The Joys of Emulation

[ThunderMace]

(Just to cover my a$$ I want to say that I legally own all the roms that I discuss here …nothing illegal going on here, no siree);)

So I’ve delved into emulation before. On my PC I have emulators for SNES, Sega Genesis, MAME, PS1, and very recently N64. This has allowed me to play (and Keep) a lot of cool games at my beck and call quickly and has allowed me to be exposed to games I wouldn’t normally get to experience. The Avengers, War of the Gems, Chrono Trigger, Justice League Taskforce, Silent Hill, Valkyrie Profile, etc.

Since I’m an ardent fan of First Person Shooters, my downloading of the N64 emulator has given me the chance to play one of the most touted of them Goldeneye. And to be honest Goldeneye is *very* good. I find it amazing what they are able to accomplish within the hardware limitations of the time.
However, the game that really took my fancy has been Perfect Dark. Taking some cues from Goldeneye, System Shock and even Deus Ex, Perfect Dark is an engaging and thrilling game.

All the more amazing is that it takes up less than 40 megabytes of space. Graphics are probably somewhere in the Quake 1-2 category, but the story makes up for the lack of graphics.(the graphics still look pretty good though IMO, especially with AAx4)

I know some modern shooters/action games that take up multiple gigabytes, and still cannot deliver an equitable playing experience. (Matrix: Path of Neo anyone?)

I’m thrilled that emulation has allowed me to experience this particular shooter, and Goldeneye as well. So anyone out there have an appreciation for this game and maybe old console emulation in general?

[Astartus]

I was happy to see, that some of the emulators were capable to offer a multiplayer game via LAN. This way I was able to play "Secret of Mana" for the good old SNES with 3 people, for the first time.

[Gold Rush]

I have always promised myself that I would get into emulation, given that like you, I own lots of systems/games that I have yet to re-hook up into a perfect media room in my yet to own house. There is a LOT of emulation going on out there in the net! There are even some games I wouldn't mind owning that have never been released (since I collect video game systems/games). And let's not get into the prvate efforts by small companies and individuals that actually make "new" games (Eproms, etc,) for various defunct systems.

Ah, but back to Goldeneye. Truly a gem of the N64. I finished it and beat friends in various get-together parties we would have. Truly a fun game. I can't say enough about it. I even finished the story mode, twice I believe, and I rarely do that (I believe in just one run-through of playing a game and not re-playing the same thing, no matter what the wrinkle the harder difficulty gives you; like playing as a piece of giant tofu :p ).

I was so hyped by Goldeneye, I paid attention to any similiar recommendations. However, they fell flat, in my eyes, compared to Goldeneye's greatness. Turok was disappointing. And even with the new memory upgrade to the N64, I have to say, for me, that even Perfect Dark, fell flat. I know everyone raves about it, but I just could not get into it. In fact, it looks *worse* graphically than Goldeneye. Again, my opinion. I don't think I've even gotten over my disbelief that many people think Perfect Dark is great yet I still think it is worse compared to Goldeneye. Still, I did buy the XBOX 360 Perfect Dark, but I still haven't played it. In fact, according to my personal observation, the game hasn't done too well among 360 players (based on the retail price falling fairly fast in a given time period shortly after release based on games that keep their price during the same period of time).

Still, as my 360 purchase indicates, I am willing to give Perfect Dark a shot, even a half-hearted one. :/

I will add, that N64's controller really shined in Goldeneye. The well-placed Z button and intuitive controls (although I may have reassigned one or two, but I doubt it) really works. For me, up until that game, the N64 controller made little sense for me. Afterwards, it was a thing of beauty.

Which made me wonder (and sad) that Nintendo has not really come up with a similiar controller for it's newer systems (Gamecube and even Wii). I am all for the spirit of innovation shown by Nintendo, but one should continue to develop a strength; even Playstation controllers have remained the same and have not changed much since they work well. Even the XBOX1 and 360 controllers are "junk" in comparison; not as intuitive. I would think Microsoft would come up with better controllers given their resources. They serve their purpose, but could be better.

But yeah, Goldeneye is a classic!

==========================================

Goldeneye Rush !!!

[ThunderMace]

I really like the 2nd (?) Turok as it has the best graphics available for the 64 IMO. If I could only figure out how to use a mouse in all these N64 FPS, I'd be set.

