I could list a bunch of general YTers that cover retro games among other gaming topics, but for those who mainly cover retro games I like Big Ole Words, Hungry Goriya, and Video Works.
He mentioned on Twitter that he was disappointed by the engagement metrics on the DJ Bongos episode and wanted to take some time off. Bummer cause I really liked that episode.
Retro Game Mechanics Explained is one of my favorite YouTube channels of all time. There's an absolute treasure trove of interesting technical deep-dives about the inner workings of retro games, famous glitches, and how the hardware works. And it's all presented with clear, silky smooth animations that make everything so much easier to understand.
I'm not even into retro games that much, yet the content is so good that it has me completely hooked anyway. I'd highly recommended it for anyone who wants to learn more about computer science or the clever techniques programmers used to get things to run on old hardware.
Matt McMuscles has been on a roll lately with his retro retrospectives. The near 11 hour Double Dragon marathon was a chef's kiss. (https://youtu.be/TEn1ALxpFAg)
Becoming kind of a fan of Korone as well lately, even if I can't understand her most of the time. Really enjoying her Legend of Zelda playthrough right now. She's just having fun discovering and not bothering with doing it "right" (https://www.youtube.com/live/NWzBjSwAcvk)
Ole matty-fatty definitely does some pretty good coverage. And with I guess his background in QA testing. Has a bit of insight and a few connections to help with that.
RetroGameCorps is phenomenal if you're looking into emulation and / or emulation handhelds. Got an Ambernic RG351V after watching his review and followed his guide for setting up Emudeck on my Steam Deck. 10/10 channel IMO
If he hasn't already been mentioned, Modern Vintage Gamer (MVG) on the tubes is awesome. He sometimes adds developer insight into his videos and digs beneath the surface of the tech he's talking about.
He's good, but lately some of his videos don't add much considering their lenght. His best type of video is when he dissects the discovery process of console's vulnerabilities to enable jailbreaks.
Some of them you can tell he's stretching it out to hit the magic 10-minute mark. I usually can tell which ones are gonna be interesting by the thumbnail/topic and stick to the cream of the crop.
DF Retro has never disappointed. If I remember correctly, they literally yeeted someone off Game Sack to help do the retro content. Could be wrong about that though.
Sega Lord X is the first one that springs to mind. I tend to prefer hardware and history over too much detail on the games themselves for other channels.
I just started watching Now in the 90s. It has an episode every Friday and goes over the console releases of that week from 30 years ago. They pick a couple games to do more in-depth on reviews then shows the current value of the games with and without a box. They're 8-15 minutes.
My Life in Gaming is probably my favourite, I love the depth they go into in their full videos, and their Sunday streams are always super chill for me to just kick back and relax to retro game stuff.
Game Sack is a long-running channel that's one of the best retro game channels IMO. They release a video every week or two. MetalJesusRocks and his endless quest for Hidden Gems is also very good.
James Channel is good. Very new so there aren't many videos but he does good technical dives and general nonsense with old arcade games and retro systems.
Also made a handheld super Nintendo with duct tape and hot glue.
Sean Seanson for PSX content. He does videos on obscure games. He does videos on japanese exclusives. There are huge videos where he covers every released game of certain developers like square or namco. Also some sweet music sets only with songs from playstation games.
I absolutely love his positive attitude. Great guy. Also i discovered so many cool games i otherwise would have never heard of.
Anyone used to watch CGR Undertow? They had short 5 minute reviews on seemingly every retro game. I would binge basically any game I had or was interested in around 8-10 years ago
Modern Vintage Gamer and GameHunt are both God tier channels made by old developers. MVG is ran by someone who was huge into console modding and emulation for a while. GameHut is ran by the owner of Travelers Tales, better known for Sonic 3d Blast, Sonic R, and the Lego Star Wars series. Both great channels
Guru Larry's Fact Hunt videos can be fun, although he definitely uses an over-the-top personality. He often does listicle style videos but almost always forgets that any video game has been released since 1993. Lots of lists will contain like amiga ports of arcade games and stuff.
For example in the video "Purposely Broken, Unbeatable Games by DICKISH Developers" the game selection is Smash TV, Gladiator/Great Gurianos for the ZX Spectrum, Robocop for the Commodore 64, Dennis the Menace for the Commodore Amiga, and then Tony Hawks Pro Skater 5 but it mentions how weird it is to mention something so modern