I'm 36 and have been emulating since 1999 when a friend of mine burned me a CD with SNES, Mega Drive, and Game Boy emulators and a bunch of ROMs. It practically broke my brain at the time!
A middle-point between playing original games on original hardware and the ease of emulation, is a flash cartridge that can play game roms (like an emulator) on original hardware. You get the original hardware feel and experience, but without the (sometimes steep) cost of buying the increasingly-rare physical copies. Some even have save state features!
And even if the game has a gimmick there are mods that can remove that gimmick so you can play on flash cards. Boktai and Kirby Tilt 'n' Tumble have one. I also soft modded my PS2 so I can play repros on it. Blood Will Tell is expensive but I got a repro for a fraction of the cost.
Agreed. ISO emulators too (like Rhea for Saturn, GDEmu for Dreamcast etc...) or soft (or hard) mods like for Xbox are great options. The trick is to not have every single game on it and just what you want to actually want to play (otherwise, decision paralysis/overchoice rears it's ugly head). I used to have this problem when I loaded every single SNES game on to my SD2SNES (Time is more of a factor these days too what with work, having a kid and technically having to be an adult). But when I cleared a bunch of games, it made things so much better. Let's face it - who is going to sit down and actually play something like Fifa 95 or Mahjong or anything like that?
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I just bough a controller similar to the original and the experience is the same and don't use save points is exactly the same experience. Emulation is the best way to play nowadays specially for old hardware with emulators that have a lot of work behing like higan for snes or dolphin for GameCube and Wii.
I've heard this argument that "You don't appreciate games as much if you don't own them physically" so many times and it grinds my gears so much cuz it's just plain wrong... I had a GBA in my childhood, still have it in fact, and I played on it *A LOT*, but I just didn't have very many games for it, the overwhelming majority of my GBA experience has been emulated/digital, and guess what? That's one of my favourite libraries in all of gaming! I have SO Many precious memories with SO Many GBA games! Games that I still go back to regularly! Furthermore, my entire 3DS library is digital, I don't own a single physical copy of any 3DS game, it was all eShop, and that too has become one of my favourite libraries in all of gaming! The 3DS is my single most played piece of hardware and I still play on it regularly to this day, not stopping anytime soon, and I'm not letting ANYONE tell me I appreciate these lovely wonderful games any less than a game they bought a physical copy of, played maybe once, and then left it on a shelf to rot... I've had physical copies of games that I loved, and I've had physical copies of games that I played maybe once and never touched again, and that was while being poor and not having many games... Playing games in the form of ROMs or digitally purchased copies has not affected my enjoyment or appreciation of games at all, I'd feel exactly the same about them if I had them physically, because what I care about is being able to play the games, not owning a physical manifestation of the ROM...
You are totally right. Probably what people really think when they claim so, is that by buying so many games digitally, for a few bucks, and having so many of 'em, you're basically drowning in choice. This means that focusing on just one game becomes harder if you don't have as much spare time as when you were a child. This happened to me for example, and by just focusing on one game at a time, and restricting myself to buying them physically, I've at least partially recovered a passion that I felt was lost!
@@blaz7678 I get that whole 'drowning in choice' thing, it's why I don't like to download entire romsets for any system, and if having physical copies helps you focus on what games you want to play, then by all means. What I don't like is this kind of elitism that exists in the retro gaming community surrounding physical copies, where they like to stereotype people who emulate games as just pirates who don't really care about the games, or not real fans, or whatever, without considering the MANY reasons why someone may not be able to have physical copies of games, like lack of space, poverty, regional availability, and so on... Some people also like to pretend that because the 3DS eShop closed I don't own my games anymore, which is a load of rubbish, they're all still here and 100% playable, and for as long as I keep backing up my SD card, I can always transfer the backups to a new SD card if the old one goes bad... What I CAN'T do is buy new 3DS games, but at this point noone but resellers is making money off 3DS games anymore, so uhh... Yeah, I don't really care, I'll get whatever new games I want however I can...
