English Invader Posted July 19, 2014 Share Posted July 19, 2014 I recently built my own PC for the first time and there was a part of me that hoped it would herald the beginning of a new era where I would gradually downsize my retro collection and eventually have a home where everything I wanted was on a hard drive and the rest of my home would be nothing but space and tranquility. It hasn't happened yet, but I'm starting to see a future beyond my CRT television. I guess my approach is to enjoy the real hardware for as long as it's feasible while making preparations for when it's not so the transition will come as a breath of fresh air rather than a heart-wrenching trauma. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keatah Posted July 19, 2014 Share Posted July 19, 2014 What's worked for me what getting rid of everything except 1 major system, and two smaller ones. It's manageable, has genuine meaning and nostalgia, and can still be collected for today. Everything else is emulation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BDW Posted July 22, 2014 Share Posted July 22, 2014 I too am making this transition. Just keeping the SNES and the N64. I just dont have the space anymore to keep up with the collecting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keatah Posted July 22, 2014 Share Posted July 22, 2014 When people adopt emulation it seems to be about 50/50. 50% going emulation because of finance and space and living arrangements. The other 50% having become "enlightened" to the advantages and willing to compromise on the disadvantages. The 6th unspoken advantage of emulation is the liberation from physical tediousness. There's just so much material out there that "junk" inevitably creeps in on the way to completing a collection. It can't be stopped. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monzamess Posted July 23, 2014 Author Share Posted July 23, 2014 Cool. In the 11 1/2 years since I started this topic, a lot of things have changed for me. I moved twice and changed jobs four times. I have four kids now. etc. etc. I built a PC emulator-based arcade machine, then dismantled it, after cycling through a couple of older PCs. Turns out old PCs and monitors have the same reliability problems of old consoles (if not worse). I set up a couple of different laptops with my emulator collection, hooked up to TVs (now flat-screen, not CRTs). I set up computers for my kids, and included the same emulator collection. They played a few old games but the games did not hold their interest. I also moved some of my emulator collection to a PSP, which is great, and a DS, which is not so great, but still kind of cool. So I had classic games everywhere, big screen or small, arcade controls or gamepads, and I just didn't play them. I burned out on the old games I used to enjoy and I just didn't care nearly as much as I thought I would about exploring the back catalogs of old games I missed out on. I haven't moved any emulated games to my Android tablets or phone, even though they are perfectly capable of playing them. I still have my Atari 2600 collection (sold the Coke Wins cart for way too cheap, I regret that) and my Nintendo handheld collection, and I've picked up newer consoles (PS2, PS3, Wii, Vita--well, they used to be new... we are talking 11 years here). I also have a Flashback and some Namco TV games stashed somewhere in my closet. But I don't collect for the sake of collecting now; I just pick up games I want to play. I have also set up my PCjr again, and added a jrIDE to breathe some new life into it. It rarely gets used but I do love having that original hardware around where I can see it and touch it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
omegadot Posted July 23, 2014 Share Posted July 23, 2014 hah, pretty neat to see an 11 1/2 year follow-on post. You don't get that often on most boards. For mostly good reasons, but it's still cool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keatah Posted July 23, 2014 Share Posted July 23, 2014 Well it is a classic gaming forum, and we're all about old stuff here! And even though the post/thread was started 10 years after the first emulators began appearing, some of those emulators are still in development and see semi-regular updates today. It *IS* indeed interesting to have watched emulators mature and fill them selves out not only in features and performance, but side things. Side things like artwork, instruction scans, development tools. In fact many homebrews would not exist if it were not for debuggers and other tools afforded by emulation. