5 Cool 90s-Inspired Gadgets You Can Find on Amazon

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The technology of the 1990s, in many ways, defined the decade. It has become embedded in the culture, with Blockbuster Video stores acting as both a meeting place and primary access to movies and video games. Technology also began to shrink down to devices that could fit into backpacks and pockets. Small tech like Game Boys and Tamagotchis aren’t yet the kind of retro gadgets your grandpa might have, but eventually the ’90s will be far enough behind us for that to be the case.

But as always, technology evolves and devices like portable CD players have given way to MP3 players. Laptops have even emerged as far more capable computing options than the desktops of the 1990s. But there has been a wave of nostalgia lately, with some disillusionment with modern technology sparking interest in 1980s-inspired gadgets as well as gadgets that harken back to the 1990s in one way or another.

Amazon, of course, has a huge stock, among which one can find many tech gadgets that are reminiscent of the 90s. We have sorted through the best of them and selected a number of gadgets that we believe belong to the 90s child that still lives in each of us. So whether you live in the 1990s and want to reconnect with that era or just want to find different ways to tap into the ’90s vibe, let’s explore some gadgets that Amazon shelves have to offer.

While the portable CD player first appeared in the 1980s, the Sony Discman is a legendary gadget born in the ’90s. Its rise was accompanied by improvements in anti-skip technology, allowing CDs to play cleanly even when the player was on your lap or tucked into a backpack while you walked. Even though music has become largely digitized, the Greadio Discman portable music player provides a great way to listen to music in a variety of formats.

This is a modern version of the Discman portable CD player, as it supports both MP3 CDs and traditional audio CDs. Unlike portable CD players from the 1990s, this device has a built-in rechargeable battery. This upgrade is likely to be a hit with those who remember having to track down a set of AAs every time they ran their Discman dry. The battery lasts up to 11 hours between charges, and an included AUX cable lets you connect it to your car stereo or other external speakers.

However, this gadget probably won’t completely replace your smartphone or other music player. Some technology from the 1990s is gone for a reason and for many, a portable CD player can be an inconvenience. But it’s a realistic device for those who want to own their music library rather than relying on streaming services. Those with their own music library can burn CDs in the vein of old mixtapes to enjoy them on demand… and on the go, thanks to Greadio, available for $40 on Amazon.

Pokémon was a cultural explosion in the 1990s, and although the card games, Game Boy games, and animated television shows didn’t reach the United States until 1998, each played a major role in the memory of that decade. For those who spent their afternoons trying to “catch ’em all,” eKids captured some of that nostalgia with its Pokémon Pokéball Bluetooth speaker.

Although not among the best Bluetooth speaker brands, eKids makes a quality Bluetooth speaker that is somewhat similar to the popular Amazon Echo Dot. Designed to look like a Pokémon Pokéball, it should not be confused with a toy. eKids includes speakerphone functionality, and the device can connect to smartphones, tablets, laptops, and other Bluetooth-enabled devices. It also has a USB-C port that can be used for charging, with the speaker lasting up to 10 hours between charges.

The eKids Pokémon Pokéball Speaker is not entirely a toy, nor a smart home device. It’s not meant to integrate with other devices like the Echo Dot and other smart speakers are capable of. But it’s also priced at just $25, which is relatively inexpensive for a Bluetooth speaker that offers good audio playback, connectivity with many types of devices, and a touch of 1990s nostalgia on a desktop.

Gaming handhelds are one of the retro gadgets making a comeback, and the 1990s saw handheld gaming reach a new level. Nintendo’s library of Game Boy games grew throughout the decade, and devices like the Sega Game Gear also influenced gamers of the era. Amazon has many different options for those looking for a way to access retro video games, but the Xiskt retro gaming handheld console is one of the most affordable.

The gaming gadget costs just $19 and comes in five different color options. It has a three-inch color LCD screen and very closely resembles the original Game Boy and Game Boy Color. It comes with 400 pre-installed video games, all categorized into casual, puzzle, shooting, or sports games. The console even comes with a built-in battery, eliminating the need to replace batteries as required for portable game consoles of the 1990s.

One thing to know before buying this gadget is that nowhere is it listed which games come pre-installed. Verified buyers on Amazon have provided photos showing titles like Dr. Mario, Contra, and even Super Mario Bros. 3 on the console screen. But Xiskt doesn’t claim such titles are available, so there’s no definitive way to know which games are among the 400 preinstalled on the console without launching it yourself.

It was common to find Tetris pre-installed on PCs and other gaming devices in the 1990s. It was bundled with the Game Boy when the device first hit the market, making it a staple of portable gaming from the start. The My Play Tetris smartwatch is a nice combination of 1990s craze and modern technology. This is a fully functional smartwatch that can track fitness and health metrics, but it also lets you play Tetris wherever you go.

You could argue that a good portion of the cheap Android smartwatches on the market take themselves a little too seriously for those who don’t have specific fitness goals to achieve. The My Play Tetris smartwatch, however, provides fitness features like daily step counts, heart rate tracking, and calorie counts without becoming obtrusive wearable technology. The main goal of the watch is to provide an arcade-style Tetris gaming experience.

Priced at $80, this gadget can be a bit pricey for a device that doesn’t offer a full smartwatch experience or a full gaming experience. It’s made for Tetris enthusiasts more than fitness freaks or retro gamers, as its design is Tetris-themed even when they’re not playing the game. But it has an IP67 water resistance rating and a 1.91-inch color screen, making it a pretty competent piece of 1990s-inspired tech.

The CD-ROM appeared on the consumer PC market in the 1990s, but the standard method for saving and moving files for much of the decade was the 3.5-inch floppy disk. It held 1.44MB of data, which isn’t much these days, and so devices like USB sticks and burnable data CDs took over. But for those using a modern SSD, the Haggis Floppy SSD Enclosure is a nice homage to 1990s external storage, mimicking the form factor of those old floppy disks.

The enclosure is suitable for M.2 NVMe SSDs and supports 10Gbps USB-C connections for fast data transfers to and from your computer, laptop, tablet or mobile device. It comes in three different color options and costs $28 on Amazon. One of the key features is a high-performance main control chip that offers great compatibility and lower power consumption than control chips found on some other SSD enclosure options.

Nonetheless, some Amazon customers noted in reviews that the enclosure was not compatible with the SSD they thought it was compatible with. This is one you’ll want to check the specs of before making a purchase, as it looks like it won’t fit all SSD types. But it’s a nice piece of nostalgia and it travels easily, as it’s smaller than a standard 3.5-inch floppy disk and comes with a lanyard and short USB-C cable that are both easy to keep on hand.

The 1990s produced many cutting-edge technologies, much of which laid the foundation for the devices we use today. In searching Amazon for interesting selections here, we focused on gadgets that are either descendants of ’90s technology or evoke a fondness and nostalgia for the culture and events of the era. A gadget like the Greadio Discman portable music player is the spitting image of portable CD players from the 90s, and at the same time, it offers updated hardware and more modern features. Some other gadgets featured here lean more on cultural nostalgia for their ’90s inspiration, while still being a legitimate piece of modern technology worth owning. All of the products listed above also enjoy overall favorable ratings from Amazon customers who have purchased them.