Emulation recommendations? (for ripping sprites)

[TheRewster]

Pretty soon I'd like to rip some sprites from a bunch of different games that I like across different systems. Though I will most likely be using many of the sprites on this website, there are some that are missing which I'll need to grab myself. And that's where emulators come in, and thus two questions:

1. What is the best overall emulator that I can use? Note that I want to rip sprites from NES, SNES, GB, GBC, GBA, PS1, and Sega Genesis--so mostly Nintendo systems but also a few non-Nintendo consoles. Is there a one-stop-shop emulator I can use for all these? Or will I need a system-specific emulator for each system?

2. I'm decent enough at playing video games (well, some anyway), but I can't play worth crap on a keyboard. And I know cheat codes and save states will only get you so far in certain games. So I'd like to invest in a controller adapter I can plug into the USB port on my laptop. The trouble, as above, is that there are games from multiple systems I'm looking to rip. Does anyone know of a controller adapter that's good for a variety of systems? The PlayStation-style controllers have always been my favorite, and I'd love to be able to do Nintendo games on that kind of controller, but the only PS2 controller adapter I could find on Amazon looks like it's good for just PS2 and PS3 games (and maybe PS1--reviews were kind of mixed). So does anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks.

[shadowman44]

Hi there, I'm glad you're joining us to rip more retro game consoles this time around.

So for NES, the best emulator to use is FCEUX because it has layer removal functions, but the only downside is that it's hard to get Game Genie codes to work on there. NEStopia can support an unlimited amount of Game Genie codes for a game.

For the Game Boy consoles I recommend Visual Boy Advance, again it has some debugging features like layer removal tools and tile viewer.

The SNES and Genesis are not my forte unfortunately, ZSNES has layer removal tools but the background color won't be the same for every game (that means the sprites may collide with the background no matter what)

[TheRewster]

Thanks for the recommendations!

Does anyone have any suggestions for controller adapters?

[Yawackhary]

If you just want to play a game, you use RetroArch and download the cores. If you want to go for the more accurate experience, there are other emulators that I mention if you want to play a game. Sadly in terms of sprite ripping, you can't just use one emulator for everything even though MAME does try with the more obscure systems and BizHawk is an attempt for the TAS (tool-assisted speedruns) community or even the most accurate emulator. Some systems don't even have sprite ripping features, cheats and lucky to even get games working, I'm looking at you Atari 7800.

For the NES, I used Mesen a newish emulator that is the most accurate and you can cheat. You can rip the backgrounds, tiles including a section where the layer is removed, palette editor that is handy for sprites that have the same colour as the background in the tile viewer however Somari and Kart Fighter don't work on this emulator and are the only two that aren't supported. I couldn't get Stadium Events to control even though technically it is working. FCEUX is another option for what shadowman said plus the Power Pad games, Somari and Kart Fighter work on there. Those two emulators should cover the entire NES library.

You can also use YY-CHR to rip from NES games via the ROM and most games have the tiles there ready to be assembled. You still need the palette though.

Genesis ripping was my speciality for years and used to use GensKMod (along with TileMolester to rip via the ROM if possible and much of the time it wasn't). It has layer removal and there was a version that had a pink background to be used because some games use black in their sprites and have a black background. Not that it works for every game. There's also Exodus but it is slow and not really compatible. GSavestate is a handy tool that can be used to rip backgrounds and can be also used to rip some extra sprites. For playing games, I use BlastEm because it is more accurate and will only get better in the future as well as Kega Fusion for Sega CD and 32X.

For NES and Genesis ripping, tSR actually does have quite a lot of those games ripped. The remaining games on the NES are mainly just lacking in interest for most people such as sports games, strategy games and simply games that aren't very good to play as well as someone is covering some games from the Famicom side of the system. There are still a few decent games to rip and there are games where more can be done. For the Genesis, again its the sports games but also some of the remaining games are a nightmare to rip such as the Strike series, Adventures of Batman and Robin and Comix Zone. It's why those aren't on tSR unless you know how to disassemble those games and figure out the compression for Comix Zone, the entry level to rip those games are just too high for most people. Didn't mean to put you off, sprite ripping isn't always easy or fun.

SNES isn't really my speciality and most that I did were tile ripped using a tool (it was so long ago that I forgot what I used). I know bsnes/Higan is the most accurate and use that to play games. Snes9X while not as accurate has layer removal. People still recommend ZSNES even though it is virus ridden these days and as accurate as a wet blanket even though ironically many of the Mario hacks as well as translations only work on ZSNES. It does have layer removal but I'll be very careful if you use it. You can also use vSNES that is a savestate viewer to rip sprites as well, it's not an emulator but is handy.

As for the GBA... Again VisualBoyAdvance used to be and still sort of is highly recommended due to its easy to access sprite ripping features from background removal to tile viewers and even used it myself to rip things but there is an issue regarding malware/viruses and its to do with the cheat function that yourself want to do. Again very careful however there is a fork called VBA-M that fixes this issue so I'll probably go for that now. There's also mGBA that is more accurate however I yet to use it myself.

PS2 only has one decent emulator and that's PCSX2 (there are others but their progress isn't as advanced). I don't use it for sprite ripping but have used it in the past to play some games with varied results (Midway Arcade Treasures, Sega Classics Collection and Quantum of Solace were fine but World Racing 2 wasn't and Time Crisis 2 kept slowing down).

Sadly I can't help you with your controller, like you said there are PS2 to PC USB adapters but I don't know what they like. I use the keyboard for sprite ripping and a 360 controller for playing. Hope someone has a solution for you.

[Superjustinbros]

Some SNES games also work in YY-CHR, though unfortunately not as many as the NES. GB and GBC games also work, but you're better off using the sprite/tile viewer in VBA (if that's your choice for GB/C/A games) in most cases as YY-CHR doesn't always display the sprites completely and plus you get the palettes.

[TheRewster]

Thanks for all the recommendations, everyone!

Now what I really need, though, are suggestions for controller adapters. Or do most people just play on their keyboards? (I seriously can't play video games on a keyboard--it's like trying to hold a controller with my feet!)

[Superjustinbros]

I play pretty much every game apart from N64 games on my keyboard.
Xbox 360/One and PS3/4 controllers are pretty good, especially the PS3/4 controllers for 2D games due to the position of the D-Pad.