Systems with perfect Emulation

80s Synth Pop

Under the TV in the living room is an embarrassment with a bunch of consoles - NES, Saturn, PS1/PS2, Cube, SNES, Wii, WiiU, 360. Plus there are another bunch of consoles in storage that get rotated around.

Since I now have a spare powerful laptop and some free time coming up, I was thinking of clearing it all out and putting the laptop there instead to replace all the consoles that are perfectly emulated - or "best in class" anyway.

SNES: BSNES
NES: puNES maybe?
N64: It appears there are no accurate emulators for this, just HLE ones?
Game Cube:
Megadrive:
Master System:
Saturn:
Dreamcast:
PS1:
PS2:
XBOX1:
PC Engine:
Gameboy:
Lynx:
Gamegear:


any advice is much appreciated

o1s1n

80s Synth Pop wrote: »

Under the TV in the living room is an embarrassment with a bunch of consoles...

Methinks you may be posting this in the wrong forum :P

Atavan-Halen

Yeah, why would you want to have them emulated perfectly if you have the original consoles there?

Retr0gamer

The short answer is that absolutely none of them are perfectly emulated. BSNES is the closest you will get but it requires an absolute beast of a CPU to run it and even then the author admits its still not perfect.

Then there's the other thing to consider. Emulating these machines feels totally different to playing them on real hardware.

After the SNES emulation becomes absolutely dreadful and not worth bothering with.

80s Synth Pop

it's too much clutter for the living room folks. Makes me feel like one of those "collectors" you see on a channel4 house clean up show

Looks like many systems are not too well emulated. Megadrive's best seems to be Regen but is closed source and possibly abandoned. This is not going too well..

Retr0gamer

If they are out and being used you are hardly one of those collectors. If you are buying sealed games just to feel good about yourself and look at them then it's time to get worried.

When it comes to emulation everything is a hack. The emulator checks what rom you are trying to run and runs it with timing that plays the game in a state where you hopefully don't notice there's no differences. If however you are playing a game that isn't popular usually it's just run at default settings with fingers crossed it runs properly. Usually it's fine but you will notice it's a little of, especially the sound in most emulators. Then there's also the problem of having too many roms at your finger tips. You'll end up with too much choice and end up playing nothing.

Andrew76

80s Synth Pop wrote: »

it's too much clutter for the living room folks. Makes me feel like one of those "collectors" you see on a channel4 house clean up show

Looks like many systems are not too well emulated. Megadrive's best seems to be Regen but is closed source and possibly abandoned. This is not going too well..

A fair few of the lads here that have Hyperspin setups on their cabs/bartops might be able to help. I can't really remember what specific emu's I had on mine other than MagicEngine for the PCE - I got the paid version because it worked brilliantly, I'm sure there's a free alternative. For the MD I used Fusion and it seemed ok. Although I didn't test huge amounts of games on each, only the ones I wanted to play.

OwaynOTT

Fusion is ok, haven't noticed any serious issues but then again I think I've played at most 20 games on it and a few for only a quick dash, I'm looking at you SoR3!

ArcadePC Loader

Myrddin

Deleted User wrote: »

ArcadePC Loader

Thats not even emulation, those systems run on Windows to begin with...its the security that has been cracked, not the system emulated

EnterNow

EnterNow wrote: »

Thats not even emulation, those systems run on Windows to begin with...its the security that has been cracked, not the system emulated

True windows xp based, run pretty well too.

CiDeRmAn

I have to second what's been said here, if you love your old systems just play them, if they take up room, keep one out and rotate them through the spot under the telly.
You lose an awful lot playing them on a PC, even if emulation was perfect.
The experience of playing Sonic or SMW is tied up in the controllers, the system, the carts.
Having emulation means you lose these element right away.
Then there's the issue I have mentioned before in relation to modded consoles as well as emulation.
It's no fun having ever game for a console at your fingertips.
Unless you are very disciplined you wind up playing a different game all the time and not investing in any one title, unlike the physical games on the real hardware, where you play what you own and you are "invested" before you even switch it on, increasing the likelihood of finishing a game.
I know this from years of experience, and have moved away from flash carts, modded machines and emulation outside of a sort of fascination with the subject.
The only place I regularly have used emulation is on my cab, so I can play TG-16 and MD Shmups on a 15Khz monitor!