I don't think it about physical vs digital. I would say it's more about buying a copy vs downloading a ROM. You can easily discard a pirated copy than coping with buyer's remorse.
@@Wesmoen He literally said it was about physical copies in the video, and mentioned massive steam/switch digital libraries as contributing to 'too much choice'
I've been playing most of these consoles since they were new and having flashcarts for almost everything is such a game-changer. Don't have to drop hundreds for a single game a bubble, can get savestates on a lot of consoles, can play fan translations and romhacks on real hardware, in some cases it lets me avoid hard to find or flaky hardware add-ons entirely
Its an interesting conundrum for me because I play these retro games for work. I have a ton of them physically and love playing them on original hardware, but most of the time cant because emulators look a lot crisper, so I have to play them on a computer for higher quality footage. The only exceptions to this rule are DS and 3DS games because a lot of those games require the actual hardware's touch screen, and thankfully people have built capture cards into those handhelds. One day I'll be able to play these retro games properly without having to worry about recording them 😅
You could also use an emulator handheld like the Anbernic or Retroid line with an hdmi out, it's extra steps to get good footage, but at least you can enjoy recording with actual hardware.
3ds looks horrible at native resolution. It actually legit feels unsatisfying to play on my new 3ds vs my s24 ultra android. Music is alot louder and clearer in 3ds pokemon games on my phone where as my 3ds I can't even hear all the beat of some songs like the bass. The 3ds is more stabile than 3ds emulation currently which is changing fast since it's pretty stabile now with drivers but when it zooms at pokemon it lags on the 3ds where it doesn't on my phone. But audio can lag sometimes on the emulator where it doesn't on the 3ds. So 3ds lags don't affect the audio from what I've seen. 2x res on the emulator is a god send cause 1x looks like crap on 3ds and my phone.
When visiting stores with classic stuff such as cassette, VHS, Vinyl, old magazines and books and things like that it's always a fun experience and brings back so many memories, you can feel the decades coming back to you. I wonder, though, how many of us actually listen to music or watch classic films, cartoons and even analog-era TV content using "original hardware" as we certainly have more convenient ways of enjoying them. Sure, they have a tactile feel and it's a joy being able to interact with them physically, but if anything, the digital era came to show us how and what media, that is, written works, imagery, videos, music and software-programs really are and how they don't require being locked to a specific format or device tree to be reproduced infinitely and thus, enjoyed or utilized as such. Sometimes I wonder, are we, because of the above, enjoying more of these classic games, from the Atari to the PS2 eras more due to their accessibility than ever compared to their heyday, what do you think?
Classic films and cartoons are typically on 35mm right? Or 16mm dupes - either way you'll have to use a film reel set + projector, but then you need sound insulation because regular moviegoing audiences back then almost certainly didn't want to actually hear noisy projectors.
Hdmi mods, no cd or cart mods, ran replacements and sound upgrades … yes please! Maybe even use a updated 8 bit do controller as many of the old ones are very mushy now or have damaged cables etc
Even saw a ps2 slim hard drive mod before with a ssd, part of the phat ps2 third party hard drive bay and it was all soldered with custom ribbons to the mobo, they even took out he disk tray and made a custom smaller case for it.
