ADDITIONAL INFO: I forgot to mention run-ahead and pre-emptive frames. Features that can be used to reduce or even eliminate input lag for some emulators. Retroarch supports it for many cores, and some other emulators have it as well. Use it whenever possible. Here's a great video demonstrating it. ruclips.net/video/NDYqRoyOKI4/видео.html I also forgot to mention that it's possible to get mode 7 games to run at higher resolutions and frame rates, which is glorious. Check it out. ruclips.net/video/v4VQmTaHwCw/видео.html Some people have recommended some other good emulators, such as Duckstation for PS1 and Xemu for Xbox. So I've added links to those in the description. The Beetle core for Saturn is also worth checking out if you're having issues with Kronos. Project 64 is no longer recommended for N64 emulation. Instead use the Mupen64Plus Next core in Retroarch. Sadly, CItra is no longer available. Nor is the Switch emulator Yuzu. You might still be able to find them, but you're on your own with those. It's also worth mentioning that you can emulate games on more than PCs. Phones, tablets, and even modded consoles can do it as well. Though I'm not familiar with how well emulation works in those cases, nor how difficult it may be to do. And since many are asking, here's a list of all the games shown in the video. Spider-Man 2 Mario Land 2 Donkey Kong Country Returns Streets of Rage 3 Jet Set Radio Future Ninja Five-0 Castlevania The Adventure Rebirth Mario Sunshine God Hand Aladdin (Genesis) Kirby's Adventure Mega Man 1 Shinobi 3 Kirby's Dream Land 2 Sonic 2 (8-bit) The Spongebob Movie Pepsiman Ivy the Kiwi? Castlevania Dawn of Sorrow Sonic Rush Zelda Majora's Mask Shrek SuperSlam Sonic Riders (Tournament Edition Mod) Zelda The Missing Link Metroid Prime 2 Valkyria Chronicles 3 Persona 3 Sonic Triple Trouble Alien Soldier Sonic 1 Castlevania 3 Streets of Rage 1 Ristar Castlevania Chronicles
@@TheGershonI know it's a ideology to support or not a payed open source and libre software. But without private funding we might have never gotten skyline for example
Honestly, if it wasn't for emulation, I don't think there would be NEARLY as many people talking about or even playing alot of older games nowadays. Not to mention the sheer amount of preservation thanks to it.
The _ONLY_ reason Nintendo has made a video game sales profit of about $160 dollars off of me, along with $80 dollars in amiibo, from the Metroid franchise, is PURELY becaue I was able to pirate the old games with ease on every computer I've ever owned. Multiply that across the several thousand people who have absolutely had the same experience, with every franchise under Nintendo's belt, and you absolutely have a huge percentage of Nintendo's profits having emulation to thank for.
@Cri_Jackal but they also hate emulators because it's the gateway to softmodding. I used to just emulate gba games on my phone, but then I modded my 3ds and eventually my switch, because nintendo didn't really deserve $300 for that console, and I want my money's worth
There are a lot of great games that flew under the radar when they were first released because they were overshadowed by bigger names that got all the sales. These games have gotten more appreciation and exposure now, thanks to emulation.
Company: We won't you buy our games! People: Fine, emulation time! Company: No stop! That's illegal! People: Can I buy the games then? Company: Of course not!
well, a lot of people don't like to pirate modern games, but if the company doesn't give ANY opition to play the older ones, then what's the other option? pay a shit ton of money for a console and a game that isn't even being made anymore?
I don't mind people using emulators for convenience, but when they act like emulating is superior to playing on the original hardware that's when they start to grind my gears.
Fr bro, I only emulate nintendo Because they are a bunch of greedy gremlins who won’t port their shit to pc… i would pay full price for some of these games… absolute works of art… but im not buying a whole ass switch to play them. I love piracy 😁
I really like this explanation and it makes a ton of sense for games that just aren't unavailable anymore, but it neglects to address games that have re-releases and retro game stores that specialize in reselling old games
The best part about emulation, imo, is the fact that I can fit all of my old games onto a small SD card and play them on my phone or laptop (desktop tfor the heavier games). Instead of a variety of different consoles, controllers, accessories, and the like it all fits in my pocket.
Literally not what he said. You dont have to pirate games to have them as a file on your pc or in his case an sd card, you can just dump your own carts@@Majin_Vegetaisovr9000
Another good feature in emulation is the ability to fast forward boring crap. There's many frustration sections in game where you are forced to wait still for a long time or go throught a loading screens or some long animations when you can just speed up everything and effectively skip these shitty sections.
@@thatkerimguy I think it's possible. When I played Ape Escape: On The Loose on the PPSSPP emulator, the fast forward function ran through loading screens just like it would the rest of the game. Maybe it depends on the emulator?
@@swirlyfry Depends on what you are emulating really, on modern systems old games can easily be loaded in a split second so you would just be waiting for the loading screen animation to end
something that i’d like to mention is when playing a 2D game that uses sprites, i’d recommend turning on a setting called integer scaling, something that i noticed when playing the mega man games was that the size of the pixels was inconsistent, you can easily notice this with the health bar, each line is either really thick or really thin, selecting the integer scaling option fixes the issue
if you are using retroarch, try enabling the shader sharp-bilinear it corrects the pixel sizes in a nice sharp way i personally don't like integer scaling and 1:1 aspect ratios, since every console game was made to be played on consumer CRTs that are 4:3, even if some of the developers clearly fucked up when designing certain games sharp-bilinear takes care of that maintaining the pixelated look
I've noticed RetroArch does a good job scaling on higher resolution screens, but lower res ones can suffer. The retro handheld community likes a shader called "pixelate" to deal with that. Just thought I'd comment this because it doesn't seem as well known. It really only comes into play on those handhelds with 480p or 720p screens though.
I have no PC, only a mobile phone. Emulators are a godsend for me. So many great games that i only played thanks to emulation became some of my favorites, bless emulation.
When I was a kid it never crossed my mind that one day I would be replaying my favorite Ps2 games on my phone. Emulator developers deserve mad respect for their work, true chads.
It's 2023, there should be no guilt for anyone playing games or "pirating" games from 20-30 years ago on emulators. Companies like Nintendo don't deserve any sympathy as they all treat us terribly, and expect you to buy their poorly ported classics they've remade 10 times because they like remonetizing games. The companies should be openly supporting communities that promote classic games through emulation or other means because it's a positive way to bring in customers, rather than being the big corporate hand that slaps anyone who stops them from making another mint on a remake of a remake of a remake or a rel release of a rerelease.
A good example of reasons for emulation is also the fact that while companies will come after you for "piracy" they don't put any effort towards controlling the price of their items on 2nd hand sales. Pokémon is the most obvious one with games in the US selling for over $100, the US is the worst place to buy games, if you look at the market in Japan the prices are deflated heavily, and like a trip to 15 years ago when people sold Pokémon games for dirt cheap(mainly talking about all the Gb and GBA titles, also qualifies for a few of the DS games)
You can't even play Wind Waker or Twilight Princess on switch, the only legit way of playing them now is a physical copy on the original hardware. But a few 5 minute tutorials later and I have basically every classic Zelda game running smooth and better than ever right on pc.
I think one of the games that benefit most from the CRT blurring is Donkey Kong Country. Playing that game on a CRT or with CRT filters feels like magic, the darker levels with lots of shadows or a sunset especially look incredible.
Agreed on this. In fact I started to collect retro games when stuff like Donkey Kong Country and Super Mario Bros 3 started to feel more engaging when I emulated it on my Wii. Nowadays I still love emulators and will defend them til I die but real hardware/CRT is my favored method particularly for the minimal input lag. Some emulators are better or worse about that, I just found original hardware is almost always the best for it
@@alchemistofsteel8099 Best console to start if you're first getting into CRTs because it's so easy to mod and there are so many good emulators on it. I've been at this long enough to not like the analog video on the Wii much, luckily you can do many of the same things in Gamecube (pristine output in comparison) but it's certainly more of a hassle to set up. Xbox 360 and PS3 are nice but don't support 240p (aka pixel art with proper scanlines) iirc
yep, it looks bad in "pixel art" some filters do wonders i have a pc hooked up to a crt tv and these pre rendered sprite games look amazing! some filters help for sure but the real thing is just different
Speaking of, literally the first shader in the CRT shader folder in RetroArch is actually rad now. No stupid scanlines, actually blurs things out as much as a shitty old TV would and doesn't let pixels stay square.
Just an FYI but Steam has a built in feature called Steam Input where you can map buttons from one controller type to another or use controllers in keyboard only games. If you add an emulator as a non Steam game you can use it on them as well.
i used to launch ePSXe from Steam when that was the go-to PS1 emulator. idk, it felt kinda "official" to me, doing it that way, even tho it totally wasn't. i haven't used Steam in years and i switched to DuckStation for PS1 games now.
You can also with a bit of configuring start settings add emulated games to your steam page. Then you can start the game of your choice directly. But its long ago I did that so I cant tell you any more then this
Probably because of fear of demonetization or copyright strikes, because apparently according to the terms of the relevant laws stretching back into the 80s, video games are like movies, where public performance without prior approval is illegal, now being superseded by DMCA and case law.
To be honest. Even if pirating or emulating is not really a serious crime and you're rarely going to get in trouble for it, tho it does depend on where you're from etc. But even then, I really don't find it weird that bigger RUclipsrs with a big following won't openly admit to it and at most only suggest it without outright saying it out loud. You got the "🤓 uhm it's illigal" community, but the main issue comes from the fact that these big RUclipsrs are being monitored by RUclips themselves as well as game companies. It's very easy to hurt your reputation when you're a big channel. Most big RUclipsrs I've seen emulate or pirate games always jokingly suggest that they in fact didn't get the game in a legit way. Which I think is completely fine.
As was touched on, it's usually a monetization issue. When you don't monetize your RUclips videos, the powers that be can't do anything. Most people monetize though, so here we are.
RPCS3 has countless community-made patches that allow you to unlock frame rates of older games. I actually just played through Battlefield Bad Company’s campaign for the first time on RPCS3 with a 60 FPS patch, it was awesome. Can’t wait to try other personal favorites with higher resolutions and frame rates like Godfather Don’s Edition or Red Dead Redemption
I absolutely support and defend emulation as a way to preserve the history of videogames, but as a console collector, I prefer to play games on hardware I already own, I sometimes use emulation, mostly for games available on consoles I don't have, and sometimes for better experiences on games I already own but absolutely love and would like to play on a better way, however, I respect your opinion and decision to choose emulation as a primary way to play. Happy gaming!
the biggest pro about emulation is the ability to have thousands of games on one hdd. you don't have to have totes full of games and constantly set up different consoles with different wires and connections and worry about cleaning cartridge's and scratched disks and all that hassle. I have a buddy that collects vintage games, which is awesome and I get it but he was showing me a giant tote full of Sega Saturn games telling me its almost every one ever made, I said sweet that's awesome, I have every single one too and I can fit them all in my pocket lol
As someone who jumped into emulation via the steam deck its relindled my passion for gaming while also letting me evaluate games that i have nostalgia for to see what flaws they have not to mention just games on systems not being made anymore.
I also wanted to mention for the Wii section that Dolphin has support for Ds4windows and with the help of DSU mode, you can use actual motion controls on the wii with Dualshock 3-5, joycons and switch pro controllers
My golden rule is: If it's avaible to buy in a official capacity. I do buy the game and then emulate it/play the emulated version if the new release sucks. Happened to me with the Sonic Genesis games, they're everywhere so I bought cheap the Genesis Collection on Steam before Sega delisted the Sonic 1, 2 and 3 ROMS copy them into a huge hard drive and call it a day with Retroarch. If it ain't avaible officially I don't feel bad for pirating the game since I'm not stealing from anybody.
