Anybody completely switch to emulation and not look back?

[+LS650]

I enjoy both about 50-50. I have a Lynx sitting here with about 35 carts. It's great for when I travel or want to experience the "real thing" - but it's also cool to be able to fire up a quick game on my PC during lunch hour at work, or to check out a rare game or a new hobbyist release.

 

Long live classic consoles! Long live emulation! They go together like, I don't know... peanut butter & jelly!

Edited October 6, 2007 by ls650

[Ranthulfr]

I'm just curious. Wondering if it's as satisfying as playing the games on the real hardware.

 

Emulation is a convenient tool but it feels sterile compared to using the original hardware. Completely switch..? Bah!

[SRGilbert]

I'm just curious. Wondering if it's as satisfying as playing the games on the real hardware.

Actually, the more I think about it, this question is completely pointless.

 

To the title question, it would seem that no one has completely switched to emulation. It would be hard pressed to find ANYONE here who doesn't have at least one console hooked up to a TV in their house unless some really weird circumstance prevented it.

 

Secondly, if you are "wondering it it's as satisfying" only YOU can make that decision. Are blondes more satisfying than brunettes? Is Bud Light more satisfying than Miller Lite? Coke vs Pepsi? Is watching a movie on your computer monitor as satisfying as watching a DVD on a 50" widescreen TV?

[Keatah]

Its only logical that emulation will outlast the original hardware. Bit rot will get the games stored on eeproms. Proms will live considerably longer though. Plastics will breakdown, parts will fail. Things will get lost and broken, etc yaddah yaddah.. and so forth.

 

That does not happen with pc hardware!! Well yes it does, but those effects are easily compensated for, you can transfer the data every 5 years from one hard disk to another, effectively staving off bit rot. You can build a new pc, Or easily build hardware that will run pc stuff.. yeh, emulation is the way to go!

 

You can easily dupe your collection so you can play it anywhere, anytime! Hell I was playing Canyon Bomber not too long ago while taking a dump. I've played my colecovision on commercial flights. I've played astrocade on a cruise ship. I played intellivision on a real submarine that actually goes underwater! hahah Yeh I played intellivision while bike-riding too. Just to say I could do it. Play all this stuff on your phone. yeh Emulation will never die, you will come to the darkside and even love to embrace it when your consoles are rotted out..

[Artlover]

Illogical Statement. As long as there are fanatics to fix 2600's the 2600 will live on

(we are resourceful scavengers, arnt we ). It will die when all us fans are quite literally dead and buried (60+ Years). After that happens there wont be anyone left in the year 2067+ that cares about the 2600, so 2600 emulation will fade into nothingness as well . Hence, 2600 Emulation wont outlive the physical 2600

Well, I'm gonna throw my two cents in. Which is just repeating what others have said.

 

Electronics break. Bit rot and the like. There is a finite supply of consoles and parts, thus a fixed end point at which one can keep repairing anything. You will reach that point long before one where there are no fans or interested parties.

 

The people interested in this stuff are not limited to previous generation fans and fanatics. Modern generations have learned about and gained interest in the stuff as well. Exactly the same as how previous generations learned about and gained interest in even older stuff. So to expand on the previous paragraph, there will always be a fan base, and that fan base will as a point in time exist because of emulation.

 

There is proof of that all around. Look at how many people currently emulate old hardware they neither currently have nor never had. Even the Altair still has a fan base, and emulation (one was released as recently as 11/15/2006), despite the fact the hardware is virtualy non existant.

 

Emulation will always outlive physical hardware for the simple fact emulation isn't physcial, doesn't break, doesn't have finite existance, and people will always be interested in the products of the technology.

[Paranoid]

The fact that all of the current generation consoles have some sort of "retro" downloadable games that are basically played via emulation kind of speaks for itself. Consoles in the future are going to consistently support consoles from the past via emulation - for a nominal fee.

 

These companies were paying attention to the XBox modders and realized the potential when they saw the Xbox become as popular for emulation as for anything else.

