Where, how and what do you emulate?

[Cmtz]

I like to emulate different old school games, but not just anywhere. I can't sit in front of my computer and play them with the keyboard that is just plain frustrating. For some reason I don't like to play emulated games on the TV via Dreamcast or Xbox. I don't like playing them on my PSP, DS, GBA or Gpark. I like to play emulated games in front of my laptop with a Logitech controller in the dinning room while doing some work. If my MAME cabinet was up and running(haven't finished it yet) I think I would love to play them there. I can't emulate everything thougth. I hate to emulate N64 I would perfer to play it on the actual system. I can't stand to see anything SEGA emulated. They just don't feel the same. Games I can emulate are SNES, NES and Playstation. What about you guys?

[roushimsx]

Stuff I like to emulate:

Playstation via SSSPSX and pSX Emulator on my PC. If a game isn't yet playable with pSX Emulator (which is just a wonderfully streamlined emulator that aims to recreate a more accurate experience) then I fire it up in SSSPSX with PEOpS GPU for some software rendered love. Sure, I have my PS2 sitting right here that I can, and occasionaly do use (for video capturing, especially when trying to show differences between how a game looks/behaves when emulated vs on a real console), but abusing save states really does make some games a hell of a lot more fun (such as the Syphon Filter trilogy).

Gameboy Advance via VisualBoyAdvance on my PC (and sometimes via BoycottAdvance on my Powerbook, when I'm on the road). The GBA is a nice little system, but I just don't like having to put up with the tiny little screen. I try to play games more on my GBA SP or DS, but inevitably I find a reason to just play the same game in VBA instead. Most recently I decided to play Rebelstar Tactical Command in VBA so that I could speed the game up during the "dead time". Loading screens are 4x faster, movement phases are a lot quicker, and the alien turns that I never get to see anyway are over in the blink of an eye. :) Hell, I can even record videos without needing to buy an addon for my Gamecube (which would require me to use that shittastic GC controller, which works great for 3d games but is piss poor for GBA games).

Genesis/SegaCD/32x via Kega Fusion on my PC. Mainly because I don't have room to have all of the stuff hooked up, but also because I can't find all of my cables. If I need to record some gameplay videos of something, then I'll use a modified build of Gens (until Kega adds support, of course).

NES via VirtuaNES on my PC. While NEStopia is technically better and other emulators (like UberNES) offer some really neat crazy as fuck features, VirtuaNES has the best balance of accuracy and features. Custom pallete support is great and I love the video recording capabilities of it. My entire NES collection is sitting in my parents' basement over a thousand miles away, so this is really the only way I can play my NES games right now.

SNES via ZSNES and SNES9x Improvement on my PC and SNES9x on my Powerbook. I like ZSNES' graphic filters, but SNES9x supports AVI output, and when you want to record things like the opera scene and ending in Final Fantasy VI for everyone to watch, AVI output is kind of important :) Mainly I use them to play translated SNES games (such as SMT1 and 2) or games that were just never released in the US (Terranigma). Occasionaly I'll hook up the Super Wildcard DX2 and play the games on the real hardware just for shits n grins :)

DOS via DOSbox (only on my PC, because performance on a Powerbook is laughable at best). You just can't deny the awesomeness of early-mid 90s DOS games, and DOSbox helps me relieve them all. Wing Commander, X-Com, Space Hulk, Under a Killing Moon, etc...good times. :)

Arcade games via MAME (PC and Powerbook). A brother needs to get his shmup love, and while the offerings for the PS2 are quite nice (especially for Cave fans!), there's still a lot of stuff that's isn't available. Some games, like Gigawing and Mars Matrix I have on Dreamcast but still prefer to play in MAME since I can play them on the road that way (no really, fuck the Treamcast).

[Cmtz]

I'ved always used JNES it's simple, great and supports almost all the games I play. ZSNES for the SNES. I just can't find any flaws in it.

[Wolfrider31]

I emulate pretty much everything, with the exception of current consoles. It's generally a space issue. I like just being able to carry my computer and have access to my entire library.

Nothing beats having an actual copy though.

[Push Upstairs]

I use a version of Gens on my PC. The bulk of my emulation is either playing betas, insanely expensive Japanese games*, or taking screenshots to use on custome covers.


*As much as i love owning the actual game, i'm not going to drop close to $100 to some guy on Ebay. To buy from the publisher/designer is one thing, to buy from "Gamer_d00d_69" is something else.

[Flack]

On my downstairs Xbox, I emulate NES, SNES, Genesis, and MAME pretty regularly. Most of the games I emulate I own on cartridge, but all that stuff's upstairs so it's more of a lazyness factor than anything.

On my GP32, I emulate NES and C64. Either of those could keep me entertained for weeks.

On my GBA, I emulate the NES also. I have a big chunk-o-roms on my flash cart that I can pull up in case I'm bored.

On my PC, the only thing I regularly emulate is the C64. Again, I've got a real '64 hooked up and prefer it to emulation, but it's kind of hard to bring my C64 to work on a daily basis, so emulation fills that need.

On my laptop I have emulators for most major systems installed for the purpose of doing screen shots to go along with reviews.