Looking at your gamelist you can easily rationalise while keeping the game collection.
The Wii will play your GC and, well, Wii games.
The PS2 will serve as a home for the PS and PS2 stuff.
The Saturn and Nes are unlikely to be regularly played, so I'd say they can go to storage, along with the 'Cube.
The Snes is a cracker though, as is the 360, but the WiiU could be put away unless required, given the lack of anything worth playing right now.
So, there is one way of shrinking the space needed right there.

Retr0gamer

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Usually it's fine but you will notice it's a little of, especially the sound in most emulators.

The one that always gets to me is when watching videos of someone playing SMW or one of the All Stars games via emulation. The powerup sound is always wrong in ZSNES and in SNES9x it's wrong unless sound sync is enabled (which nobody seems to do). I know it's a small thing but it bugs me.

Also, BSNES is the only emulator I know that can play Earthworm Jim 2 properly but my Core 2 Duo laptop even has trouble with it - I have to resort to my i5 desktop for decent performance. However I do have the real deal, so I'm happy enough.

Myrddin

RopeDrink wrote: »

Ok, to flesh it out a bit more... I have my C64, Spectrum 128k, Amiga 500 and NES (All functional, mostly) in my attic. I want to preserve them - The wire used to connect the C64 & Spectrums to my TV are what are busted - The NES however still works flawlessly and I've countless games for all of them. They'd be repairable but unable to really play them properly without possibly damaging them further.

I turned to Emulation to play my NES, C64 and Spectrum and Amiga games - Also my PSX games to a lesser degree as mine is gone bust/awol for donkeys years (Think the most reknowned for PSX is ePSXu or something along those lines, not hard to find, works very well).

Another reason to emulate some of those systems is load times - I see no reason why to go down memory lane I should be required in today's age to sit watching a TV screen for 5mins while loading on cassette, or even the 1-2mins for an Amiga disk, when I can play them instantly and almost at replica quality on a PC with no potential damage to my old systems.

As for the Wii Emulator (Dolphin) it was mostly as a curiosity - Aside from being destroyed by multiplayer setting flaws, it seems to work well for the most part.

By not using your old systems, your actually damaging them over time believe it or not. You should power them up at least twice a year to keep everything ok in them. If you only need an RF cable for your C64 & Speccy, then thats easily sorted

I find PS1 emulation possibly the worst of all, its a plugin ridden mess which doesn't resemble anything like playing a PS1 to me.

Load times are not something alien to modern systems, though I do get what your saying. MGS4 takes 15 mins to install on the PS3 {though granted it is a one off installation}. There are flash based products for the C64 & Speccy which will load games instantly.

The Wii/Dolphin emulator does indeed work nice, but from memory not all games work with it properly?

CiDeRmAn

Ah now, you can pick up a PS for bugger all money on Adverts or any of the small ads sites.
And original PS games cost shag all as well, aside from a few expensive titles.
If you don't want to shell out for that, just use a PS3 or a PS2, either will play PS games, and the latter will also give you the massive PS2 games library.
A Wii with the GC and Wii versions of Super Smash Bros isn't going to break the bank either, and you'll have the pleasure of playing it with a load of mates, I have those plus the N64 original, none of it was big money.
Be careful of that NES though, if it's working perfectly cherish it as they have a nasty, well publicised, flaw with the connector in the cart slot, meaning it will have to be replaced in time, best to order the part now, have it in reserve for when it goes, then you can just swap it out.
Also, well worth getting an AV modded Famicom, tons of lovely little Famicom carts out there to collect!

Myrddin

RopeDrink wrote: »

As for damage over time by not turning them on, I'd still prefer that over damaging them by messing them about.

You really should power them up, powering them on once or twice a year shouldn't be considered messing them about. Capacitors are known to leak over time without use

CiDeRmAn

RopeDrink wrote: »

a) I'm not sure why you're telling me about the PS prices... Not sure what that has to do with anything here... I can only assume you're mixing up RE1 (PSX) and RE Remake (GC) which is what I'm on about - And the only reason I brought it up is down to Kirby's claim that it's pointless emulating beyond SNES - And while I largely agree, I feel that's still a bit of an exaggeration considering there ARE a few titles way beyond SNES that are exclusive to anything other than the PC, and Emulation can be a window to play them.

