Since the first one is the biggest blog of the bunch, it's been very long enough to do a second volume of stories. I'll have at least a couple to talk about.
The first goes back to 15 years ago. Around this time, there had been sites that were doing their own arcade emulation. I believe the site was called 1980stees (it's been a long time, so the name is something else) and they specialized in doing early 80s arcade games. There was Donkey Kong, Frogger, and a couple other games from that era that I played. It was about as close as I could get, not knowing that there were places where you could get the actual arcade ROMs or even get the real PCBs on eBay. They did have some other flash games like one I played a lot that was based on Sonic Advance 2, which was the newest handheld Sonic at the time. I had good enjoyment out of it.
Going to do more 80s, this time called 1980sgames.com. At the time, roughly again 15 years ago, they had access to about every NES game released in America. Even included were some rom hacks of a couple games such as Aladdin. Unfortunately, emulation was rough with Nesticle or Nestopia. Once again, my memory is a little fuzzy. Regardless, the games ran really slow. Try playing through Bionic Commando or Back to the Future on that.
The site also had access to Sega Master System games and included both the American and European releases. It might have been the first time I had every tried out games for it. It's 8-bit Sonic games I definitely tried. Altered Beast and a few others I gave a shot. I remember the emulation being good, but the audio was a few pitches down compared to how it was on a real Master System. As far as that site was, it was okay. If you didn't want to hassle with emulators, it was fine, but it was not something I would have recommended. Now these days, the site's domain is up for sale.
And that wraps up volume two. I do have a bit more emulation stories I'll talk about in the near future. Here is the first volume:
https://sullivanentertainment.blogspot.com/2019/03/game-emulation-stories-volume-1.html
Showing posts with label emulation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label emulation. Show all posts
Saturday, October 19, 2019
Monday, March 11, 2019
Game Emulation Stories: Volume 1
This might be the start of something I want to do, but we'll have to see if it pans out and if I talk more about it. I've had my share of playing games via emulators and emulation over the last decade or so. I'm going to talk two games in this volume.
One of the games I would keep playing via emulators was the Sega Genesis version of Home Alone. I had tried it back in the mid 2000s on emulator, but 2010 was where I played it extensively. It would be something I would get a chance to play any time I didn't have any college work. Around Christmas, I walked down to a local used game store that had been open for almost two months and found a copy of it. Along with Tecmo Super Bowl (Genesis), Doom (PlayStation), and Mission: Impossible (PlayStation), I bought Home Alone.
It is a game I always try to play around Christmas. This is a fun one that captures the spirit of the movie. The graphics are solid for a game released in late 1992. Christmas vibes are what I think of with the outdoors and each house is unique. There is fun in assembling weapons and setting traps. It may be the best of games that the first two films had.
The last is another Genesis game. As a kid, a cousin of mine had Tiny Toon Adventures: Buster's Hidden Treasure. I played it a few times in the early 2000s and that was it. Around the same time in 2010, I played it again after a long time. It was a hit of nostalgia since I hadn't seen the show in about almost a decade at that point and about seven, eight years since playing the game. It's a Sonic the Hedgehog type of game. Looks like the show, has a great soundtrack and has solid controls. My only complaints are a somewhat high difficulty and a complicated password system.
I played it for a while in 2010, but stopped and didn't come back to it until August of 2011. It was one of those nights where I played it overnight on my laptop and used save states to beat it. When it got to the credits, I knew a few characters, but most I didn't know or remembered. It got me very curious and it got me to watch clips of the show. Then it grew to watching episodes and writing a spec movie script of my own. I do own an actual copy of the game and have beaten it legitimately on a real Genesis.
Hope you folks enjoyed these two stories and hopefully I'll do more of these in the future.
One of the games I would keep playing via emulators was the Sega Genesis version of Home Alone. I had tried it back in the mid 2000s on emulator, but 2010 was where I played it extensively. It would be something I would get a chance to play any time I didn't have any college work. Around Christmas, I walked down to a local used game store that had been open for almost two months and found a copy of it. Along with Tecmo Super Bowl (Genesis), Doom (PlayStation), and Mission: Impossible (PlayStation), I bought Home Alone.
It is a game I always try to play around Christmas. This is a fun one that captures the spirit of the movie. The graphics are solid for a game released in late 1992. Christmas vibes are what I think of with the outdoors and each house is unique. There is fun in assembling weapons and setting traps. It may be the best of games that the first two films had.
The last is another Genesis game. As a kid, a cousin of mine had Tiny Toon Adventures: Buster's Hidden Treasure. I played it a few times in the early 2000s and that was it. Around the same time in 2010, I played it again after a long time. It was a hit of nostalgia since I hadn't seen the show in about almost a decade at that point and about seven, eight years since playing the game. It's a Sonic the Hedgehog type of game. Looks like the show, has a great soundtrack and has solid controls. My only complaints are a somewhat high difficulty and a complicated password system.
