Poll: So, do you emulate?

[Piorn]

I recently downloaded Chrono Trigger for the SNES,and in my opinion,it was well worth it.
Some of the greatest games in history were made for older consoles,and since the N64 was my first console, I missed a lot of good games.
I'm playing Roms just to see what I missed.

 

[Kaisharga]

I would like to take exception to answering this question, citing the fifth amendment to the constitution.

 

[Saltiness]

I used to have a bucket load of Amiga 500 stuff, with perhaps the most illegal thing being my copy of workbench

But too much of a hassle for me these days, and don't really have to the time to get all nostalgic when there's some games I'm trying to finish (Witcher and Supreme Commander... taking me forever )

 

[uberlad]

its just too easy to get new old games with downloading services (like those on Wii and 360)

Plus they're generally easier to control than playing them on computer. i'm willing to throw a few bucks back at the developers for their games. the trick is finding the games that are good enough to pay for, download, and play. those are few and far between.

 

[LordLocke]

I emulate mostly to play games I can't get elsewhere- arcade titles, extremely old NES/SNES/Genesis stuff that's got yet to see the light of day elsewhere.

I also use emulation for netplay- experiencing the games with other people. It's Virtual Console's largest left-out, and it's a large reason why I'll probably never become a heavy patron of the service, assuming I ever actually get a Wii.

 

[raankh]

Emulation is good for gaming.

 

[mintfresh]

Yes, I do. I know it's illegal, but I see no problem with it. The games Id/l are all long out of production, and if I bought them, it would be second hand, so the creators wouldn't get the money anyhow.

If I play a game that has a modern sequel coming out, it may even make me want to buy it, meaning the companies gain from it. That was the case with star ocean for instance, emulated the first two, bought SO3.

Mostly I emulate on my psp, I love having the games portable, I bought the psp over a year ago, and have yet to buy a game for it, I got it solely for emulation purposes, and it was worth it. Thus Sony gained from it too.

The people who say emulation is theft need to think a bit more, the majority of emulation is related to games that are out of production, nobody loses anything by you downloading it.

 

[CyberAkuma]

I really don't think emualting and running old-school games hurts anyone.

 

[greygelgoog]

I hate to say it, but I emulate for purely selfish reasons. I'm just too cheap to shell out the cash for an AVP arcade cabinet. And back in the day I couldn't find ShadowRun and Ogre Battle. Back before I knew what emulation was (did it even exist back then?) and the games were theoretically available. And I'm sure Capcom will unleash the full force of the their legal department because of Demon's Crest.

 

[Alanicor]

I don't emulate for nostalgia factor, my emulated games must stand up to the new games on playability. I have had a rivalry with a friend on tekken that has spanned 10 years now! We played tonight in fact (on a projector, gloat!)

There's just never been a PC equivalent to progress to and neither of us have consoles anymore.

 

[MechJaz]

I've emulated for some time now, but like Jack Spencer Jr, I see the big lists of AAA SNES, GB/GBC/GBA and N64 ROMs and say "Hmm... Nah." I might fire up something quick, easy, and simple like Tetris 2 or Tetris Attack for a round or two but as far as completing Goldeneye on 00 Agent or playing through an entire Pokemon game, I just kind of start the game up... and quit.

I started emulating because my consoles started dying. It seems like as soon as we moved from one gen of Nintendo to the next, the previous one would promptly die. Also, we used to be extremely poor when I was younger, so I remember wanting all sorts of games that were just out of the question. With emulation, I can experience all those games we never had the money to play before.

Also, most of the digital distributions on Xbox 360/Wii are crap, Microsoft has you paying $10 for Tetris (and then wants you buy fish for the background! Bollocks!) and the Wii fare is largely turd flavored, though I buy one of the really good ones every now and then (StarFox 64, Paper Mario). The SNES/other 16-bit systems games can be emulated just fine, though, so I tend to shy away from them.

Sorry for the life story...

 

[njsykora]

The Virtual Console and to an extent XBLA and PSN have somewhat quelled my emulation habit. I still fire up ePSXe to play burned PS1 games I have left over from the time I had a modded PS1 but other than that emulation for me isn't a huge priority anymore. The main exception is arcade machines and the CPS2 in particular.

Being in the UK though, emulation is the only way for me to play half of the SNES' decent output (the Chrono Triggers and Super Mario RPGs of this world). I can't play JRPGs on my PC for long though which is why I'm still so psyched up for any possible sighting of CT on the Virtual Console.

When I do emulate I use ZSnes, Gens, Nebula, ePSXe and 1964.