Your Stance on Emulation?

[Spacebake]

I like to play my old games on an old CRT tv. I hate the pixel'd look when you play them on an HD TV or a computer monitor.

[Mutsukki]

I'm on the boat of actually preferring the original hardware to emulation, even if emulation has a lot of benefits it just feels... weird. Like, the designers planned the thing to be played on that typo of hardware and stuff, it just feels off, if that makes sense

[Rystar]

I'm on the boat of actually preferring the original hardware to emulation, even if emulation has a lot of benefits it just feels... weird. Like, the designers planned the thing to be played on that typo of hardware and stuff, it just feels off, if that makes sense

I know what you mean, and I agree completely. While emulation is more convenient for most people, I pretty much never find myself using one over playing the game on the actual console. It isn't just the CRT TV or using the actual controller - an emulator just doesn't immerse me as well as the real thing does.

[puggsoy]

If I can play it on the console, I'd go to that for authenticity. But for some things it's just not practical to go through all the trouble to obtain it, so emulation is the way to go. A prime example for me is Puggsy.
It's also convenient if the game's saving mechanics are way annoying and then you can just use savestates, although personally I think that if that's how the game was made that's how I'm going to play it.

It's only a bit of an issue for handheld games, especially things like GB/GBC/GBA where the original resolution is quite low and looks way too small on a big ol' computer monitor. Sure you can scale it up but sometimes that looks ugly. Playing GB/GBC games on a DS flashcart is very nice though and not very far off from the original experience.

In terms of morality, if you own the game it's legal so that's that. If you don't own it but it's extremely difficult/impossible to obtain then I think it's fine. Especially if there are only second hand copies, you're not depriving the developers and publishers of their payment.
If you can't get a hold of it right now and play a ROM of it, then buy the actual copy later on, I think that should be fine as well.

[Kriven]

I have a very specific problem with Game Boy (all three iterations) emulation, actually. Cycle-accurate emulations reduce this problem, but they aren't perfect yet either.

Basically I've noticed emulators using a lot of filters and frameskipping and bizarre timing when it comes to GB games (I haven't noticed this with Game Gear for the most part), and it can make me really nauseous for whatever reason. As an example, I really love Super Mario Land 2, but when I try to play it on VBA GX (or original VBA) it's really jarring the way the camera works. Super bothersome, that is. I haven't noticed this with the 3DS VC emulation of GB games.

[E-Man]

I'm on the fence about emulation, really.

I only use it if I have to, such as playing games that are difficult to find (i.e. Conker's Bad Fur Day) or games I'd like to rip from (i.e. Tomato Adventure).

[ThomasSpeedrunner]

I feel that emulation can be important, but at the same time, I also feel that the real thing is more of a thing that immerses you and all that stuff.

Do I have an actual Genesis? No. This is actually why most people might prefer emulation: The earliest of game consoles (think NES and Genesis, the latter of which is called the Mega Drive across the pond) can be difficult to obtain these days, what with the newest Playstation and Xbox games hogging up the shelves of almost every Gamestop in existence that I know of and their respective consoles pretty much hogging up the rest of the store space. See where I'm going with this?

[Rystar]

The earliest of game consoles (think NES and Genesis, the latter of which is called the Mega Drive across the pond) can be difficult to obtain these days, what with the newest Playstation and Xbox games hogging up the shelves of almost every Gamestop in existence that I know of and their respective consoles pretty much hogging up the rest of the store space.

Actually, NES and Genesis consoles are fairly cheap to obtain. If you don't have a pawn shop near you, you could always search on eBay for a reasonably priced retro console

[psychospacecow]

I kind of take the stance of abandonware on stuff like this. If the company is no longer supporting the product after a span of 7 years, they usually don't care. I use emulation for my PS1 games because I can stream them and I don't have to worry about scratching the disc. Sony/Konami Executive Gods have probably heard of how bad off my Yu-Gi-Oh! Forbidden Memories disc is.

[Kosheh]

Do I have an actual Genesis? No. This is actually why most people might prefer emulation: The earliest of game consoles (think NES and Genesis, the latter of which is called the Mega Drive across the pond) can be difficult to obtain these days, what with the newest Playstation and Xbox games hogging up the shelves of almost every Gamestop in existence that I know of and their respective consoles pretty much hogging up the rest of the store space. See where I'm going with this?

I...don't.

Looking at eBay tells me otherwise - there's 1.5k listings and some of these are going for like less than $30, and antique shops sometimes have them for cheaper (since they're run by baby-boomers who have no idea about the "used game market")

Sorry, that just sounds like "I don't know where to look" as opposed to "they're so hard to find"
Something like the 3DO is another story but that's a completely different argument (besides, why would you want one anyway)

I kind of take the stance of abandonware on stuff like this. If the company is no longer supporting the product after a span of 7 years, they usually don't care.

Nintendo feels otherwise - copyright law (that includes, you know, the rights you see at the beginning of a movie, same thing - "copying is wrong" "don't publicly show this without a license" applies for at least 75 years after the copyright date.

you know they're actually trying to get Let's Players to split their ad profits on youtube now lol?
(let's players: this also shows how desperate and behind the times they actually are)

[psychospacecow]

Do I have an actual Genesis? No. This is actually why most people might prefer emulation: The earliest of game consoles (think NES and Genesis, the latter of which is called the Mega Drive across the pond) can be difficult to obtain these days, what with the newest Playstation and Xbox games hogging up the shelves of almost every Gamestop in existence that I know of and their respective consoles pretty much hogging up the rest of the store space. See where I'm going with this?

I...don't.

Looking at eBay tells me otherwise - there's 1.5k listings and some of these are going for like less than $30, and antique shops sometimes have them for cheaper (since they're run by baby-boomers who have no idea about the "used game market")

Sorry, that just sounds like "I don't know where to look" as opposed to "they're so hard to find"
Something like the 3DO is another story but that's a completely different argument (besides, why would you want one anyway)

I kind of take the stance of abandonware on stuff like this. If the company is no longer supporting the product after a span of 7 years, they usually don't care.

Nintendo feels otherwise - copyright law (that includes, you know, the rights you see at the beginning of a movie, same thing - "copying is wrong" "don't publicly show this without a license" applies for at least 75 years after the copyright date.

you know they're actually trying to get Let's Players to split their ad profits on youtube now lol?
(let's players: this also shows how desperate and behind the times they actually are)

That's why I was consulting the Konami/Sony Executive Gods, and to be fair, Nintendo does have some pretty good support for their older games. Sure, they don't do all of them, but that doesn't leave out the possibility of them bringing it back with enough demand.

[SchAlternate]

I use them quite often since I usually don't have access to most older platforms and/or I don't own the game and I want to have a sneak peak of it before considering obtain a retail version.

[recme]

Something like the 3DO is another story but that's a completely different argument (besides, why would you want one anyway)

well

[Eno]

Something like the 3DO is another story but that's a completely different argument (besides, why would you want one anyway)

well

I actually tried emulating that game. The sound eventually desynced and resulted in the game becoming even more surreal and confusing than it was originally.