Kevin Toms

Forget the fancy spec sheets; it’s what you build with your own hands that truly screams performance. There’s a certain magic to bringing a machine to life, whether you’re restoring a 20-year-old Video Star Mark II cabinet or diving into the guts of an FPGA system. This week is a treasure trove for anyone who loves the intersection of hardware and nostalgia, from DIY arcade solutions to the technical wizardry required to keep the Sega Saturn alive on modern chips. If you've ever felt the itch to tinker, recap a monitor, or just celebrate the machines that defined our childhoods, you're in the right place. Swap Arcade folds full-size gaming into living room furniture There was a time about 25 years ago when every hardware enthusiast was trying to cram a PC running MAME into a bulky, reclaimed cabinet. I fell for it myself, eventually ending up with three machines from eBay that sat in various states of disrepair. The problem was always space and aesthetics—most partners don't want a massive, peeling plywood behemoth in the dining room. Enter the Swap Arcade, a Kickstarter project that has already smashed its funding goal by five times, raising nearly $55,000. The hardware is clever. It’s a wall-mounted wooden cupboard—available in walnut or tobacco finishes—that transforms into a full-scale arcade cabinet in seconds. Under the hood, the early bird version at $1,097 (roughly £821) comes equipped with a Raspberry Pi 4 running Batocera. For the serious builders, there's an N100 Mini PC upgrade path that opens up much more processing power for modern titles. The control deck uses Sanwa joysticks and a Brook Zero Pi encoder, which is a gold standard for low-latency input. It even supports the Sinden Lightgun, solving the age-old problem of playing Duck Hunt or Time Crisis on a modern 27-inch LCD. Sega Saturn MiSTer core hits the limits of FPGA logic The MiSTer FPGA project is the peak of current retro hardware, but the Sega Saturn core is pushing the DE10-Nano platform to its absolute breaking point. Unlike software emulation, which uses a CPU to guess what a game should do, FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) chips physically reorganize their logic gates to become the original hardware. The Saturn is a notoriously complex beast with dual SH-2 processors and a mess of custom silicon that makes it a nightmare to replicate. Developer Sergey Drodnenko (known as SRG320) has hit a wall where the core is "chock-full." It uses nearly every available Adaptive Logic Module (ALM) on the chip. Recent optimizations were required just to make the project compilable again; apparently, the Quartus software used to build the core was having a total meltdown trying to fit the logic onto the silicon. The latest "unstable" builds now offer dual-RAM support, allowing the system to offload some tasks to a second memory module to free up precious logic gates. They even managed to add flashing LED support to mimic the original console's disc-access lights—a small detail that represents a massive technical victory when you're fighting for every single bit of space on a chip. Taki Udon SuperStation One puts official mini consoles to shame Sony’s PlayStation Classic was a disappointment for many of us because it relied on mediocre software emulation. Taki Udon, a tech YouTuber known for his hardware mods, has delivered the antidote: the SuperStation One. Priced at $210, this is essentially a MiSTer system optimized for the PlayStation experience. It features original controller ports and memory card slots, meaning you don't have to give up your authentic DualShock or your 25-year-old Gran Turismo save files. The build quality is stellar, featuring S-Video, composite, and component outputs for those of us still rocking CRT monitors. It also includes a dedicated connector for original Guncon light guns, which require a composite sync signal to function. While the unit gets notoriously warm—the FPGA chip is working overtime here—it represents the most accurate way to play PS1 games without maintaining a finicky 30-year-old optical drive. For those who still want physical media, a Super Dock add-on is in the works to bring actual CD support to the device. DEZ mod brings ray-traced lighting to 1993 Doom I’m a Doom purist at heart—give me an OPL3 Sound Blaster 16 and a 486 processor any day. However, the DEZ (Doom Enhancements) mod by Steve Morrell is hard to ignore. This isn't just a texture pack; it’s a total PBR (Physically Based Rendering) and 3D overhaul for GZDoom and VKDoom. It adds dynamic lighting that makes lava actually glow and bounce off walls, and it provides 3D models for weapons and monsters based on Doom Eternal. The mod is split into two PK3 files. The first handles environmental changes like textures and lighting, while the second (optional) pack contains the 3D models. This modularity is a godsend because running the full suite with ray-tracing is surprisingly demanding even on modern Nvidia RTX cards. It gives the original id Software masterpiece a Doom 3 vibe—dark, atmospheric, and technically impressive—without losing the fast-paced mechanical soul of the original levels. Football Manager creator returns for a ZX Spectrum legacy collection Before it was a massive Sega franchise, Football Manager was the brainchild of Kevin Toms, a man whose face (and impressive beard) graced every box. This year, Toms is partnering with Midnight Brew Games to release the ZX Football Manager: The Legacy Collection. It’s a physical cassette release for the ZX Spectrum, including the 1982 original and a revised version that adds modern European leagues. What makes this special is the physical packaging. We’re talking about a premium slipcase, a 24-page match day program, and a signed replica of the original Addictive Games business card. It’s a celebration of the bedroom coding era. While the digital versions are free to ensure no one gets sued by FIFA, the £36 physical box is aimed squarely at the collectors who want a piece of British gaming history on their shelf. It’s a reminder that sometimes the best tech isn't the fastest, but the one that captures the spirit of a specific moment in time.