Screen upgrades awesome 👍 but totally against SD card mods , they cheapen and ruin classic hardware , , you really should OWN classic Hardware ,I do enjoy and support Emulation but when I pickup a handheld it better play cartridges or UMD disc media it's made for , otherwise it's contaminated/compromised , if solders were questionable it could end up becoming worthless brick later , , always remember that , , ,🤔🎃🤔
I'd like to point out that for most cartridge based systems you can get a flash cart with a SD card for $60 and play any game like you would with emulation while having the benefits of original hardware and consoles that don't often have a mod where you can load games off a USB drive for the same effect
Good Points. For me the golden middle is my Retron 5. I can play all my original games and buy games on ebay or elsewhere and pop in the cartridge and play with an original controller. No Loading Times, upscaled on my TV. Great. But games that are too expensive I can download as rom and convert them into a patchfile. With patchfiles you can easily play any game on the retron. You have the comfort of Save Stats and Speed up. I personally try to play games legit as they were ment to be. But it's good to know, that you have the option for a quick save. If a game is too hard, I normally try to get as far as I could without savestats, and play the first playthrough with save stats. For example, when I'm reaching the last boss with only two lives to spare and no continues, I save, so that I can practice. After beating the game I'm better than before and try it again. So I play the game one to three times to get good at it and afterwards I challenge myself and make at least one legit run throught the game without save states. With this method I build up a conncetion to the game and spend some days or weeks with it. Similar to childhood experience. If I run through a game only using save stats, I can't build a connection with it and forget about it two day later. It's no fun for me. And like you said: I just play one game at a time, sometimes two. (Maybe a RPG and a shorter Platformer) And after finishing it at least one time legit, I move on. With this way to go I'm not buying stuff like crazy just to put it on the shelf. And limit myself to buy AND PLAY games that I really want to play and put on my shelf. Sometimes I bought the japanese Games because they were cheaper and pactched them, so that I can play them, but still have the feeling to put in a cartridge. And yes I even bought repros, because they were way cheaper, than the original. Of course it would be nice to have all the original games with orginal packing and manuals. But for me it's too expensive. And in the end the most important thing for me is the game itself. No matter how I play it, mixed with the feeling of starting a console and have a original controller in my hand. And now that I have bought all the games that I wanted, over the last years, I'm thinkink about an emulation handheld as well. Because I think, Retro Cartridges are to expensive as well. Even if I have not that may games as others do, I spent a bit of money, and for me it's enough. Can someone recommend a good emulation handheld hardware? The more consoles it emulates the better. Thank you.
I agree with you, around the time I had Gba I always dreamed about having many games but I couldnt afford it and years later, when I got an emulator with every game I wanted I just played a few minutes of a few dozens of games and never finished any of them, these last couple of years I have been buying some of the games I always wanted to play and I realized that playing on original hardware gave me the motivation to actually finish the games, and it is a great feeling when I finally did (It took me basically 18 years to finish Megaman Zero but man, it was worth it) . I know this is not for everyone but your video is great at explaining why its a very different experience from emulation, and why some should try it.
I had a terrible habit of not finishing games growing up for some reason. I’m talking playing a ton and getting overpowered and stopping before the final goal/boss. I really want to go back and finish a good 6 or 7 ps2 and ps3 games. Also marjora’s mask. I’m low key afraid my memory cards might be corrupted because I haven’t dug it out the closet in many years
The thing for me is that retro hardware is expensive, the prices have gone up a lot and also I just don't have the room for all the consoles. I emulate games on my PC but use original controllers with USB adapters. It feels like the real thing and you can make the games look way better be rendering them at higher resolutions.
I'm with you on the feeling of that original experience. Case in point, playing N64 games on Nintendo Switch online with a Switch Pro controller or Joy Cons feels off. With retro game prices being so high, like you I'm happy emulation is an option, but also I'm glad for stuff like the Mister project, Flashcarts, Softmods and ODEs, as well as new retro inspired controllers. The retro-bit Saturn pad is a personal favourite for that particular library.
To be fair, the Nintendo 64 emulator on the switch is notoriously bad. It has extra input lag and rendering glitches galore. On PC we have software to statically compile N64 games into native windows applications. Only thing missing at that point is the controller, but it's PC, so... All you need is an adapter and you are good.
