If you're anything like me, then you do your retro gaming across a wide range of platforms.

I've got the MiSTer FPGA hooked up to my TV, and a SuperStation One in the office. I also emulate retro games on my AYANEO 3, KONKR Pocket Advance and AYANEO Pocket DS. Whenever I get a new emulation handheld to review, there's a good chance I'll spend some time playing my favourite classic games on that, too.

All of this means that keeping track of my save files is a huge headache. I can't easily switch from one platform to another and expect to retain my progress – unless I manually copy over save files, and that gets old very quickly. Then there's the issue of losing save data, too, because it isn't saved in one place.

There are solutions on the market, with the most famous being Syncthing, but that wasn't designed to work exclusively with retro game save data. That's where Hans Larsen's 1Retro comes in. It's a cloud save sync tool aimed squarely at retro gaming, and it works across emulators, emulation handhelds, and FPGA hardware, with support for RetroArch, OpenEmu, MiSTer, OnionOS, NextUI, MinUI, Batocera, Retrobat, Miyoo, Android, and SteamOS.

Using the system – which has a free option that gives you 20 MB of storage and limits you to two saves per game – you can start your progress on one platform and then seamlessly pick it up on another. A version history system flags potential conflicts, so you don't accidentally overwrite your precious file.

As already noted, the free tier allows you to check out 1Retro without pledging any of your cash, but the paid options start from a very reasonable $2 a month, and these come with added features, such as more save data, more save slots per game, more devices on one account, and so on. Larsen eventually intends to add save state support and personal ROM syncing to the 'Basic' and 'Plus' tiers.

The developer is demonstrating 1Retro live at the Portland Retro Gaming Expo, running October 9th-11th, so you can check it out if you're attending.