Why Emulate?

This is a blog I've been wanting to write, but hearing about the Brazil museum fire that may have destroyed nearly all of its thousands of year old artifacts and relics, as well as a YouTube video about preserving game history, I have a reason to write this particular blog. Back in July, Nintendo sued a couple rom sites and it had a ripple effect on the emulation scene. For a number of people, including myself, emulation may be the only viable option when it comes to certain games. But why?

1. Availability: It's not a surprise that as the Internet has risen, gamers have immersed themselves in not just Nintendo stuff, but a lot of gaming history since at least the 70s. Unfortunately, when sites like EmuParadise close shop, thousands of games are lost. That's not to say they are entirely lost, but losing tons of Arcade games, DOS, and any system between the Atari 2600 and the PSP/DS, it really hurts. We can't always go to an arcade or use an old Windows 95 or XP computer. We can't always find a Sega Saturn or a 3DO out in the open in terms of both systems and games. It's sad that although Nintendo is within their rights, it hurts a lot more than they think just because they want to offer the same NES games for the fifth or sixth time.

2. Prices: Obviously, pirates will do whatever they can to emulate and not buy games. At times, however, we don't have all this money just to buy something like a Panzer Dragoon Saga or the Neo Geo library. At the same time, not everyone is willing to splurge 50 bucks on a used Nintendo game. Similar with availability, your choices may be limited depending on the systems you have and what games that are seen in at used game stores, yard sales. How much they are charging may make your decision easy or hard.

There's probably other reasons other people have, but that's what it boils down to. Unless you keep all your computers and have them well maintained, you have no choice but to use DOSBox. And Steam and GOG are not going to have every title due to copyright limbo, companies that have disappeared or have been bought, or losing a source code. There's a reason why Abandonware is loved. My Abandonware's top downloaded games are Doom II, Wolfenstein 3D, and WarCraft II. Thousands of DOS, Windows, and Mac games are available, but a very small amount can still be found on Steam and GOG.

Consoles suffer, too. Even with something like a Virtual Console, it only accounts for the big name titles or stuff that is owned by companies that have survived. We're talking anywhere from 5 to maybe 15 percent. Could be higher or lower, but overall, a lot of titles don't see the light of day again. Compilations have really helped since 1995-96 to help preserve a lot of arcade and console games, but there's still tons of them that have never gotten a port or anything. Licensed games suffer the worst along with any that have lost source codes. I'll go with the Crash Bandicoot trilogy. Vicarious Visions had to do the remaster from the ground up. People tremendously love Goldeneye on the N64, but it's license keeps it from being re-released.

Rambling aside, emulation is something that is dedicated by gamers. They put the effort in to make sure that a number of these titles can be looked at. From hits like Mario to the unfamiliar games like SkyRoads, it's a painstakingly approach and risk to ensure future generations can enjoy the over 40 plus years of what has been seen since Pong. Emulation will not disappear, and Nintendo's old fart executives in Japan will never understand that despite being within their rights to protect their copyright.