Hey, I'm a retro repair technician. Here is my take. People can be sorted into 3 categories: the Collector, the Nostalgia Chaser, and the Causal Gamer. The collector has their dedicated unit and then a wall of show units. The Nostalgia gamer is a mix, they want the original hardware and may have OEM games but also will get flash cards like EZFlash or Everdrive. Lastly, there is the causal and they only emulate. I personally say emulate at your own risk. Roms can fail or glitch and I've gotten to the end of a game before just to have to crash before the final boss. OEM doesn't do that. For the Nostalgic Collector, emulate to try then buy. Either way, if you are not a collector and want to play on the original hardware please upgrade the screens. Don't torture yourself. Upgrading isn't that hard but if you are unsure there are techs out there to help. Happy Gaming. P.S. Save states for shut down > jump back in or speed run practice only...no cheaty! 😂
2 screens hadn't really been seen on consoles at the time, except that Nintendo started off with 2 screen consoles called 'Game&Watch' Most of the gimmicky features on the DS were things they had been experimenting in previous consoles and cartridges before, but now all rolled into 1 on the console itself. ♥
I never truly appreciated mgs1 until I got a ps1 and eventually got a crt. I had played the game on an emulator but the ps1 + crt combo made it one of the best games I have ever played.
Ive been emulating for the last 10 years thinking i didnt want to spend the time and money for less convenient waysbto play... then i missed my real Sega Genesis and bought a system and hookup and dug out my few games i had left and controller thinking id just get a taste back. Even bought my mother in laws boobtube we used to use when our son was born... Booting up that sega brought tears to my eyes and i knew i needed to rebuild that collection and play with my kids. I also stopped using save states and fast forward functions anymore. I disable them since i still emulate to practice my games. Beaten way more games and legitimately too because of this. I got both worlds now and im not turning back
I find that for home consoles that don’t have gimmicks like motion controls, emulation is just a straight upgrade. Try using a PS2 on an HD TV. It’s hell. But when it comes to handheld consoles, original hardware is just always the way to go. I started by playing GBA games on my 3DS, but the games were blurry and didn’t fit right on the screen. So I bought a modded GBA (backlight so I could actually see the screen lol). And I played some game boy and game boy color games on this GBA, but they’re so small on the GBA screen, and they stick out of the console. So I bought a modded game boy color after that. I find that backwards compatibility on handheld games always have a big drawback that makes it an unideal experience. For me, it’s not even about nostalgia. I grew up with a wide GBA and a DS, I never owned the SP that I now use or the game boy color. The experience is just better on the original hardware.
Using a PS2 on an HD TV is fine if you have component cables and your TV can display 480P... It won't look as nice as on a CRT, but that's true of pretty much an standard definition console.
@@LunarShift you’re forgetting that not every game uses 480p. For many ps1 games and even some ps2 games the resolution drops down to 360p or even 240p, which is literally too low for most HD TVs available today to even display at all. Also, none of the TVs in my house have component ports, meaning I have to use an adapter for my component cables, and adapters come in two varieties: terrible but cheap, and good but waaaay too expensive. And if you don’t go with the expensive option, expect very distracting input lag, letalone poor image quality. On top of all that, the PS2 just doesn’t look good outside of a CRT. Tons of games use blur filters that look fine on CRTs but horrible on HD screens. That’s why there’s a “skip draw” feature in ps2 emulators to literally gut those filters out of games. If you have an old HD TV that has component in and supports 240p you won’t have as many issues. But almost any TV from at least the past 5 years is a non-starter.
@@Arcad3n I haven't forgotten this lol. I'm just saying in the best case, you're using component cables and a TV with a scaler that works for those affected games. It's definitely not always as simple as plugging in and going, and that's why solutions like retrotink and OSSC are so popular.
Honestly I think handhelds make the biggest case for emulation, aside from portability and sentimentality there is no argument I can see where playing portable games on original hardware is actually better. I don't see the appeal of playing games hunched over on a 3 inch screen when I can have a much bigger screen on my PC with a controller in my hand with all sorts of visual and audio enhancements that come with it. And then the ability to easily play rom hacks or apply translation patches to games not released in the US which can require a bit of work on OG hardware.