Oh, heck yes! I'm still pissed off at the way SEGA treated the classic trilogy + Sonic CD in Sonic Origins. Especially when we have the existence of Sonic 1 Forever, Sonic 2 Absolute, Sonic CD Restored and Sonic 3 AIR, which are incredible ports that bring many quality of life improvements and mod support.
My only rule is for wii and wii u i play on official hardware but pirated (thanks homebrew) and i dont emulate or pirate from current gen consoles everything else i emulate
@@IndustrialParrot2816 CEMU and Dolphin are pretty mature right now. But they need a decent PC. I've a Wii, and I never planned to dump or sell it anywhere. Mainly because emulating a Wii Remote and moton in general is kind of a pain, and my PC doesn't run them very well. My Wii is just my GC and well, Wii motion machine. The homebrew scene is strong there, no complains or worries. Got backed up some of my games digitally forever, love it. It's a good option if you have the OG hardware, but I've heard a lot of Wii U have been dying this year.
many arcade titles are officialy available in collections that are terribly made, with tons of input lag and lack of features and improvements i just use fightcade and give the finger to these lazy ass companies i played the street fighter 6 open betas and their implementation of the classic games are actually good! they lack video options but the games are responsive (and they promised online play although not available in the open beta) i enjoyed getting stomped by vega in super turbo inside sf6
I used to be super into emulation. In fact, I'm still a huge supporter of it. If you have a game that you want to play now, do it! Emulation is almost always the best way to play many older games. My personal issue with emulation is that they don't feel as real. Having the physical game in the console, on the original hardware and controller feels so much more solid to me than emulation. Even just the original controls aren't enough for me sometimes though. Even official emulation like NSO with the controllers that they release for it, it just feels like something is missing. I think that compared to when I was younger, I just have a greater appreciation for the history behind the systems. Emulation is the best way to play most games right now, and I appreciate that, and I'm not saying that you can't fully enjoy games that you emulated, but to truly appreciate the craft, the love and attention, exactly how and why everything was designed the way it was, you really have to be experiencing the games on the official hardware with the original controls. I've been sitting here for a while after I wrote that coming up with a good example, but I have one that works perfectly. Super Mario 64 DS. It was a launch title for the DS, a touch screen handheld system that could do 3d games. The flaw with 3d games on the DS was that it only had a dpad. When you play it with a normal controller joystick or even with the 3ds circle pad, it doesn't feel good to control even though intuitively that's what you would think the best option for a 3d game would be. In reality, even with a full 360 degrees of inputs, you can only move in 8 directions because that's what the game was designed around. That is, until you realise that you can also move using the touch screen, which gives you a full 360 degrees. Is it clunky? Yes. Does it feel good? No. But it really is game design that only makes sense and you can only appreciate fully when the original hardware is taken into consideration.
And then you play on an emulator and use the mod that gives Mario 64 DS true analog control. Lets you control the camera with a right stick too. Emulation wins again lol. Anyway, I do understand the appeal of real hardware. But I personally don't care. I like games. Not plastic boxes.
Nothing beats playing the games on original hardware. Especially if you have access to a CRT when it comes to pre-HD games. It's why I'm glad a lot of older consoles have things like everdrives and optical disc emulators. I bought myself a PS2 fat after learning you can slap a harddrive into the back on load games off of it too.
I love mobile DS emulators. They come pre-packed with every cheat you could ever want on basically every game that isn't a rom hack, saving you the trouble of looking up the codes, copying them into the cheat textbox and hoping it works with your rom. I salute the guys in charge of the pre-packed-cheat department on mobile DS emulators.
I thought you were going to bring up the touch screen. While I'd still prefer playing on my PC with a real controller, it was really fun trying Dragon Quest 9 on my phone entirely with a capacitive stylus. No need to use the on-screen buttons!
@@angeldude101 DS emulator is the only one I actually prefer doing on the phone, it feels so rightfully done and close to playing an actual DS, touch control on pcs is not really its thing
Ngl I've never seen the problem with emulation (Other when the game is new. You should always support a new release when you can.) Also when old games are over priced and every individual game from a old console is super expensive, sometimes emulation is all someone can afford. Like if I wanna play Pokemon black/white officially, I would have to have a ds/dsi. Alright, that's fine I already have one. But what about the game itself? I can't buy it digitally cause the store isn't up anymore. Well, how about a psychical copy? Oops, the resellers have jacked up the prices and so have my local used game stores. I still don't get why some people have a issue with emulating games that literally have no way to officially buy or play it anymore.
Yes I agree if it's current gen just buy the game but if it's an older game I'd say emulate game companies don't make anything from the used market and as you say older consoles aren't easy to get these days (at least not without paying out the ass) I've not had much luck finding a 3DS lately aside from overpriced resellers
What a powerful start by showing the console version of Spiderman 2, brings back painful memories of how us PC gamers got shafted with an awful version of this game.
I will never forget hyping the game up to a friend of mine because of my experience with the console version - his dad bought it for his birthday on PC and I was invited over to watch the first moments. I felt so horrible as a friend.
Achievements are the main reason I switched to emulation almost exclusively; combining every game I play into one giant metagame was a dream of mine since I was a kid, and achievements do exactly that.
Just got into emulation yesterday. Going thru Megathread for ISO files for PSP and Nintendo games I used to play. It has been insanely easy and nostalgic seeing all those games, makes me wish I had done it sooner!
For me, as a broke-ass nerd who was born a couple gens ahead of most of these classic systems, I wouldn't have gained the appreciation for those systems and their libraries if it weren't for emulation. There are some series that I honestly can't say I'd ever have gotten into if it weren't for having the capacity to emulate. Now I've played on the original hardware and certainly when you get it up and running there's nothing quite like the experience of playing a game on the device it was made for with next-to-no input lag and the knowledge that everything you're experiencing is how the game was... but personally I feel unless you're aiming to gain that appreciation it's not only not really required but that it's also often the weaker and more expensive experience. For example, from my icon, one can tell I like Transformers which is a franchise that has games that haven't really been rereleased on other platforms aside from maybe a handful of titles. I own a copy of the game based on Armada from 2002 for the PS2 which is a great time... my PS2's shape on the other hand leaves a lot to be desired and at this point with all the upgrades I've made in terms of TVs and more? At this point the amount of hassle that would come with trying to either fix up the old PS2 so that it works very well with modern hardware or even scouring the internet for people selling pre-modded units for often exorbitant prices due to the tedium and stress that came with installing the modchips and new outputs is just not worth the dance. Now? I can just hop on the Steam Deck, select PCSX2, the game and I'm having fun with maybe at most if I see an issue being the ever so slight flicker of a texture which considering that is like the one trade-off for being able to play the game easily and in either HD or its native resolution (Which I tend to prefer which means the load on my system is lightened significantly.) then honestly I know what option I'm going for. On that note, the best part of the emulation community is that the issue of needing to have PC knowhow is seemingly becoming an easier pill to swallow since everyone is willing to provide plenty of tutorials, the issues normally aren't super extensive and difficult to fix and there are even helpful tools like Emudeck which try their damnedest to configure the emulators beforehand so that basically you're guaranteed mostly plug-and-play unless you want to go off the beaten path and emulate rare and obscure systems. Another thing is being able to experience the same game on systems that it was actually superior on that you couldn't buy because budgets are a thing. For instance, my household was PS2, I did not own an original Xbox and only played it at other homes. My first experience with Sonic Heroes was on that system... and somehow I didn't curse the hedgehog's existence right then and there. Later on I'd learn that the PS2 version of that game was the worst with slowdown, load times, incredibly wonky collision detection and development seemingly so rushed that things as simple as the X and O button functions being left the JP configuration for menus and Knuckles' line being cut off when you select Team Sonic were left in. The game apparently was better on GameCube and Xbox with PC being... questionable at best. Problem was that it was still mostly the same game so there was no way in hell I or anyone else would be willing to commit to paying aftermarket prices for it. But I still owned the game so I felt not the slightest bit bad when later on once I modded my Wii even more to make use of the Nintendon't loader (Which I know it's sort of not emulation but still in that same ballpark.), I grabbed the GC version and I have not looked back both in that being the version I'd always play but also with just emulation in general being my preferred way to experience many a game.
I found out about emulating games when I was 5 years old. One of my cousins showed me how you can download Pokemon Emerald online (pirating) on a phone and play it via emulation. I was mind blown. I still emulate everything to this very day, I am not planning on changing until Nintendo does something about their low quality/inferior re-releases
It’s almost insulting that people can make something for free that runs basically every single game ever, but the official billion dollar company can’t make something to run a single one of their own games as good as the unofficial ones
When it comes to PS2, I would highly recommend you switch to the nightly releases. It basically got an overhaul and it is so much nicer and until it gets a new stable release, it is far superior and some settings got much simpler.
Finally, a sane took on emulation Personal rule of thumb: You can buy it, buy it. You can't buy it, emulate and download it. I think that requiring original bios from console is quite too much, I understand that need but while getting a console on the west wasn't a problem, getting in a country from Eastern Bloc could be problematic (some countries got delayed releases or none at all). Consoles were not a thing there until releases of XBOX ONE and PS4 (at least in my country). If you wanted to play games PC was the only option in most cases.
btw, MelonDS has surpassed Desmume as the best DS emulator, I recommend it. Desmume also isn't getting any more support, while Melon is still being updated
Unless you wanna play Sonic Chronicles,MelonDS fucking dies at the very first cutscene as do most versions of desmume but atleast Desmume 0.9.11 works for it
I just finished LocoRoco 1 on PPSSPP yesterday, and I started only 5 days before then. It was so awesome playing that entire game, with save states and on my own PC. I hope this video ends up convincing at least one person to try emulator gaming.
Fantastic video. More videos like this please? Covering topics about video games that are normally not seen or not in as much detail. Love it! One of the things I love most about emulation particularly, and it has more to do with owning a powerful enough rig, is having the ability to just play whatever games you want whenever. I have a gaming laptop which I can take with me basically anywhere, and it's powerful enough to play lots of modern games and really demanding emulators like Dolphin or Xenia. So anything I choose to emulate is able to be played almost perfectly. I love having an entire gaming library of new and old games, childhood games and ones I discover to this day all in one rig. I never liked having to constantly empty my wallet (or in the past, my parent's wallet) to buy new consoles just to have access to very specific video games, and it certainly sucks to go out of your way to buy old consoles and cartridges to play old ones too, especially when gaming companies abandon their products after a few years; Nintendo shut down the E-Shop which had LOTS of games and content in it that are no longer available through contemporary sources. I understand gaming companies wanting to stand out from each other, but when it comes to hardware, it's unnecessary. Some hardware is just better than others. Some consoles have better CPU's or better colours or whatever. I think standing out with your software is far better, more efficient, and more widely accessible to consumers than trying to stand out with your hardware. I mean, all the current consoles have the SAME standard controller setup now, which really speaks to how dubious the console wars have become, and the rise of emulation and PC gaming in general has shown that hardware competition is a thing of the past. Having a powerful PC capable of playing all your favourite new and old video games is just perfect. All sorts of games from different companies and different consoles. No more of that console wars crap. No more being locked out of games by not having very specific hardware. Everything is available to you at your finger tips, and in my case with a laptop, or some people with a Steam Deck, I can play whatever game I want anywhere I choose.
The funniest part of all this is that before, when Sega announced the cessation of console production to dedicate itself exclusively to software, many people thought that this was a serious mistake that would doom Sega, but it seems that in the long term, it was better beneficial to Sega.
I definitely want to do more videos talking about interesting topics about games as a whole. I was shocked to see no one else had made a video like this already.
@@Pariah6950 Afaik many old school RUclipsrs are afraid to talk about emulators given the social stigma. Nerrel has a video in defense of them but it's a lot more coy and a bit less informative (though he literally makes an HD texture pack for an N64 game so his audience is a bit different)
Emulation is great for preserving old games that companies don't sell anymore. A personal example being that it's the best way to play Ape Escape 2, since the PS4 version is the PAL copy, which was dubbed in the UK. The NTSC version has Ash Ketchum's original VA voicing the protagonist and is not available to purchase because it was published by Ubisoft instead of Sony.
