GC/DC also look great forced down to 240p and then applying a CRT shader. Sometimes i even like to play them at 480 with CRT shaders that emulate how they looked when i played them on a CRT back in the day. Interlaced flicker and all. I usually set them to "4k" though.
Dont get me wrong, I have outputed upscaled N64 with AA to a CRT via svideo. Its what our rose-tinted memories are like.
And to sound like a broken record, Blissbox is the game changer here. I have owned dozens of adapters over the years, but the blissbox is all of them perfected in one hockey puck.
Recently, I have switched over to the original hardware camp (again.)
Sound is a huge factor for me to favor original hardware over emulation.
For some reason I give BleemCast a pass. Maybe because I felt it made the games "better". Recently, I had a chance to experience Sonic again on real Genesis hardware and I fared much better than with emulation. Emulation is fine for a 5 minute trip down memory lane, I thought, but not for long term play. However, from reading here, it seems like should use the right emulators on a modern PC and it will make the games better.
Also, official emulation-based releases feel lazy, while ports are fun because they have their own quirks. BleemCast doesn't feel lazy. Maybe that's why I give it a pass.
I have not played any 8 or 16 bit games on original hardware in probably around 20 years. I used to have huge collections of old games, sold them all when I was young, broke, and when they were basically worthless, after I discovered emulation. I always see people talking about the "feel" of original hardware and mostly just thought it was total BS.
I recently bought an NES for reasons I will get into on another thread and have been playing it a fair amount lately. I play NES emulators all the time, and have been for the last 20 years, but playing on the actual system, much to my shock, did make me feel different, but I do think it is mostly psychological.
Here are some observations:
1) Looking at the system next to me, putting games in it, blowing on them, holding the actual NES controller, are all non-gameplay things that made me feel warm and fuzzy. While this is pure nostalgia, I would be lying if I said it did not have an emotional impact on me and made me feel different than loading them up on my laptop or on my rg350.
2) No save states: this is a huge one. I generally play games without using save states to cheat(although I am not above it on some occasions), but I do use them to record my progress if I need to turn off a game and get back to it later. The feeling of not being able to record your progress adds a layer of tension that I haven't felt in a long time.
3) No safety net: even when I don't use save states, I know that they are there, I know that if I absolutely need to, I can save and retry right where I left off and that feeling leads me to be calmer than I might normally be. I have been trying to do a no warp run of battletoads and I gotta say, by the time I got to the dark queens tower, my hands were sweaty, my heart was racing, and I was completely focused on the experience, I made it to the dark queen and died, very disappointing, but exhilarating at the same time. That level of tension is really hard to get on emulator because even when you dont use save states, the knowledge that they are there means you could if you want to, which frequently means in a pinch I will instincually tap a save state.
4) Staring at physical games is oddly satisfying, especially NES games. Sure when they are in the system you cant see them, but last week I took a stack of NES games, plopped them next to my NES, and played them. It invoked feelings that are impossible to get from just clicking files on a computer.
The moral of the story is I get what people mean when they talk about the OH feel, I still reject many of the fallacies that people talk about in emulation(stuff about sound quality, controls etc), but I do feel there is something special, almost magical, about playing on the old hardware that is impossible to replicate, maybe it is 100% subjective and in my mind, but it does feel different, and that is a premise I have rejected for the last 20 years.
I've been watching a lot of James & Mike Mondays and i think that is what i miss the most. Spending a night trying to beat a game with a friend. I don't know anyone IRL that would want to do that anymore. Closest i come these days is playing Warzone with my brother. It's just not the same. I actually hate the game i just play to "hang out" with my bro for a few hours, even if its not in person.
It is a combo of a lot of things. The chunk and hum of a crt, the static in the air, the click of the power button, cartridge clicking into place. I love getting an emulator running right and getting those big crisp chunky pixels but something about those fuzzy but still beautifully correct images from that original signal into the screen they were intended for is euphoric. It doesn’t even need to be a CRT even the Sixth and Seventh gen stuff into my little 20” flat panel gives a better experience than on the big HD screen upstairs.
They just create an experience more than opening an app or hitting enter ever will, from the button “chunk” to the beeps and whirs, the splash screens. Sure it is like 99% nostalgia but that is that.
It is the same reason I love records. Sure we can talk about the “warmth” or the depth of the sound and all that stuff that comes with a clean analog signal. But it creates an experience I am far more likely to sit and actually listen when I put that needle down and see that record spinning than when I just press play on Spotify. Usually then I’m using it as a distraction or noise while I’m doing something else.
