Best of the Best

[kainemaxwell]

Here might be a good time to revive the "Best of the Best" emulators topic for those of us returning and for the new comers once they find their way here!

The best of:
Atari 2600
Colecovision
Nes
Snes
SMS/GG
TG-16
Genesis

I leave any other good ones out?

[zektor]

We'll continue our best of the best segment. If I had more time tonight I would post a ton of links, but I'll do that during the week. As for now, check this site for Magic Engine...the greatest Turbografx 16 emulator on the planet!

http://www.magicengine.com

Try it and I guarantee you'll love it. Emulates just about everything TG and SGX related...including TG CD's! It's a pay emu, but worth the whole darn $16 you'll spend, if not more!

[zektor]

Another addition to the best of the best....

http://neopop.emuxhaven.net/


A Neo-Geo Pocket emulator entitled "Neopop". And what an emulator it is! It has been constantly updated in the past few days, and the emulation is first rate to say the least! If you like this neat little handheld...check it out!

[zektor]

More "best" picks (in no particular order):

Genesis:

http://gens.consolemul.com/

Gens of course! 32x support, Sega CD support. Hell, you can use a ripped Sega CD iso and ripped MP3's from that cd and play the game exactly the same as you would the original. Unreal. No other emulator can even come remotely close at this point in my opinion, so I will not list any others!


Snes:

http://www.zsnes.com/

Zsnes: My personal farvorite. Snes9x and Zsnes are at about the same level of emulation compatibility at this point, but something about the so very sweet Zsnes GUI just hits the right spot with me.

http://www.snes9x.com

Snes9x. Ported to just about every platform...very popular. It works. It works well. It works very very well.


SMS:

http://vecna.verge-rpg.com/chasms/
<link updated>

ChaSMS: The emulation is right on target (SMS/GG), with built in bios to boot. Hasn't been updated in a year, but is still a top contender in my book. While it lacks support for a few peripherals and a much needed zip-rom support, it still extremely kicks ass. Email the author and tell him you love it...which I am absolutely sure you will.

http://www.smspower.org/

Omar's SMS site. You will find links to "Meka"... the phenominal SMS/GG/Colecovision emulator as well as newly dumped romfiles here. I love this emulator to death....just don't sit there playing with the themes and GUI and play the games!

http://freezesms.emuunlim.com/

FreezeSMS. Its nice. Real nice. But it just seems to bulky an emulator for my tastes. Try it and decide for yourself. Definitely worth a try however.


Thats all for now...but rest assured there is more to come!

[Lady Jaye]

And for Mac emulation newbies: the best place is www.emulation.net
They list all the emulators available for Mac (arcade, console and computer) with recommendations. The site is updated whenever there's an update on some emulator.

[digitalpress]

NES:

FCE ULTRA. It's simply the most compatible NES emulator there is. It seems to play everything (at least I haven't run into any issues). Not too big and very easy to use.

http://xodnizel.net/fceultra/files/
<link updated>

[gamergary]

it has trouble running world heros the pirated game. The graphics are all jumbled up when i try to play it.

[zektor]

Those pirate games use some strange mappers and/or custom chips. They are some of the most difficult to emulate.

[gamergary]

ok thank you zektor

[digitalpress]

Since I'm REALLY digging it at the moment:

Intellivision: NOStalgia
http://www.gotmaille.com/nostalgia/nostalgia.html

In incredible job of doing a system that seems to be a problem to emulate well. MESS doesn't support Intellivision, and other emulators to date have been either cumbersome to set up or somewhat clunky in their emulation. NOStalgia is really, really nice. Simple to set up and quite good at reproducing the game's look and sound.

[NE146]

My vote for best NES emu goes to NesterDC. Plays most of the games but the biggest selling point is it makes it easy to play most any NES game on the good old tv by using your dreamcast. (and before you tell me about your video-out card just know I'm talking about the tv downstairs during the day, the tv upstairs at night, the tv at your girlfriends house, the next door neighbors, etc) :P

[zektor]

Neopop. Since the NeoGeo Pocket is pretty much dead, I see no harm in chatting about the emulation of this system. This emulator absolutely rocks!

http://neopop.emuxhaven.net/

[ventrra]

I'd say that Zektor's recomendation to me of VirtuaNES as an NES emulator is a good one, if you can find it. Not only does it emulate the NES well, but if you have roms that aren't mapped correctly, you can use this emulator to change them to the correct ones.