I mean, if the consensus is always going to be "Ah sure the system & games are so cheap why bother, just buy them" then why discuss emulators at all?

b) Again, SSBB was simply a curiosity - I had seen so much of it but had no means to try it for myself - I wasn't going to fork out for a GC/Wii system or two and a game just to experience that game and then never use the purchases again. I just wanted a teaser of it, got it, finito.

Call it laziness, or lack of money, or just stubbornness but I will not fork out cash for a game system and X game to re-play that very game when I can relive those games on my PC with less hassle rather than dig stuff out of the attic.

The PS is raised simply as it is a console that is not emulated very well and any games played via emulation are going to be hampered by a poor, limited facsimile of the actual game, be it in the visuals, audio or control.
I was simply pointing out how affordable actual gaming on the actual hardware really is.
My point was/is, and sorry if it was misunderstood, that if someone already owned a PS2 or PS3 then they already had the means to play the PS catalogue, without issue.

I think you'll find that the prevailing feeling, in particular in this forum, is that emulation is all well and good but nothing replaces the real thing.
There are always compromises, no matter the system.

Emulation is always interesting, particularly where it lets you play something you otherwise can't afford, so Mame is one of the more popular emulators out there, as instead of owning a shed full of PCBs that cost a fortune, you have a hdd, fully loaded, coupled with an arcade stick, or if you're lucky, a cabinet.

Hey, whatever your reasons for choosing emulation, that's cool, no problem, but I promise you the experience is better on the original hardware.
Not only that but you'll enjoy it more, investing time in a handful of owned games instead of having an entire romset for a given format.

As for using emulation for a taste of a game, yeah, we all do that, no worries, but a Wii alone will play two consoles back catalogues and it's cheap and compact too.
But, is that it?
Do you want to taste a different game every day, or a few in every sitting, or would you prefer to own and play a game, get into it, play it to see what the developer wanted to show you, what story he/she wanted to tell?
I mean, it is a situation I fell into a long time ago with the PS and DC, and later on with the DS, having a large collection of games available through certain "means", being able to try a new game out every day, but never getting into any of them.
I tell you, I was the poorer for it.

Buying a game, giving it your full attention, playing through it and mastering it, that, for many, is the best approach to gaming.
It takes a certain discipline to be sure, something I haven't quite got the hang of myself, having a fairly large collection, and it takes some willpower to avoid flitting from one title to the next!

I used to dig stuff out my attic, then I turned it into a gamesroom, no more digging around!

Retr0gamer

You say that PS1 and Wii emulation is working absolutely flawlessly but you'd be wrong. They work enough that to the untrained eye they work to an acceptable level where you wouldn't really notice any flaws. However unless it's an emulator like BSNES which attempts to emulate the timing between components as accurately as possible then what you are playing is really just a hack that runs at an acceptable level. How hard a console is to emulate isn't to do with the CPU power but more getting the timing issues down. It's why the Gamecube and Wii with PC like architecture is simple to emulate while the Saturn which has tonnes of different chips and components is a bitch to emulate.

The author of BSNES has written an awful lot about these issues, you should check out his articles. It's a real eye opener. Basically only the big name games are optimised. You'll find some obscure games that are just plain broken and fan translations for other games have issues that people blame on the coders where it's really the inaccuracy of the emulators. We all use emulation and it's fine for what it does but stuff like N64 and PS1 emulation is so wide of the mark compared to how these games play on the actual hardware that I wouldn't recommend them to anyone. They look and feel completely different to how they should.

Retr0gamer

Retr0gamer wrote: »

The author of BSNES has written an awful lot about these issues, you should check out his articles. It's a real eye opener. Basically only the big name games are optimised. You'll find some obscure games that are just plain broken and fan translations for other games have issues that people blame on the coders where it's really the inaccuracy of the emulators. We all use emulation and it's fine for what it does but stuff like N64 and PS1 emulation is so wide of the mark compared to how these games play on the actual hardware that I wouldn't recommend them to anyone. They look and feel completely different to how they should.

I remember reading one of the BSNES articles about fan translations. Some don't work on BSNES (or the real SNES for that matter) because they were hacked with ZSNES in mind.