them.

The result is a lovingly assembled library of nearly every game made between 1980 and 1995 on a modern piece of equipment which is reliable and dependable.

The advantage of consoles like these is:

• Work with HDMI / new TVs
• More games than you could ever possibly play
• Can save progress on some games
• Play games from Atari, Amiga, Neo Geo and other systems
• Better quality games libraries, fewer repeats
• Unbeatable value in terms of £/game

The better versions of these consoles will usually have every single game for most platforms, so it doesn’t matter if they only brought that game out in some territories and not others; they will have it.

The only reason I didn’t go for this option was the price tag of £120.

What I did instead was try emulation.

Console Game Emulators

If you have a PC, laptop or even an android tablet, you can try emulation as an alternative to buying a console. Emulators and their games are free!

Emulators and old games are available for free on the internet and will work on lots of devices. I have previously had Gameboy and nintendo emulators running on older android phones as far back as 2014.

With a good enough PC you can find PS2 and even PS3 emulators to run much more recent games.

There are lots of sites dedicated to emulators and emulation, one site that I use is The Emulator Zone but a quick google search will find you plenty of others.

There are some things to be aware of when playing games with emulators:

• You have to find and install an emulator
• Games are free but take some finding
• You may need to buy joypads / controllers to have a good experience

This is the option we plumped for at home, I even bought some wireless joypads to play the games with. Sadly, it isn’t getting used as much as I thought it would.

We have the emulators installed on a laptop which is hooked up to our smart TV. It works and I am fine with it, but for my wife and son there is a bit too much messing about and they just haven’t taken to it.

In hindsight, I think the hybrid Raspberry Pi console would have been the better option.

Cheap PC / Mac Games

If you have a PC there are a huge number of games available at massively reduced prices, many of which are also available for Mac.

There are several platforms which will allow you to buy and download games for PC, from older titles right up to latest releases, such as:

• Steam
• Epic Games
• Battle.Net
• Origin
• Microsoft Games

There are lots of free games offered within these platforms, but the paid games can be quite expensive if you buy them directly from the platform.

For popular games, it is nearly always cheaper to buy them from sites like G2A than direct from the platform, unless they only just came out that very day.

Conclusion

Everyone has different preferences and budgets, but for me personally, the hybrid game console is a winner and I will almost certainly be buying one in the near future.

If you already have a relatively new XBox or Playstation, give G2A a try and see what games are going cheap there.

If you have a PC, laptop or even just a tablet, have a go at some of the emulators and see how you get on.

If you want tips for how to buy safely from eBay, check out my Buying From eBay guide here.

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