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What are your thoughts on emulation?
- Thread starter oni-link
- Start date
It's a wonderful way to make older games portable, and functions such as savestates and rewind are a great way of dealing with the artificial difficulty so many older games were plagued with.
Not sure why you feel like this opposes what I said. I basically said it's a case by case situation, and you offered a case where it's better. So that's begging to agree, not differ.
I think it's an absolutely critical part of gaming. Original hardware is great to have, but for the majority of people it'll never be a practical or desirable way to play games. Emulation now, and especially in the future, will be the way most players experience the classics of the past.
I prefer to play on OG hardware since I think setting it up is part of the fun of playing old games.
Also I think it's incredibly sad that emulation/piracy is the only way to preserve games.
Also I think it's incredibly sad that emulation/piracy is the only way to preserve games.
I honestly think games are just toys in software form. Emulation for me is not very different from running Blender on a better computer than my old one. Maybe it was designed to run on my 2GB laptop, but if I can have a better time on a better machine, why not?
It's generally the best way to play a game. Even remasters often have inaccuracies in them, assuming they even let you use the original graphics to begin with. If you have the money to pour into a nice PVM and the right cables that would be the best way to go but for most people (and especially with 3D games you can run at higher res) emulation is the best option.
Emulation is great for the preservation of games and the community is amazing for often pooling money to buy beta versions of games that only exist in a few copies. That Bio Ape game on NES is a great example of that.
I care about the original experience of playing games a lot, but not to the point where it would take too much of my time.
I own a lot of old consoles myself, but if I have the option of playing an RPG with a turbo mode, I will. Old games are notorious for being grind-heavy.
The turbo mode on emulators allows me to play way more games that I ever could.
I care about the original experience of playing games a lot, but not to the point where it would take too much of my time.
I own a lot of old consoles myself, but if I have the option of playing an RPG with a turbo mode, I will. Old games are notorious for being grind-heavy.
The turbo mode on emulators allows me to play way more games that I ever could.
It's great, whether you use it to make a game run better, look better, or cheats to make the overall experience more pleasant.
Love emulation. Like you I think save states are a great addition and make older games more accessible.
I have several Nintendo systems and the sorry state of their online classic games makes me shrug my shoulders and have no problem ripping roms. I jail broke my Nintendo classic and will eventually do the same to my snes. Love playing tecmo bowl with updated rosters each year. Wish they had the same thing for tecmo super bowl.
I have several Nintendo systems and the sorry state of their online classic games makes me shrug my shoulders and have no problem ripping roms. I jail broke my Nintendo classic and will eventually do the same to my snes. Love playing tecmo bowl with updated rosters each year. Wish they had the same thing for tecmo super bowl.
I absolutely prefer original hardware over emulation, but there are some games (like the Sonic Genesis games) I only ever managed to play in emulated format through stuff like the SEGA Classics Collections.
As for emulating my own library of backups, I emulate them sometimes for the novelty of it but generally they're just there to be used on the original hardware without straining the disc drive (or in cases like my PS2, just a straight up necessity since that one completely stopped reading discs so OPL is my only means to play on it at all).
As for emulating my own library of backups, I emulate them sometimes for the novelty of it but generally they're just there to be used on the original hardware without straining the disc drive (or in cases like my PS2, just a straight up necessity since that one completely stopped reading discs so OPL is my only means to play on it at all).
I prefer original hardware if possible. But its getting harder and harder with the display world phasing out older connection types and so on like hardware failing after years or use or nonuse.
So I fire up emulators for my favorite ps1 titles and so on occasionally but there is always something missing. The hit or miss nature of it sucks as well sometimes and unless theres mass community interest some games just dont get fixed. But all the extra featues and what not that some can do really makes it refreshing to revist an old classic.
It's a great solution to most of my problems when I want to play an old game or one I never got to as a child for sure. Admittedly though I've rarely beaten a emulated game. I always just try them out then drop it usually unless I really, really wanna see the end.
So I fire up emulators for my favorite ps1 titles and so on occasionally but there is always something missing. The hit or miss nature of it sucks as well sometimes and unless theres mass community interest some games just dont get fixed. But all the extra featues and what not that some can do really makes it refreshing to revist an old classic.
It's a great solution to most of my problems when I want to play an old game or one I never got to as a child for sure. Admittedly though I've rarely beaten a emulated game. I always just try them out then drop it usually unless I really, really wanna see the end.
It's extremely important for preservation of games. I wish i had a way to rip games legit though. :(
I'd rather play on actual hardware, but if it's something that is lost to time and there is no other way then I do what I gotta do. As hardware and CD and carts start to fail it will be the only way for future generations to play some of this stuff.
