The Lowdown on Emulators

With the fast developments in gaming it is easy to lose sight of the games of yesterday. It is good to read an article or watch a video about the classics that started it all, but it is even better to play those classics for yourself.

Remembering the Past

Whether you are a modern day gamer who is curious about the old days of gaming or a veteran who wants to play his favorite oldies again finding a way to play those old games again, especially Arcade and Console games, can be very difficult. Classic arcade cabinets have been replaced by more popular titles and consoles are notorious for not being backwards compatible. So older titles are only accessible for the current generation of gamers if the games are remastered or if they can find a second hand cabinet or console.
There is a solution however to enjoy all those old games again in the way they were meant to be played.

The Emulator

For all intents and purposes, game consoles and arcade cabinets are computers just like PC's and smartphones. With the power of modern day PC's it has become possible to emulate or imitate the workings of older computers. Not only Operating Systems like the Amiga for example but also Arcade System Boards like SNK's Neo Geo and game consoles like the Nintendo SNES.
Emulator programs were in the beginning only available for PC but now it is also possible to download emulators on smartphones (IOS and Android) and hacked consoles (homebrew).
The list of Emulators for the different systems is quite large. There are Emulators for console systems from the early beginnings of the Atari up to the Playstation 2 and Xbox generation. The list for Arcade games is even more impressive, the granddaddy of Emulators, MAME supports more than ten thousand arcade games.

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The ROMS

The games you load into your emulator are called ROMS. You basically start the emulator program and load your ROM into the emulator. Keep in mind that the ROMS are not included with the emulator, you will have to find those on your own but Emuparadise and Coolroms are a good place to start. Remember that for certain Arcade systems and consoles you will also need the BIOS to get it all up-and-running. That brings me to....

The legality of it all

Emulators are not illegal. Legality problems start with possession of the ROMS and the BIOS of the Arcade/Console System. Whether you are allowed to have ROMS in your possession depends on where you live, in most countries owning ROMS is legal but only if you own the original game. Possession of the BIOS of an Arcade System or Console System is often not considered legal. That is why most sites where you can download ROMS do not include the BIOS. But as always Google is your friend.

My take on Emulators

In my opinion emulators serve a greater purpose and that is that they make gaming history accessible to modern day gamers in the best way possible. Gamers are able to play games that would normally not be available to them. It keeps retro gaming alive and the best thing is that we are able to dig up some real gems, some that are known classics but also some games that were totally underrated at the time.
Another plus of emulators is that you can choose to play the games as intended (even add scan lines to imitate old CRT screens) or improve the graphics since you are not limited by old hardware anymore.

List of Emulators

Here is my pick of favorite emulators

Arcade
MAME ( Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator) is the granddaddy of game emulators. There aren't much arcade games that are not supported by this emulator. Most impressive is that the list of supported games keeps growing. MAME is one of the biggest and baddest emulators around.

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Console
RETROARCH is a versatile emulator that supports a great number of consoles. You can play games from the NES to the N64, Sega Master System, Sega CD, Playstation and a couple more. You can find the full list here

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Nintendo
Dolphin is a great emulator for Nintendo WII and Gamecube games.

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Dreamcast
Although I still own a Dreamcast I can play some of the titles I don't own with help of REICAST, not all games are supported yet but it does the job perfectly.

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Neo geo
I have to give a shout out to the first emulator I ever used NeoRage-X. I don't think it is still supported but there are other emulators available now that can do the job (MAME, KAWAKS and FB Alpha) but I really enjoyed being able to play those SNK classics thanks to this nice piece of software.

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Honourable mentions

It would take too long to make a complete list of the emulated games "you just have to play". For arcade games your best bet are games from Capcom, Sega, Namco, SNK and Konami.

Here are some honorable mentions of underrated games:

Trap Gunner (Playstation)
Run-and-gun and lay traps in this little known Playstation game where you take on your opponent in a 1-on-1 battle. Outmaneuver and trap your adversary while jamming to some real great 90's tunes.

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Capcom Sports Club (Arcade)
Participate in 3 sports events (Soccer, Tennis and Basketball) in this hilarious sports game by Capcom. It is a cartoon-like sports game that has great gameplay. It is hilarious to see the supporters jump all over the screen whenever you score a point.

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Asura Blade (Arcade)
A 2-D fighter that never got the attention it deserved. It is probably because the game was made by an unknown company and the big boys Capcom and SNK were hugging all the spotlight with their fighters. But this title is definitely worth checking out.

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Tips

To really get into the spirit of things try to pick up some vintage six-button controllers or an arcade stick. The Sega Saturn and Sega genesis six-button controller are considered among the best for retro gaming.