I played it for a while in 2010, but stopped and didn't come back to it until August of 2011. It was one of those nights where I played it overnight on my laptop and used save states to beat it. When it got to the credits, I knew a few characters, but most I didn't know or remembered. It got me very curious and it got me to watch clips of the show. Then it grew to watching episodes and writing a spec movie script of my own. I do own an actual copy of the game and have beaten it legitimately on a real Genesis.
Hope you folks enjoyed these two stories and hopefully I'll do more of these in the future.
Saturday, March 9, 2019
The Game Emulation Route
I have seen and played games on emulation since 2001-02. Only in the last decade have I greatly embraced the concept in spite of still buying games. It's a way to play certain games you can't find or buy depending on the problem at hand. That being said, it's a slippery slope as despite the various systems that are covered, it also has plenty of hiccups.
Very few arcades exist and unless you're going to Illinois or Wisconsin for the famous arcades, you more than likely don't have an arcade or your selection is very poor no matter the good games. That's why MAME has been around for a very long time. So that you can play stuff you remember or never had a chance to try. Especially as arcade hardware starts to dwindle in working condition. Being able to play The Simpsons on emulation was nice with a college friend and myself.
Console wise, it adds a whole new depth of what there was to offer. For one, you get to see games from other parts of the world. Stuff that either should have released in other parts or shouldn't have. There may also be games that you may have missed out on when they were out. I have a few stories like that which I will get into in another blog soon. But overall, with the vast amount of systems, the world's your oyster.
It's not without it's flaws, though. Obviously, it's not replicating the hardware all the way. A number of arcade games suffer from sound issues. Glitches are present in the graphics of certain systems titles, especially ones like the Nintendo 64. Systems like the 3DO don't get a lot of love from the emulation community and the result is less than stellar. We also see multiple emulators for a single system and the results vary. The SNES is a prime example with at least three that have their ups and downs. Last to talk about is whether these emulators will continue to work as we move further into the future and see future operating systems with much better specs.
Now, I can't say I'll recommend emulation, but it is route that can be taken. Just a word of caution as not everything will work properly.
Very few arcades exist and unless you're going to Illinois or Wisconsin for the famous arcades, you more than likely don't have an arcade or your selection is very poor no matter the good games. That's why MAME has been around for a very long time. So that you can play stuff you remember or never had a chance to try. Especially as arcade hardware starts to dwindle in working condition. Being able to play The Simpsons on emulation was nice with a college friend and myself.
Console wise, it adds a whole new depth of what there was to offer. For one, you get to see games from other parts of the world. Stuff that either should have released in other parts or shouldn't have. There may also be games that you may have missed out on when they were out. I have a few stories like that which I will get into in another blog soon. But overall, with the vast amount of systems, the world's your oyster.
It's not without it's flaws, though. Obviously, it's not replicating the hardware all the way. A number of arcade games suffer from sound issues. Glitches are present in the graphics of certain systems titles, especially ones like the Nintendo 64. Systems like the 3DO don't get a lot of love from the emulation community and the result is less than stellar. We also see multiple emulators for a single system and the results vary. The SNES is a prime example with at least three that have their ups and downs. Last to talk about is whether these emulators will continue to work as we move further into the future and see future operating systems with much better specs.
Now, I can't say I'll recommend emulation, but it is route that can be taken. Just a word of caution as not everything will work properly.
Wednesday, September 5, 2018
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.
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.
Thursday, August 16, 2018
Losing the EmuParadise
Nintendo's attitudes towards emulation has always been something they have frowned upon. In the last month, they ordered a 100 million dollar lawsuit that saw two sites shut down. While EmuParadise was not in that suit, it shut down itself to avoid any issues. These attitudes from the Japanese offices are not going to help them.
While I understand they are within their rights to stop emulation and ROMs, Nintendo has done nothing. So far with the Switch, it has produced no classic games from their library of consoles. Sure, there's Donkey Kong, but that's the arcade game and Arcade Archives footing the bill. As far as EmuParadise goes, people have lost more than just the Nintendo stuff. It means losing every Sega system. PlayStation brands up to PSP. Basically, anything between the Atari 2600 up to PSP. Not only are those lost, but so are Arcade ROMs and DOS games, which is a major blow.
I target Arcade and DOS for a reason. The former, there aren't many arcades in the United States. Not to mention machines may not be well maintained. No one is going to fork over a lot of money just to get a board of OutRun or Final Fight. Regarding the latter, there are a lot of games that don't see the light of day on modern systems. The same can be said for consoles, but for computers, not every title is going to make it to GOG or Steam. Also, not everybody uses Virtual Machine or whatever they can do to use an older operating system.