Let's not forget how easy emulation has gotten over the years, I still remember being confused at snes9X's UI when I was younger, it was a nightmare, now everyone is copying dolphin and it's great, speaking of dolphin, I also remember when being able to emulate games on dolphin was the peak a PC could achieve, while nowadays this emulator is so optimized it's more of a status quo of what can be achieved. Edit: added this edit after watching the intro to the video because seriously "people who don't have a PC can't emulate games?" in 2016 I was emulating PSP on one of the cheapest shittiest phones available and it worked great, today's phone can probably reach a much much higher quality of emulation anyway. Edit 2: I think you forgot to mention the BIGGEST reason some people don't use emulators, hardware. Do you know how hard it is to emulate the entire movement possibilities of a wiimote into a standard controller? I tried for madworld, please don't try it, it's horrible. Nintendo is usually the biggest offender, gamepad features on wii u, DS touch screen and dual screen setup, try playing kid icarus with a semi gamepad/mouse config, it's a nightmare.
Yeah, it's those hardware gimmicks that become the only reason I wouldn't be emulating DS and 3DS games. Not that it matters, since I already have one (actually had 3, but I have a New XL one currently), all hacked, new backplate with an SD card hole and cover (cut it out meself), big SD card, the works. Something I'd like to see is being able to connect one of those small PC or android things (or a phone with controller attachments) up to the compyutta and have it act as the Gamepad. For now, I'll just keep my feelers out for an actual WiiU and hack that one.
Another cool thing about emulators is that they're very accessible to younger generations who might be interested in trying out some older games but don't have any old consoles.
@dxggykeepdxgginDude, I also using emulators since 5. And I've been playing GBA games on it, also I play many PS1 games in 2012 like Crash Bandicoot and Tenchu. I remember trying PCSX2 for the first time and the game that I test it was GTA San Andreas and it runs poorly, lol. Thankfully, nowadays I have new laptop and play many emulators that run so smoothly.
Dude, this video is invaluable!! I'm going to bookmark it and keep it around since some of this stuff is stuff I know I'm going to reference at one point in the future when messing around with emulators! I don't do much emulation anymore since I was able to get some space in my house to put my old stuff in there, so I'm more of a real hardware nerd, just because that experience is the one that brings me the most joy, but emulation? That stuff is great, and I've been messing around with it since the late 90's, early 2000's. It lets you play games you've never heard of before, it lets you play romhacks you'd otherwise be unable to play, it lets you tweak the controls and the visuals to whatever fits you better (Goldeneye and Perfect Dark with mouse and keyboard is a dream come true). In the current times where acquiring old hardware and games requires a hefty wallet, I think emulation is a completely acceptable option, particularly for games that are otherwise unavailable for purchase and second hand items go for outrageous prices. I was just fortunate that I cared about all this stuff when nobody else did, so I managed to get consoles and games for very cheap, but I think everyone should have access to these libraries of incredible games and at least have the option of experiencing them! This video is a fantastic starting point for anybody looking for an introduction to the world of emulation. For anyone reading this. Don't let anybody tell you how you should experience games. Just do what you think works the best for you and have fun! Either emulating or using real consoles, they're all perfectly valid options!
People need to split their morals from legality. If there is no way for me to legally play a game besides buying even a $100 copy from a reseller online, I'm pirating that shit. Especially if it's a game I'm going back to, that I either used to own or still own in some form but don't have functional hardware to play on. In that case the rights holders have already made their money off of me and I don't feel like I need to feed the hoarder's market that commodifies shit I want to play to absurd prices.
Based on your reviews and such it seems you see videogames as pretty much just "the act of playing and having fun with the game content", but I think games can give enjoyment in other ways that aren't just purely playing or watching the story of it. It's kind of like going to a museum or to the original location some historical event happened, like yeah you can just see images on the internet easily and it's way more efficient to gather information that way, but going to the actual place is something completely different in an almost indescribable way. A huge part of interest I have with authenticity is the inherent feeling of discovering how people used to play these games and how those games were made in mind, how playing on a CRT affect the image, paying attention to how such aspects of the hardware capabilities were thought out and getting to experience what the developers wanted you to see, you get to learn a lot more historical value when you go after the original stuff, these things can make the experience a lot more valuable that goes beyond just "I'm having fun with the gameplay", going to the trouble of playing the original version of the game on old game on original hardware is an appreciation of art on itself, seeing how creators manage to achieve the thing you are experiencing in its purist form, how things used to be different, appreciating the "inferior versions" sometimes makes me actually find the experience enjoyable in a very fascinating way that you really can't feel when you mod the game the hell out just to make it "objectively better", it inherently loses part of the art appreciation. Of course I don't disagree that people should play better and modded versions of games to have more fun, I just want to express myself that I don't just see videos-games as literally just "video-games, play and have fun", of course that's the most important thing, but there is a lot of other values to have enjoyment with a game aside from just the act of playing it that you pretty much never talk about in you reviews, which is perfectly fine as you already made it clear that you don't do retrospective and such. But this sometimes makes games seems a lot worse in a way, like for Sonic Adventure 1, that game wasn't really trying to just be a pure Sonic-platformer game, the Dreamcast hardware was pretty much designed around that game so Sonic Adventure was a showcase of what the console was capable of, it wanted to be big, expansive and powerful, looking at the game with the mindset of what the game really meant at the time is a way more enjoyable to play through instead of purely basing of the "raw gameplay fun" in my opinion.
I totally understand. And I feel some of this stuff for certain things. I prefer to read physical books when possible over digital ones, despite digital being far more convenient. But personally, those are not things I care about with games. I like games primarily on a mechanical and design level. I find game-design fascinating, any my enjoyment of a game almost entirely comes from my interactions with the design. I have little interest in "the experience of playing a game" in a similar fashion to how I like movies, but don't care at all about going to the theater. It's why I also don't talk much about art and music in my videos. I appreciate that stuff, of course. But I don't really care about it that much. It's just not the stuff that I particularly engage with in video games. That stuff is mostly extra fluff to me. The gameplay, design and story are the meat. This is just how I am. It's the same for my learning of swordsmanship. I don't care about the masters from the 1500s or the original German names for the techniques. I just want to learn how to swordfight. I'm in it for the sport. Not that I think there's anything wrong with appreciating those kinds of things. But I am obviously not the person that's going to talk about it.
@@Pariah6950 Yeah I perfectly understand you, I don't criticize you neither asking you to elaborate on these things, it's just an aspect to consider when analyzing why people can prefer "objectively" inferior versions. Btw swordfighting must be pretty cool, I share a similar interest but with hapkido.
This is how I feel. I like playing on the original hardware but I don't have the money to collect these old games, so I have to resort to hacking my old consoles so I can play them. But I feel like if you like a game, just buy it. People worked hard on them. Especially if it got a re release that was big and pushed. Sometimes it revives old franchises.
emulation is actually preservation, cuz nintendo and sega never really make a definitive version of their games and I mean old games, like literally dog hunt is never seen, and was only seen in the NES system so I wished they'd release their old games but sadly they didn't do that so we now are playing old games to preserve them.
25:51 One thing I do like about Dolphin is how user friendly it is. It has lots of setting to mess with but hovering over an item does give a description of what it does and it ends with “If unsure, leave at X”.
thank you so much for making this video, personally i love watching educational videos like these or reading educational comments when i see them, so again thank you so much for making this highly educational, informative and helpful video for the people looking to get into emulation.
Thanks for the video, I appreciate that you are raising awareness, since as you said so yourself, companies are misleading people, so that they have more control over them, all in the hopes that they can profit off of you, by releasing inferior and unfinished ports, of games you really love and would like to play on current gen systems, and people have always had the tools needed, to bring out the best version of their favorite videogames, I myself have been having a blast with TOTK, because through all the mods and fixes we have on PC, we can make the experience way better than what Nintendo offers us through the Switch, and because of this only my Joycons are the things of my original hardware seeing active use, since my own Switch console stays in storage as I do not get the experience I want from it.
I bought a new pc a few months back and I’ve been going all out with emulation lately. Currently I’m obsessed with getting HD texture packs for my favorite games I’m like an addict, I gotta get more lol. I used to prefer playing things on original hardware but I got rent and can’t afford it no more. I still do usually track down copies of the games I emulate cause I want them physically anyways. Lotta helpful tips in here so thanks for that Pariah👍🏾
I fully agree Emulation introduced me to older games, being fairly young and not having a console or a good pc, the stuff i could really play was older pc games which i actually am grateful for because it made me completely unbiased and not have any preferences in gaming, Emulation however allowed me access to SO MANY GAMES!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH Which i could not play or even heard of before
Using the dolphin emulator you can also emulate the wiimote motion controls using other motion peripherals like the joy-cons and ps4/ps5 controllers. Plus, it also supports playing games in VR
One thing you didn't mention that I think is super important when emulating is using the run-ahead feature on Retroarch (and I think a few other emulators are starting to implement it too). Modern monitors typically have more input lag than CRT televisions did so enabling run-ahead frames helps make up that difference so you have input lag equivalent or sometimes even better to playing it on original hardware.
most people have input lag problems in retroarch due to poor setting choices it can be useful for people with bad monitors though (people use small tvs as monitors and they are terrible, even cheap old bad pc monitors are fast enough) but if they set it up properly and have a decent monitor, they are golden, no need for run ahead there are good monitors for cheap, i got an LG 24gn600 a year ago and it's freakig fast and has freesync which also works with g-sync which retroarch supports i have a pc with crt emudriver connected to an rgb modded crt tv and the response time is virtually the same, i have no way of measuring it but if i had to guess, 5ms difference tops i find run ahead too hacky of an option, can even break some games (i've seen some shoot em ups break)
Normally I simply prefer to play through official means because if a release is super solidly emulated and is for a decent price, I prefer the simple convince to just play it on my console. But, for games that are not currently being sold by any official companies, unofficial emulation is absolutely necessary and amazing. The work and dedication people put into keeping these games alive should always be celebrated and admired for the time and passion they put into this
@@catethps I mean I did hack my Wii for Homebrew and stuff but I mainly just play stuff that is far too out of my reach to get physically and or no one is legally selling it currently
One revelation I had about overstretched NES screens came after learning that the NES doesn't just output the raw 256x240 bitmap; it adds blank columns on the sides to create a 280x240 picture, and _that_ gets stretched to fill your 4:3 display. That's what people mean about having an 8:7 pixel aspect ratio. Then I learned that the PAL NES stretches it very differently, so a wider picture would be more authentic there, but another great thing about emulation is you don't have to stay stuck with whatever silly variation came with your region!
FunFact: Here in South America, Emulation is almost the only way to play videogames, beacuse original copies and other things are just ridiculously expensive
Same over here, some companies don't even outright sell consoles and games here, we need to import and buy from third parties (which no one does either cuz we all pirate).
