Sebastian Santabarbara

Sebastian Santabarbara covers retro gaming culture and hardware with a collector's eye and a nostalgic voice, focusing on how classic franchises and consoles live on today. He is Editor-in-Chief at Retro Dodo and has worked as a video games journalist for over six years, combining deep knowledge of retro consoles with practical buyer’s guidance for readers around the world. He is also an internationally published author with books released in multiple languages and a regular voice on Retro Dodo’s podcast.

Retro hardware, controllers, and handhelds

A large share of Santabarbara’s recent work examines contemporary hardware built for playing old games, from controllers to limited-edition consoles. In his coverage of Retro Fighters’ Brawler64 Pro Series, he digs into how a modern controller design pays tribute to original Nintendo 64 hardware while trying to improve comfort and performance for today’s players. His long review of 8BitDo’s NES 40th Collection looks at build quality, aesthetics, and how faithfully the devices honour the look and feel of Nintendo’s first home console. When new retro-focused handhelds such as the Retroid Pocket Classic are announced, he quickly breaks down official specifications and positioning to show where they fit in the crowded landscape of emulation handhelds. Across these pieces he writes in clear, direct prose that balances enthusiasm for nostalgic design with straight answers on what the hardware actually offers.

Remakes, demakes, and revived classics

Santabarbara routinely follows how classic games are remade, re-released, or rediscovered, treating them as living properties rather than static museum pieces.

His article on all three TimeSplitters games being remade and released as free-to-play titles spotlights how a cult first-person shooter series is being preserved and opened up to a new audience through modern infrastructure. When The Secret of Monkey Island receives an 8-bit remake for the Commodore 64, he emphasises the craft of translating a beloved point-and-click adventure into the constraints of vintage hardware and the appeal for fans who still use those machines. He highlights fan-led demakes such as Kirby and the Forgotten Land on Game Boy Color, framing them as creative tributes that capture the charm of modern entries within classic limitations.

Even unexpected archival finds, such as a cancelled Quake 4 expansion discovered on a PC bought from Amazon, become news stories in his hands that underline how much unfinished history still exists in personal collections and forgotten drives. This strand of his coverage connects preservation, fandom, and access, showing how older titles keep generating new stories through remakes, mods, and chance discoveries.

Emulation, tools, and collecting infrastructure

Beyond games and hardware, Santabarbara reports on the software and services that enable retro play and collecting.

He covers updates to popular emulators, such as new dual-screen support for a leading Nintendo 3DS emulator, explaining what has changed and what it means for playing handheld libraries on modern devices. In his piece on Epilogue’s mobile app, he shows how tools that detect counterfeits, identify cartridges, and check prices are reshaping the way collectors manage and authenticate their libraries. Across these stories he pays attention to practical workflows and user experience, describing how features translate into day-to-day use for players and collectors rather than just listing technical specifications.

This focus on infrastructure complements his hardware and remake coverage, giving a rounded view of the contemporary retro ecosystem.

Rankings, retrospectives, and franchise fandom

Santabarbara also writes long-form rankings and anniversary pieces that draw directly on his own deep history with consoles and series. His ranking of the 25 best PlayStation 1 games combines canonical picks with personal favourites, offering capsule judgments that highlight why each title still matters for players today. For the 35th anniversary of the Game Boy, he contributes reflections that trace how the handheld and Pokémon shaped his childhood and his later work, including the origins of Retro Dodo and its book projects. These essays foreground his affection for series such as Zelda, Banjo-Kazooie, Donkey Kong, Pokémon, and other Nintendo-centric franchises, a passion that is repeatedly referenced in his author biography and team profile.

Taken together, his rankings and retrospectives show a writer who intertwines personal nostalgia with accessible criticism, using his own experience to anchor coverage that still serves readers looking for guidance on what to play or revisit.