Oh, and for arcade stuff I either play MAME on one of my Xboxes, my laptop, or my MAME cabinet.

[GarrettCRW]

I primarily emulate MAME, while RockNES and SNES9X are used by me for research (read: finding games to buy). The same will likely happen for other systems when I start seriously collecting them, as well. Now if NBA Jam would just work at full speed on my machine.... :(

[Julio III]

Currently I do Game Boy and NES through the GBA part of my DS and also Neo Geo CD on the Dreamcast.

Have used loads of things in the past, primarily ZSnes, a load of GB emulators (used for pokemon and thats it), a bit of Mame but not much.

There was a good time when we plugged 4 PS2 controllers into a laptop via a USB multitap that wouldn't work on the PS2 to emulate N64 because we only had 3 N64 controllers for the real thing. It felt such a wierd way to do things.

[anagrama]

In about the past 5 years, the only times I've used emulators has been a) using Gens to double-check the appropriate Style/Genre categories in the DP database for the handful of MegaDrive games I was unsure about, and b) using Meka to play the unreleased Dinobasher (SMS) after Bock dumped & released the ROM last year.

[InsaneDavid]

For MAME I use my main PC, just because it's the fastest system I have. I don't play around with MAME as much as I once did and I only retain the games I play semi-frequently on my harddisk. (the full sets are archived to CD media) I use a PlayStation family to USB2 conveter with a PS1 DualShock controller for all emulation on my PC. (sometimes I swap it out for a stick) I also run emulators as needed to take screenshots for reviews and the like. (as some have said) From time to time I'll play through a Gameboy Advance game via emulation or translation patched console games on my PC. Again, because that's the best platform (next to burning to a cartridge) to do so.

Concerning the emulators I use for emulation on the PC - NEStopia for NES, Gens (original flavor) for Genesis, ZSnes for Snes, Visual Boy Advance for all Gameboy games, MagicEngine (just pay for it, I use an older version but it is my licensed version, no openGL support means I have to run v0.9.5) for TurboGrafx-16 / PCEngine / TurboDuo / SuperGrafx games - beautiful emulator.

However when I don't need to take screenshots or anything like that, I use my Dreamcast. Don't get me wrong, I love my cartridges but some longer games I like playing via emulation with savestates, even battery backed up games - then I can just resume exactly where I left off last. It's also nice to have VMU's full of saves right at the final boss battle or end of tons of games. So I can play a mock final boss rush mode of like all three Ninja Gaiden games, River City Ransom, and LifeForce together. LOL Also my MAME cocktail (with a model railroad atop it currently) is in front of my shelf o' NES archive so getting to the games currently is sometimes a hassle. Still, when I write reviews I play the original version on the original hardware - then go do the techical stuff via emulation. It will eventually also be my main outlet for playing NeoGeo MVS games once the AES port of Neo4ALL (Neo4ALL/AES) progresses a little further and we have a better information database built.

Concerning the emulators I use for emulation on the Dreamcast - NESterDC v7.1 (I don't like the proprietary compiler or all the missing scans and information of the SE flavor) for NES / Famicom and Famicom Disk System, DCGNUboy (a little buggy with semi-frequent audio glitches, but it can be overcome with a savestate and reload when it comes up) for Gameboy and Gameboy Color, and SMSPlus v0.2DDD (amazing emulator) for Sega Master System and Sega Game Gear. A new port of HuCAST is supposed to be on the way soon, then the Dreamcast will pick up the bulk of the TurboGrafx-16 / PCEngine emulation.

It may not count as emulation but I use ScummVM to run my old LucasArts adventure games (namely Loom and Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis). Runs on pretty much every computer I have. It has been ported to the Dreamcast but they keep porting the stupid autosave version - so like every 5 minutes your VMU will chime in and a prompt will come up on screen saying your progress was autosaved - which kills gameplay flow and destroys the cutscenes in the 265 color version of Loom. :angry:

I have a MAME cocktail cabinet I've been working on for awhile. Honestly it's just the cabinet itself, I was going to lose the space needed for early construction so I got that all taken care of last year and it's just been sitting in here since. Nice conversation piece "yeah, this is going to be an arcade table eventually" but not much else. I have decided on the hardware (although that may get boosted but I really want to use that PII 350 MMX I've had for awhile since it's the most stable motherboard and chipset I've ever had) and the install of MAME. I've also built the romset, front end, and the like how I want it and archived that all away for the day when it's done. The audio system has been installed and I've worked out the placement and layout for everything, but the money to jump in and complete it just hasn't been there. As I said above, it's basically being used as a normal table right now with my current model railroad sitting above it. (proving you can have a full service twin loop layout with a yard all within the confines of a standard N-Trak module - 2'x4' - very few of you probably know what I'm talking about LOL, just ignore me) When it is finally done I'll do all my cocktail and a good deal of my vertical shooter emulation on it.

[Cambot]

I have a few ROMs on my PC. Nothing much, really. Mostly, it's just fun to play Super Tetris or see what all the fuss is about when it comes to those rare, classic games you always hear about. I have a Microsoft plug-n-play game pad which has all the same buttons as the SNES pad. So it works well ro NES, Sega Genesis and Master System, too.