I think another big thing to consider with emulation is input lag. The feel of many retro games are completely thrown off with emulation; either because there is a digital delay with the software, or because the physical components of the hardware you're using aren't fine-tuned to control the consoles you're playing. I'm aware modern emulators have run-ahead options but they sometimes present their own glitches.
i don't like run ahead either, too hacky and breaks some games a decent enough 144hz monitor with freesync and a properly set up retroarch feels virtually the same as a crt tv i do have a pc with crt emudriver connected to an rgb modded crt tv which has crazy fast response time, but ever since i got an lg 24gn600 a year back, i find myself going to that computer less and less, the image quality on the CRT is 748282x better than any retroarch or mame shader can ever hope to achieve, but the hassle of changing PCs just for a quick old game session puts me off
Dude, first 4 minutes has always been my mindset, If you own, or have previously played or bought it, I think it's fine. Thank you for the rest of the video, I learned quite a bit and found this one very relatable Honest about how much of a nightmare PC gaming is. The amount of money people spend on retro gaming stuff when they could emulate for cheaper. I definitely fall into the catergory of iffy about pirating it, but your logic in it being just the same file is fair. This is your best video
A small correction. Pirating games also isn’t strictly illegal, it’s the distribution that’s illegal. If you can find a federal statue or court precedent that says otherwise I’d love to see it
Another aspect that's really nice about emulation that wasn't mentioned here is that theres a variety of devices someone can use to emulate. For example, if you mod a Wii (which is incredibly easy, you just gotta write down some numbers and punch them into a website), you can install emulators for nes, snes, gb, gba, and genesis that all run well, and don't require much setting tweaks. You can also get a dedicated emulation device, a lot of companies such as Miyoo, Anbernic and Retroid are making affordable handheld devices that range in size from a gameboy color to a switch lite, most of which cleanly emulating up to PS1 without issue, and many even being strong enough to do gamecube and ps2. And let me tell you, I'd much rather spend $90 on a pocket sized device that can play Chrono Trigger than spend the $200 it costs to get a real copy.
here's what emulators i use, for the most part i use all of these standalone rather than as retroarch cores because i'm not a fan of retroarch's menu design NES - Mesen SNES - SNES9X Genesis - Genesis Plus GX core for Bizhawk N64 - Parallel Launcher (technically a standalone retroarch launcher however it has a clean and concise menu and integration with a website where you can get sm64 rom hacks) PS1 - DuckStation Saturn - Mednafen's Saturn core (look online for the GUI version, though. using mednafen without it is rough) GBA - mGBA DS - MelonDS any system not mentioned are ones where the answer is obvious because there's really only one emulator (gamecube/wii, psp, wii u, etc) or i just don't have any experience with them (turbographx-16 and all of those other scrimblo 4th-5th gen systems that didn't hold large global markets)
This video is a homerun! Very informative for those who haven't dabbled in emulation much or at all. I was pleased to see some of the stuff that was included like Metroid Prime w/ keyboard & mouse, color hacks for Game Boy, and smoother frame rates. Emulating with the right emulator, settings, patches, controller, etc. is sooo satisfying. Btw I'm one of those weirdos who likes the ScaleFX shader (smoothed pixel look) in 2D games haha. I used to be a chunky pixel guy, but for some reason I just got tired of looking at tons of squares and craved a new look. Sometimes I hop between ScaleFX and the Mega Bezel Reflection shader (for when I'm feeling more nostalgic). Choices are important, and in the world of emulation, choices are never in short supply. Customize the experience till your heart's content. Btw I recently uploaded an emulation-related video. Should be worth checking out for some folks.
When the umd drive on my psp broke it pretty much rendered it a brick with some music on it. Since I didn't have the money to buy a new one let alone try to repair the one I had and wouldn't in the foreseeable future, I decided to take a shot at hacking for the first time and suddenly not only did I have access to psp games but also a lot of older titles, especially gba games that I missed out on and didn't even knew existed. I was introduced to the Metroid series through Metroid Zero mission and quickly became a fan, played Drill Dozer which as far as I can tell has never been made available anywhere else and discovered Astroboy Omega Factor, an absolute hidden gem on that console no one talks about. Hacking that psp and emulating games on it just opened a lot of doors to me that can never truly be realized through official and lawful means.
Last year i started to realize how amazing emulation nowadays is. Even my favorite consoles like Dreamcast, Playstation 1+2 and Mega Drive are only collecting dust from then because I totally prefer emulation. Great video!
I have two PCs, a Steam Deck, a Switch, a Vita, a 3DS and a retro console and everyone of these devices has an emulator installed. I love emulation, ever since I played SM64 in 2002 on my Pentium 4 PC.
I don't get the people who complain about emulation being "too hard" or whatever. I figured that shit out all on my own when I was like 13 years old. Back in ~2002.
Why are you using PCSX2 1.6??? Get the Nightly bulld of 1.7. It is so far beyond 1.6 by YEARS of development and now automatically patches games to work properly, and auto updates upon launching for new fixes added daily.
If you have an android smartphone, then you are 100% capable of emulating games. I had Galaxy A50 with piece of silicon called Exynos 9610 and it runs PSP games perfectly in 480p to 720p perdectly and today there are no phone weaker than Galaxy A50
4:00 It's also fair to mention that, in the case of a lot of these really old games from the 80s, there's not even a guarantee the game/console in question will work right. We're talking about 40+ year old tech here. It's only a matter of time before these consoles and games just stop working due to age/use. My GC and Wii both stopped reading discs years ago and are just dust collectors now. Eventually, the only way you'll even be able to play these old games is emulation.
Fantastic video! Emulation is still a new frontier for me, but I'm loving it so far! Starting out with Genesis and N64, and looking forward to expanding!
Another thing for Wii Emulation you didn't mention at 17:00 but I'd understand why you didn't mention it Dolphin support motion input from actual controllers not just Wii Remotes, you can actually download software that can connect either a PS4/PS5 or switch controllers and use the gyro on dolphin. It can be useful if you don't have your original Wii remote or sensorbar anymore Currently playing SMG2 with similar controls to SM3D All stars
Man I wish I hadn't watched all of your Sonic videos and saved some for these days I mean These videos are cool too I'm not complaining or ordering you
Whilst RetroArch is a solid frontend, it's better to use the standalone emulator application than a core if you're after performance. Retroarch is a frontend for libretro apps, which provides an API that frontends can use, whereas standalone applications can be optimized for the hardware they run on and can interface much closer to hardware
A while ago, I decided “To heck with it, I’m gonna emulate me games.” I then downloaded EmuDeck on Steam Deck and got the Roms to the Classic games I own. Though it is convient having basically my entire game library on the go, and can use mods if I figure out how to use them, I much prefer playing on original hardware. Being able to play Knuckles’ Chaotix on a road trip is fun and all, but nothing is like popping the cartridge into the Genesis (with 32X attachment) and turning on the CRT to hear that original audio. I can play Sonic the Hedgehog Triple Trouble on a much bigger screen than the Game Gear’s tiny little screen, heck, I could even play the fan made 16-bit remaster. But, I just prefer the feel to the original experience. Emulation might be objectively better, but I enjoy the experience of turning on the original hardware. Also, not all emulators are 100% perfect, and can’t emulate the feel of switching on a Dreamcast. Also, some games might just not work, or they might play the same. Try emulating Duck Hunt with the light gun. Also, EmuDeck doesn’t have the Sega Saturn BIOS and apparently, it’s illegal to download it and I need special tools or something to get it myself so I’ve yet to see perfection on Steam Deck (Sonic R)
I emulate Sega Saturn games and play Sonic R just fine on my steam deck with emudeck there's no issues or legal problems just download the bios and roms
Another good feature that I like is the RetroAchievements being a godsend to complete the games 100 percent which adds achievements on old games and hell, Almost all the old console games are now available to add achievement on the emulator.
This is really cool & didn’t know this. I just got a Asus ROG Ally around release and haven’t had the exact time to set it up to be an emulation machine but I’m working on it today & my days off. I’ll have to check this out for sure.
20:23 “Cause picture yourself in this situation. You’re having some buddies come over, and you’re all gonna have a great time playing some Shrek: Super Slam, as many people often do” 🍷🗿
I support emulating games. I still love the convenience of playing games on console though. That’s why I modded my Wii haha. The quality may not be as good, but I prefer it than booting up my computer and setting it up.
![Seungmin "그렇게, 천천히, 우리(As we are)" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/kAzmhLHePqU/mqdefault.jpg)
![I.N "HALLUCINATION" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/n5B5q1Hwt_U/mqdefault.jpg)
ADDITIONAL INFO: I forgot to mention run-ahead and pre-emptive frames. Features that can be used to reduce or even eliminate input lag for some emulators. Retroarch supports it for many cores, and some other emulators have it as well. Use it whenever possible. Here's a great video demonstrating it. ruclips.net/video/NDYqRoyOKI4/видео.html
I also forgot to mention that it's possible to get mode 7 games to run at higher resolutions and frame rates, which is glorious. Check it out. ruclips.net/video/v4VQmTaHwCw/видео.html
Some people have recommended some other good emulators, such as Duckstation for PS1 and Xemu for Xbox. So I've added links to those in the description. The Beetle core for Saturn is also worth checking out if you're having issues with Kronos.
Project 64 is no longer recommended for N64 emulation. Instead use the Mupen64Plus Next core in Retroarch.
Sadly, CItra is no longer available. Nor is the Switch emulator Yuzu. You might still be able to find them, but you're on your own with those.
It's also worth mentioning that you can emulate games on more than PCs. Phones, tablets, and even modded consoles can do it as well. Though I'm not familiar with how well emulation works in those cases, nor how difficult it may be to do.
And since many are asking, here's a list of all the games shown in the video.
Spider-Man 2
Mario Land 2
Donkey Kong Country Returns
Streets of Rage 3
Jet Set Radio Future
Ninja Five-0
Castlevania The Adventure Rebirth
Mario Sunshine
God Hand
Aladdin (Genesis)
Kirby's Adventure
Mega Man 1
Shinobi 3
Kirby's Dream Land 2
Sonic 2 (8-bit)
The Spongebob Movie
Pepsiman
Ivy the Kiwi?
Castlevania Dawn of Sorrow
Sonic Rush
Zelda Majora's Mask
Shrek SuperSlam
Sonic Riders (Tournament Edition Mod)
Zelda The Missing Link
Metroid Prime 2
Valkyria Chronicles 3
Persona 3
Sonic Triple Trouble
Alien Soldier
Sonic 1
Castlevania 3
Streets of Rage 1
Ristar
Castlevania Chronicles
Ryujinx is better in every possible way
@@Laekith Both are good ones.
@@Laekith They both have strengths and weaknesses, but as Ryujinx's latest builds aren't (pseudo) locked behind a paywall I'd rather support it first
Oh wow lol
@@TheGershonI know it's a ideology to support or not a payed open source and libre software. But without private funding we might have never gotten skyline for example
Honestly, if it wasn't for emulation, I don't think there would be NEARLY as many people talking about or even playing alot of older games nowadays. Not to mention the sheer amount of preservation thanks to it.
The _ONLY_ reason Nintendo has made a video game sales profit of about $160 dollars off of me, along with $80 dollars in amiibo, from the Metroid franchise, is PURELY becaue I was able to pirate the old games with ease on every computer I've ever owned.
Multiply that across the several thousand people who have absolutely had the same experience, with every franchise under Nintendo's belt, and you absolutely have a huge percentage of Nintendo's profits having emulation to thank for.
@Cri_Jackal but they also hate emulators because it's the gateway to softmodding. I used to just emulate gba games on my phone, but then I modded my 3ds and eventually my switch, because nintendo didn't really deserve $300 for that console, and I want my money's worth
Yes Aaeroballs18
@@edmundoandrade5113 bruh
There are a lot of great games that flew under the radar when they were first released because they were overshadowed by bigger names that got all the sales. These games have gotten more appreciation and exposure now, thanks to emulation.
"I don't play games through emulation because it's illegal" is the most nerd emoji statement ever
"Uhh you are actually hurting my favorite corporation stock value" 🤓
Company: We won't you buy our games!
People: Fine, emulation time!
Company: No stop! That's illegal!
People: Can I buy the games then?
Company: Of course not!
@@moister3727 Leave the multimillion dollar company alone! 🤓
well, a lot of people don't like to pirate modern games, but if the company doesn't give ANY opition to play the older ones, then what's the other option? pay a shit ton of money for a console and a game that isn't even being made anymore?
I don't mind people using emulators for convenience, but when they act like emulating is superior to playing on the original hardware that's when they start to grind my gears.
You know what's better than emulating games?
Emulating games that scalpers overcharge for and telling them you emulate it.
Exactly. You can’t steal something that’s not being sold anymore.
