Original Hardware VS Emulation

[Calavera]

I recently picked up a Super Nintendo with the game Gemfire for $15. I sold Gemfire and picked up Super Mario All Stars + World. After playing it I just can not understand why some people have to have the original hardware. It is no different than playing it on an emulator except for worse video quality. It doesn't give me any extra nostalgia to be playing on the original hardware with the original controller. I can just not understand why some people are against emulation.

When it comes to 3D there is no contest, emulation blows the original systems away. Why play PS2,Gamecube,Wii or Dreamcast blurry and jaggy on the original console when you can play it in full HD on an emulator? What are you opinions?

[Roofus]

I don't have much experience emulating anything newer than the PS1 and with a good controller, they're as good or better than the consoles. The Dreamcast emulators I've tried are playable but I'd still rather have the original hardware (but not enough to actually hook mine up. )

[Calavera]

I don't have much experience emulating anything newer than the PS1 and with a good controller, they're as good or better than the consoles. The Dreamcast emulators I've tried are playable but I'd still rather have the original hardware (but not enough to actually hook mine up. )

NullDC is the way to go. Dreamcast in 1080p with widescreen via extra geometry! You'll not want to hook that original hardware up even more!

[melancholy]

Here is at least 3 reasons:

1. Input lag. No emulator out there is immune from it, typical costing between 2-4 frames of lag. That’s perfectly acceptable for RPG’s and such, but speedrunners and fighting game experts are wrecked by it. Not to mention a digital signal (HDMI) can add 1-2 more frames of lag. It’s the sole reason I keep around a CRT TV. Don’t get me wrong, I like my RetroPie, but there are some games I just can’t play on it due to too much lag (Yoshi’s Island immediately springs to mind).

3. Inaccuracies. Emulators are great, but they are FAR from perfect. Mario RPG for years had sound effect glitches that were irritating. Quest 64 has near unreadable text on every emulator. Final Fantasy 8 has graphic glitches all over the place on every single plugin except software rendering. If you played a game a lot in the past, these errors will grate on you.

2. Nostalgia. People just love collecting retro things. Wether it’s for a desire to possess stuff from their childhood or just an affinity to tangible things. This is true for a lot of things that don’t make sense, like the fact that Best Buy will stop carrying CD’s in July but will continue to carry vinyl. It’s here where I should probably point out the obvious contradiction of the guy who collects 80’s technology saying he doesn’t understand why people would want old gaming hardware.

My personal rule of thumb for emulation is if it can upscale 3D without glitching, I’ll use the emulator. If it’s 2D or has noticeable emulating issues, I’ll go with the original.

[Big Boss Man]

We talked about this on the old BG IIRC. Certain systems you cannot accurately emulate, even the SNES. If you Google it there's an interesting article about SNES vs PC emulation. The convenience of emus is good but I think having an original game and system is still the best. Its like the Vinyl vs FLAC argument. You can't emulate the warm sound of Vinyl. The pops and crackles, putting the vinyl on the record player you get like a connection there. Double clicking a FLAC file there's a cold machine like feel to that. Same with videogames. You get a real connection to a physical copy and console that's lost with clicking files on a PC/Mac. Again the convenience is really good but for me I 110% prefer analog to digital when it comes to games , music etc.

[pixel]

My dream is to start buying flash carts for systems like my NES and SNES and install upscaling mods. I don't want all the games, I just want to play them

[Big Boss Man]

Here's the SNES article I was referring too

https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2011/08/ ... -emulator/

[Calavera]

My dream is to start buying flash carts for systems like my NES and SNES and install upscaling mods. I don't want all the games, I just want to play them

Now that my friend is what I call.......not a bad idea! I had thoughts of actually buying a Genesis and an N64 flash cart at one time but the price was more than I was willing to pay. I suppose I should clarify my original post as I left out a huge part. Why would anyone choose original hardware over emulation with the current price of retro games. I love Earthbound but no way in hell am I paying $150-$200 for an original copy. If prices were what they were in the Funcoland days my thoughts may be different. $5 or less for common games and around $30 for rare games, I may have a huge collection myself.