[thebluecanary]

I love my Emulation as well! I got a VERY nice SNES for my PSP. Now my PSP is so much cooler! I even went as far to BUILD a MAME Arcade box. Joy Sticks and Buttens and everything! Love it! Even rigged it for pinball. But I need a faster PC. =( P3 is great from MAME, but too slow for pinball. Just need to get my hands on a legal copy of all the Super Mario Brothers, and them my g/f will let me play CoH when she is around. =P

[Graphite]

Goldeneye was one of if not the best shooters I have ever played. Loved that game, be it missions, multiplayer (wow only 4 seems so few now), or rifle butting for fun. To this day, I still use a Goldeneye scheme for my console shooters, much to the annoyance of my Halo Friends I might add.
:lol:
I have a large collection of Nes, Snes, and Genesis ROMs. Its great cause even though I have the games, the hardware is old so sadly doesn't like to work. And don't forget the power of savestates! Actually, I'm starting to think my original Nes is dead.
:grr:

[Poison]

I love my emulation collection as well, but I hope some of my favourite titles make it to the Virtual Console (Wii), so I can play them with a joypad again. Playing Mario64 (the first VC game I'll get) on a keyboard sucks big time.

[thebluecanary]

I love my emulation collection as well, but I hope some of my favourite titles make it to the Virtual Console (Wii), so I can play them with a joypad again. Playing Mario64 (the first VC game I'll get) on a keyboard sucks big time.

Just remember who loves you. LINK (http://www.joystiq.com/2004/09/07/how-to-make-a-nintendo-controller-into-a-pc-joystick/)

[Poison]

Wow, cool! Are there instructions to do this with a SNES controller, too? I loved those!
Edit: Nvm, just read some of the comments talking about just that.

[Valcarde]

Emulation, one of my favorite topics. One of the things that keeps me sane at work is having an NES emulator on my USB key that I can plug in and play some of the old classics, like the Dragon Warrior series, Final Fantasy 1 and 3 (IIIj, to be precise, with a fully translated rom to make it english. Still going to pick it up for my DS though) as well as Castlevania, Mega Man, Contra... one of my emulators lets me use a mouse for a Zapper so I can play Gumshoe and Duck Hunt...

... and my supervisor is looking at me funny now. Oh well. back to saving the Crystals...

[Meltman]

Just remember who loves you. LINK (http://www.joystiq.com/2004/09/07/how-to-make-a-nintendo-controller-into-a-pc-joystick/)

Hmmm, this (http://www.joystiq.com/2006/12/04/hand-it-to-heck-the-xbox-360-one-handed-controller/) must be for playing the new Dead Or Alive Extreme 2.
:D

[Moon Jump]

Ben Heck is awesome, he's got to be THE best person who makes his own custom systems. My personal favorite is the Portable Neo-Geo MVS.

I still remember when I found out about Emulators. I wasn't really interested the normal consoles since I own pretty much all the games I wanted to play at the time.

When I found out you could play the Arcade Star Wars? I was there man. It took me a minute or two to download it but man it was worth it. I still can't believe how small most of the classic arcade games are. They download in microseconds.

I still love playing games I wouldn't have a snowballs chance in hell of playing. Stuff like Elevator Action Returns, Do Don Panchi and Gunwange.

MAME got me back into Neo-Geo gaming. I had downloaded a couple of games, that got me back into the mood. I checked the web and found neo-geo.com and was surprised to find out how cheep the arcade versions of the games were. I went to a local arcade, saw he was selling off some games, and I got a bunch of stuff from him for a song. 100 bucks for the unit and every game for 20 a pop.

The other thing why I love emulation is to play games that will NEVER happen again. Everybody loves the classic 90's beat-em-up games. The Simpsons, Ninja Turtles, Aliens vs Predator. Sadly these games licenses have run out and you will NEVER see them re-released on another system. Damn shame because AvP and the Capcom Dungeons and Dragons games are some of the very best.

[Xielos]

Best N64 game evar: Jet Force Gemeni

[thebluecanary]

If you like Hack, you might like this guy as well. Brian Gardiner (http://www.palmps2.com/). He made a very nice Palm PS2. I tried to talk him into making me a portable XBox. =P I just want to walk around and play Halo2!

[Moon Jump]

Best N64 game evar: Jet Force Gemeni

Yeah, then you gotta start collecting Tribles..:grr: I can't tell you how many great games RARE fucked up with collecting crap. We couldn't just run through the stage blowing everything up, we gotta collect crystals and protect and save those little critters. O_o

[Apollinaris]

Hmmm, this (http://www.joystiq.com/2006/12/04/hand-it-to-heck-the-xbox-360-one-handed-controller/) must be for playing the new Dead Or Alive Extreme 2.
:D

Yeah, or soldiers who come back from Iraq with one hand blown off and now find out they can't play the FPS games they used to enjoy. It's not funny. :(