That's the main reason I emulate.
These scalpers are more criminal with this stuff than emulating titles corporations long abandoned and will never profit, honestly.
The dipshits who pay high prices are way worse than the scalpers because if they didn't exist, neither would the scalpers.
Fr bro, I only emulate nintendo Because they are a bunch of greedy gremlins who won’t port their shit to pc… i would pay full price for some of these games… absolute works of art… but im not buying a whole ass switch to play them.
I love piracy 😁
I think Arlo said it best. You can't go into a store and steal something they don't sell anymore
because of they're not selling it, it doesn't make a difference if they have the product or not
@@averyhaferman3474 Because they dont make a profit anymore. Why is that so hard to understand
I really like this explanation and it makes a ton of sense for games that just aren't unavailable anymore, but it neglects to address games that have re-releases and retro game stores that specialize in reselling old games
@@averyhaferman3474 I don't care that i am stealing, free thing are nice and will never buy a game anymore, even if it's available to buy
@@averyhaferman3474H O W?
The best part about emulation, imo, is the fact that I can fit all of my old games onto a small SD card and play them on my phone or laptop (desktop tfor the heavier games). Instead of a variety of different consoles, controllers, accessories, and the like it all fits in my pocket.
An entire console's library... cartridges that would weigh over a hundred lbs or kg... all in your pocket. It is a badass feeling.
Awesome! There is no need to buy games anymore! We can just pirate them!
Literally not what he said. You dont have to pirate games to have them as a file on your pc or in his case an sd card, you can just dump your own carts@@Majin_Vegetaisovr9000
@@Majin_Vegetaisovr9000only games that aren’t for sale anymore
Retroid Pocket 4 Pro
Another good feature in emulation is the ability to fast forward boring crap. There's many frustration sections in game where you are forced to wait still for a long time or go throught a loading screens or some long animations when you can just speed up everything and effectively skip these shitty sections.
Like using fast forward to raise pokemon faster
fast forward wont speed up loading times but if theres a annoyingly long animation for the loading screen you can speed that up
@@thatkerimguy I think it's possible. When I played Ape Escape: On The Loose on the PPSSPP emulator, the fast forward function ran through loading screens just like it would the rest of the game. Maybe it depends on the emulator?
@@swirlyfry Depends on what you are emulating really, on modern systems old games can easily be loaded in a split second so you would just be waiting for the loading screen animation to end
Pokemon with fast forward make the games 100% more enjoyable
something that i’d like to mention is when playing a 2D game that uses sprites, i’d recommend turning on a setting called integer scaling, something that i noticed when playing the mega man games was that the size of the pixels was inconsistent, you can easily notice this with the health bar, each line is either really thick or really thin, selecting the integer scaling option fixes the issue
I was going to mention this, but Retroarch by default has great scaling. You don't even need to think about it.
if you are using retroarch, try enabling the shader sharp-bilinear
it corrects the pixel sizes in a nice sharp way
i personally don't like integer scaling and 1:1 aspect ratios, since every console game was made to be played on consumer CRTs that are 4:3, even if some of the developers clearly fucked up when designing certain games
sharp-bilinear takes care of that maintaining the pixelated look
Snakeman 🐍
@@Pariah6950 You sure about that? They don't have interger on by default last I checked.
I've noticed RetroArch does a good job scaling on higher resolution screens, but lower res ones can suffer. The retro handheld community likes a shader called "pixelate" to deal with that. Just thought I'd comment this because it doesn't seem as well known. It really only comes into play on those handhelds with 480p or 720p screens though.
I have no PC, only a mobile phone. Emulators are a godsend for me. So many great games that i only played thanks to emulation became some of my favorites, bless emulation.
I love how the DS Emulator on Android (Drastic) is better than the most popular PC emulator (Desmume)
@@erc3338 Drastic allowed me to play my first Castlevania games, this one is peak emulation, easy to use and almost no lag.
@@UserName-hb7hw fr it's one of the best for mobile along with PPSSPP, it's so smooth and easy to setup
@@erc3338 Games that require touch of gyro are also more suitable for device that, well, supports touch and gyro.
@@erc3338 melonds with bios files is just as good as drastic
When I was a kid it never crossed my mind that one day I would be replaying my favorite Ps2 games on my phone. Emulator developers deserve mad respect for their work, true chads.
Exactly same me plying gta vice city and San Andreas some childhood classics
Wait on your phone??? Pls tell me how
@neal5807 one emulator you can use is retroarch and for the roms vimms lair
@@neal5807 aethersx2 on play store
@@neal5807NetherSX2, especially the unofficial extension that adds no-interlace and widescreen patches
It's 2023, there should be no guilt for anyone playing games or "pirating" games from 20-30 years ago on emulators. Companies like Nintendo don't deserve any sympathy as they all treat us terribly, and expect you to buy their poorly ported classics they've remade 10 times because they like remonetizing games. The companies should be openly supporting communities that promote classic games through emulation or other means because it's a positive way to bring in customers, rather than being the big corporate hand that slaps anyone who stops them from making another mint on a remake of a remake of a remake or a rel release of a rerelease.
A good example of reasons for emulation is also the fact that while companies will come after you for "piracy" they don't put any effort towards controlling the price of their items on 2nd hand sales. Pokémon is the most obvious one with games in the US selling for over $100, the US is the worst place to buy games, if you look at the market in Japan the prices are deflated heavily, and like a trip to 15 years ago when people sold Pokémon games for dirt cheap(mainly talking about all the Gb and GBA titles, also qualifies for a few of the DS games)
You can't even play Wind Waker or Twilight Princess on switch, the only legit way of playing them now is a physical copy on the original hardware. But a few 5 minute tutorials later and I have basically every classic Zelda game running smooth and better than ever right on pc.
I think one of the games that benefit most from the CRT blurring is Donkey Kong Country. Playing that game on a CRT or with CRT filters feels like magic, the darker levels with lots of shadows or a sunset especially look incredible.
Agreed on this. In fact I started to collect retro games when stuff like Donkey Kong Country and Super Mario Bros 3 started to feel more engaging when I emulated it on my Wii. Nowadays I still love emulators and will defend them til I die but real hardware/CRT is my favored method particularly for the minimal input lag. Some emulators are better or worse about that, I just found original hardware is almost always the best for it
@@Devixicus what about emulating games on a Wii
@@alchemistofsteel8099 Best console to start if you're first getting into CRTs because it's so easy to mod and there are so many good emulators on it. I've been at this long enough to not like the analog video on the Wii much, luckily you can do many of the same things in Gamecube (pristine output in comparison) but it's certainly more of a hassle to set up. Xbox 360 and PS3 are nice but don't support 240p (aka pixel art with proper scanlines) iirc
yep, it looks bad in "pixel art" some filters do wonders
i have a pc hooked up to a crt tv and these pre rendered sprite games look amazing! some filters help for sure but the real thing is just different
Speaking of, literally the first shader in the CRT shader folder in RetroArch is actually rad now. No stupid scanlines, actually blurs things out as much as a shitty old TV would and doesn't let pixels stay square.
Just an FYI but Steam has a built in feature called Steam Input where you can map buttons from one controller type to another or use controllers in keyboard only games. If you add an emulator as a non Steam game you can use it on them as well.
i used to launch ePSXe from Steam when that was the go-to PS1 emulator. idk, it felt kinda "official" to me, doing it that way, even tho it totally wasn't. i haven't used Steam in years and i switched to DuckStation for PS1 games now.
You can also with a bit of configuring start settings add emulated games to your steam page. Then you can start the game of your choice directly. But its long ago I did that so I cant tell you any more then this
Always nice to see a video being completely honest about preferring emulation
Feel like too many youtubers treat it as this weird taboo to do so
The Nintendo ninja swords are extremely sharp..
Always ready to serve their shogun
Probably because of fear of demonetization or copyright strikes, because apparently according to the terms of the relevant laws stretching back into the 80s, video games are like movies, where public performance without prior approval is illegal, now being superseded by DMCA and case law.
To be honest.
Even if pirating or emulating is not really a serious crime and you're rarely going to get in trouble for it, tho it does depend on where you're from etc.
But even then, I really don't find it weird that bigger RUclipsrs with a big following won't openly admit to it and at most only suggest it without outright saying it out loud.
You got the "🤓 uhm it's illigal" community, but the main issue comes from the fact that these big RUclipsrs are being monitored by RUclips themselves as well as game companies. It's very easy to hurt your reputation when you're a big channel.
Most big RUclipsrs I've seen emulate or pirate games always jokingly suggest that they in fact didn't get the game in a legit way. Which I think is completely fine.
As was touched on, it's usually a monetization issue.
When you don't monetize your RUclips videos, the powers that be can't do anything.
Most people monetize though, so here we are.
RPCS3 has countless community-made patches that allow you to unlock frame rates of older games. I actually just played through Battlefield Bad Company’s campaign for the first time on RPCS3 with a 60 FPS patch, it was awesome. Can’t wait to try other personal favorites with higher resolutions and frame rates like Godfather Don’s Edition or Red Dead Redemption
Does the pc version of bd2 30 fps locked ?
DONT FORGET DEMON SOULS 60 fps ! and better colors and asethic than the remake
or motorstorm pacific rift at 60 fps
Why aren't they being contributed to main RPCS3?
I absolutely support and defend emulation as a way to preserve the history of videogames, but as a console collector, I prefer to play games on hardware I already own, I sometimes use emulation, mostly for games available on consoles I don't have, and sometimes for better experiences on games I already own but absolutely love and would like to play on a better way, however, I respect your opinion and decision to choose emulation as a primary way to play. Happy gaming!
I love how you showed Jet Set Radio Future when you mentioned games not being ported or lost to time, it's a sin JSRF hasn't been ported yet.
It really is
4:28 please get in the habit
@voilabolognessich423 oh no how dare there be no time stamp 🤓
better watch this before the nintendo ninjas strike
Agreed
I can confirm this
Ya scared?
Nintenjas
They ain't going to do anything
Saw the title and IMMEDIATELY thought "MODS!!"
Shocked and impressed that you managed to go 21 minutes before you even brought em up.
A lot of headache for a whole lot of nothing.
@@cezarstefanseghjucan ?
the biggest pro about emulation is the ability to have thousands of games on one hdd. you don't have to have totes full of games and constantly set up different consoles with different wires and connections and worry about cleaning cartridge's and scratched disks and all that hassle. I have a buddy that collects vintage games, which is awesome and I get it but he was showing me a giant tote full of Sega Saturn games telling me its almost every one ever made, I said sweet that's awesome, I have every single one too and I can fit them all in my pocket lol
As someone who jumped into emulation via the steam deck its relindled my passion for gaming while also letting me evaluate games that i have nostalgia for to see what flaws they have not to mention just games on systems not being made anymore.
The Steam Deck is such a great device!
I also wanted to mention for the Wii section that Dolphin has support for Ds4windows and with the help of DSU mode, you can use actual motion controls on the wii with Dualshock 3-5, joycons and switch pro controllers
Does Dolphin mobile support this?
@@pvzmariosonica8fan probably not, as ds4windows isn't ported to android as far as I know
@@Yuginkai12 Is there a DS emulator where the stylus can be mapped to the right stick on an external controller?
@@pvzmariosonica8fan the retroarch version of desmume let's you do that
@@Yuginkai12 What about the ClassicBoy versions? I'd use RetroArch, but it doesn't support SD cards anymore (at least on Android)
Emulation is BASED, regardless of the legality:)
My golden rule is: If it's avaible to buy in a official capacity. I do buy the game and then emulate it/play the emulated version if the new release sucks.
Happened to me with the Sonic Genesis games, they're everywhere so I bought cheap the Genesis Collection on Steam before Sega delisted the Sonic 1, 2 and 3 ROMS copy them into a huge hard drive and call it a day with Retroarch.
If it ain't avaible officially I don't feel bad for pirating the game since I'm not stealing from anybody.