[zektor]

As most probably already know, I have been into emulation for years...but I don't play emulated games all that much honestly. Maybe some Mame on occasion, or perhaps checking out the novelty of emulating older game systems on new game systems.

I am of a different breed that actually uses emulation as a tool. I use ZSNES for example, to see how a certian game is before bidding on the actual cartridge on ebay. For me, no matter how close the emulation is (and some are darn perfect), there will never be a way of emulating the actual thing. There's a whole lot going on with the experience that involves more than just playing the game.

[diskoboy]

I use MAME of course, FCEU (NES), Stella (VCS), Bliss (INTV), Daphne (Laserdisc), and Chankast (a damn good Dreamcast emulator)

And I'm one of those rare people who actually use MAME to diagnose my Pac-Man machine when it acts up. Of course, I play other games, but I do use it for comparisons.

[Pantechnicon]

Well, I've got my MAME cab, which I've had for 5 years now. It's my baby. Once I got it running I pretty much gave up arcade emu everywhere else i.e. - sitting at a desk. I've got a bunch of console emus on it, too, but hardly ever use them in lieu of the real deals sitting not but six feet away.

All my console emu is pretty much done on my laptop: Atari 2600/5200/7800/Lynx, NES/SNES/GBC, SMS/GG/Genesis. I keep a Gravis 10-button gamepad in the laptop case which sucks for 2600 due to the hand orientation but works fine for everything else. It really simplifies things when one is travelling and wants to to keep the game lovin close by.

Another perc to using my laptop for emu is that it gives me a chance to "try before I buy" carts at the Wi-fi enabled game shop/cafe I hang out at every week. If there's some interesting looking loose Genny cart for sale, as an example, I just pull down the ROM and try it out. If the game looks fun then I buy it. Otherwise I just delete the ROM. How's that for legitmate ROM use?

I'd really like to get more into emulating different consoles on my Dreamcast, but the only emu disc I've successfully managed to make was an Atari 2600 one which works great. But it must have been blind stupid luck that I got this to work because every subsequent emu disc I've made for DC has been a coaster :frustrated:

[Damaramu]

MAME/Kawaks- PC and Laptop: Too many great arcade games I enjoyed as a child. Plus these allow me to play those expensive NeoGeo games.

ZSnes- PC: I fool around with this one from time to time. I've got a hefty SNES collection (a real one that is) but some games are just hard to come by. Love SFC games too!

Sega CD: Ok, I've actually downloaded a ton of SCD roms and burned them to playable discs on my X'Eye. Cheap Bastard syndrome at work there. LOL

[GaijinPunch]

I finally got off my ass and got my emulation computer working, using an Ultimarc Arcade Video Card, and an RGB monitor. For the games that have perferct, or near perfect emulation, the difference between them and the real thing is completely undiscernable with the original 15khz output. It's amazing, and I'm glad I spent the time and money on the setup. I highly recommend everyone to look into this option. Looks way better than any results you can get from filtering on a high res monitor.

[Slate]

Most of the time, I use my PSP to emulate.

On my PSP i have a:

SNES Emulator (I use this one most of the time)

NES Emulator

Genesis Emulator

Game Boy/Game Boy Color Emulator

SMS/Game Gear Emulator

I have rarely used any emulated game on my PSP other than Super Punch Out. It's the only emulated game i have used on it for weeks, or months.

I also have some emulators on my PC, but i rarely use it to emulate.

[incubus421]

I haven't used emulation in months now. That's an all-time high for me. Used to emulate a lot, only for a ouple systems though. Still have all my emulation stuff though. All of it is on my Dell PC as I don't own a PSP.
The emulators I use are:

NES = NEStopia
SNES = SNES9X (used to use ZSNES)
GB/C/A = Visual Boy Advanced

Also, while we're on the emulaion/ripping topic. Anyone ever heard of or use the program MUGEN? I would say this program is a Fighting game lovers dream come true....besides the newest KoF game.

[InsaneDavid]

I'd really like to get more into emulating different consoles on my Dreamcast, but the only emu disc I've successfully managed to make was an Atari 2600 one which works great. But it must have been blind stupid luck that I got this to work because every subsequent emu disc I've made for DC has been a coaster :frustrated:

The Atari one (DCStella) is actually harder to make than some of the others. LOL I've PM'ed you some help. :)

[Bloodreign]

MAME - for my arcade needs, mainly for games that I've grown to like.

NES (variable emus, FCEUXD, and Virtua NES)- everything possibly ever dumped from Famicom to NES, helps me in my Ebay purchases when it comes to buying NES games.

Genesis (Fusion35)- again mainly used to determine my purchases on games I may have never played or heard of.

VisualboyAdvance (GBA,GB/GBC) - this has helped me on a few occasions for purchase decisions, Gradius Galaxies and Super Ghouls N Ghosts GBA are just a couple purchases I made thanks to this emulator.

WinUAE- the only way to fly for Amiga play.

Basically while I do have fun playing games on emulators, in the end it helps influence exactly what I put my money on.

[boatofcar]

I use SCUMMVM for the old Lucasarts games on my ibook. It runs, very, very well.

I use JNes on my PSP for NES emulation.

I use MAME on my old Gateway PC with an X arcade stick hooked up to it. Hoping to replace that system with a modded Xbox soon.