@@LunarShiftThe vast majority of PS2 games will only display 480i even with component cables, which can be a bit flaky even with the good scalers. With interlacing there's always a trade-off when it comes to games, better quality deinterlacing will always cause more lag. Luckily it's mostly a PS2 (and Dreamcast) issue, on the N64 480i is somewhat rare and laggy, and GC/XBOX have better/near-perfect high resolution support, respectively.
As someone who was born in 91, had a lot of the original consoles on the original hardware when they were still on the market, nowadays I just prefer emulating. I moved overseas so almost the entirety of my collection is thousand of kilometers away from me and I can't play them. Not only that, but with emulators I don't have to carry around a lot of stuff whenever I have to move, it is just really practical. Besides, I am so used to playing on the original hardware that I don't use save states (unless it is a game with no save at all and I have to stop playing) or fast forward. The emulator features I really look up to are enhancement features, things like giving colors to original Game Boy games, adding CRT filter, upscaling the internal resolution of 3D games to 1080p, etc... So in the end emulators feels like I am playing a remaster of said game. I also like the fact that I can play games I never had the chance before because I couldn't find them to buy. I am originally from a country where games used to go for crazy prices when I was a kid (I still remember my dad paying the equivalent of $150 dollars for Wind Waker to me back in 2004) and I am against piracy of consoles that are still available on the market, so I had no choice but to play few games. Either way, great video, keep up the good content.
I think you make good points for both sides. I lost my consoles (SNES, GN, GG, PS1/2, OG Xbox, only the Dreamcast survived) in Hurricane Katrina and to try to buy back what I lost including the games will be very expensive but at same time I do miss, putting the cartridge or CD in sitting down and enjoying the game and seeing it through and that is what is missing from emulation as well as not having the safety net of save states and readily available cheats. Great Job on the video, I'll subbing to your channel and look forward to more from you.
The value of emulation is awesome. There are a lot of pros to original hardware and that is my preferred choice most of the time. However, the stinger is the price tag. I say find a healthy mix of both. Emulating can often be like having a retro version of Game Pass. Use it to jump in and try something out, if you love it great go and look for a physical, if not whelp move on, you just saved yourself from buying a game you wouldn't have liked. I love emulation for arcade games the most. I love OG hardware but man collecting and maintaining arcade PCB's is an whole thing I am not willing to deal with right now. With MAME or MiSTer, I can play through Cadillacs and Dinosaurs and have unlimited fun! I will say though that if you are interested in original hardware then track down a CRT television. Seriously. Yeah, they are big and heavy, but it will save you a lot of hassle in the long run and if you look around it doesn't have to be expensive either. Plus your games will look amazing. I love the work that Mike Chi does on the Retrotink upscaler and if you are dead set on implementing a setup on a flat panel screen then go for it. But if you are thinking of plugging in you'r retro consoles into your HD/4k tv and get collecting, then your gonna realize that it can get complicated and expensive real quick if you are not happy with how it looks or plays. Whereas, just pluggin a good ol' CRT into the wall and your console to the CRT is about as easy as it gets. Plus it also looks and plays the best due to having 0 lag. Just throwing this out there. Have FUN!
You are right about emulation.😸👍🎶 But you are wrong about price tags. I got a CIB PSX Digital Video Recorder; a CIB DualShock 2 White Ceramic; a CIB Beatmania IIDX TurnTable ASC; a CIB Beatmania IIDX 7th Style; a CIB Stepup and Down Transformer; a CIB Sanyo Plasma TV; for 45 €. And I've already found 43 vendors with low price tags (Original Retail Price - 70,80,90%). Many people said "There is no hope. Original Hardware is a Holy Grail.". It's wrong. It's 2024. The year of the Retrogaming Revolution.