Oh, heck yes! I'm still pissed off at the way SEGA treated the classic trilogy + Sonic CD in Sonic Origins. Especially when we have the existence of Sonic 1 Forever, Sonic 2 Absolute, Sonic CD Restored and Sonic 3 AIR, which are incredible ports that bring many quality of life improvements and mod support.
My only rule is for wii and wii u i play on official hardware but pirated (thanks homebrew) and i dont emulate or pirate from current gen consoles everything else i emulate
@@IndustrialParrot2816 CEMU and Dolphin are pretty mature right now. But they need a decent PC.
I've a Wii, and I never planned to dump or sell it anywhere. Mainly because emulating a Wii Remote and moton in general is kind of a pain, and my PC doesn't run them very well. My Wii is just my GC and well, Wii motion machine. The homebrew scene is strong there, no complains or worries. Got backed up some of my games digitally forever, love it.
It's a good option if you have the OG hardware, but I've heard a lot of Wii U have been dying this year.
@@moister3727 my PC struggles with GameCube games and when I tried to play super Mario Galaxy 2 it ran at 10 fps
many arcade titles are officialy available in collections that are terribly made, with tons of input lag and lack of features and improvements
i just use fightcade and give the finger to these lazy ass companies
i played the street fighter 6 open betas and their implementation of the classic games are actually good! they lack video options but the games are responsive (and they promised online play although not available in the open beta) i enjoyed getting stomped by vega in super turbo inside sf6
Metroid Prime and 007 Goldeneye with Keyboard and Mouse controls.
Pretty much ends every anti-emulation argument ever made.
I used to be super into emulation. In fact, I'm still a huge supporter of it. If you have a game that you want to play now, do it! Emulation is almost always the best way to play many older games. My personal issue with emulation is that they don't feel as real. Having the physical game in the console, on the original hardware and controller feels so much more solid to me than emulation. Even just the original controls aren't enough for me sometimes though. Even official emulation like NSO with the controllers that they release for it, it just feels like something is missing. I think that compared to when I was younger, I just have a greater appreciation for the history behind the systems. Emulation is the best way to play most games right now, and I appreciate that, and I'm not saying that you can't fully enjoy games that you emulated, but to truly appreciate the craft, the love and attention, exactly how and why everything was designed the way it was, you really have to be experiencing the games on the official hardware with the original controls.
I've been sitting here for a while after I wrote that coming up with a good example, but I have one that works perfectly. Super Mario 64 DS. It was a launch title for the DS, a touch screen handheld system that could do 3d games. The flaw with 3d games on the DS was that it only had a dpad. When you play it with a normal controller joystick or even with the 3ds circle pad, it doesn't feel good to control even though intuitively that's what you would think the best option for a 3d game would be. In reality, even with a full 360 degrees of inputs, you can only move in 8 directions because that's what the game was designed around. That is, until you realise that you can also move using the touch screen, which gives you a full 360 degrees. Is it clunky? Yes. Does it feel good? No. But it really is game design that only makes sense and you can only appreciate fully when the original hardware is taken into consideration.
And then you play on an emulator and use the mod that gives Mario 64 DS true analog control. Lets you control the camera with a right stick too. Emulation wins again lol.
Anyway, I do understand the appeal of real hardware. But I personally don't care. I like games. Not plastic boxes.
Nothing beats playing the games on original hardware. Especially if you have access to a CRT when it comes to pre-HD games. It's why I'm glad a lot of older consoles have things like everdrives and optical disc emulators. I bought myself a PS2 fat after learning you can slap a harddrive into the back on load games off of it too.
I love mobile DS emulators. They come pre-packed with every cheat you could ever want on basically every game that isn't a rom hack, saving you the trouble of looking up the codes, copying them into the cheat textbox and hoping it works with your rom. I salute the guys in charge of the pre-packed-cheat department on mobile DS emulators.
I thought you were going to bring up the touch screen. While I'd still prefer playing on my PC with a real controller, it was really fun trying Dragon Quest 9 on my phone entirely with a capacitive stylus. No need to use the on-screen buttons!
@@angeldude101 DS emulator is the only one I actually prefer doing on the phone, it feels so rightfully done and close to playing an actual DS, touch control on pcs is not really its thing
What's a good DS emulator for android?
I haven't been able to find anything that works.
@@kevmasengale6903 DraStic is the best one, but it's 5 dollars.
Is mobile DS emulation improved? I feel very disappointed with it years ago when it come to playing Pokemon
Ngl I've never seen the problem with emulation (Other when the game is new. You should always support a new release when you can.) Also when old games are over priced and every individual game from a old console is super expensive, sometimes emulation is all someone can afford. Like if I wanna play Pokemon black/white officially, I would have to have a ds/dsi. Alright, that's fine I already have one. But what about the game itself? I can't buy it digitally cause the store isn't up anymore. Well, how about a psychical copy? Oops, the resellers have jacked up the prices and so have my local used game stores. I still don't get why some people have a issue with emulating games that literally have no way to officially buy or play it anymore.
Yes I agree if it's current gen just buy the game but if it's an older game I'd say emulate game companies don't make anything from the used market and as you say older consoles aren't easy to get these days (at least not without paying out the ass) I've not had much luck finding a 3DS lately aside from overpriced resellers
What a powerful start by showing the console version of Spiderman 2, brings back painful memories of how us PC gamers got shafted with an awful version of this game.
I will never forget hyping the game up to a friend of mine because of my experience with the console version - his dad bought it for his birthday on PC and I was invited over to watch the first moments. I felt so horrible as a friend.
i"M guNNA ChiSeL mE Up SOmE SpIDer JeLLy.
Achievements are the main reason I switched to emulation almost exclusively; combining every game I play into one giant metagame was a dream of mine since I was a kid, and achievements do exactly that.
Wait, how do you implement achievements in emulation and what do you mean about the metagame?
That sounds neat
@@MeeraRustshieldSystem RetroAchievments
@@MeeraRustshieldSystem I believe he's referring to Retroarch
@@gokublack8342yes
Mind blowing
Just got into emulation yesterday. Going thru Megathread for ISO files for PSP and Nintendo games I used to play.
It has been insanely easy and nostalgic seeing all those games, makes me wish I had done it sooner!
Piracy and emulation is morally and ethically correct, and the best form of video game preservation.
The best argument in support of emulation is "nahh I ain't paying $100+ for that"
For me, as a broke-ass nerd who was born a couple gens ahead of most of these classic systems, I wouldn't have gained the appreciation for those systems and their libraries if it weren't for emulation. There are some series that I honestly can't say I'd ever have gotten into if it weren't for having the capacity to emulate. Now I've played on the original hardware and certainly when you get it up and running there's nothing quite like the experience of playing a game on the device it was made for with next-to-no input lag and the knowledge that everything you're experiencing is how the game was... but personally I feel unless you're aiming to gain that appreciation it's not only not really required but that it's also often the weaker and more expensive experience.
For example, from my icon, one can tell I like Transformers which is a franchise that has games that haven't really been rereleased on other platforms aside from maybe a handful of titles. I own a copy of the game based on Armada from 2002 for the PS2 which is a great time... my PS2's shape on the other hand leaves a lot to be desired and at this point with all the upgrades I've made in terms of TVs and more? At this point the amount of hassle that would come with trying to either fix up the old PS2 so that it works very well with modern hardware or even scouring the internet for people selling pre-modded units for often exorbitant prices due to the tedium and stress that came with installing the modchips and new outputs is just not worth the dance.
Now? I can just hop on the Steam Deck, select PCSX2, the game and I'm having fun with maybe at most if I see an issue being the ever so slight flicker of a texture which considering that is like the one trade-off for being able to play the game easily and in either HD or its native resolution (Which I tend to prefer which means the load on my system is lightened significantly.) then honestly I know what option I'm going for. On that note, the best part of the emulation community is that the issue of needing to have PC knowhow is seemingly becoming an easier pill to swallow since everyone is willing to provide plenty of tutorials, the issues normally aren't super extensive and difficult to fix and there are even helpful tools like Emudeck which try their damnedest to configure the emulators beforehand so that basically you're guaranteed mostly plug-and-play unless you want to go off the beaten path and emulate rare and obscure systems.
Another thing is being able to experience the same game on systems that it was actually superior on that you couldn't buy because budgets are a thing. For instance, my household was PS2, I did not own an original Xbox and only played it at other homes. My first experience with Sonic Heroes was on that system... and somehow I didn't curse the hedgehog's existence right then and there. Later on I'd learn that the PS2 version of that game was the worst with slowdown, load times, incredibly wonky collision detection and development seemingly so rushed that things as simple as the X and O button functions being left the JP configuration for menus and Knuckles' line being cut off when you select Team Sonic were left in. The game apparently was better on GameCube and Xbox with PC being... questionable at best. Problem was that it was still mostly the same game so there was no way in hell I or anyone else would be willing to commit to paying aftermarket prices for it. But I still owned the game so I felt not the slightest bit bad when later on once I modded my Wii even more to make use of the Nintendon't loader (Which I know it's sort of not emulation but still in that same ballpark.), I grabbed the GC version and I have not looked back both in that being the version I'd always play but also with just emulation in general being my preferred way to experience many a game.
watching videos praising emulator but actually getting one of these emulators to work is a much more needed video than one. To praise thme
I found out about emulating games when I was 5 years old. One of my cousins showed me how you can download Pokemon Emerald online (pirating) on a phone and play it via emulation. I was mind blown. I still emulate everything to this very day, I am not planning on changing until Nintendo does something about their low quality/inferior re-releases
It’s almost insulting that people can make something for free that runs basically every single game ever, but the official billion dollar company can’t make something to run a single one of their own games as good as the unofficial ones
@@Minimania18 fr
When it comes to PS2, I would highly recommend you switch to the nightly releases. It basically got an overhaul and it is so much nicer and until it gets a new stable release, it is far superior and some settings got much simpler.
Finally, a sane took on emulation
Personal rule of thumb: You can buy it, buy it. You can't buy it, emulate and download it.
I think that requiring original bios from console is quite too much, I understand that need but while getting a console on the west wasn't a problem, getting in a country from Eastern Bloc could be problematic (some countries got delayed releases or none at all). Consoles were not a thing there until releases of XBOX ONE and PS4 (at least in my country). If you wanted to play games PC was the only option in most cases.
btw, MelonDS has surpassed Desmume as the best DS emulator, I recommend it. Desmume also isn't getting any more support, while Melon is still being updated
I'll look into it. Thanks.
Except for Mario 64 DS, but yeah
Not always. i like both. Due for input lag DeSmuMe is still better.
@@AntiGrieferGames and it's have TAS support
Unless you wanna play Sonic Chronicles,MelonDS fucking dies at the very first cutscene as do most versions of desmume but atleast Desmume 0.9.11 works for it
Just installed PCSX2 this week, man lot of great memories from mid 2000's and even GT4 save is still working!
emulation
reliving your childhood in a way that your memory remembers even though thats just nostalgia but even so its just lovely
I just finished LocoRoco 1 on PPSSPP yesterday, and I started only 5 days before then. It was so awesome playing that entire game, with save states and on my own PC. I hope this video ends up convincing at least one person to try emulator gaming.
Fantastic video. More videos like this please? Covering topics about video games that are normally not seen or not in as much detail. Love it!
One of the things I love most about emulation particularly, and it has more to do with owning a powerful enough rig, is having the ability to just play whatever games you want whenever.
I have a gaming laptop which I can take with me basically anywhere, and it's powerful enough to play lots of modern games and really demanding emulators like Dolphin or Xenia. So anything I choose to emulate is able to be played almost perfectly.
I love having an entire gaming library of new and old games, childhood games and ones I discover to this day all in one rig. I never liked having to constantly empty my wallet (or in the past, my parent's wallet) to buy new consoles just to have access to very specific video games, and it certainly sucks to go out of your way to buy old consoles and cartridges to play old ones too, especially when gaming companies abandon their products after a few years; Nintendo shut down the E-Shop which had LOTS of games and content in it that are no longer available through contemporary sources.
