Add SCART and VGA to Your Raspberry Pi for CRT Retro Gaming

If you only play the latest AAA releases, then you're missing out on a massive catalog of video games released over the past several decades. But buying the vintage consoles and computers necessary to play all of those games is a very expensive endeavor, which is why you might want to turn to emulation with a Raspberry Pi. To get the best experience, you'll want to connect your Raspberry Pi to a CRT TV. The new Recalbox RGB Dual is a HAT that adds both RGB SCART and VGA output to your Raspberry Pi for CRT goodness.

All Raspberry Pi computers have HDMI video output, but games from the fifth generation and earlier look awful on modern high-resolution LCD TVs. They look their best on a CRT (Cathode-Ray Tube) TV with a 4:3 aspect ratio. While you can output composite video from a Raspberry Pi, not all vintage CRT TVs accept composite video. The Recalbox RGB Dual HAT gives you two additional options: RGB SCART and VGA. Most Americans won't be familiar with SCART, but it was popular in Europe. Anyone who used computer in the '90s is familiar with VGA. Both are superior to composite video.

The Recalbox RGB Dual Kickstart campaign just launched, but it has already raised more than $34,000—several times its modest $4,761 funding goal. The device is as simple as it gets: a small circuit board HAT that attaches to a Raspberry Pi's GPIO pins. When used with the popular Recalbox game emulation software, it will automatically pipe video and audio out through your chosen connection. Onboard chips handle the video processing and the audio amplification. All settings are configurable through Recalbox and it supports both NTSC and PAL TVs.

If you want a Recalbox RGB Dual, the Kickstarter campaign is running until January 7th, 2022. Backers can get a special Kickstarter Edition of the HAT for €40 (about $46) and rewards will ship as early as February of 20222.