[Nature Boy]

The emulators I play the most are my NES one on my PSP and my Atari XL/XE one on my PC.

The NES games look sweet on the PSP's screen, and it's handy having some old school action when I need a break from my 'main' PSP game.

The Atari 8-bit stuff is cool 'cause I can use my PC as an emulated disk drive and play on my *actual* 800 XL, or I can play on the go using the full emulator. That machine *easily* being my favourite retro machine makes it *easily* my favourite one to play around with.

I also enjoy MAME on my PC, but mostly just the 80s stuff is what I play. I use a keyboard for some of it (like Frogger) and a PS1 controller for other stuff (like Robotron or Crazy Climber)

[cyberfluxor]

I haven't actually sat down and run emulators in years. In todays times were I actually have a job and an afford games my main PC is used mostly for music, video, and newer games rather than the download of a billion ROMs and emulators to play consule games.

I did buy my MAC G3 233Mhz box 2 years go for $50 and dropped $16 on Ebay for OS X.1 to make it my emulator machine though. I really like MACs when it comes to emulation of older consules. They have very stable emulation and it's really well designed for game flow. It gives a retro feel playing it on a MAC too, don't know why (Apple II roots anybody?). But to any extent, I do have thousands upon thousands of ROMs that consist of nearly complete collections of SNES, NES, GEN, GB, SMS, N64, and so forth (Basically any classical to new generation cartridge systems). I don't really care for emulating CD based games for some odd reason.

I really like Atari emulators and SNES the most, I guess because the nice library of games. But like I said earlier, I'll generally push one of my carts into a consule before deciding to emulate a game just because the feel and big TV.

[Dji]

Years ago, I vowed to stop using emulators mostly because it ruined the fun of finding games and/or finally getting to play them (for the first time). Plus, it's illegal. I have pretty much stayed true to my vow. However, there are exceptions to the rule:

1. Arcade games: I use MAME quite a bit, especially for games which have never been ported. I recently discovered a game called Warrior Blade: Rastan Saga 3, as excellent a beat 'em up as I've ever seen (and I'm a huge fan of the genre). Apparently it was only available in Japanese arcades, unfortunately. This is but one of the many, many games I've discovered thanks to MAME, and which I would have never been able to play otherwise.

2. Online play: Playing SNES games online with friends rocks. Some favorites include Super Mario Kart, Super Smash TV and Monopoly.

3. Prototypes, hacks, etc.: Similar to the arcade stuff, which I could never play otherwise. Super Demo World is awesome.

4. Games I already own: I'd rather play them "for real", but sometimes it's fun to mess around with the save state feature, etc.

[Lord Contaminous]

I have lots of old school emulation, but I only play those on road trips. Since I play fighters alot, my number 1 reason for emulation would be playing all the fighting games (CPS, CPS2, Neo Geo etc). Sometimes to add more fighters, I take my laptop to the arcade and entertain my friends since they're the only people that really come in and play something.

[Link_Master]

what are some safe sites to find emulators?

sorry if im bumping an older topic but it suits my question

[Ed Oscuro]

The best way to get emulators is directly from the source, I think. I use Zophars now and then to see if a game's updated, as they still update for new emulators - but if you have any questions you'll need to visit the homepage of each emu.

Personally, I emulate all sorts of things. I use FCE Ultra for Famicom/NES, and JNES for NES/FC multiplayer only (it's pretty good but I like FCEU better). For Genesis, I used to use Gens but it requires you install some stuff for CD-ROM games, and there's an annoying pause and screen blank when you load it up. I use Fusion 32 now most of the time, which also allows you to play SMS games. SNES, I use ZSNES again. MAME32, from http://mame32qa.classicgaming.gamespy.com is my choice of MAME.

Yeah, Rastan Saga 3 is *great.* I'd love to have the soundtrack for that game (the tracks are available from rastan.net last time I checked).

[Link_Master]

so neither of the sites you listed above have viruses or spyware? Also does zophar have roms? Im justl looking to play mean bean machine for genesis.

[InsaneDavid]

PM sent regarding safe emulation. Just the same you should still scan everything with an anti-virus program like AVG, and be running things like Spybot S&D and Ad-Aware weekly. And of course, using a somewhat recent build of Mozilla Firefox as your browser. All are just good habits to get into.

[Snapple]

I've never gotten a virus from downloading an emulator. Seems rather silly that someone would put all this sweat and hard work into making a good emulator, then waste that work by using it solely to distribute virii.

Roms, I don't think I've gotten a virus from any of them either. Although, when I'm suspicious, I scan individual files with AVG, which is a fantastic free anti-virus program. I have a lot of security programs on my comp. Ever since I got a nasty malware scare about a year ago that seemed almost impossible to get rid of, my computer is like a fortress. That was from my own stupidity though. I downloaded something that called itself a torrent search program from a website that I had never been to, and then neglected to scan it.

Emulation is mostly very, very safe though. I don't worry about that much at all.

Zophar's Domain is a safe, reliable site. They have all the emulators you will ever need. The only roms they have though are homebrews. You have to get commercial roms on another site, because ZD tries to keep itself a legit site.

