What Do You Think About Emulation?

[racketboy]

I think I know the answer from most of you, but thought I should ask.

Today, I got this comment posted from Pico on Ivo's KEGA Fusion emulation guide...

"Uh… for a retro gaming site, shouldnt you be encouraging people to only BUY classic games rather than download roms? You’d think a “retro gamer” would be about collectiong official copies of games and not bothering with crap like emulation and roms."

I followed up with...
"Pico, I do both. I buy the games that I enjoy, but I also emulate them. In fact usually, they are the same games.
For instance, as I type this, I am adding emulation support to my Home Theatre PC. I don’t want to have all my old consoles hooked up in order to play my old games. Plus I don’t want to hook them up in whatever room I want to play them on.
There is nothing wrong with emulation.
If you are a purist and only want to play on consoles, more power to you. There is nothing wrong with that either. But don’t complain about people emulating games.
If they are ONLY emulating games and not buying anything, they will have to take that up with their own conscience."

I might also add, that I routinely will emulate games for trial, review, and comparison purposes. If I really like the game I will buy an original copy (as long as it's not an expensive collector's item).

It's also worth mentioning that by buying original copies of the games, you aren't supporting the developers and publishers in any way. Vintage game prices are now simply based on collectability.

BTW, those of you that choose "Original is the only way to go", does that mean that you will refuse to play a system or game that you don't own the hardware and software for?
For instance, if you don't have a working NES, you will never play Super Mario Bros.?

[Ivo]

I might also add, that I routinely will emulate games for trial, review, and comparison purposes. If I really like the game I will buy an original copy (as long as it's not an expensive collector's item).

It's also worth mentioning that by buying original copies of the games, you aren't supporting the developers and publishers in any way. Vintage game prices are now simply based on collectability.

I basically share your stance on this (there might be some nuances, but in general I do like you do).

I'd like to stress that if you really enjoy a game from a company, you should try to reward them somehow - usually the way to do that is NOT by buying the game you emulated (although, with re-releases and such that is possible - buying it on the secondary market isn't going to do it). You can buy new releases such as sequels (think e.g. Capcom with Megaman) or games of the same genre that this developer releases (shooters from Treasure), after all it's probably that you are going to like them.

Ivo.

[Mozgus]

I emulate unless the authentic route offers a better experience. But if authenticity is a big hassle to acquire and setup, I go back to emulation.

[lordofduct]

I emulate a lot of consoles for various reasons. Though I personally would rather play the legite copy... emulation always feels imperfect to me.

But some games are just really hard to come across to own legite, or would just take up way to much space. Even if I packaged them up and stored them away in boxes it'd all just take up way to much space that I don't have. Already I own so many games that it fills an entire closet to the top, space which I don't really have to spare, but deal with as I'm a pack rat.

For years I would have answered with 'legite is the only way to go', but like racket said, the game developers no longer see the profit of my purchases and coupled with the space required for all of it I don't buy any more classic games. So today I emulate out of necessity, not out of morale, because I feel the emulated path feels imperfect.

When it comes to new games though, I avoid bootlegging. I buy in support for the developer so they will make more games I like. And if it is a game/developer I reallly REALLY like I will buy only NEW in support of the developer even further.

[All Hail The New Flesh]

I kinda wish I can answer the poll question but my answer is really All of the Above

[extrarice]

I emulate a lot of consoles for various reasons. Though I personally would rather play the legite copy... emulation always feels imperfect to me.

But some games are just really hard to come across to own legite, or would just take up way to much space. Even if I packaged them up and stored them away in boxes it'd all just take up way to much space that I don't have. Already I own so many games that it fills an entire closet to the top, space which I don't really have to spare, but deal with as I'm a pack rat.

For years I would have answered with 'legite is the only way to go', but like racket said, the game developers no longer see the profit of my purchases and coupled with the space required for all of it I don't buy any more classic games. So today I emulate out of necessity, not out of morale, because I feel the emulated path feels imperfect.

When it comes to new games though, I avoid bootlegging. I buy in support for the developer so they will make more games I like. And if it is a game/developer I reallly REALLY like I will buy only NEW in support of the developer even further.

My answer exactly (except that I never buy used unless the new is no longer available).

[zarcon6]

i own around 30 systems and a crap ton of games for each one. its just not practical to have them all hooked up in case i want to play one game every now and then. thus emulation is a great alternative. but i still pick up originals all the time if they are the right price.

[HarassmentPanda]

I declined to answer the poll because none of the answers really seemed to fit.

I emulate out of necessity. Over the course of many years I have amassed a huge collection of consoles and games. But, between moving around the country for college and then law school (with several interim moves at each place) it has become impossible for me to tote my entire collection around. Instead, I bring the current-gen systems with me so that I can buy the latest games, and I turn to emulation for my retro fix.

As far as my conscience is concerned, I have little regret or worry. I buy all of my new games and I generally only emulate those retro games which I already own. But, I don’t think I would have a serious problem with emulating games that I don’t own. NES and SNES and a whole mass of retro games can only be purchased from garage sales, pawn shops, and sites like eBay and craigslist. Used game retailers are beginning to drop them from their inventory and, even then, publishers and programmers don’t see a dime of money from the sale of used games. The emulation of out-of-print games seems to truly be a “victimless crime” and I don’t have any sort of moral dilemma about it.

Now, with the advent of Virtual Console and XBLA, the retro gamer’s morals must be reconsidered. If a game is up for retail sale and could actually benefit the publisher, gamers should ALWAYS buy it. There’s no longer an excuse to emulate some of those hard-to-find TurboGrafx games because they’re only a download away. But, if a game is truly “dead” I don’t believe that emulation is hurting anyone and, further, that we may even have a duty to emulate these dying games to pass them on long after all the 72-pin connectors are warped and plastic carts are worn to dust.

[fastbilly1]

I really have only one rule about this. it must be two generations old or older. I did fub this alittle to make a backup of Rez, but backups arent really the same thing. Ive heard the arguments both ways, but this made the most sense to me. I mean there is no comparision to the hardcopy of the game, be it console or arcade, but it is far easier for me to just lug my shuttle and a bag of controllers than to carry the NES, SNES, and N64 to a lanparty - though a Saturn usually comes mainly for Radiant Silvergun and Sexy Paridous (but thats because I a shump fan).

[neohx_7]

There are many reasons I appreciate emulation as well as owning a substantial amount of originals. But there is one issue that too many gamers are still unaware of. I've posted about this before, so I'll be concise. On HDTVs the built in scalers can add discernible delay with the low quality video signals. It can make games unplayable. Have fun hooking up your NES to a 1080p Sony HDTV and losing to Piston Honda in PunchOut. Emulation can provide a way to play at native screen resolution without resorting to expensive scaling equipment or crappy old TVs.