Original hardware is great, but prices are obscene for older stuff nowadays. If you can afford it, sure. But most people cannot. It is not worth it to play on real hardware anymore.
r4 cart for older consoles or jailbreaking it through sd cards for dsi/3ds. Also buy a Japanese console as they are cheaper. I got a Japanese 3ds and made it to act like an American one. Very easily.
I only play on og hardware I never sold my old games and just kept them now ny collection has grown and its pretty huge valued at like 15k on price charting
I'll gladly play on original hardware, but I'm using Everdrives, Flash Carts, burned CDs and homebrew because there's absolutely no way that I am giving a single cent to scalpers who sell used games.
No problem with Everdrives either! And yeah I hate scalpers too. But they're not the only people who sell retro games. A lot of people on FB Marketplace will give you some great deals. And then there's yard sales, flea markets, and even asking your friends.
The best part about playing on the original hardware is the modding community. It's possible for me to play my gameboys,sega handhelds and others with the everdrive, im able to mess with mapping, save states, graphics options, and the ability to pull up cheats and many other options. Expensive yes but so sooo worth it. Not only do I get my nostalgic feeling, but it's amplified x2 or more having those options at hand bringing in modern features.
you can also get flashcarts/mod consoles to get more games on the real hardware, still getting the authentic experience without selling your left kidney for them. for my dreamcast i play a lot of burned cds for games, or on my ps2 i play them off an ide hdd, and that in and of itself imbues a sense of nostalgia even though im not playing a manufactured copy
I agree that original hardware is superior in almost every case. But I end up emulating more games than I could on original hardware simply due to convenience. The time it takes to go to a store and buy a game, or wait for it to be shipped, clean the game, hook up the console and controller, and then sit down to play adds up. It's much easier to just pick up one wireless controller and turn on one console to play everything.
Opposite end for me. Emulation seems too tedious having to set up thus and that, keeping track of save files, something slowing down, frame pacing going to shit, etc. Real hardware is much easier in my book
imo n64 and up is fine on an emulator, but the first time playing SNES on a CRT was a revelation for me. It legit felt like I was taken back to my friends house (who had the SNES in my childhood).
I have a retropie setup on a crt for retroachievements but I found myself just going back and hooking up my NES and genesis because I don't have to worry about overhead or input lag using run ahead etc. My genesis has an everdrive I want one for my nes but it's more expensive. Cheaper than collecting though. Ever drive is amazing to keep original hardware alive
Millennial here. I still have my old consoles. There's a certain feeling of euphoria when you actually accomplish beating a hard game or a hard boss battle in some of these older games, rather than just savestate/rewinding to realign your attacks to win at a game. And maybe I just liked punishing myself to keep trying to win no matter how long it took, and get my full money's worth out of a game I bought. It's not like I kept getting new games dropped on my lap every other week; usually I'd get a new game once every 6 months or so, where I'd get something like Donkey Kong 64, and then 6 months later (after 100% it), I get Zelda: Majora's Mask. Each game at their original retail value, which was something like $70 CAD. In today's age, a similar game to something like Super Mario 64, but made by an indie dev, would end up being $30 on release, then go on sale for $15-$20 a year later. Granted, Nintendo still pumps out games with AAA game costs, and some are rather justified, but I could just get a similar experience with an older game at a fraction of that cost (or free if ya sail the seas), or spend $10/month for game pass, and have access to more games than you know what to do with, then just default back to playing whatever F2P, MMO, mobile gacha, or whatever.
