Do working Turbo Duo emulators exist?

[whoisKeel]

Believe it or not, but the legal foothold on emulators and any reverse engineering of software at all was set by the Sega vs. Accolade trial in the early 90's. So if you reverse engineer to learn how a console works, and then develop your *own* code to mimick that, it is legal and ethical. Frankly I think the same could be said of ROM's, but nobody is going to do that. Yet it would only really apply to the game's basic design. Any of the characters or logos would likely be trademarked.

Well, that's just a different scenario altogether. That case was to develop software for proprietary hardware, was it not? This is a case of developing software to circumvent the hardware, denying NEC any sort of profit or ownership of their own developed hardware. Also, I think it is a bold statement to say that case made an ethical statement, although clearly a legal one. Was it ethical for the Intellivision to play Atari cartridges? Legal by loophole, sure, but my argument stands on the unethical side.

How is it unethical to charge for a program you put time a lot and effort into (no matter what it does)? They charge for the emulator, not the ROMS (which no one indeed has the right to charge for). I don't follow you.

So let's say NEC comes out with a system next year that plays their back catalogue, or better yet releases their games on the virtual console. With emulation available, I think you would have a hard time arguing that this doesn't cut away from their profits, and worse yet, someone who profits from the loss of profits from said company. You can argue all day about the emulators not being released with any copyrighted roms, but you would be lying if you said it was not the developer's intention to play illegal roms on the software.

I can understand the effort of developing such software (I am a software developer), but that doesn't make it right to sell it. In one sense I can respect the choices of some who chose to attack the 'system': developing emulators, cracking copyright protections, etc., even though I may disagree with these choices ethically, but to charge for such software is selfish and clearly with harmful intent.

[InsaneDavid]

I can understand the effort of developing such software (I am a software developer), but that doesn't make it right to sell it. In one sense I can respect the choices of some who chose to attack the 'system': developing emulators, cracking copyright protections, etc., even though I may disagree with these choices ethically, but to charge for such software is selfish and clearly with harmful intent.

If that's the case then reselling a physical TurboDuo is unethical from your perspective. I mean, NEC did support a system that plays their back catalog, it's called the Wii. So buying a used TurboDuo and used HuCARDs technically cuts into their virtual console profits. How dare us retrogamers!

[smork]

Yeah, line me up on $100 US Duos, I'll buy 100 of em!

Well, I'm thinking of Japanese Duos, not US. Sorry, I haven't lived in the US for ages so I don't really know what US prices are like!!!!

I thought everybody used the relatively-easy-to-find Japanese Duos...

[Mangar]

The only truly ethical thing to do - Is to just pirate the Duo Emulator. In this way you teach that evil programmer a lesson for making a utility that promotes and enables thievery. This is how i will teach that pirate scum a lesson!

(or just how i will now justify it)

[TheRedEye]

Seriously, don't even bother with Magic Engine (which was a fine piece of software in its time, I even registered it!). Mednafen is free, and more accurate.

[jb143]

Seriously, don't even bother with Magic Engine (which was a fine piece of software in its time, I even registered it!). Mednafen is free, and more accurate.

I wish I would have known about this...oh...2 months ago. I had the demo version of Magic Engine and it worked sooo much better than whatever piece of junk I had previously. So now I have the fully working version of Magic Engine and just find out that there's something better out there for free. Oh well...it seems to suit my needs just fine anyways and is a really nice program.

[roushimsx]

I wish I would have known about this...oh...2 months ago.

I've been trying to make it a point to pimp Mednafen and Ootake whenever a thread like this appears for like the last two years

[jb143]

I've been trying to make it a point to pimp Mednafen and Ootake whenever a thread like this appears for like the last two years

Sorry...I just joined a few months ago. But I'm sure I would have heeded you advice had I known. But out of curiosity in case I want to switch...do they have configurabe controls and can they close down on esc?

[RadiantSvgun]

After using emulators for years, I just shelled out money for a DUO. Nothing beats the real deal.

[roushimsx]

But out of curiosity in case I want to switch...do they have configurabe controls and can they close down on esc?

Yea, controls are fully configurable. Configuring controls in Mednafen is a bit of a pain at first, though. Oh, and Ootake didn't like working with AC97 chipsets last time I tried, but since actually buying a real sound card, the problem went away. Go figure.

After using emulators for years, I just shelled out money for a DUO. Nothing beats the real deal.

I thought so as well until the cd motor died on my Duo R and I was left with a paperweight. On the other hand, with emulators you can: actually use (and configure any which way) comfortable controllers, play online via netplay, save screenshots, more easily record videos (rather than the sad looking camcorder videos people love to post because they don't want to shell out $20-$30 on a decent capture card), use save states (handy!), etc. Plus you don't have to do a silly RGB mod and use a special monitor/tv/whatever to get a clean image.

...and other than that, the emulators (well, Mednafen and Ootake anyway) are free...which kind of beats the disgustingly inflated price of the Duo consoles in the US.

But yea, whatever. Different strokes and all.