[zektor]

Here's that link to VirtuaNES:

http://virtuanes.s1.xrea.com/

Keep checking the site since the emulator is updated here and there. Just scroll down the page and download the English version.

[Kidcritta]

In my opinion ANY emulator of ANY system that can be played in full screen mode without losing graphic quality is the best.And as MAME is the only emu i know of that can do this MAME gets my vote.does anyone else know of any emu that has full screen capabilities please post here!!!!!!!

[zektor]

In my opinion ANY emulator of ANY system that can be played in full screen mode without losing graphic quality is the best.And as MAME is the only emu i know of that can do this MAME gets my vote.does anyone else know of any emu that has full screen capabilities please post here!!!!!!!

There are many that can go fullscreen and not lose any quality. MagicEngine (tg16) is the first to come to mind for some reason. The fullscreen is just superb!

http://www.magicengine.com

[chadtower]

Okay, so with this in mind, let's answer the next question: What is/are the best controllers for use with emulators?

[zektor]

I must add to the best of the best section regarding SMS/GG emulation. Here's a great one:

http://www.zophar.net/genesis.html
(Scroll to Kega Lazarus R5)


Let me explain. I absolutely LOVE Meka, although it seems to me with the windows version (The only one I can use with WinXP) it is still somewhat slow and kind of a pain to get it full screen right off the bat. Some configuration is needed by editing a config file or using an external program. Not user friendly for someone who doesn't know how to do all of this stuff, but it works, but the upside is that it supports ALL peripherals. Dega is another emulator I really like, but no support for the external BIOS (Sega Master System logo at the start of the game and snail maze secret game) is a downer. Also has MAJOR problems with Astro Warrior...one of my favorites. ChaSMS is somewhat aged, but runs in a 32-bit environment AND has the SMS BIOS built in like Meka. But it has no zip rom support.

Here is why I am loving Kega:

Zip rom support
SMS/GG is at 100% compatibility rate as far as I can tell
No known problems with Astro Warrior (YAY!)
Uses the SMS BIOS ROM (as an option)
Emulates the SMS border (can be shut off, but it is the only emu I know to emulate the true SMS border)
Is FAAASSST...100% accuracy in speed/sound on this end
Supports Genesis and SegaCD games too!!!!

The only thing I really wish this emulator had was peripheral support for the SMS games (lightgun, 3-d glasses, Woody Pop controller..etc) 32X support like GENS, and the ability to just boot to the BIOS of a given system. FM support is not present (I never used it in Meka anyway) and no support for SG1000 or SG3000 systems, but this isn't a big deal to me either. Other than that this emulator is worth checking into! Great stuff!

[zektor]

Okay, so with this in mind, let's answer the next question: What is/are the best controllers for use with emulators?

Sorry for the very delayed response (I rarely look at the best of the best topic...my bad) but here:

http://www.x-arcade.com/

NICE joystick all around!

http://www.hanaho.com/products/HotRodJoystick/

Another sweet one!

http://www.wishtech.com

I loved these adaptors. Worked great with everything I ran. I sold mine off unfortunately. They don't make them anymore, but try Jandaman (where I got mine) or ebay.

[zektor]

More to add:

N64:

http://www.pj64.net/

Project64 v1.5 . I have tried the others and it just seems to me this is the emulator of choice at this point for the system. I am running a 1gz P3 with a somewhat outdated video card (Riva TNT2 32mb) and the emulation is just kick ass! I would love to hear from others that are using the emulator on faster systems and more powerful video cards!

Gameboy/Gameboy Color:

http://www.bgbemu.cjb.net/

BGB:

An awesome GB/GBC emulator. The best around in my opinion. It can emulate the gameboy screen to precision. The sound is stereo of course and right on the mark. Just try it for yourself and see what I am talking about!