"Save states ruin hard games." No, that's where you're absolutely wrong. If a game is only good because it's frustratingly hard, then it isn't really all that good. Remember, these old games were modeled after coin-op arcade machines that were designed to eat another quarter every 2 minutes, and they didn't always adjust for that when designing or porting to the home market. Difficulty was even weaponized to artificially inflate the replay-ability of certain games so you couldn't beat them on a rental weekend. Why do you think Nintendo Power and the Game Genie did such bonkers sales numbers? We were desperate for every little tip or tool that would make these games easier for us to beat! Example: Bayou Billy is way harder than Mega Man 2, but not remotely better, nor is it worth your time to find out why. Contra, however, is hard as hell, but it's so damn fun that its difficulty doesn't matter - most Gen-Xers' memories of this game coexist hand-in-hand with the Konami Code, yet it still easily ranks as one of the best 8-bit games ever released. Battletoads is honestly straight trash - if you actually LIKE it, you're better off investing your time into TMNT2, River City Ransom, Double Dragon 2, or Mighty Final Fight - same type of game, but way better, regardless of difficulty. No need to guilt-trip yourself over using save-states, because you'll still get 100% the same fun experience I did as a kid.
Will be honest, yeah. I don't use save states for action games, but I also don't play games with BS difficulty. Fast forward is a godsend for grindy old role playing games, though. I will happily use fast forward to skip past unskippable cutscenes.
I got myself a MiSTer FPGA and never looked back! Hardware emulation has been a game changer for me and i can literally feel the difference between FPGA and the more traditional software emulation. The only consoles i own are the "gimmick" ones like the Virtual Boy(the Wario game still kicks ass) and the 3DS XL(Hylian edition + hacked), and the Switch(RCM vulnerable) Great video!
Though I wouldn't call it "retro" yet, this is one reason why I just bought a Wii U on ebay. My PC can run Cemu just fine (32GBs of RAM, 9900K, 2080 Ti). I can even utilize a second screen with either a portable monitor or my Android tablet using SuperDisplay. But it's just the odd quirks and occasional incompatibilities here and there, like using a mouse to emulate touch functionality, or having to change various settings if a game isn't running well, that made me want to have the actual hardware. No having to keep in mind which games prefer DirectX, OpenGL or Vulkan and their various sub settings. Following the instructions for installing custom firmware is a one time thing, and the games just work as you expect them too.
Best thing I can suggest is if you go with emulation, but want the feel of the original console, there are controllers that are ergonomically friendly, but mimic the original buttons. Like the Retro Fighter line has a really nice N64 controller for people who don’t have three hands. There’s also a GameCube one that has the button placement but fits in the hand better.
The biggest benefit of original hardware is that for a good chunk of these consoles, you have both the options of playing these games physically and homebrewing the system. I find this to be particularly useful with the PS2 and Wii.
Ive had too many issues where emulators don't correctly emulate, and marr the music, sound FX, or just have glitches like that sound and gameplay desyncing over time. Sucks when 40 hours later the audio is 3 seconds behind. Emulation can only ever be "good enough", games were designed for their specific consoles back in the day and thats always the superior way. Whether you care or not is up to you. Besides, the feel of playing retro on original hardware is so much better than the soulless experience of just running it off your PC. It just doesn't hit the same.
Modded Original Hardware is the way to go. Incase the games become more expensive. Also Flashcarts. Modding a Xbox Original, GameCube, or PS2, helps ALOT in playing the games. And on in its original forms. And the fact that you could through in SNES and stuff too on them if you can't afford a SNES. And if you got SNES and other Cartridge consoles. Flashcarts are the best way to have all your games to play through.
I do both, mainly OG hardware. And emulate things that i just can't get ahold of, like silent hill. I love. Hearing that bios screen every time on boot up and looove using a real memory card. Recently found a conplete copy of Parasite Eve and i'm currently playing that on my OG PS2 slim.
Obviously all subjective. As an adult I do wanna have an actual game boy tho. About save states, i love them. They’re a net positive for me. Being able to save just before a boss fight begins instead of back tracking each time is great. I can relate with being able to use them in ways that cheapen the experience, but that’s why I don’t want to use them that way, and to someone else it could make it better rather than cheapen it.
