Short of an HTPC, the NVIDIA SHIELD TV is the most versatile box you can put in your entertainment console. It supports 4K HDR playback from Netflix and YouTube. You can play games from Google Play Store and stream games from your PC or NVIDIA’s servers. And you can even set up an emulator for retro gaming.

Plus, all the games that you install or play will now show up in the games row on the SHIELD home screen. NVIDIA Games replaces the former SHIELD Hub app and its associated home screen tiles (SHIELD games, GeForce NOW, and GameStream). Stream your PC games from popular digital stores or free-to-play titles to your SHIELD device with GeForce NOW. Simply click on any GeForce NOW game in the NVIDIA Games app to start playing. NVIDIA GAMESTREAM™ GAMES Cast your library of PC games from your GeForce GTX or RTX PC to your SHIELD device for a big-screen living room experience. The NVIDIA Games app makes it easy to find all the games you can play on your SHIELD TV. Whether you've downloaded an Android game from the Google Play Store, subscribed to GeForce NOW, or linked your GeForce RTX or GTX gaming PC for GameStream, you can find them all within NVIDIA Games. And only on SHIELD, get started with a selection of free games. Simply click on any GeForce NOW game in the NVIDIA Games app to start playing. NVIDIA GAMESTREAM™ GAMES Cast your library of PC games from your GeForce GTX PC to your SHIELD device for a big-screen living room experience. Enjoy direct access to Steam Big Picture.

While we’ve seen retro consoles like the PlayStation Classic and NES Classic, their single use case may be a bit of a turn-off. There’s nothing wrong with just wanting to plug something in and dive into games, but other options are better if you want a more multipurpose system. And the NVIDIA SHIELD might be the best of them.

What Are Emulators and ROMs?

You need two pieces to play your older games on a newer system:

An Emulator: This is the software that imitates the classic console, giving your system a way to play classic games. The emulator is responsible for translating controls, as well as handling video and audio output. Most emulators also enable save states so that you can save your game progress at any point.
ROMs: These are the software version of the game you’re playing.

Emulators are perfectly legal, but the ROM files are a bit murkier. Copyright laws vary from country to country, but in the best case, the only legal method to obtain a ROM is to rip it from a cartridge that you own. The cartridge needs to stay in your possession, and you can’t share the ROM file with anyone. Before getting started, take a look at the laws in your region and make sure you’re getting your ROMs in a legal way.

Why Use the SHIELD Instead of Buying a Classic Console?

While setting up emulators on the SHIELD isn’t as easy as just plugging in an NES Classic, it’s much simpler than building your own system and more TV-friendly than emulating games on your PC. And when you’re not gaming, you can use the same box to binge watch your favorite shows.

Since NVIDIA has a first party controller for the SHIELD, emulator developers know that’s the controller most users will have. This makes it easier to include support for that controller, meaning you’ll have more luck getting it to work with your favorite retro game right out of the box.

Another advantage of the SHIELD is that you can play games from multiple platforms. The PlayStation Classic will only let you play the 20 games it comes with, so when you finish them all, the console becomes a (very attractive, mind you) decoration. As we’ll get to in a moment, most emulators for the SHIELD support a variety of platforms. You can play your NES games, but also SNES, GameBoy, PlayStation and more—all from one device.

Check Out Games on the Google Play Store

Even if you have a legal copy of your game ROM and an emulator to play it on, you should still consider looking for the same game in the Google Play Store. You’ll likely have to buy it again, but even older AAA games like the Grand Theft Auto series come in at less than ten bucks (each). And with that, you completely avoid the legal gray area of obtaining the game ROM. You also know you can download the game again at any time from the Play Store, so you don’t need to keep your old cartridge and ROM file.

Video Shield Tv

A ported game will also probably perform better than an emulated one and may have features like better controller support and cloud saves. It stings a bit to repurchase something you already own, but the convenience is likely worth a few bucks.

That said, let’s take a look at how to get an emulator working.

Here’s What You’ll Need

Install Shield App

You need a few things to make this work:

RetroArch: This emulator is available for free in the Play Store, so you don’t have to worry about sideloading it onto your device. It also supports plenty of older systems, easy state saving, and loading, and includes support for the SHIELD controller.
Solid Explorer: This is the best file manager for Android, even on a 160-inch screen.
A USB drive: Older game files are tiny, so you don’t need a big thumb drive. The twenty or so games I had were only about 1.3GB.

To prepare the USB drive, format it as NTFS, exFAT or FAT32 on your Windows computer.

How to Load Your ROM Files

It’ll be easier later on if you separate the ROM files into different subfolders for each system. My NES ROMs are in a folder labeled “NES,” my GameBoy Advance ROMs are in a folder labeled “GBA,” and so on. Once you have your ROMs folder all set up, copy the entire folder to your USB drive.

Next, insert the thumb drive into your NVIDIA SHIELD.

Use the navigation pad on the SHIELD’s remote to select the hamburger menu in the upper-left corner.

Select the Settings icon.

Use the navigation buttons to move down the list and uncheck the “Bottom context toolbar” option. With this unchecked, tools like copy, paste, and more become available to you with the SHIELD’s remote.

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Press the back button on the remote once, then move down and select “USB Drive 1.”

Move down to the ROMs folder

Install Shield Tv Games For Free