About

Retro Game Corps is your one-stop shop for retro gaming and emulation guides, tips, and reviews.

Hey everyone, this is Russ from Retro Game Corps. Started in 2020, but really rooted in the 1980s, my goal on this website is to help you recreate your gaming days of the past.

In today’s gaming environment, playing classic games on their original systems is increasingly difficult — fewer TVs and monitors even have the hookups that allow you to plug the systems in, and there are so many mediocre solutions out there. So here at Retro Game Corps we will look at all of the other ways we can enjoy classic games in a safe, legal, and fun manner.

About me

I grew up through all of the home console generations, starting with an Atari 2600 my Dad borrowed from a friend for a weekend, to the NES we were gifted at Christmas, and so on.

As a teenager, I bought an old Commodore 64 for $20, and I had a blast tinkering with this classic system. I even programmed my own text-based version of Mortal Kombat because I couldn’t wait for the game’s home console release. That experience taught me that the behind-the-scenes world of video games is just as exciting as playing games themselves.

Prior to starting Retro Game Corps, I was a food blogger and cookbook author. Surprisingly, I’ve found that writing retro game emulation tutorials is very similar to writing recipes. I served in the US Navy for 22 years, and starting in 2022 I have shifted to working on Retro Game Corps full-time.

Ethics statement

Since launching this website in 2020, I have operated under a strict code of conduct and ethics policy. While the focus of this website is on retro game emulation, no copyrighted content will be hosted or linked to. That includes ROMs (the game files used in emulators) as well as BIOS (system) files necessary for some consoles. Here is my post concerning the legality of retro game emulation.

Review items and affiliate links

Companies will often send me products to showcase on my channel. These reviews are honest, independent assessments of their products, and I do not show my reviews to the companies before releasing them to the public. If you are a brand interested in having your product reviewed, here is my media kit.

Many of my links to storefronts like Amazon, eBay, Humble, and AliExpress will contain an affiliate referral code. This will provide the vendor with a notification that my link resulted in a sale, which will then sometimes generate a commission to me at no extra cost to you. These partnerships help fund this website and allow me to purchase items for review. I only use affiliate links on products that I recommend purchasing, and the presence of an affiliate link does not influence my assessment of a product.

For the Humble store in particular, they use charity links where a portion of the sale is split between me and the charity of my choice. My chosen charity is the Autoimmune Disease Association, since autoimmunity is something that has affected my family. They are rated as an “exceptional” charity by Charity Navigator and help fund research and education related to autoimmune disease.

Thanks to support from affiliate links and my Patreon page, I have been able to remove all advertisements from this website since I can crowdfund the maintenance and upkeep of the site.