I really do like Emulation and it's typically how I play a lot of my older games (As I haven't gotten a CRT yet).
I really love playing on original hardware, where possible, but sometimes emulation is the only way to experience some older games, even from a QOL point of view (say, Jurassic Park on SNES which had no battery save or password system).
Not sure what you're implying here but look into the ripping thread. Most systems are easier than you think
https://www.resetera.com/threads/th...-build-your-own-legitimate-rom-library.37867/
I also have some more generalized suggestions in the emulator screenshot thread.
Emulation is great; I've played a ton of games that I otherwise would've never played without it.
my order of preferences about pre-2000 games:
- og hardware on CRT
- simulated hardware on CRT
- emulated hardware on CRT
- og hardware on LCD
- simulated hardware on LCD
- emulated hardware on LCD
You can play those games (as well as translated games) on original hardware too, thanks to the flash carts.
I prefer playing in original hardware if possible, but I'll take the convenience of emulation every day. If I can play Symphony of the Night on my 3DS or my phone I'll take it over everything else.
I'm against emulation of current Gen consoles though
I'm against emulation of current Gen consoles though
Botw can have too many issues at 60fps, I like it to be exactly like the original version this is why I'll play at 30fps anyway if Switch Pro will not be a thing.
I personally believe that emulation can be better than original hardware because it can lead to improvements that would make it a better experience.
With emulation of old 2D games, we can easily overclock the console via emulator settings, often leading to smoother gameplay. For example, Road Rash on Genesis has a really terrible frame rate (maybe 12 FPS?). But if you load it in an emulator and overclock the game, it runs at like 30 or 60, it's honestly an incredible transformation. And even other games that exhibit mild to moderate slowdown like Mega Man 3 and Kirby's Adventure on NES benefit greatly from an overclock.
Of course, overclocking also can enhance 3D games, but 3D games also give us the ability to make the polygons higher resolution and add and/or employ enhanced effects like anti-aliasing, anistropic filtering, better texture filtering, etc.
In other words, emulation can remove the hardware limitations from the original hardware and allow for an enhanced gameplay experience. Not that original hardware is bad (there are many very great reasons to use it, especially with regards to latency), but overall I think emulation in theory will always have the ability to be better.
With emulation of old 2D games, we can easily overclock the console via emulator settings, often leading to smoother gameplay. For example, Road Rash on Genesis has a really terrible frame rate (maybe 12 FPS?). But if you load it in an emulator and overclock the game, it runs at like 30 or 60, it's honestly an incredible transformation. And even other games that exhibit mild to moderate slowdown like Mega Man 3 and Kirby's Adventure on NES benefit greatly from an overclock.
Of course, overclocking also can enhance 3D games, but 3D games also give us the ability to make the polygons higher resolution and add and/or employ enhanced effects like anti-aliasing, anistropic filtering, better texture filtering, etc.
In other words, emulation can remove the hardware limitations from the original hardware and allow for an enhanced gameplay experience. Not that original hardware is bad (there are many very great reasons to use it, especially with regards to latency), but overall I think emulation in theory will always have the ability to be better.
Other: I love emulation, I don't think it's always the best way to play older games but it is the simplest for most of us.
Regardless of the piracy debate, I think emulation is in general a great good for preservation.
Regardless of the piracy debate, I think emulation is in general a great good for preservation.
Original hardware ist best, no question. Especially if it is somewhat special, like arcade cabinets or stuff with exotic features (DS touchscreen and clamshell design, wiimote pointer, etc). Often the "ambience" surrounding the games can be just as important as the games themselves.
Still, emulation is an incredibly important help in keeping our gaming heritage alive and in memory.
Hardware will inevitably die, one day. Hopefully, by that time there will be super high quality emulators available, nurtured and perfected through decades of comparisons with the og hardware. Like, cycle accurate, correct colour encoding and such stuff.
Also, emulation is often the only way to play old games when the hardware itself has self destruct features, like certain arcade cabinets that brick themselves when an internal battery dies.
Still, emulation is an incredibly important help in keeping our gaming heritage alive and in memory.
Hardware will inevitably die, one day. Hopefully, by that time there will be super high quality emulators available, nurtured and perfected through decades of comparisons with the og hardware. Like, cycle accurate, correct colour encoding and such stuff.
Also, emulation is often the only way to play old games when the hardware itself has self destruct features, like certain arcade cabinets that brick themselves when an internal battery dies.
I prefer playing on original hardware but considering I'm living in a one room apartment smaller than my last bedroom it's not possible for me to have multiple consoles set up. Emulation is a great way for me to work on my backlog. Shame Switch doesn't have Virtual Console and PS4 can't play PS1 and PS2 games (or PS3 but PS3 emulation would be ridiculous to expect from the PS4).
