Emulation Is Fine, But the Original Always Wins

Sometime in the late 2000s or early 2010s, I discovered emulation while looking for ways to access 80s and early 90s PC games that I couldn’t find anywhere. I came across a website that might have been a very early version of Good Old Games, or something like MyAbandonware, that hosted abandonware and other inaccessible games. I was thrilled, and suddenly, games that I hadn’t been able to play in years were right in front of me again. However, when I tried to run them, my modern operating system laughed in my face.

How Emulation Works (and Fails)

Those sites pointed me to the concept of emulation, where software mimics (or emulates) an older OS so you can run programs or games that aren’t compatible with modern OSs. My experience with it was hit-or-miss; some games ran wonky, and I couldn’t find quick fixes. 

In contrast, others ran alright with only a couple of emulation oddities, and occasionally, one ran almost seamlessly. Usually, I could tell quickly if an emulated game was going to be playable or not, though sometimes I’d sink a little time in before an issue would arise with saving or quirky controls or interfaces that became hard to live with.

There seemed to be potential for better experiences if I was willing to take a deeper dive into creating more customized emulation solutions. Still, I didn’t have the time to devote to it; I just wanted to play some games.

Text-Based Games: A Sweet Spot

Emulation worked best with text-based games, or “interactive fiction”, of the 80s and early 90s. Their commercial viability faded as graphics-based gaming rose in popularity on both consoles and PCs.

Since the only controls were text input and they were never processor-intensive, they suffered few of the emulation issues that graphics-based games did. However, emulation generally added a layer of mild hassle throughout a playthrough, so after a year or so, it dropped back into plan B or C territory.

Console Emulation: Even More Hassle

For console games, emulation was no higher than plan D right from the beginning. All the fussy issues of PC emulation were there with the added layer that the emulator needed to pull off a full port, not just from one PC OS to another, but from console to PC, which tended to go even less well.

Unless I had the original controller (which I didn’t), the control schemes were often wonky. The quality-of-life issues for console-to-PC emulation were just too much for me most of the time.

The Rise of Mini-Consoles

Game corporations figured this out and started selling retro mini-consoles pre-loaded with a collection of classic games. Atari went first, producing their first Flashback console in 2004 and following up with several iterations thereafter.

Over a decade later, Nintendo got in on the pre-packaged emulation mini-console trend in 2016 with the NES Flashback and in 2017 with the SNES Classic, both released only in limited numbers for a limited time. The 2017 Sega Genesis Flashback had a major advantage over both Nintendo devices; it allowed you to insert actual retro Sega Genesis cartridges to supplement the preloaded games.

It’s technically feasible to download ROMs of games to any of those flashback emulator consoles, though the legality of that depends on the origin of the ROMs. Ultimately, these were just decent emulators wrapped into a plug-and-play package; they played decently. Still, not great, and if you went beyond their pre-loaded games with your own ROMs (or even Sega cartridges), you were likely to run into more and more annoying emulation problems.

The Verdict: Originals Win

In the end, emulation just wasn’t worth the time for me. I wasn’t in it for the tinkering, so the quality of the emulation I could achieve was just okay, and there was some annoying friction just getting to that point.

The emulator classic/flashback consoles did slightly better, but with a limited library of games, limited console availability, and lingering emulation issues. I often found it more satisfying and a better use of my time to play on the original consoles, which were truly plug-and-play with no emulator issues; you do need to get the right cord/adapter to plug them into newer TVs, but that’s a one-time issue, and then you’re set.

I think I may still have some emulator software on my PC, but I’m not sure; I haven’t checked in years. However, I have friends coming over this weekend with a young son who wants to play my N64, and I know it will only take us a few seconds to fire it up and get started, just like always.

About the Author:

Brandon Perton has been gaming since 1980 and buying retro video games nationwide since 2008 through The Old School Game Vault. He’s been playing on original hardware his whole life and has the cartridge collection to prove it.