[ClassicGameTrader]

I am REALLY suprised that the Xbox is not getting more love in this topic.

The Xbox plays about anything from 1996 back perfectly, plus alot of the more current stuff. The emulators for the box are top notch professional grade, often with better presentation than PC emulators (Mostly thanks to Xport).

Mame plays suprisingly well and there is a BADASS Neo/CPS emu that plays all of those games PERFECTLY.

Xbox emulation to me is better because the Xbox is already in a console format, it is EASY to use and I play it like any other game, it is on my main TV with my stereo just like when I fire up an Xbox game or PS2 game. If I want 4 controllers, I plug them in 1 thru 4, I don't have to go through all the stupid configurations. Also, Xbox emus are made especially for the box, so you wont ever have an incompatable video card or some shit.

The GUI's on box are retail quality, and all of the menus are designed to use a controller, so you don't need a keyboard which only detracts from gaming.

I have NEVER been able to play an emu game on PC for long because I just don't think it's the same.

Regardless of all this other stuff, the best think for me is sitting where I play every other game instead of in my office.

If you haven't already, go to xbox-scene.com, it is SOOOOO worth it to check into these emus.

[Tron 2.0]

I just emulate, Mame any time i get the urge to play old arcade games.

I can't say i've ever bother with the, console stuff since i perfer the real deal on that.

Still i might one day... since there are lot of consoles i don't own any more.

[ClassicGameTrader]

Double Post

[InsaneDavid]

I am REALLY suprised that the Xbox is not getting more love in this topic.

The Xbox plays about anything from 1996 back perfectly, plus alot of the more current stuff. The emulators for the box are top notch professional grade, often with better presentation than PC emulators (Mostly thanks to Xport).

Mame plays suprisingly well and there is a BADASS Neo/CPS emu that plays all of those games PERFECTLY.

Xbox emulation to me is better because the Xbox is already in a console format, it is EASY to use and I play it like any other game, it is on my main TV with my stereo just like when I fire up an Xbox game or PS2 game. If I want 4 controllers, I plug them in 1 thru 4, I don't have to go through all the stupid configurations. Also, Xbox emus are made especially for the box, so you wont ever have an incompatable video card or some shit.

The GUI's on box are retail quality, and all of the menus are designed to use a controller, so you don't need a keyboard which only detracts from gaming.

Alright, all that BUT you need to modify your console to play the emulators. That removes the average casual person from the mix. That is why the Dreamcast emulation and homebrew scene is still top. The big advantage is, of course, you just burn the CD and pop it in - any system, no modifications or swapping or anything. New programs like BootDreams make it super easy as well and there are so many compilers and information libraries out there it's easy to figure out.

Emulators like NESterDC (NES), DCGNUBoy (GB/GBC), and SMSPlus (SMS/GG) all have clean, easy to navigate interfaces. There are some new projects making headway including a NeoGeo AES emulator based off the amazing Neo4ALL NeoGeo CD emulator.

No modifications, plays on a normal TV, four controller ports , and the DC emulation and homebrew community is still very tight and very grassroots. Not as large as it once was, but it's still quite healthy.

[nate1749]

What I've played most is..

PinMame on my PC
NES games on my GBA (mostly just tyson's punch out)
NES on my sony clie (palm OS 5)


As much as I like having everyting on my XBOX (and PC), I really only play games for a few minutes then get bored... it's a controller issue with me, I need to buy some converters or something, because I never remeber how the buttons are mapped (even if I map them!).

And now that I think about, that's why I must enjoy playing NES on my clie (w/game controller) or gba, because the controller setup is similar (& simple).

Nate

[Slate]

OK, i can't emulate on my PSP now that i updated it to 2.5 to play Pursuit force..

I can still use my PC to emulate, though.

[Jorpho]

Zophar's seems to have fallen on hard times as of late, but I've never seen anything else quite as good.

I've used ZSNES for some RPGs in recent times, and I had some good fun with 1964 for my N64 stuff. I ought to fire up a PSX emulator some time, but it seems like a fairly messy business. There's also some GBA stuff I'd like to take a crack at, but given that the GBA is still alive and well, emulating it seems rather unsavory.

[roushimsx]

Zophar's seems to have fallen on hard times as of late, but I've never seen anything else quite as good.


Another vote for Zophar if you want some general information regarding what emulators are available. While the direct links may be outdated, most of the links to the homepages work and from there you can get the latest and greatest builds.

Failing that, Emulatronia (http://emulatronia.com/) is the best emulation news site. Downfall is that it's not in english, but that doesn't really matter since the names of the emulators don't really change in the translation. ;) Give it a whirl for a bit and i'm sure you'll join the emulatronia fold.

NGEmu (http://www.ngemu.com/) isn't the most up-to-date news site, but it does have some nice information on PS2/N64/Playstation/GBA emulation that other sites tend to miss.

Pretty much any and all N64 news will be posted in the EmuTalk (http://www.emutalk.net/) forums first, though. It's the bee's knees.


I ought to fire up a PSX emulator some time, but it seems like a fairly messy business. There's also some GBA stuff I'd like to take a crack at, but given that the GBA is still alive and well, emulating it seems rather unsavory.

