What retro consoles still have the most active game development? The most games still being released physically? The best and most popular time-tested consoles?

I'm excited to start learning programming and had a thought to make a game (having an objective makes it easier to learn). I wrote up an entire plan already for the mechanics and it seems incredibly viable for a fun and full experience. I would like to have it playable on real hardware and am just trying to figure out which system to make it for.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] 6 points 9 months ago (1 child)

As someone who's currently interested in Atari 2600 development, I can tell you that MobyGames is way off in their count, even if you limit the count to physically-released games. There were well more than 10 new physical releases in 2025 alone.

It helps that developers do licensing deals with a few companies that produce physical cartridges with boxes and manuals on demand, but there are also still a surprising number of people making physical copies of games for sale in advance.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment