Consider Virtual Console as "Authentic Experience?"

[Koh]

Just something I'd thought to discuss. So there are some people that have a vendetta against using emulators, because they claim the experience isn't authentic, but support Virtual Console...which is an emulator running on a different system other than a PC. Would you really classify playing an NES game with a Wiimote or GameCube controller on a Wii System as "authentic," or just another emulated experience?

My view is that it's no more authentic than running an emulator on your computer, and using a USB controller to play the game. The only way you get an authentic experience is by playing the game on the actual hardware it originated on. Any source of emulation, whether by Virtual Console or PC, won't get you that experience, regardless if you're on a couch or not (some people can indeed pull up a couch to their PC).

[Vipershark]

I find Virtual Console to be the worst way to play a game.

Obviously it doesn't compare to the original release at all but when compared to PC-based emulators, VC simply isn't as good.
PC emulators have infinitely more features, allow you to play using whatever controller you want, have more savestates, more possible resolutions, mods and hacks, cheats, etc and that's only the tip of the iceberg.

VC-type emulation is basically the most gimped way to play a game. At least the original cartridge release could use Gameshark/Game Genie or something. VC might be an officially-supported emulator but that's at the cost of it being relatively locked down and featureless. That's not even getting into the arguments of digital ownership and stuff.

tl;dr either buy the original release or just play it on a PC emulator where you'll have a better experience. Some of those VC prices are entirely ridiculous anyway.

[TomGuycott]

My argument in favor of Virtual Console would be entirely about legitimacy. Emulators aren't a legitimate way to play games, and Virtual Console has given me opportunities to support people who make the games I love to play and otherwise don't have access to. Alien Soldier is an example of a very good VC buy for me.

In terms of "authenticity", neither comes out on top, because neither are truly authentic.

In terms of quality, VS's post sums it up. Emulators are far superior in quality to VC. Even with the addition of features like save states in VC, it is worlds behind emulators that can save multiple slots, slow and speed up gameplay, and cheat features.

Subjectively speaking, I lean further to VC solely for legitimacy and support of the developers (or I guess whoever has the rights to the work, I guess you can't guarantee the original Devs even own rights to it anymore in the long run).

[puggsoy]

I haven't touched Virtual Console myself, but in terms of legitimacy can't you just buy it on there, and then play it on an emulator? Emulators themselves aren't illegal (I think) and if you own the game I think it's legal to have a ROM, so then you're essentially just swapping VC out for a better emulator. And you're still supporting the developers by buying it.

You might already be doing this, but it's a thought if you feel restricted to VC because of legitimacy and/or legality. I'm not brushed up on this stuff though so feel free to point out if I'm wrong.

[Vipershark]

Nope.
Emulators are always legal but roms are only legal if the rom you have is a rom of a physical copy of the game you actually own. In other words, if you have a rom dumper and dump your carts or rip your discs then it's totally legal to use those backups but actually downloading the game, whether you own a copy or not, is illegal. It has to be a copy of a game you physically possess.

[Kriven]

I use VC predominantly because I don't really need all the bells and whistles that come with PC or Wiibrew emulators, but also because the experience does feel more genuine. Particularly with GBA emulation on the Wii U, which seems to be superior to anything else available (in terms of just playing the game). Granted, the VC is only releasing games which are easy to emulate and they're using some tricks fitted for each title, but that doesn't really bother me.

There's always this feeling that something's off when I try to use an unofficial emulator for anything. It's not something I can't shake when playing, and the only time I've gotten that with VC is with SMB3 on the Wii U (because it emulates portions of the game screen that were never meant to be shown at the original aspect ratio...)

Edit: And off-screen play is totally worth it.

[recme]

if you like playing the game as authentic as possible, then go for vc. if you like modding goodness and extra stuff, then go emulator.

i personally love vc since i never have issues and i like playing games as authentic as possible. also, most n64 dont quite work that well on pc, like paper mario for example still has issues. i also prefer playing games on my tv than my pc. i just get a richer experience in general.