Take a crack at pSX Emulator (http://psxemulator.gazaxian.com/) sometime. Extremely straight forward, reasonably high level of compatibility (it's the only english emulator that'll play Valkyrie Profile (US) without any problems and it's currently the best english emulator for Final Fantasy 9 (US), Symphony of the Night (US) and Chrono Cross (US)), and pretty fresh/new/young. Some people don't like that it's all software based (you won't be getting all of the snazzy visual effects that you'd get from a psemupro plugin-spec emulator), but the goal of the project is to emulate the playstation as accuratly as possible and as simply as possible.

If you've got a playstation bios already then it's damn near as straightforward as popping in a disc and telling it to go. :)

Xebra is also extremely advanced, but it defines daunting :( It's more complete than pSX Emulator, but it's all in japanese and it requires a monster cpu in relative comparison.



Alright, all that BUT you need to modify your console to play the emulators. That removes the average casual person from the mix. That is why the Dreamcast emulation and homebrew scene is still top. The big advantage is, of course, you just burn the CD and pop it in - any system, no modifications or swapping or anything. New programs like BootDreams make it super easy as well and there are so many compilers and information libraries out there it's easy to figure out.


That's all fine and well, but the Dreamcast isn't the optimal system for emulating SNES, Genesis, SegaCD, or PCE CD games. I agree that the Neo Geo emulation on the Dreamcast is nothing short of amazing, but if someone wants to play something other than SMS and Neo Geo games then they really need to look at snagging an xbox.

Xbox modifications anymore are nothing more than loading up an exploited save game just one time. With about 5 minutes of effort you'll have yourself a little mini HTPC with far more support than the Dreamcast ever had (mainly becasue it's so much easier to compile other people's source code with a pirated sdk...but..yea.. :( ).

Plus, the Xbox controller works quite a bit better than the dreamcast controller for just about everything (and if you want to bring the arcade stick into the equasion, I'll bring in the SF Anniversary arcade sticks which are easier to get and cheaper).

I will have to say that the MAME ports to Xbox are sadly outdated and aren't really worth looking into. I'd suggest going for a recent build of FBA-XXX which will most likely have what most people want to play supported anyway.

Not knockin' the dreamcast, but it's just not the homebrew box that the Xbox is. No burning discs (you can FTP right into the Xbox), more variety, and a better controller.

[ClassicGameTrader]

I am REALLY suprised that the Xbox is not getting more love in this topic.

The Xbox plays about anything from 1996 back perfectly, plus alot of the more current stuff. The emulators for the box are top notch professional grade, often with better presentation than PC emulators (Mostly thanks to Xport).

Mame plays suprisingly well and there is a BADASS Neo/CPS emu that plays all of those games PERFECTLY.

Xbox emulation to me is better because the Xbox is already in a console format, it is EASY to use and I play it like any other game, it is on my main TV with my stereo just like when I fire up an Xbox game or PS2 game. If I want 4 controllers, I plug them in 1 thru 4, I don't have to go through all the stupid configurations. Also, Xbox emus are made especially for the box, so you wont ever have an incompatable video card or some shit.

The GUI's on box are retail quality, and all of the menus are designed to use a controller, so you don't need a keyboard which only detracts from gaming.

Alright, all that BUT you need to modify your console to play the emulators. That removes the average casual person from the mix. That is why the Dreamcast emulation and homebrew scene is still top. The big advantage is, of course, you just burn the CD and pop it in - any system, no modifications or swapping or anything. New programs like BootDreams make it super easy as well and there are so many compilers and information libraries out there it's easy to figure out.

Emulators like NESterDC (NES), DCGNUBoy (GB/GBC), and SMSPlus (SMS/GG) all have clean, easy to navigate interfaces. There are some new projects making headway including a NeoGeo AES emulator based off the amazing Neo4ALL NeoGeo CD emulator.

No modifications, plays on a normal TV, four controller ports , and the DC emulation and homebrew community is still very tight and very grassroots. Not as large as it once was, but it's still quite healthy.


Well, that is a reasonable point but a box can be softmodded as well. Plus, there is absolutly no need for a CD/DVD whatsoever once you mod an Xbox, games are transfered by local network which takes 30 seconds to set up. It would take a TON of CD's just to have a complete romset on a DC. The DC has something like a 200Mhz processor vs 733Mhz on box, no HD.

I would probably have settled for DC emulation years ago if it wasn't so hard to compile the games (at least then).

Modded Xbox>>>>>>>>>>>DC

[Jorpho]

Take a crack at pSX Emulator (http://psxemulator.gazaxian.com/) sometime. Extremely straight forward, reasonably high level of compatibility (it's the only english emulator that'll play Valkyrie Profile (US) without any problems and it's currently the best english emulator for Final Fantasy 9 (US), Symphony of the Night (US) and Chrono Cross (US)), and pretty fresh/new/young. Some people don't like that it's all software based (you won't be getting all of the snazzy visual effects that you'd get from a psemupro plugin-spec emulator), but the goal of the project is to emulate the playstation as accuratly as possible and as simply as possible.

I am very much intrigued. (The other slightly daunting thing about PSX emulation is that things like SSSPSX and Emurayden pop up with relatively little information about them.)