 

If they could figure out a way to make a game console a competent media center while appeasing the media giants, THAT would be available commercially, too. Unfortunately the media companies are too busy worrying about piracy to *make* money selling legitimate applications that deliver their content. You would think they would have learned their lesson watching the RIAA.

[telengard]

Geez, you guys. Have you ever tried playing an Atari 2600 on a modern day television set? It's a terrible experience. Anyone who can look me in the face and tell me that playing a real Atari 2600 (RF connection and all) is superior to emulation, with its crystal clear VGA output, is either joking or has let nostalgia cloud their vision (along with the aforementioned RF video).

 

I have an older TV that I pump the emulated output to and also use a Stelladaptor. It's good enough for me most of the time. I do from time to time hook up the real deal though as there is nothing to emulate the feeling of seeing and using it.

 

~telengard

[liveinabin]

I've pretty much entirely switched to emulation (for the 2600 at least). I run z26 on the Xbox and it's great (although paddle games are only really playable on a real 2600, of which I have several). Apart from general picture clarity and convenience, the main reason I emulate now is so that I don't have to put up with the cruddy PAL 2600 color palette, and emulation is by far the easiest way to get these games looking as they were intended.

[+Random Terrain]

Now that I'm getting an Atari 2600 with S-Video modification, my main reason for using an emulator is gone. But I will still use an emulator for a quick game, research, fast game testing, and putting my games online for people to play right on my own web site.

[Lord Helmet]

I'm slowly selling off most of my collection. I'm planning on only keeping Atari, Colecovision, and Intellivision stuff. I'll use emulators for everything else.

[Recycled]

I'm slowly selling off most of my collection. I'm planning on only keeping Atari, Colecovision, and Intellivision stuff. I'll use emulators for everything else.

 

 

What's "everything else?"

[Lord Helmet]

Everything classic except for the systems I listed.

 

SNES, NES, etc

[joeybastard]

It's very very tempting to switch over to emulation for my classic systems because they take up A LOT of room. Somehow I just can't do it yet. I'm just too attached to the hardware itself. I just enjoy the real hardware experience more.

 

I'm not against emulators by any means. I use them at home for games I don't own on the VCS and CV. I also use them on my DS for some retro goodness on the go. I used to use MAME a lot on my PC but since I've picked up most of the retro comps for the Xbox, GC and PS2, I just don't bother it on the PC as often. I have a nice arcade stick that works with all three consoles so I can get decent arcade -like controls.

[Recycled]

I have a nice arcade stick that works with all three consoles so I can get decent arcade -like controls.

 

 

What is it?

 

You think it gives a better experience then just using the standard system controller?

[joeybastard]

I have a nice arcade stick that works with all three consoles so I can get decent arcade -like controls.

 

 

What is it?

 

You think it gives a better experience then just using the standard system controller?

 

It's a Pelican stick, not sure of the name but it has connectors for GC, Xbox and PS2. If the game doesn't need analog controls, it's a great stick on those arcade comps discs. It was about $50 when I got it about 2 years ago. I'm sure it's not as high quality as real arcade parts but for home gaming I dig it. I even use on the GC with the GBA player for Konami Advanced. It's sweeeeeeeeet on Scramble.

 

EDIT: Here it is on Amazon

Edited November 5, 2007 by joeybastard

[Recycled]

I have a nice arcade stick that works with all three consoles so I can get decent arcade -like controls.

 

 

What is it?

 

You think it gives a better experience then just using the standard system controller?

 

It's a Pelican stick, not sure of the name but it has connectors for GC, Xbox and PS2. If the game doesn't need analog controls, it's a great stick on those arcade comps discs. It was about $50 when I got it about 2 years ago. I'm sure it's not as high quality as real arcade parts but for home gaming I dig it. I even use on the GC with the GBA player for Konami Advanced. It's sweeeeeeeeet on Scramble.

 

EDIT: Here it is on Amazon

 

thanks....looks very interesting.

 

Too bad they're not making them anymore.

[A Sprite]

I'll play Satan.

 

I switched.