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keatah Posted July 24, 2014 Share Posted July 24, 2014 I love that this thread started 11 years ago. The issues remain the same: space vs. clutter, reliability vs. age, volume vs. curation. Most of the classic systems were decently emulated when this thread began. Since then, choice and accuracy have improved, as have documentation and availability. What a wonderful time! Why yes, many classic systems were emulated 11 years ago. But when you pit those early emulators (and versions) against today's offerings it's really quite the improvement. In usability, user interface, in display simulation and artifacting, sound, and custom chip accuracy. All of it has improved for many reasons. Developer dedication, more capable hardware, newly discovered documentation, new tools and libraries, user feedback. All are factors in making emulation the premiere experience it is today. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwilove Posted August 7, 2014 Share Posted August 7, 2014 The prime reason why I went emulators - was that of a lack of money - and emulators were so good, that you could not tell it was not the original hardware - and I was there, when the first emulators were taking off, in the old slow PC days... Everything of course, goes in cycles - when you're burned out on playing games - you end up collecting them instead. I did not think I would go back into developing - say Atari 8-bit games, that those days were over? But then came along a project I could not say no to - this was GTIABlast! - which has now evolved into AtariBLAST! - for which I am overseeing the graphics of. The programmer has done an exceptional job with this - by providing the graphic tools I need, which are run on a PC laptop - as well with the game programming side - which now runs on a 16k Atari 400/800/etc, the 5200 - as well as extended 1088K Ataris. The former runs via Maxcart. The original intention was for diskettes - but because of their sarcity - the flashcart seems to the better option, leading to 16k machines, to the 5200. I don't have any original hardware - so I'm using Altirra to check the graphics running. I can imagine the original hardware breaking down - over time, then the emulators would really take off. Also the space saving is a particularly nice feature - with laptops these days. I can only see emulators being useful on tablets etc - only when suitable input devices (ie. joystick?/etc) are linked to them? Touch screens seems to be the killer aspect to them, making games very clumsy to play? Harvey Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MAC-42 Posted August 9, 2014 Share Posted August 9, 2014 In my little back room at our house, I have my 5200 and 7800 out and in use on my old CRT. I play with the Intellivision there, too, because of the keypad on the controller; haven't found an agreeable way to emulate that. (Same with the 5200 joystick.) On my desk, I have my Aquarius and my 600XL attached to an LCD; I mostly use these as computers rather than game machines. For everything else, I set up an old PC with Maximus Arcade as a frontend and connected it through the CRT. With extension cables on the USB gamepads, I can play all the games from Nintendo's systems from the comfort of my little couch. (Over time, I plan to add more console emulation there, but will leave the Ataris and Inty alone.) I also run MAME through that PC, naturally, and play the heck out of arcade games there. (I'll be spending the next several months softening up my wife to let my father and me build a MAME cabinet next year.) There just isn't any more room for more consoles in my room. We have a Genesis, but it's mostly for my daughter and so sits out on the main TV. Other than that, I can have no more. Money is also a concern, of course. I have three kids; gone are the days of liberally shotgunning money into this sort of stuff, alas. One day, I really want a Vectrex and will have one. I'd like a TG16, but will probably defer it. Life just doesn't allow for that right now. So, hardware it is for the important stuff, and emulation for the rest. I may prefer it all to be on the real thing in principle, but life has a way of making you more practical than that. And, as Keatah reminds us, emulation has come a long way since I discovered it back in the mid-to-late-'90s. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F4LL3N Posted August 12, 2014 Share Posted August 12, 2014 When I was a kid my first console was the Atari 2600 Junior. As a family we would sit in front of the TV trying to beat each others scores on games like centipede. When my parents bought me a new console unfortunately they replaced the previous one rather than add to it. So I went from a 2600 to a C64 to a mega drive before all being replaced by a 486 PC. The only console I still had at this point was the original Atari VCS that I acquired when my uncle passed away. I thought PC gaming (not emulation) was far better than console gaming for a while afterwards. I used to run some emulators but not often. I also owned a PS2 and GBSP during this time but I sold them. In the last few years I dug out the Atari VCS and started having game nights at University (I started uni quite late in my life). This has reignited my interest in old consoles. During this time I've re-added