So by "snazzy visual effects" I guess you mean that you're stuck running things in the default Playstation resolution with no nice jaggy reduction or anything?

By the way, what's up with Virtual Boy emulation lately? Last I heard there was a fairly complete version of RealityBoy available, but it was still kind of slow and without sound. (I'd still like to play Virtual Boy Wario Land sometime.)

[roushimsx]

I am very much intrigued. (The other slightly daunting thing about PSX emulation is that things like SSSPSX and Emurayden pop up with relatively little information about them.)


SSSPSX is quite nice as far as psemupro-spec emulators go. It's built off of the PCSX sources and really rivals ePSXe in terms of compatibility. The one thing I don't like about it is that for whatever reason fraps doesn't like to work with it so I can't take screenshots :(



So by "snazzy visual effects" I guess you mean that you're stuck running things in the default Playstation resolution with no nice jaggy reduction or anything?


Yep, you'll be running in the original resolution and then have it stretched to full screen. Here's some examples (I play in 1280x960 since it's my desktop resolution):

http://img108.imageshack.us/img108/8327/psxfin20060429024710923wg.th.jpg (http://img108.imageshack.us/my.php?image=psxfin20060429024710923wg.jpg)http://img108.imageshack.us/img108/1828/psxfin20060430125332189jf.th.jpg (http://img108.imageshack.us/my.php?image=psxfin20060430125332189jf.jpg)http://img108.imageshack.us/img108/3970/psxfin20060502001348629uy.th.jpg (http://img108.imageshack.us/my.php?image=psxfin20060502001348629uy.jpg)
http://img108.imageshack.us/img108/3544/psxfin20060424185714425mg.th.png (http://img108.imageshack.us/my.php?image=psxfin20060424185714425mg.png)http://img108.imageshack.us/img108/8555/psxfin20060424185521731nk.th.png (http://img108.imageshack.us/my.php?image=psxfin20060424185521731nk.png)http://img108.imageshack.us/img108/3633/psxfin20060424185456707fw.th.png (http://img108.imageshack.us/my.php?image=psxfin20060424185456707fw.png)
http://img108.imageshack.us/img108/748/tacticsogre030bw.th.jpg (http://img108.imageshack.us/my.php?image=tacticsogre030bw.jpg)http://img108.imageshack.us/img108/4751/tacticsogre046nu.th.jpg (http://img108.imageshack.us/my.php?image=tacticsogre046nu.jpg)http://img108.imageshack.us/img108/2000/tacticsogre028fq.th.jpg (http://img108.imageshack.us/my.php?image=tacticsogre028fq.jpg)


By the way, what's up with Virtual Boy emulation lately?

-edited because i can't read-

Haven't been keeping up with that, but I've been meaning to look into it for a while. I've kinda been holding out for a finished copy of Dragon Hopper to get dumped before I really get interested :)

[sabre2922]

I emulate anything pre-PSX and MAME mostly for 2-D fighters and KILLER INSTINCT, meaning just about everything that was a cartridge based system.

My favs are:

Visualboyadvanced

FCE Ultra for NES

Zsnes

and GENs

[InsaneDavid]

I would probably have settled for DC emulation years ago if it wasn't so hard to compile the games (at least then).

Bah, it was never that hard, really all that needed to be done was to write a batch file that wound run a bunch of DOS apps in the proper order. LOL (I still use one I wrote years ago to compile my NESterDC v7.1 builds)

[Cryomancer]

Well lets see on my desktop I have shortcuts for....

Stella, FCEUltra, Magic Engine, ZSNES, KEGA, GENS, ePSXe I rarely use, NeoPop, Visualboy Advance, Modeler, MAME32, and blueMSX. I use some of these fairly often (MAME32, KEGA, and VBA mostly).

I've got others as well, for the X68000, Saturn (SSF, again, barely ever use), Handy, FreeDO, Project 64 and Daphne, and a tamagotchi simulator. Those I don't use much.

The xbox also has snes9x, xenesis, FCE for xbox, MAME, and that three-emulator n64 thingie. That's mostly used for travel.

Most of my emulation is to try stuff to see what i should pick up, or to take screenshots or such. I do play about with hacked games and stuff from time to time as well. The other thing I use emultion for is discovering systems I've never touched, such is the case for the MSX and X68000 emulators.

Controller wise I use a homemade xbox controller adapter, or my super joybox that does DC, saturn, and psx controllers. I wish someone would make one that does N64, SNES, and cube, that would be damn handy.

[B - Mark]

I emulate games in my PC.

My list of emulators:

*Master System and Game Gear
- MEKA
- Gens Plus

*Mega Drive / Genesis
- Gens
- Gens Plus

*NES
-Nesticle
-NNester J

*Super NES
-ZSNES

*Game Boy Classic and Game Boy Color
-Visual Boy
-Smygb

*Game Boy Advance
-Visual Boy Advance

*CPS 1 and CPS 2 Arcade Systems
-Winkawaks

*Neo Geo
-NeoRage X

*Neo Geo Pocket
-Neopop

*Wonderswan
-WSCAMP

[fishsandwich]

I used to play stuff on my PC but I've just run ouit of time with work and life. PORTABLE GAMING is another story. I use my Tapwave Zodiac for portable emulation and my N-gage for REALLY portable gaming. I'd be wrecked if I lost or broke the Zodiac so it's pampermed more but the N-Gage gets chucked around quite a bit as its much easier to replace.