I understand gaming companies wanting to stand out from each other, but when it comes to hardware, it's unnecessary. Some hardware is just better than others. Some consoles have better CPU's or better colours or whatever. I think standing out with your software is far better, more efficient, and more widely accessible to consumers than trying to stand out with your hardware. I mean, all the current consoles have the SAME standard controller setup now, which really speaks to how dubious the console wars have become, and the rise of emulation and PC gaming in general has shown that hardware competition is a thing of the past.
Having a powerful PC capable of playing all your favourite new and old video games is just perfect. All sorts of games from different companies and different consoles. No more of that console wars crap. No more being locked out of games by not having very specific hardware. Everything is available to you at your finger tips, and in my case with a laptop, or some people with a Steam Deck, I can play whatever game I want anywhere I choose.
The funniest part of all this is that before, when Sega announced the cessation of console production to dedicate itself exclusively to software, many people thought that this was a serious mistake that would doom Sega, but it seems that in the long term, it was better beneficial to Sega.
I definitely want to do more videos talking about interesting topics about games as a whole. I was shocked to see no one else had made a video like this already.
@@Pariah6950 Afaik many old school RUclipsrs are afraid to talk about emulators given the social stigma. Nerrel has a video in defense of them but it's a lot more coy and a bit less informative (though he literally makes an HD texture pack for an N64 game so his audience is a bit different)
Emulation is great for preserving old games that companies don't sell anymore. A personal example being that it's the best way to play Ape Escape 2, since the PS4 version is the PAL copy, which was dubbed in the UK. The NTSC version has Ash Ketchum's original VA voicing the protagonist and is not available to purchase because it was published by Ubisoft instead of Sony.
Let's not forget how easy emulation has gotten over the years, I still remember being confused at snes9X's UI when I was younger, it was a nightmare, now everyone is copying dolphin and it's great, speaking of dolphin, I also remember when being able to emulate games on dolphin was the peak a PC could achieve, while nowadays this emulator is so optimized it's more of a status quo of what can be achieved.
Edit: added this edit after watching the intro to the video because seriously "people who don't have a PC can't emulate games?" in 2016 I was emulating PSP on one of the cheapest shittiest phones available and it worked great, today's phone can probably reach a much much higher quality of emulation anyway.
Edit 2: I think you forgot to mention the BIGGEST reason some people don't use emulators, hardware. Do you know how hard it is to emulate the entire movement possibilities of a wiimote into a standard controller? I tried for madworld, please don't try it, it's horrible. Nintendo is usually the biggest offender, gamepad features on wii u, DS touch screen and dual screen setup, try playing kid icarus with a semi gamepad/mouse config, it's a nightmare.
Fr i was legit playing persona 4, resident evil 2 on my PHONE
Actually tho. Like I just be emulating games on my phone daily now. Godzilla Battle Legends, Mega Man, Game Boy Kirby with colours, etc.
Definitely Nintendo games 😂. Metroid Prime Hunters is iffy on a PC with its weird controls (Definitely doable just annoying)
Yeah, it's those hardware gimmicks that become the only reason I wouldn't be emulating DS and 3DS games. Not that it matters, since I already have one (actually had 3, but I have a New XL one currently), all hacked, new backplate with an SD card hole and cover (cut it out meself), big SD card, the works.
Something I'd like to see is being able to connect one of those small PC or android things (or a phone with controller attachments) up to the compyutta and have it act as the Gamepad.
For now, I'll just keep my feelers out for an actual WiiU and hack that one.
yeah, today we can run/emulate switch game on phone, even ur phone is suck u can still play some 2d games on switch emulator
Nowadays I emulate more than I play new games. And if I play new games I emulate them too lol
I just found out about emulating and im loving it so far
Another cool thing about emulators is that they're very accessible to younger generations who might be interested in trying out some older games but don't have any old consoles.
@dxggykeepdxgginDude, I also using emulators since 5. And I've been playing GBA games on it, also I play many PS1 games in 2012 like Crash Bandicoot and Tenchu.
I remember trying PCSX2 for the first time and the game that I test it was GTA San Andreas and it runs poorly, lol.
Thankfully, nowadays I have new laptop and play many emulators that run so smoothly.
Dude, this video is invaluable!! I'm going to bookmark it and keep it around since some of this stuff is stuff I know I'm going to reference at one point in the future when messing around with emulators! I don't do much emulation anymore since I was able to get some space in my house to put my old stuff in there, so I'm more of a real hardware nerd, just because that experience is the one that brings me the most joy, but emulation? That stuff is great, and I've been messing around with it since the late 90's, early 2000's. It lets you play games you've never heard of before, it lets you play romhacks you'd otherwise be unable to play, it lets you tweak the controls and the visuals to whatever fits you better (Goldeneye and Perfect Dark with mouse and keyboard is a dream come true). In the current times where acquiring old hardware and games requires a hefty wallet, I think emulation is a completely acceptable option, particularly for games that are otherwise unavailable for purchase and second hand items go for outrageous prices. I was just fortunate that I cared about all this stuff when nobody else did, so I managed to get consoles and games for very cheap, but I think everyone should have access to these libraries of incredible games and at least have the option of experiencing them! This video is a fantastic starting point for anybody looking for an introduction to the world of emulation.
For anyone reading this. Don't let anybody tell you how you should experience games. Just do what you think works the best for you and have fun! Either emulating or using real consoles, they're all perfectly valid options!
People need to split their morals from legality. If there is no way for me to legally play a game besides buying even a $100 copy from a reseller online, I'm pirating that shit. Especially if it's a game I'm going back to, that I either used to own or still own in some form but don't have functional hardware to play on. In that case the rights holders have already made their money off of me and I don't feel like I need to feed the hoarder's market that commodifies shit I want to play to absurd prices.
Based on your reviews and such it seems you see videogames as pretty much just "the act of playing and having fun with the game content", but I think games can give enjoyment in other ways that aren't just purely playing or watching the story of it.
It's kind of like going to a museum or to the original location some historical event happened, like yeah you can just see images on the internet easily and it's way more efficient to gather information that way, but going to the actual place is something completely different in an almost indescribable way.
A huge part of interest I have with authenticity is the inherent feeling of discovering how people used to play these games and how those games were made in mind, how playing on a CRT affect the image, paying attention to how such aspects of the hardware capabilities were thought out and getting to experience what the developers wanted you to see, you get to learn a lot more historical value when you go after the original stuff, these things can make the experience a lot more valuable that goes beyond just "I'm having fun with the gameplay", going to the trouble of playing the original version of the game on old game on original hardware is an appreciation of art on itself, seeing how creators manage to achieve the thing you are experiencing in its purist form, how things used to be different, appreciating the "inferior versions" sometimes makes me actually find the experience enjoyable in a very fascinating way that you really can't feel when you mod the game the hell out just to make it "objectively better", it inherently loses part of the art appreciation.
Of course I don't disagree that people should play better and modded versions of games to have more fun, I just want to express myself that I don't just see videos-games as literally just "video-games, play and have fun", of course that's the most important thing, but there is a lot of other values to have enjoyment with a game aside from just the act of playing it that you pretty much never talk about in you reviews, which is perfectly fine as you already made it clear that you don't do retrospective and such. But this sometimes makes games seems a lot worse in a way, like for Sonic Adventure 1, that game wasn't really trying to just be a pure Sonic-platformer game, the Dreamcast hardware was pretty much designed around that game so Sonic Adventure was a showcase of what the console was capable of, it wanted to be big, expansive and powerful, looking at the game with the mindset of what the game really meant at the time is a way more enjoyable to play through instead of purely basing of the "raw gameplay fun" in my opinion.
I totally understand. And I feel some of this stuff for certain things. I prefer to read physical books when possible over digital ones, despite digital being far more convenient.
But personally, those are not things I care about with games. I like games primarily on a mechanical and design level. I find game-design fascinating, any my enjoyment of a game almost entirely comes from my interactions with the design. I have little interest in "the experience of playing a game" in a similar fashion to how I like movies, but don't care at all about going to the theater.
It's why I also don't talk much about art and music in my videos. I appreciate that stuff, of course. But I don't really care about it that much. It's just not the stuff that I particularly engage with in video games. That stuff is mostly extra fluff to me. The gameplay, design and story are the meat.
This is just how I am. It's the same for my learning of swordsmanship. I don't care about the masters from the 1500s or the original German names for the techniques. I just want to learn how to swordfight. I'm in it for the sport.
Not that I think there's anything wrong with appreciating those kinds of things. But I am obviously not the person that's going to talk about it.
@@Pariah6950 Yeah I perfectly understand you, I don't criticize you neither asking you to elaborate on these things, it's just an aspect to consider when analyzing why people can prefer "objectively" inferior versions.
Btw swordfighting must be pretty cool, I share a similar interest but with hapkido.
This is how I feel. I like playing on the original hardware but I don't have the money to collect these old games, so I have to resort to hacking my old consoles so I can play them. But I feel like if you like a game, just buy it. People worked hard on them. Especially if it got a re release that was big and pushed. Sometimes it revives old franchises.
Save states alone is a big reason to use emulation not to mention higher internal resolutions, storage convenience, organization, and much more.
Nah, save states are cheating and make you worse at the game in the long run.
emulation is actually preservation, cuz nintendo and sega never really make a definitive version of their games and I mean old games, like literally dog hunt is never seen, and was only seen in the NES system so I wished they'd release their old games but sadly they didn't do that so we now are playing old games to preserve them.
25:51 One thing I do like about Dolphin is how user friendly it is. It has lots of setting to mess with but hovering over an item does give a description of what it does and it ends with “If unsure, leave at X”.
thank you so much for making this video, personally i love watching educational videos like these or reading educational comments when i see them, so again thank you so much for making this highly educational, informative and helpful video for the people looking to get into emulation.
Thanks for the video, I appreciate that you are raising awareness, since as you said so yourself, companies are misleading people, so that they have more control over them, all in the hopes that they can profit off of you, by releasing inferior and unfinished ports, of games you really love and would like to play on current gen systems, and people have always had the tools needed, to bring out the best version of their favorite videogames, I myself have been having a blast with TOTK, because through all the mods and fixes we have on PC, we can make the experience way better than what Nintendo offers us through the Switch, and because of this only my Joycons are the things of my original hardware seeing active use, since my own Switch console stays in storage as I do not get the experience I want from it.
I bought a new pc a few months back and I’ve been going all out with emulation lately. Currently I’m obsessed with getting HD texture packs for my favorite games I’m like an addict, I gotta get more lol. I used to prefer playing things on original hardware but I got rent and can’t afford it no more. I still do usually track down copies of the games I emulate cause I want them physically anyways. Lotta helpful tips in here so thanks for that Pariah👍🏾
have you gotten any mails from your internet provider?
I fully agree
Emulation introduced me to older games, being fairly young and not having a console or a good pc, the stuff i could really play was older pc games which i actually am grateful for because it made me completely unbiased and not have any preferences in gaming,
Emulation however allowed me access to SO MANY GAMES!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
Which i could not play or even heard of before
emulation is a god send. not just for older game acess, but transformtive works
@@mattcurnell2545 agreed
Yes, I totally am doing it. It's satisfying when you have the right settings.
The Dual Sense is incredible for emulation. Fully supporting motion controls and analogue triggers.
Also Launchbox is a must IMO.
Using the dolphin emulator you can also emulate the wiimote motion controls using other motion peripherals like the joy-cons and ps4/ps5 controllers. Plus, it also supports playing games in VR
Does this work on Dolphin mobile?