a C64, PS2, GBSP and mega drive to my collection as well as a Saturn, Wii, Atari 520ST, jaguar, Lynx II and N64 (all connected to the TV in my living room). I also ran (and still do) some of these as emulators as well as other consoles on a mac mini running OSX 10.6 on my flat screen TV and currently use PS3 controllers. I agree that emulation runs many consoles really well, usually with improved graphics and sound and with speed improvements. Especially when running on newer Tvs. Now it might be because I run on a mac but there are times when emulation does fall short as previously mentioned. For instance, some games won't run or some peripherals arent yet supported. I am moving home soon and a lot of my consoles will have to sadly go into temporary storage. Trying to find emulator equivalents whereby I can fill that void is proving tough for some consoles. Yabause (Saturn) for mac for example is not currently playable with Opengl. Bottom line: emulation is fantastic, but in some instances you just have to get out the original hardware when emulation does fall short. Although I'm sure with continued development emulation may very well replace the need to own original hardware completely, but it will hard to let go of completely. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keatah Posted August 12, 2014 Share Posted August 12, 2014 Yesterday: The smell of TV dinners, anticipation of new Battlestar Galactica & Buck Rogers episodes, parents upstairs or just busy around the house, rainy autumn day with a wind blowing. Day off from school tomorrow. Heater turning on and off. Wood panel basement or living room with one section unofficially designated the videogame area, thick carpeting.. All this sets the scene for playing classic games. Today: Emulators bring back yesterday. Every time an emulator is updated I feel like I just went to the computer store and got an upgrade or new piece of hardware or software. And it makes me feel like I have the absolute very best <insert console name here> possible. Organizing and acquiring new stuff is as simple as moving files around. Sort by name, date, company, controller, system, whatever! And it's easy to create favorites and multiple configurations and installs; which is difficult with real hardware and cartridges. And like real hardware that requires some hooking up, you have to install an emulator. Both usually work good out of the box. And there are many things you can do to pump up the experience. Sometimes we have more systems than space permits. This means setting up and tearing down systems as you switch between them. Winding up cables, cleaning & dusting, putting stuff back into boxes or containers. Cramming shit into closets or onto shelves you can barely reach. Keeping things organized and sorted. All of the humdrum activities and unpleasantness that accompanies a physical system simply evaporate as you open and close different programs on a PC's desktop.. But yes, there are times when emulators go bad. This requires some tweaking and configuration, or even a bug report to the programmer. Sometimes it gets involved and requires expert help. No big deal. Very much like having to repair your real hardware or do cleanups and adjustments to it. Finally it is great to see more and more people embracing emulation as their premiere gaming platform when it comes to the classics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keatah Posted June 16, 2017 Share Posted June 16, 2017 This thread is now some 14 years. Vintage threads like vintage gaming.. How have views and perceptions of emulators changed now that we have all these cheap SoCs and $50 emulation consoles replacing original hardware? To me it seems like emulation has become more important than ever before. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F4LL3N Posted June 16, 2017 Share Posted June 16, 2017 Wow I can't believe it is 14 years old! Since my last post on this in 2014 I don't think too much has changed for me as a mac user, other than introduction of OpenEmu. Makes it easier to emulator most systems, but lacks some features of the dedicated emulators. I still use original hardware, however funnily enough I was thinking about whether I could bring myself to completely switch to emulation earlier today, but I just see too many pitfalls still. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zzip Posted June 16, 2017 Share Posted June 16, 2017 This thread is now some 14 years. Vintage threads like vintage gaming.. How have views and perceptions of emulators changed now that we have all these cheap SoCs and $50 emulation consoles replacing original hardware? To me it seems like emulation has become more important than ever before. Hardware ages, media ages. I've discovered half of my physical 5 1/4" disks are no longer fully readable. I'm content being 100% emulation when the emulators are robust enough. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lordmonkus Posted June 17, 2017 Share Posted June 17, 2017 (edited) Emulation up to and including the 32 bit era (PSX and Saturn) is very good and in my opinion just as good as the original hardware. PSX is basically 100% and Saturn now with Mednafen is extremely good. Not saying 100% accurate but they are close enough to it that you won't really notice it outside of a small selection of games. Once you get into the later stuff things tail off quickly, N64 and Dreamcast are both wonky, PS2 is decent enough for a lot of games but many games still have issues. The one stand out for newer stuff is the Dolphin emulator, this emu is surprisingly good. I have made the switch to full time emulator use for the bulk of my retro gaming needs. A nice frontend like Launchbox makes it all so convenient and easy to manage from the couch. Also a good retro CRT shader effect really helps take the edge off of those sharp upscaled pixels to give the games the intended look of the artists. Edited June 17, 2017 by Lordmonkus Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
courtesi96 Posted June 22, 2017 Share Posted June 22, 2017 (edited) I just had a thought this morning. The prices for Retro stuff is getting out of hand (for me.) But can you imagine for a moment if emulation didn't exist at all - and the only way to play this stuff is through owning the physical items? Suddenly everything would become bars of gold! Edited June 22, 2017 by courtesi96 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flojomojo Posted June 22, 2017 Share Posted June 22, 2017 I just had a thought this morning. The prices for Retro stuff is getting out of hand (for me.) But can you imagine for a moment if emulation didn't exist at all - and the only way to play this stuff is through owning the physical items? Suddenly everything would become bars of gold! Maybe ... or folks would move on from the oldies and focus on newer games. Part of the reason for my obsession with this era was being able to find shirtfulls of cartridges at yard sales as a kid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monzamess Posted June 22, 2017 Author Share Posted June 22, 2017 Heh, I thought I recognized this thread title as I was scrolling through new posts. Since I started this topic, I've had 4 kids and moved 3 times. I had fun seeing and playing a bunch of emulated games I never would have otherwise been able to experience. However, today I have no emulators set up. My rig got so outdated and I lost track of what emulators and front ends are best these days. When I have time to game, I play games with my kids on Wii U and PS4. I did recently set up a single 2600 and ordered a Harmony cart, so I've come full circle on the use of real hardware. However, I'm still out of collecting for the sake of collecting and THAT I have not missed for the past 14 years. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monzamess Posted June 22, 2017 Author Share Posted June 22, 2017 How embarrassing, I already wrote a "checking in" message almost 3 years ago. Oh well, to late to edit this latest one now! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lordmonkus Posted June 22, 2017 Share Posted June 22, 2017 My rig got so outdated and I lost track of what emulators and front ends are best these days. There are a lot of choices out there depending on your needs. If you want something cheap and simple then a Raspberry Pi 3 and RetroPie is great. But if you want something a bit more robust for more modern system emulation and easy to setup then a more modern PC and Launchbox I can highly recommend. And then there is a whole bunch of stuff in between. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atarifan88 Posted June 23, 2017 Share Posted June 23, 2017 I still have my Atari 2600 and carts that I bought. Now with the Retron 77 being developed that will play the old carts, I am having second thought about building a retro pi. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flojomojo Posted June 23, 2017 Share Posted June 23, 2017 I still have my Atari 2600 and carts that I bought. Now with the Retron 77 being developed that will play the old carts, I am having second thought about building a retro pi. Counterpoint: Retron 77 only does one thing, and you have to use wired controllers. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F4LL3N Posted June 23, 2017 Share Posted June 23, 2017 Are there any decent multi-console hardware platforms? Most seem for cartridge use though rather than discs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flojomojo Posted June 23, 2017 Share Posted June 23, 2017 Are there any decent multi-console hardware platforms? Most seem for cartridge use though rather than discs. This is supposedly on the way: http://polymega.com I'd just as soon use a computer for emulation, though -- especially if interested in spinning discs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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