I'm done. :D

[Sweater Fish Deluxe]

I do most of my emulation in pure DOS. I use:

Stella for 2600
Nesticle for NES
BRSMS for Master System, Game Gear and Coleco
Hu-Go! for TurboGrafx
Genecyst for Genesis
ZSNES for SNES

All of those except Hu-Go! are fullspeed (0 frameskip) with my laptop's CPU stepped all the way down to 166MHz for maximum battery life when not on AC.

I use the Game Launcher universal frontend for a nice unified experience, with backgrounds like this one but different for each system:

http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i135/sweaterfish/snes.png

And everything is controlled by this controller:
http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/akiba/hotline/20031206/image/kem3.jpg
which is a really nice one both in terms of quality and layout, plus it plugs straight into the PS/2 port and acts as a keyboard, so there's never compatibility issues and it can control things that can't be controlled by normal gamepads and it has four completely remappable setting as well as one default setting with the buttons mapped as they're labeled.

When in Windows, I use FCEUltra, Gens Plus, SNES9x and NGPocket, but that's just for quick stuff like taking screenshots or testing hacks or something, for real playing I reset into DOS.

For MAME, I have MAME32IP set up in Windows, but I haven't gotten around to setting up a version of MAME for DOS to use with Game Launcher. I also need togo through all the MAME ROMs and par the collection down to just the stuff I want to keep (about 500MB is what I'm planning to allot). One of these days.


...word is bondage...

[Jorpho]

That is one darn spiffy gamepad! Are they still widely available?

I guess you use DOS since you're running those at 166 MHz? (Nesticle leaves something to be desired, methinks.)

[Sweater Fish Deluxe]

That is one darn spiffy gamepad! Are they still widely available?
I don't know about widely, but they are still available from the manufacturers website and for only $10, too, which is a great deal for this controller, I think.

http://www.act-labs.com/scripts/proddetails.asp?pid=38

But don't buy too many of them, please, because I need to buy another one for myself. I recently realized that since they have a PS/2 passthrough plug intended for a full keyboard, you could actually plug two of these controllers into a PS/2 port for two player games (assuming that many keypresses doesn't wig out DOS or the program you're running).


I guess you use DOS since you're running those at 166 MHz? (Nesticle leaves something to be desired, methinks.)
Yeah, Nesticle is anything but ideal, but I want to need to use DOS just because I want the fastest boot up and I also want every extra bit of juice free for the games. I tried all the other DOS NES emulators I could find and while they have better accuracy and compatibility, they are either too slow or don't offer resolution modes I like, so I stick with Nesticle. It's not *THAT* bad.

BrSMS isn't perfect, either, since it doesn't allow any button remapping and I don't want to have to use up one whole setting on my controller just for BrSMS. It does have a fabulous 512x384 w/ scanlines setting, though, that looks absolutely perfect on my laptop's screen.


...word is bondage...

[Jorpho]

I wonder if there's a USB controller that can work the same way? (Most BIOSes provide legacy USB keyboard support to let you use a keyboard in DOS, so presumably one could have a USB gamepad that simulates keyboard input.)


I want to need to use DOS just because I want the fastest boot up and I also want every extra bit of juice free for the games.

It is tempting to suggest a flavor of Linux, but I don't think there's something that quite does what you want to just yet. (I'm sure someone has thought of it, though.) The games variants of Knoppix might come close, but since they still has a full window manager (I think) it certainly won't boot up very fast.

[Snapple]

I haven't had any real problems with PS1 and GBA emulation. Especially GBA. VirtualBoy Advance is extremely easy to use.

[tanda]

I've fiddled around with emulators on a pc, and I found the experience to be underwhelming. It is great to check out arcade games never ported to home systems, or titles too expensive to take a chance on buying the board.

I have played around on a modded xbox, and that really was a nice experience to use a console controller on a large television. A nice way to go.

[mdk]

What: MAME
Where and how:

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a376/madk/madkade011.jpg

That is my MAME cab I build from the ground up a few summers back. I did sell it off recently but have a new one in the works. I'll post some updates when I have it near completion.

[dankicksass]

I emulate typically only NES, SNES, and Genesis games I actually own, generally on my PC or laptop when I'm not feeling like bothering anyone who is trying to watch TV. I use Nuby's Capcom Street Fighter anniversary PSX/Xbox Saturn-style pads when I emulate, and sometimes a regular PS2 or Xbox pad if it's already connected. The Nuby SF pads are nicer than people give them credit for. I actually have both the PSX and Xbox versions. I like the PSX version a bit better, since it is lighter due to no memory card port built in, and it seems to have nicer buttons in the ABC/XYZ area. It cost me twice as much as my Xbox pad though, so I guess you get what you pay for. But, since I have multiples of these pads, it does make multiplayer emulation more satisfying, like you're using the real thing.

Once I finish off my NES-encased home theatre PC, I'll probably load emulators on that too. I've got the case and processor for it, I just have to bring together the other components and build it up. That ought to be a fun project. :)