 

When you're looking poverty in the eye, and there are mouths to feed, the choice is easy.

 

I miss my library, seeing all the games lined up, but -

 

The PC has advantages over the original hardware; it's harder for drug addicts to steal and pawn. God forbid the former tenants who lived in the apartment you're moving into invited the cockroaches over to keep house - Atari cartridges make safe nesting grounds. I still have nightmares about how I lost my copy of Solaris.

 

The PC is easier to watch when children are at play.

 

I don't need to worry about weather ruining a Starpath cassette.

 

If we move past the Atari age, emulation really improves on the original experience. My ritual with my real NES is blowing into the cartridge slot, rocking the game back and forth until the connection is made, and then playing a game that can cause seizures in unsuspecting housepets while trying to kill enough enemies so that I can see which ninja turtle I'm supposed to be.

 

I switch the game, the ritual begins again...

 

I'm letting go.

 

I'm giving away my physical classic game collection to those who give it the kind of love it needs.

Edited November 9, 2007 by A Sprite

[so_tough!]

i love to play the original system (i have my consoles hooked up to an early nineties tv, great picture, good size). I collect some records also, so its like comparing vinyl to mp3-no comparison.I like taking the record out of the sleeve and putting it on the record player, same way as i like to take the cart out and slot it into the system.

[Recycled]

i love to play the original system (i have my consoles hooked up to an early nineties tv, great picture, good size). I collect some records also, so its like comparing vinyl to mp3-no comparison.I like taking the record out of the sleeve and putting it on the record player, same way as i like to take the cart out and slot it into the system.

 

 

I hope you have a big back pack!!

[so_tough!]

Yeh see thats the problem, well I'm not planning on my wild free spirit trip just yet..but all my equipment is pal-so it wont even work in usa or canada!

[JellE]

All of my machines and games are boxed up right now...so I pretty much exclusively use an emu. Sometimes it works really well... other times not so much.

[8bitgamer]

Nope, it's just not the same. To me controls are a huge part of gaming, and I almost always prefer the original console's joysticks, control pads, etc.

 

Classic Home Video Games 1972-1984

[philowar]

I like using emulators to see if I like certain games before I buy them, but nothing beats the real hardware, whether we're talking the 2600 or any other classic machine.

 

In the case of the Atari 2600, half the reason I enjoy playing the games so much is because they're fun. I suspect however that another part of it is the psychological attachment I have to the Atari, which is the result of it having been such a big part of my life growing up. I don't care even if emulators get to the point where they can faithfully reproduce the graphics and sound 100%. For me it's about owning the actual console, seeing it, touching it, and having a real old school joystick or controller in my hands. It's as much about aesthetics and pleasing my senses and my brain's satisfaction knowing it's again playing on a real live Atari (my first love) as it is anything else. RF interference? Who cares? I sure don't. Heck, I get a better picture now than I did back when I was a kid, what with the better TV and RF adapter and Monster Cable and all. It's more than clear enough for me. Besides, seeing Atari games stark and super sharp on a PC monitor is too much. I prefer the softer, fuzzier look RF provides and seeing Atari games like they were meant to be seen back in the day, not super sharp and sterile on a computer screen. There's just no soul in that.

[sandmountainslim]

Never switch! It is like cybersex versus a romp with a chick in a cheerleader outfit.

WP

 

 

 

I RETRACT this statement.

 

Nowadays I play just as much Stella as I play games on my Vader console.

Emulation is handier being right here at my desk and there are MANY games that you can play thru emulation that are not available on cart so the library is much bigger. As a bonus gifts you get to play games as they are being developed

Wp

[shadow460]

Oh, heck no. After the bouts I've had with several emulators, I'll never try gaming on anything other than the real hardware. Some emulators are necessary, like MAME, but for the most part, I've got most of the games I want or I've got the hardware to run rom files on.

 

With actual hardware, you hook it up and play it. You don't have to set up the video and audio, or upgrade your computer with expensive new stuff and risk upsetting everything else on it. You plug a few things into your old TV, and when you're done you unplug 'em and store 'em. Simple.