[Gwen]

Yeah, Yoshi's Story never worked on my mac. I had to cry myself to week for a fortnight

[Jermungandr]

Generally speaking I try to choose Virtual Console over emulation whenever I can. It's not so much a question of morality to me so much as the fact that I like to support my favorite game giant whenever I possibly can. There are a lot of outlying factors though, like obviously I'm not going to purchase a game I already own on a cart, and then there's whether or not I actually have any money to spare (usually I don't), whether or not the game is even available on VC, and how broken the game is to play (sometimes you just REALLY need savestates).

I do have one major complaint with the Nintendo Virtual Console, however, that does tip the scales a bit in favor of emulation ...

I've been playing Majora's Mask on my Wii U lately (technically the Wii console), and boy is the controller layout on this thing just straight up stupid. It honestly makes it a bit tough to play, and playing the ocarina is a huge pain in the ass. This wouldn't be so bad if you could actually change the button inputs to your liking, because I can see how a different setup would work much better using the same controller, but you are stuck using the setup that Nintendo chose for you. At least in the case of emulation you have controller input options. (Although N64 emulation is honestly pretty shitty in my experience).

[Kriven]

Well, the Wii U virtual console has customizable controls for SNES, GBA, and NES, so hopefully the N64 inputs will also be customizable as well. When they get to bringing N64 stuff to the Wii U. Any day now. Any. Day.

[Jinzo-Advance]

As far as technicality is concerned, it is an emulator. However, there is one key difference. You're showing your support for old franchises buy purchasing them digitally. It's why I bought Earthbound on VC despite having a cart from the 1990s.

[E-Man]

While emulators work to allow anyone to play games that have been discontinued, I feel like they can get rather glitchy at times. While I already experienced the textures displaying funny in Conker's Bad Fur Day, I encountered a glitch that pratically killed my run of Earthbound. I already discussed the glitch in the post I'm about to link to, but let's just say that if I want the Escargo Express to store my items, I actually have to hoof it back to Ness' House. Otherwise, I'll never be able to teleport again.

http://www.vg-resource.com/thread-25313-...#pid562242

[psychospacecow]

Wow, this poll is pretty divided.

[Jinzo-Advance]

Wow, this poll is pretty divided.

I didn't vote, but only because the option I would have picked isn't available. I chose to explain it instead.

[DioShiba]

I actually like both the virtual console and emulation because they each have their own benefits.

VC is actually kind of nice in someways because you're just getting the game you want. Plain and simple. If you don't care about all the extra shit that emulation has to offer then just go with this. And actually one minor thing I overlooked recently when I got Mysterious Murasame Castle on the 3DS VC is that you don't have to get the extra shit to make games like the ones originally released on FDS work like you would have to for the emulators (in other words getting the bios and making them work which in a way is a pain in the fucking ass to get it to work, from my experience with it). Of course that's just for Famicom Disc games but honestly it's kind of a nice benefit to just play the game with no catch.

On the other hand, Emulation is nice too. While I don't nessecarily give a shit about all the extra features like higher resolutions and save states, they're nice to have if you like having those options. But the fact that Rom Hacks are available it gives more of a library of games than you could probably ever imagine, which is always nice. And if you're willing to pay a few extra bucks you can buy a game controller and use that with your emulator. Personally though, I'd rather just get a special USB cord and use it with my SNES controller and play some of the Rom Hacks for the SNES.

Personally though, I'd rather get the real thing. I've recently taken up to buying some SNES games on amazon just for the sake of building up my library for that and to be honest it felt like I was playing games the same way I used to when I was a kid. And to be honest I had more fun playing some games that I initially played on an emulator like Super Metroid on a console. Aside from it being the real deal, I felt like I was actually playing a game and not fucking around with the digital bullshit. And honestly I'd rather invest in getting a flash cart and put some rom hacks on that than playing them on a computer.