MiSTer FPGA
Hacker ApprovedRanked 8 of 23 game consoles by recommenders
Recommended for accurate, fun retro gaming on a TV, backed by an active community. Main caveat: it is an expensive way to start.
20 people recommended MiSTer FPGA in Hacker News comments, 3 had mixed feelings and 1 criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026.
Summary written by Claude from 31 comments.
24 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 20
- mixed feelings
- 3
- warn against or regret it
- 1
The record
Recommended in 9 of 12 months
In 14 different threads.
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
Why it carries the badge
- 20 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 20 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 9 of 12 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
- Recommended in 14 threadsNeeds 5 or more, met.
- The biggest thread supplies 25% of its recommendersNeeds half or less, met.
The same rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. Mixed feelings count toward neither side. How the badge works
What people say about it
Reasons grouped from a sample of 31 of the 32 opinions about it, picked in proportion to how many people recommend it, have mixed feelings and criticize it. Each mark is one comment in the sample. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Strong, active community and ecosystem
“the community's well done BBC core already largely gets us to where I want us to be but the platform chiefly lacks the SID”
Comment from 2 Sep 2026 in “Commodore 64 released September 1, 1982” “the MiSTer game system community actually patched their FPGAs to output digital signals from 16-255”
Comment from 5 Jul 2026 in “Fixing analog audio on the $2.58 HDMI-to-VGA adapter” “Damn there is a whole ecosystem around that”
Comment from 16 Sep 2026 in “Recreating Voodoo Graphics and a Late-1990s Gaming PC on an FPGA” - Comment from 9 Feb 2026 in “Reverse Engineering the Prom for the SGI O2”
Many systems run via cores
“I booted my MiSTer into TI-99/4A mode and began typing programs in TI BASIC”
Comment from 14 Oct 2026 in “Recreational Programming” “I love the platform, and the more stuff I can run on it, the better.”
Comment from 21 Sep 2026 in “Amiga Unix, Again” “it's awesome especially for the Amiga and C64”
Comment from 19 Nov 2025 in “Pimped Amiga 500” - Comment from 17 Apr 2026 in “NeoGeo AES+: SNK announces reissue of retro console without emulation”
Authentic period behavior and feel
“does a good job of recreating period appropriate load times and quirks”
Comment from 19 May 2026 in “I've built a virtual museum with nearly every operating system you can think of” “I have to admit that it's better than using my A500/A1200s.”
Comment from 19 Nov 2025 in “Pimped Amiga 500” “The experience is also much better than emulation IMHO.”
Comment from 19 Nov 2025 in “Pimped Amiga 500” Fun to play with family
“I bought a MiSTer for me and my son and we played the heck out of Mario Kart 64 and Mario Golf”
Comment from 6 Aug 2026 in “How to Make a Nintendo 64 Game in 2026” “Many, many hours of fun playing games with my son on the it, I got my money's worth.”
Comment from 16 Sep 2026 in “Recreating Voodoo Graphics and a Late-1990s Gaming PC on an FPGA”
Other game consoles people recommend
The four most recommended other game consoles, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Mixed | Criticize | Approval | Months | Had for | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Valve Steam Machine | 221 | 79 | 207 | 52% | 12 | — | — |
| PlayStation 5 | 73 | 35 | 168 | 30% | 12 | — | — |
| Xbox 360 | 31 | 7 | 18 | 63% | 11 | — | — |
| PlayStation 2 | 31 | 9 | 6 | 84% | 10 | — | Approved |
| MiSTer FPGAThis page | 20 | 3 | 1 | 95% | 9 | — | Approved |
Also compared with Xbox console, Nintendo Wii, PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Entertainment System.
What people said
31 of the 32 opinions about it, picked in proportion to the three counts, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“It's a fun little device, I recommend it.”
“I booted my MiSTer into TI-99/4A mode and began typing programs in TI BASIC”
“I love the platform, and the more stuff I can run on it, the better.”
“I say this as someone who has two MiSTer builds based on DE-10 boards.”
“Damn there is a whole ecosystem around that”
“It's a super cool project, and I highly recommend checking it out”
“Many, many hours of fun playing games with my son on the it, I got my money's worth.”
“I've been playing gizmos and gadgets on it.”
“the community's well done BBC core already largely gets us to where I want us to be but the platform chiefly lacks the SID”
“way more likely to be found around”
“I bought a MiSTer for me and my son and we played the heck out of Mario Kart 64 and Mario Golf”
“the MiSTer game system community actually patched their FPGAs to output digital signals from 16-255”
“is just great for this kind of stuff”
“not even my MiSTer seems to get it right”
“does a good job of recreating period appropriate load times and quirks”
“It’s a very cool project and worth checking out if you’re enthusiastic about such things”
“There is also an overclocked core that drastically reduces slowdown on Metal Slug games.”
“that can emulate both MVS and AES”
“it has worked with all the controllers I have tried it with”
“prices have dropped a fair bit”
“going for original hardware and even hardware emulators like the MiSTer only makes sense if you then use a decent CRT as the display”
“definitely worth checking out if you're into this stuff”
“the folks working on MiSTer are incredible”
“I think using a MiSTeR would be much easier.”
“It's fun to use a MiSTer hooked up to one and a modern flatscreen”
“Yeah the Mister Pi makes more sense, financially”
“The experience is also much better than emulation IMHO.”
“it's awesome especially for the Amiga and C64”
“it's quite an expense for someone dipping a toe in”
“by far the best way to play the old consoles if you want to play on a TV”
“I have to admit that it's better than using my A500/A1200s.”
Counts come from 1,791,911 Hacker News comments labeled by Claude, November 2025 to October 2026, with data through October 31, 2026. Counts updated 2 Nov 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.