EDIT: Also I don't have room for a CRT and my TV doesn't take anything but HDMI and maybe component.
EDIT: Also I don't have room for a CRT and my TV doesn't take anything but HDMI and maybe component.
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When I played it I don't remember having any significant issues.
Emulation allowed me to play games I love so much like BS Zelda that would have NEVER been accessible/lost to time otherwise.
Love it.
I played it on a homebrewed Wii.
Love it.
I played it on a homebrewed Wii.
For consoles with mostly 3D games such as the N64, Dreamcast, PS2, Gamecube/Wii, emulation is a gift thanks to the ability to raise the internal resolution.
For old school stuff I'm more of an FPGA guy lately. Emulation has been great for those lately as well though.
For old school stuff I'm more of an FPGA guy lately. Emulation has been great for those lately as well though.
It's great, keeps us from having to keep old consoles and preserves games in a digital way. The only person I've seen speak against it is non other than Mike Matei.
Emulation has been great over the years, not only providing a platform for more people to experience games that are harder to obtain, but also in being the launchpad for many fan passion projects and even new developers.
It's not only about preservation, it's making the history and culture of video games available to a larger audience.
It's not only about preservation, it's making the history and culture of video games available to a larger audience.
Imaging playing SSBU as your first smash game and you end up being curious about Ness. Now you want to play Earthbound. Let's talk options.
Buy an SNES and a CRT, and then find a secondary market copy of Earthbound for like $200-500.
Buy an SNES Classic on the secondary market because they're all sold out for like $150-200.
Buy a dead ecosystem (Wii U) just for the virtual console so you can buy Earthbound there.
Who would ever blame somebody for emulating in that scenario? I support emulation when they make classic games a pain in the ass to access. Maybe I'm ignorant to the whole process, but I have to imagine getting ROMs onto NSO or a digital shop would take little to no effort at all.
Buy an SNES and a CRT, and then find a secondary market copy of Earthbound for like $200-500.
Buy an SNES Classic on the secondary market because they're all sold out for like $150-200.
Buy a dead ecosystem (Wii U) just for the virtual console so you can buy Earthbound there.
Who would ever blame somebody for emulating in that scenario? I support emulation when they make classic games a pain in the ass to access. Maybe I'm ignorant to the whole process, but I have to imagine getting ROMs onto NSO or a digital shop would take little to no effort at all.
People who gate keep saying you have to experience the way it was meant to be played
I prefer to play on the original hardware but that won't always be option so I definitely consider emulation to be important.
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I am a strong advocate of cycle accurate emulation and the preservation of games.
Sure there are some strong advocates of running games on physical hardware and the original carts or disks, but as unfortunate effect of natural wear and tear over time even the consoles start to fail, and even replacement parts become scarcer due to no one manufacturing them anymore.
Once the original hardware is no longer functional, Emulators that strive for 100% Hardware cycle accuracy will be the only means of running these games including software related issues such as slowdowns and bugs near-perfectly replicated how they were on its original hardware.
What Byuu did with the entire SNES library and his Higan project was absolute blessing for future generations decades from now to experience the SNES almost as close to it's original environment without the actual physical hardware itself.
It's just unfortunate that there aren't many emulators that strive for cycle accuracy as opposed to using hacks and tricks to make the game run with caveats such as inaccurate sound or in-game aspects that aren't quite 100% in terms of behavior on original hardware, but slowly little by little we are getting there.
Sure there are some strong advocates of running games on physical hardware and the original carts or disks, but as unfortunate effect of natural wear and tear over time even the consoles start to fail, and even replacement parts become scarcer due to no one manufacturing them anymore.
Once the original hardware is no longer functional, Emulators that strive for 100% Hardware cycle accuracy will be the only means of running these games including software related issues such as slowdowns and bugs near-perfectly replicated how they were on its original hardware.
What Byuu did with the entire SNES library and his Higan project was absolute blessing for future generations decades from now to experience the SNES almost as close to it's original environment without the actual physical hardware itself.
It's just unfortunate that there aren't many emulators that strive for cycle accuracy as opposed to using hacks and tricks to make the game run with caveats such as inaccurate sound or in-game aspects that aren't quite 100% in terms of behavior on original hardware, but slowly little by little we are getting there.
Emulation along with modding/hacking and reverse engineering code are cores of gaming that should never go away.
Emulation is preservation. Those old carts won't work forever. With emulation, you preserve much of the original experience without needing original hardware. Emulation is more sustainable than collecting old equipment. It is a better long term solution for preserving the medium.
