Analogue makes FPGA-based emulators. These are pretty cool because they can eliminate a number of downsides with software game console emulation while still retaining some of the upsides, and versus pure hardware clones, they can be updated and patched, either to fix bugs or add new targets. Another bonus of FPGAs is that they're accessible to hobbyists. I don't know what the current preferred solution is but a while ago people were buying DE10 Nano boards for running MiSTer, which could support a large variety of cores.
MiSTER is going strong and the recent release of the excellent-but-confusingly-named MiSTER Pi [1] board has brought the cost of entry down considerably. After I do some more SD card shuffling and verify game compatibility I plan on selling my N64 and Saturn and using OEM controllers with my MiSTER Pi. Unfortunately the Altera Cyclone FPGA in it doesn't have the horsepower to run anything beyond fifth-gen systems so a new platform would be required for the Dreamcast, Gamecube, and PS2. The common refrain from FPGA enthusiasts regarding these systems is that because the hardware has many more layers of abstraction they're less dependent on cycle-accurate timing than older consoles so the juice might not be worth the squeeze as far as building HDL cores for them is concerned.
> they're less dependent on cycle-accurate timing than older consoles
> so the juice might not be worth the squeeze as far as building HDL
> cores for them is concerned.
There's also the question of the huge amount of engineering effort required to recreate the more advanced platforms.
The Replay2 board should provide both a much more capable FPGA and loads of RAM bandwidth to go with it. (Finishing touches are apparently being made to the prototype board layout, and production is slated for the Spring)
And for anyone who thought FPGA gaming was a new phenomenon, work on the original Minimig FPGA recreation of the Amiga started in January 2005 - 20 years ago!
Yeah, totally fair. I was actually debating whether "clone" was appropriate. I've also struggled with how to explain how my Pocket works to friends who don't know what FPGA means. "It's like emulation but ..."
