Hardware Vs Emulators

[bacteria]

There is no retro experience with emulation, or nostalgia value. Emulators often have glitches on video and audio, incompatibilities and slowdowns too. I don't like emulation and always go for original hardware. To compare the ownership value, It's like copying a music CD off the net for free and using your printer to make a crude CD sleeve, vs waiting for a title you want to come out in the shops, and buying an original copy, with the feel of quality you get and the knowledge you have the real thing and not a freebie.

[NintenBroke]

Anybody here got one of those things that you have to share a house with, oh yeah, a wife!! Yeah nothing they like better than a bunch of old consoles, a bunch of cartridges, miles of spaghetti cords and controllers! This alone is 1 valid argument for emulation, 1 or 2 consoles, emulate all of the older stuff and for folks like me, if the sound or color is just a little off, I can live with that to get to play a game that I ordinarily wouldn't set up a whole system just to get to play. Just a thought for those of us who have to share a home with others, have responsibilities and just like to play some old games every now and then, and who don't want to live in a Nintendo museum.

[flamepanther]

See, I've always subscribed to the belief that someone who knew their spouse's quirks long in advance shouldn't expect their significant other to change them later on. It's a frequent topic of discussion in toy collecting communities, so I know there are differing views and I respect that.

On the other hand, it seems like 90% of the time, the guys who are suddenly asked to give up their (for example) Transformers collection after the marriage also happen to have a wife with an enormous collection of shoes she's not getting rid of to reciprocate. I hope you're being treated fairly.

[jeffro11]

Women are a necessary evil.

[DonSilvestre]

There's obvious merit to both camps. If I could play all my old games on a CRT with a kickass stereo hooked up with no latency issues, no NES flashing red screen, no save batteries dying, and nobody telling me to pick up my controllers all the time, I'd be all about it. Then reality hits.

I have one nice TV, one nice stereo, and everything is super far away from the couches in our living room. I can hook up the original systems and sit on the floor in front of the TV and have the surround sound shoot over the top of my head while dealing with controller lag because the resolutions of these systems are too low for HDTVs and hope that my save battery never dies (I know these are replaceable if you know what you're doing, I'm terrified of wrecking my Earthbound, Chrono Trigger, DKC3, etc cartridges). On the other hand, I can plop down on my couch with a Wii classic controller and play wirelessly with no lag because my TV handles a 480P resolution just fine, get great sound, and know that my saves will always work.

Obviously the original experience will always provide better nostalgia, and the original controllers will always surpass anything else that comes out. That being said, emulation has some GREAT advantages.

I do relate with the whole "if I don't own a physical copy, I don't want to play it" mentality. Easy solution though (this is what I do). I buy a cartridge, and go home and put the ROM on my Wii. I just did this last week with Donkey Kong Country 3 in fact. The thrill was no smaller for me loading that ROM up for the first time after looking for a reasonably priced copy for years. I still have all my games displayed and look at them often, but ESPECIALLY with NES, Genesis, SNES, GB and GBC - the convenience of emulation with a decent home theater system cannot be topped. I'd encourage all Wii owners to AT LEAST give the Homebrew Channel a try - you might be surprised.

[Hatta]

There's obvious merit to both camps. If I could play all my old games on a CRT with a kickass stereo hooked up with no latency issues, no NES flashing red screen, no save batteries dying, and nobody telling me to pick up my controllers all the time, I'd be all about it. Then reality hits.

That is my reality. A dedicated game room with a rack full of consoles with flash carts fixes all those issues.

[DownSince86]

As someone who's owned nearly every console released in America after 1986 I have to say that I prefer emulation now. I own a Wii, it is softmodded, I have a big HDD hooked up to it with all my games on it.

I never have to get off my ass to change carts, hook up a console, turn consoles on/off, hook up controllers.... It is all there at the press of a button.

I _love_ playing games on original hardware, I really do. In some cases I still do that (32X, Neo-Geo, Sega CD, Dreamcast, PS2, Xbox) but I'd store those consoles in the attic with the rest of 'em if I could emulate them at a responsible speed on the Wii.

I've found a good balance between emulation and real hardware and I still enjoy playing all those great games released since 1986 and in some cases before.

Not trying to start an argument here but from some of the replies I've read in this thread it sounds like a few are you are trying to justify having those large collections and all that stuff hooked up to your TV by saying emulation isn't "as good" as playing on real hardware. Both options have their benefits and downsides but at the end of the day it doesn't really matter imo, as long as people are still enjoying all those great games I think we can agree that it is a good thing. No matter if they're playing them on real hardware or through an emulator.

O, and what about all those "retro" games for download on Xbox live, the Wii shop, and the PSN network? Is someone who bought those not a true "retro fan" because they aren't playing the game on the real hardware? Maybe spending $5-$10 on a download is a better option to them compared to buying an old console they don't own, tracking down a cart they don't own, and possibly having to modify that old console to get the most out of it? Just something to ponder, most people don't get a hard on from owning a NES or 32X (I do. ).

[Hatta]

I'd store those consoles in the attic with the rest of 'em if I could emulate them at a responsible speed on the Wii.

Why keep them if you're just going to pack them away? I think that's the silliest thing I've heard yet in this thread. If you don't use them, they're just taking up space.

Both options have their benefits and downsides but at the end of the day it doesn't really matter imo, as long as people are still enjoying all those great games I think we can agree that it is a good thing. No matter if they're playing them on real hardware or through an emulator.

This I can agree with.

Maybe spending $5-$10 on a download is a better option to them compared to buying an old console they don't own, tracking down a cart they don't own, and possibly having to modify that old console to get the most out of it? Just something to ponder, most people don't get a hard on from owning a NES or 32X (I do. ).

But finding old consoles is fun. Searching out old games is fun. Modding those consoles is fun. Some may disagree but this is all part of the appeal for me.

[Specineff]

If the spirit of the games feels the same, and they bring you the same fun as they did before, what does it matter if it's the real hardware, or emulation?

EDIT: Gah, DownSince86 beat me to it.

[gennss]

Having and messin' with the old gear is part of the fun. But I do have my platform preferences. I would usually play an emulated game on the 360 over anything else. Just out of laziness.