Consoles don't have it bad, and I don't think it's a huge blow. That being said, I do think a word of caution is needed. One thing that helped EmuParadise was that it wasn't a torrent site and it didn't give you viruses or malware. It's going to be tough because what sites are you going to trust. Much like the DOS stuff, there are plenty of games that don't make it to modern systems. In that regard as well, there are also Japanese and European games that may intrigue people. With emulation, it exposes them to a bigger (or smaller) library that fit with a certain part of the world.
I'm not against emulation as I do think it's important. I do understand Nintendo's frustration, but to milk the same NES and SNES games for the fifth or so time, what's the purpose? I could understand GBA and up, but for 8 and 16, maybe 64 bit era games? The Japan offices of this company are out of touch with understanding fans and doing things. It's a losing battle. Emulation may have been given a big blow recently, but there will still be plenty of sites to find ROMs and ISOs.
While I understand they are within their rights to stop emulation and ROMs, Nintendo has done nothing. So far with the Switch, it has produced no classic games from their library of consoles. Sure, there's Donkey Kong, but that's the arcade game and Arcade Archives footing the bill. As far as EmuParadise goes, people have lost more than just the Nintendo stuff. It means losing every Sega system. PlayStation brands up to PSP. Basically, anything between the Atari 2600 up to PSP. Not only are those lost, but so are Arcade ROMs and DOS games, which is a major blow.
I target Arcade and DOS for a reason. The former, there aren't many arcades in the United States. Not to mention machines may not be well maintained. No one is going to fork over a lot of money just to get a board of OutRun or Final Fight. Regarding the latter, there are a lot of games that don't see the light of day on modern systems. The same can be said for consoles, but for computers, not every title is going to make it to GOG or Steam. Also, not everybody uses Virtual Machine or whatever they can do to use an older operating system.
Consoles don't have it bad, and I don't think it's a huge blow. That being said, I do think a word of caution is needed. One thing that helped EmuParadise was that it wasn't a torrent site and it didn't give you viruses or malware. It's going to be tough because what sites are you going to trust. Much like the DOS stuff, there are plenty of games that don't make it to modern systems. In that regard as well, there are also Japanese and European games that may intrigue people. With emulation, it exposes them to a bigger (or smaller) library that fit with a certain part of the world.
I'm not against emulation as I do think it's important. I do understand Nintendo's frustration, but to milk the same NES and SNES games for the fifth or so time, what's the purpose? I could understand GBA and up, but for 8 and 16, maybe 64 bit era games? The Japan offices of this company are out of touch with understanding fans and doing things. It's a losing battle. Emulation may have been given a big blow recently, but there will still be plenty of sites to find ROMs and ISOs.
Tuesday, September 26, 2017
Emulation or No Emulation?
When it comes down to people who just want to play video games, they are left in a dilemma. Do you want to go after some of these games? Or do you want to play them on your computer or on some service that isn't the original system? Some bite the bullet. Others may go towards the cheap route, which isn't always a bad thing.
This does fall into a gray area, which is one of the issues regarding emulation. The only thing I think that gets hurt by piracy is music and film. Everybody has MP3s and other forms of technology to listen to songs. Not everybody has a theater or if they do, they're not willing to shell out a lot of money to see something for a few hours (some places are expensive just to get a movie ticket) Regarding games, I don't think companies really care with the exception of Nintendo. They are within their rights to force sites to get rid of ROMs, but it's a losing effort. There will always be a site that will have downloads for stuff like Super Mario Bros. F-Zero, and everything in-between.
You don't have much of a choice if you go the PC route. There is DOSBox. It works very well with DOS games from 1981 through 97. Steam does allow it for the games that they have for sale. Abandonware sites have a number of games you wouldn't have thought were on computers back then. Unless you keep all your old operating systems, it's going to be tough figuring out what will work on something like a Windows 95 or XP computer. Some might work on a number of them. Others might on just one system. There is emulation for older operating systems, but it could be a bit of trouble just to get it to work.
For consoles, it's a bit of a question mark. Some strictly do emulation. Some might test a game out to see if it is worth buying. Others may not do emulation. I'm not against playing stuff on a computer, but I'm not going to give up buying games. It's not going to bother me if I were to download something like Earthbound. Unless I'm getting it at a yard sale (games can be found for cheap if you go this route), I'm not going to go out of my way to spend 200 dollars on it unless I was making thousands a week for life. Even before getting Mario Kart 64 at a yard sale, I thought 45 dollars was too much at a used game store. Sometimes, you have to realize that you're not going to get every relic.
Your mileage may vary. I don't see people giving up on playing console games via emulation. I'll be curious to see where this goes regarding the 7th generation of consoles considering things like Xbox Live, Wii Shop, and PlayStation Store. Whatever the case, it's up to you, the reader, on what you do. If you prefer emulation, good for you. If you want the physical copies, happy hunting if you can find of those hard to find games.
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