Emulators: Good or bad?

_LS_ · July 21, 2015 at 2:32 AM Official Post

I see a lot of hate for emulators these days. I don't really get it. Why are emulators poopy doopy?

Sardonic Pickle · July 21, 2015 at 7:10 AM

Quote from LinkSkywalker

I see a lot of hate for emulators these days. I don't really get it. Why are emulators poopy doopy?

I just don't like them compared to playing the physical copy, on the actual console with the actual controller in hand. It's just a nice feeling that an emulator... can't emulate. Even if the emulator looked like an NES, and had an NES controller. It still wouldn't be the same. It's just nice playing something that was made in the '80s or '90s.

**Kaynil** · July 21, 2015 at 7:49 AM Official Post

Emulators on recent games or consoles don't sit well with me. I am okay with NES, N64 because there are plenty of games I never even knew that existed before browsing a ROM catalogue. I prefer the original console way better. There's something about the physical holding of the cartridges and the ritual to start playing.

Quote from Sardonic Pickle

Even if the emulator looked like an NES, and had an NES controller. It still wouldn't be the same.

Fanboy much? [emoji14]
To be honest if that was the case, I'd probably wouldn't notice the difference.

_LS_ · July 21, 2015 at 1:48 PM Official Post

Much as I love playing with the controllers for the original consoles, that just isn't important enough to ruin the emulator experience for me. I never would have been able to play a lot of my favorite games if I hadn't turned to emulators. And in the cases where I eventually got my hands on a real copy, the experience wasn't significantly different.

And as much as I do like to have and play the old copies, there are problems there that just don't show up with emulation. The 42 gold pin connectors on most NES games have not held up well over the last 25 years. And a lot of the batteries used for saving games in older cartridges are starting to go dead. Playing those games requires buying parts, buying a special tool to open the cartridge, and learning to solder.

And heck, I played a lot of my favorites back before I had a game controller. Now that they're as cheap and easy to set up as they are, that's not really a barrier anymore.

EDIT: Thanks to whomever split the thread. That's a neat function.

Sardonic Pickle · July 21, 2015 at 11:24 PM

It's definitely a materialistic thing. I'll just always prefer playing the real thing. Though you do have a point about the batteries and the connectors.

_LS_ · July 22, 2015 at 12:51 AM Official Post

I mean, if you've got a personal need for the physical artifact of the game and the console, I can appreciate that. I have a great love for the physical artifacts myself, I just don't need them.

I'd be curious to hear from others, though. I feel like I've seen a lot of emulator hate on these boards in particular. Possibly from @The Inhaling One or @Pekachew ?

kilovh · July 22, 2015 at 8:28 PM

I love emulatorrs! Especially considering that I never owned an SNES but have played a whole bunch of SNES games (INCLUDING CHRONO TRIGGER OMG PROBABLY THE BEST GAME OF ALL TIME NO TAKEBACKS) and have played GBA games waaaaay after my GBA broke (so much good stuff - golden sun, advance wars....GBA emulator is still my go-to console if I ever wanna play a round of sonic the hedgehog. Final Fantasy Tactics Advance...so much good stuff). Playstation and PS2 emulators are essential for me as well since I odn't have those systems either anymore though I do have quite a few game disks for them. I have tried wii/gc emulation but the usb controller i have is a ps2 layout and it is indeed weird to use with those systems. But for playstation it's great; I really can't complain. My least favorite things about more modern emulation is the way games made for TVs ten years ago look like absolute garbage on a 1920x1080 screen...

_LS_ · July 24, 2015 at 1:44 AM Official Post

For reals. Final Fantasy 4, 5, and 6? Chrono Trigger? These are games I never could have played without emulation. Particularly because when I played them, those games weren't yet being re-released on every new platform that came out. Your choice was between emulation, and paying hundreds of dollars for a cartridge on eBay. (Or, in the case of 5, importing a cartridge and a Super Famicom from Japan, and learning to speak Japanese.) And when they did get re-releases on the PS1, those releases SUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCKED. So much load times.

Also, I once got all 120 stars in Super Mario 64 on an emulator. Using a keyboard as my only input device. Because I'm pro.