Intro into Emulation
Interested in emulation? Wondering what the hell it is?
Are you an experienced user of emulators, but you can't find whatever it is that you want?
Well, if you fit into any of the above you've come to the right place. Not so long ago I asked those first two questions. I quickly found out that all the great games of the past could again be mine, and no longer would I need my ancient nintendo to play them.
Soon after downloading my first emulator (NESticle, a NES emulator for the pc), I downloaded a few of my favourite NES games (like Super Mario Bros 3, Zelda, etc.). I was amazed with the quality of this so-called emulation and I soon had all my old favourites. After awhile I heard of a SNES emulator called SNES9X, while it wasn't as fast as the NES emulator the quality was fine, and now all my favourite 16-bit games could also be mine.
Well all this may be well and good to me, but what is emulation you ask? Well, emulation is basically, the recreation of a system for use with another system; such as an emulator that allows Win95 users to use Macintosh files or vice versa. It has only been within the last five years that console emulation has become popular.
These days you can find emulators for nearly any system, from Amigas to Pentiums, Macs to PCs, and Sega Master Systems to Sony PlayStations. While not everything has yet to be emulated, slowly we creep towards the day of total emulation.
Of course, where there are emulators there must also be files to use with them. In the case of home entertainment systems, these files, known as ROMs (read-only memory), are an exact duplicate of the cartridge or CD. If tampered with by someone who doesn't know what they are doing the ROM may become corrupt, meaning you'll have to download a new copy of that ROM.
-DarK StormS
Besides all of that, there were many, happier days before the advent of NESticle. We were a small lot in those days, sharing information freely and helping each other out. Let's face it, any of us who remember Pasowing .25 and its English crack can also remember what a pain in the ass it was to set up.
As much as everyone hates and despises Marat and Mindrape, none of these people realize that emulation would not exist if they weren't around. Marat's iNES was the basis for all Nintendo emulation - even the mysterious and revered Sardu thanks him in the NESticle readme file.
Many emulators have risen and fallen, only to be forgotten by today's masses: SuperPasofami, VSMC, and Genem just to name a few. ROM releasers and creation groups have vanished and been forgotten as well. Damaged Cybernetics, Console Consortium, Ghost in the Machine, Emuworld, and the Nintendo Preservation Society have all died and faded into nothingness.
Even now, ever since the fabled "Night of Death" where the NESticle source was stolen, a rift was created in the emulation world which has never healed. Emulation is under attack from many angles - ISPs not allowing the bandwidth for ROM transfers, Government trying to make it illegal with the "NET Act," and companies threatening legal action all around. Rumor has it that Nintendo reports NES ROMS, which the original carts have been off the market for YEARS, as lost profit. The emulation world needs to band together now, welcome those newbies in with open arms to keep the scene alive.
Now there is a difference between "newbie" and "ROM lamer." A ROM lamer does nothing but harass people for ROMS, pirate emulators, and cause general havok. If you don't want to pay $35 for iNES, simply use NESticle. Programming emus is not easy. While $35 may seem steep, try figuring out 30 different mappers that Nintendo used for their games while attending school. Even more, for those authors that release their emulators free of charge, give them respect. Authors should not be criticized for their work - if one game doesn't work, use the others that do work. MAME runs over a hundred games, but I've heard people call it "crap" because one game isn't emulated perfectly.
We need to close the rift and keep everyone together. Give the authors and ROM releasers respect. Respect keeps everything alive - give respect and credit where it's due, and we will all be treated to many things in the near future.
- Blackjax
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