I definitely need to learn how to configure my Joy Cons with Dolphin
Any videos that show how
@@murderman8578 ruclips.net/video/vh0XMr_11Mk/видео.html
This one should do, probably
One thing you didn't mention that I think is super important when emulating is using the run-ahead feature on Retroarch (and I think a few other emulators are starting to implement it too). Modern monitors typically have more input lag than CRT televisions did so enabling run-ahead frames helps make up that difference so you have input lag equivalent or sometimes even better to playing it on original hardware.
Forgot to mention run-ahead. Thanks.
most people have input lag problems in retroarch due to poor setting choices
it can be useful for people with bad monitors though (people use small tvs as monitors and they are terrible, even cheap old bad pc monitors are fast enough)
but if they set it up properly and have a decent monitor, they are golden, no need for run ahead
there are good monitors for cheap, i got an LG 24gn600 a year ago and it's freakig fast and has freesync which also works with g-sync which retroarch supports
i have a pc with crt emudriver connected to an rgb modded crt tv and the response time is virtually the same, i have no way of measuring it but if i had to guess, 5ms difference tops
i find run ahead too hacky of an option, can even break some games (i've seen some shoot em ups break)
You have to set your TV to gaming mode
Normally I simply prefer to play through official means because if a release is super solidly emulated and is for a decent price, I prefer the simple convince to just play it on my console. But, for games that are not currently being sold by any official companies, unofficial emulation is absolutely necessary and amazing. The work and dedication people put into keeping these games alive should always be celebrated and admired for the time and passion they put into this
just mod ya console B) then you can pirate AND play on real hardware
@@catethps I mean I did hack my Wii for Homebrew and stuff but I mainly just play stuff that is far too out of my reach to get physically and or no one is legally selling it currently
One revelation I had about overstretched NES screens came after learning that the NES doesn't just output the raw 256x240 bitmap; it adds blank columns on the sides to create a 280x240 picture, and _that_ gets stretched to fill your 4:3 display. That's what people mean about having an 8:7 pixel aspect ratio.
Then I learned that the PAL NES stretches it very differently, so a wider picture would be more authentic there, but another great thing about emulation is you don't have to stay stuck with whatever silly variation came with your region!
bro this was way more educational than a Ted talk, tyvm. gonna check out more of your stuff soon
FunFact: Here in South America, Emulation is almost the only way to play videogames, beacuse original copies and other things are just ridiculously expensive
Even on my Country. However i still got n64 original pal games from my Childhold. Those Prices are ridiculously expensive today.
Same over here, some companies don't even outright sell consoles and games here, we need to import and buy from third parties (which no one does either cuz we all pirate).
I think another big thing to consider with emulation is input lag. The feel of many retro games are completely thrown off with emulation; either because there is a digital delay with the software, or because the physical components of the hardware you're using aren't fine-tuned to control the consoles you're playing. I'm aware modern emulators have run-ahead options but they sometimes present their own glitches.
i don't like run ahead either, too hacky and breaks some games
a decent enough 144hz monitor with freesync and a properly set up retroarch feels virtually the same as a crt tv
i do have a pc with crt emudriver connected to an rgb modded crt tv which has crazy fast response time, but ever since i got an lg 24gn600 a year back, i find myself going to that computer less and less, the image quality on the CRT is 748282x better than any retroarch or mame shader can ever hope to achieve, but the hassle of changing PCs just for a quick old game session puts me off
Dude, first 4 minutes has always been my mindset, If you own, or have previously played or bought it, I think it's fine.
Thank you for the rest of the video, I learned quite a bit and found this one very relatable
Honest about how much of a nightmare PC gaming is. The amount of money people spend on retro gaming stuff when they could emulate for cheaper. I definitely fall into the catergory of iffy about pirating it, but your logic in it being just the same file is fair.
This is your best video
A small correction. Pirating games also isn’t strictly illegal, it’s the distribution that’s illegal. If you can find a federal statue or court precedent that says otherwise I’d love to see it
This is very insightful and I love how you put all links needed in description.
Emulators are Amazing, better resolutions, mods even possible, better FPS, everything really. Been doing it since 2013
Another aspect that's really nice about emulation that wasn't mentioned here is that theres a variety of devices someone can use to emulate. For example, if you mod a Wii (which is incredibly easy, you just gotta write down some numbers and punch them into a website), you can install emulators for nes, snes, gb, gba, and genesis that all run well, and don't require much setting tweaks.
You can also get a dedicated emulation device, a lot of companies such as Miyoo, Anbernic and Retroid are making affordable handheld devices that range in size from a gameboy color to a switch lite, most of which cleanly emulating up to PS1 without issue, and many even being strong enough to do gamecube and ps2. And let me tell you, I'd much rather spend $90 on a pocket sized device that can play Chrono Trigger than spend the $200 it costs to get a real copy.
Best examples as to why you should emulate.
Grand Theft Auto Trilogy (Bad port)
Sonic Origins (Lacks OG Music)
here's what emulators i use, for the most part i use all of these standalone rather than as retroarch cores because i'm not a fan of retroarch's menu design
NES - Mesen
SNES - SNES9X
Genesis - Genesis Plus GX core for Bizhawk
N64 - Parallel Launcher (technically a standalone retroarch launcher however it has a clean and concise menu and integration with a website where you can get sm64 rom hacks)
PS1 - DuckStation
Saturn - Mednafen's Saturn core (look online for the GUI version, though. using mednafen without it is rough)
GBA - mGBA
DS - MelonDS
any system not mentioned are ones where the answer is obvious because there's really only one emulator (gamecube/wii, psp, wii u, etc) or i just don't have any experience with them (turbographx-16 and all of those other scrimblo 4th-5th gen systems that didn't hold large global markets)
What an excellent and original take on emulation. Bravo
This video is a homerun! Very informative for those who haven't dabbled in emulation much or at all. I was pleased to see some of the stuff that was included like Metroid Prime w/ keyboard & mouse, color hacks for Game Boy, and smoother frame rates. Emulating with the right emulator, settings, patches, controller, etc. is sooo satisfying. Btw I'm one of those weirdos who likes the ScaleFX shader (smoothed pixel look) in 2D games haha. I used to be a chunky pixel guy, but for some reason I just got tired of looking at tons of squares and craved a new look. Sometimes I hop between ScaleFX and the Mega Bezel Reflection shader (for when I'm feeling more nostalgic). Choices are important, and in the world of emulation, choices are never in short supply. Customize the experience till your heart's content. Btw I recently uploaded an emulation-related video. Should be worth checking out for some folks.
When the umd drive on my psp broke it pretty much rendered it a brick with some music on it. Since I didn't have the money to buy a new one let alone try to repair the one I had and wouldn't in the foreseeable future, I decided to take a shot at hacking for the first time and suddenly not only did I have access to psp games but also a lot of older titles, especially gba games that I missed out on and didn't even knew existed. I was introduced to the Metroid series through Metroid Zero mission and quickly became a fan, played Drill Dozer which as far as I can tell has never been made available anywhere else and discovered Astroboy Omega Factor, an absolute hidden gem on that console no one talks about. Hacking that psp and emulating games on it just opened a lot of doors to me that can never truly be realized through official and lawful means.
Last year i started to realize how amazing emulation nowadays is. Even my favorite consoles like Dreamcast, Playstation 1+2 and Mega Drive are only collecting dust from then because I totally prefer emulation. Great video!
I have two PCs, a Steam Deck, a Switch, a Vita, a 3DS and a retro console and everyone of these devices has an emulator installed. I love emulation, ever since I played SM64 in 2002 on my Pentium 4 PC.
I’ll gladly pay for games and play them the way the devs intended if I respect them
I’ll emulate tf outta them because I respect myself
Every time people say "the Expansion pass is worth it now"
I don't get the people who complain about emulation being "too hard" or whatever.
I figured that shit out all on my own when I was like 13 years old. Back in ~2002.
Why are you using PCSX2 1.6??? Get the Nightly bulld of 1.7. It is so far beyond 1.6 by YEARS of development and now automatically patches games to work properly, and auto updates upon launching for new fixes added daily.
If you have an android smartphone, then you are 100% capable of emulating games. I had Galaxy A50 with piece of silicon called Exynos 9610 and it runs PSP games perfectly in 480p to 720p perdectly and today there are no phone weaker than Galaxy A50
Emulation helped me play my childhood PS1 and N64 favourites a couple of decades later!
I fuck with emulation so much. Can't wait to get a steam deck.
crazy that if you want to play the superior version of the new zelda game you need to emulate😅
😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅
Nintendo: *laughs in Denuvo*
The problem is the hardware.
4:00 It's also fair to mention that, in the case of a lot of these really old games from the 80s, there's not even a guarantee the game/console in question will work right. We're talking about 40+ year old tech here. It's only a matter of time before these consoles and games just stop working due to age/use. My GC and Wii both stopped reading discs years ago and are just dust collectors now. Eventually, the only way you'll even be able to play these old games is emulation.
Fantastic video! Emulation is still a new frontier for me, but I'm loving it so far! Starting out with Genesis and N64, and looking forward to expanding!
Another thing for Wii Emulation you didn't mention at 17:00 but I'd understand why you didn't mention it
Dolphin support motion input from actual controllers not just Wii Remotes, you can actually download software that can connect either a PS4/PS5 or switch controllers and use the gyro on dolphin. It can be useful if you don't have your original Wii remote or sensorbar anymore
Currently playing SMG2 with similar controls to SM3D All stars
Man I wish I hadn't watched all of your Sonic videos and saved some for these days
I mean These videos are cool too I'm not complaining or ordering you
Whilst RetroArch is a solid frontend, it's better to use the standalone emulator application than a core if you're after performance. Retroarch is a frontend for libretro apps, which provides an API that frontends can use, whereas standalone applications can be optimized for the hardware they run on and can interface much closer to hardware
I play only emulated games because it is illegal
Based
Absolutely epic video. Emulation for the win!
A while ago, I decided “To heck with it, I’m gonna emulate me games.” I then downloaded EmuDeck on Steam Deck and got the Roms to the Classic games I own.
Though it is convient having basically my entire game library on the go, and can use mods if I figure out how to use them, I much prefer playing on original hardware.
Being able to play Knuckles’ Chaotix on a road trip is fun and all, but nothing is like popping the cartridge into the Genesis (with 32X attachment) and turning on the CRT to hear that original audio. I can play Sonic the Hedgehog Triple Trouble on a much bigger screen than the Game Gear’s tiny little screen, heck, I could even play the fan made 16-bit remaster. But, I just prefer the feel to the original experience.
Emulation might be objectively better, but I enjoy the experience of turning on the original hardware. Also, not all emulators are 100% perfect, and can’t emulate the feel of switching on a Dreamcast. Also, some games might just not work, or they might play the same. Try emulating Duck Hunt with the light gun.
Also, EmuDeck doesn’t have the Sega Saturn BIOS and apparently, it’s illegal to download it and I need special tools or something to get it myself so I’ve yet to see perfection on Steam Deck (Sonic R)
I emulate Sega Saturn games and play Sonic R just fine on my steam deck with emudeck there's no issues or legal problems just download the bios and roms
Another good feature that I like is the RetroAchievements being a godsend to complete the games 100 percent which adds achievements on old games and hell, Almost all the old console games are now available to add achievement on the emulator.
Dear god that is DISGUSTING as fuck!
This is really cool & didn’t know this. I just got a Asus ROG Ally around release and haven’t had the exact time to set it up to be an emulation machine but I’m working on it today & my days off. I’ll have to check this out for sure.
Emulating is the best ad for a game/series
Kirby's Dreamland 2 just got a DX (GBC port) ROM hack that I highly recommend.
I highly recommend it too
20:23 “Cause picture yourself in this situation. You’re having some buddies come over, and you’re all gonna have a great time playing some Shrek: Super Slam, as many people often do” 🍷🗿
I support emulating games. I still love the convenience of playing games on console though. That’s why I modded my Wii haha. The quality may not be as good, but I prefer it than booting up my computer and setting it up.