Retro games are a great fit for a VPS in two ways: as a netplay relay that lets friends play classic multiplayer games online, and as a self-hosted web library where you can play your own games from any browser. Neither needs much hardware — location and network quality matter far more.

A word on legality

Emulators are legal. Game files (ROMs) are copyrighted unless the publisher has released them freely. Only use games you have the right to use: dumps of cartridges you own (where local law allows), homebrew, or officially free releases. Don’t host a public library of commercial ROMs — it’s copyright infringement and violates hosting terms, including ours.

Option 1: Netplay relay for RetroArch

RetroArch has built-in netplay: one player hosts, others connect. Problems arise when the host is behind NAT or a home connection with poor upload — a VPS solves both.

How netplay latency works

Netplay keeps every player’s emulator in sync and uses rollback: each emulator predicts input, then rewinds a few frames if the prediction was wrong. Lower ping means fewer rollbacks and smoother play. As a rule of thumb, below ~60 ms round trip feels close to local play for most retro games.

Run a relay (MITM) server

RetroArch’s relay server is open source (search for the libretro netplay MITM server). After building or downloading it on your VPS:

adduser --system --group --home /opt/netplay netplay
# place the relay binary in /opt/netplay, then run it as a service:
# /etc/systemd/system/netplay-relay.service
[Unit]
Description=RetroArch netplay relay
After=network-online.target

[Service]
User=netplay
WorkingDirectory=/opt/netplay
ExecStart=/opt/netplay/<relay-binary>
Restart=always

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
systemctl enable --now netplay-relay
ufw allow 55435/tcp      # check the relay's configured port

In RetroArch: Settings → Network → Use Relay Server, choose Custom, and enter your VPS address. The host and players then connect through your relay.

Alternatively, simply run a headless RetroArch host on the VPS for games where one fixed host makes sense.

Option 2: Self-hosted web emulator library

Projects such as EmulatorJS-based front ends (for example, the RomM library manager or EmulatorJS’s own self-hosted container) let you upload your own games and play them in a browser — on a laptop, tablet or phone.

A typical Docker setup:

docker run -d --name retro --restart unless-stopped \
  -p 127.0.0.1:3000:3000 \
  -v /srv/retro/config:/config \
  -v /srv/retro/data:/data \
  <web-emulator-image>

Check the chosen project’s documentation for its image name, ports and volumes. Then:

The emulation itself runs in the visitor’s browser, so the server only stores and serves files — a small VPS is plenty.

Choosing a location

Pick the data center that minimizes the worst player’s ping, not just yours:

Players Location
US West + Asia-Pacific friends Los Angeles
US East + Europe New York
Spread across the US Chicago
US South + Latin America Miami
East Asia Hong Kong or Tokyo

Ping the test IPs on our USA VPS, Hong Kong and Japan pages from each player’s location before deciding.

Resource needs

  • Relay server: tiny — 1 vCPU and 1 GB RAM handle many sessions; bandwidth is low for 8/16-bit systems.
  • Web library: storage for your games and saves; 1–2 GB RAM.
  • Headless emulation of later consoles needs much more CPU — test before committing.

Related: choosing a VPS for game servers and our Game Server VPS page.

  • Gaming
  • Emulation
  • Docker