Andrew Borman, director of digital preservation at The Strong Museum, emphasizes that while repairing old CRTs is one solution, documenting how to fix and maintain them is just as important. CRTs are part of a broader preservation challenge: as old hardware fails, museums and historians must rely on technical documentation like chip schematics, hardware plots, and case designs to keep these games playable and historically accurate. The conversation highlights that CRTs aren’t just nostalgia—they’re critical infrastructure for preserving the authentic visual experience of retro games.
Retro gaming and preservation experts are increasingly concerned about CRT TVs, which were integral to how many classic games were designed to look. As noted during the Game Developers Conference 2026 roundtable on game preservation, old games like those on the SNES relied on the natural blur and scanlines of CRT displays to smooth pixels and create a more “3D” or visually pleasing effect. Modern TVs—even when upscaled—often fail to replicate that intended look accurately.