More importantly, I desire not just the original hardware, but also the original media, i.e. original cartridges. Flashcarts and disk simulators are absolutely a life-saver for budget reasons, but sometimes they create gaps in the saving process (carts). I'm not into arguing about period-accurate displays or TVs, so I exclusively collect handhelds with built-in screens, but ultimately the TVs and external displays will become something no self-respecting retro gamer can avoid.
Yes, make a video on the Wii U as it seems a great console to play Virtual console these days (idk if this falls under Emulation) Without owning a Wii U back in the days I wouldn't have been introduced to games like Earthbound I also played the shit out of first party titles such as Mario Kart 8, Splatoon, Mario Maker and the Zelda remasters
Personally for me it depends on the system. Cartridge consoles for some reason even when I have all the games in the world to emulate, there’s something magical about playing with the controller and plugging the console in. But once the discs came out, it’s not quite the same. When the emulator is solid and you can play it on a tv, so long as you can use some sort of USB or Bluetooth adapter to use the original controller, it feels pretty much the same as using the console, though a bit less magical.
I like hearing about your experiences. When I missed working on my Atari Home Computers I had to turn to emulation to recover the experience. It was OK, but somehow just not the same. I finally had to get a USB adapter for my old CX40 joystick so I could play the games the way I used to. I recently got back all my old Atari computer stuff after thirty years. My beloved Atari 800 still seems to work OK but the keyboard doesn't work at all. This is a known problem and just requires some repair. My 1200XL is wonky and prints wrong characters on the screen. I don't know what's going on there, but I have a spare keyboard if I need it. The Atari 400 I bought used for $20 in 1985 still works just like the day I bought it because I thought it looked cute. At the time, I upgraded its RAM to 48K so it could run all the software my 800 could. The disk drives and cassette drive need work to run correctly again, but the cartridges I had still work just fine. At about the same time I got all my old hardware back I also bought the new Atari VCS game console and the 400 mini with several included fully licensed games. But these new Atari machines include new versions of controllers that I'm finding troublesome. And, yes, both of these new machines actually run emulators that will allow me to add my own games if I have them on a USB drive. When I was a kid we didn't have video games. I had already graduated high school before I started playing pinball machines. I did get to play the first video arcade game, Computer Space, in a pop-up pinball arcade tent at the Ohio State Fair (we called the game "Rockets and Saucers" but it was the first commercially available video arcade game). I was interested in computers and fascinated by Pong, Space Invaders, Asteroids, and Pac Man. I shoveled pocketfuls of quarters into Missile Command, Breakout, Lunar Lander, BattleZone, Centipede and Dig Dug. I was never interested in the original Atari VCS (2600) because of its primitive graphics. Also, I couldn't program it. But when my wife let me buy my Atari 800 on closeout for $299 after the 1200XL was released, I got as many of those old games that I could for my computer. I had turned my emulator down to 70% speed so I could better beat Missile Command, but it was unsatisfying. I think I would feel the same way about the Save States and Fast Forward that you mention. But actually playing games at all on my emulator is unsatisfying. On my new game Atari systems, the new controllers frustrate me. My new Atari VCS had the arcade version of Missile command that looks just like it did in the arcades, but the Classic Joystick is just too "hot" to work well with the game. I find it hard to control because it sends the cursor to the far corners of the screen at the slightest touch. I'm having trouble getting the Modern Controller to work with it at all. I tried using my old Atari CX22 Trak Ball Controller with my USB adapter, and it works MUCH better at controlling the cursor (Missile Command was the first arcade game that offered a Track Ball controller), but the trigger only launches missiles from the center missile base, not from the missile bases at either side of the screen. As it is, I'm back on my old Atari 400 (the membrane keyboard isn't nearly as bad as everyone says), largely because I find the gameplay more satisfying. I would like to have a handheld game system, but they all seem to be aimed at Nintendo and I don't get it. The Atari systems are less processor intensive and so, easier to emulate. But everyone seems to only want to emulate the 2600 games. I also have an old Atari 7800 that came with almost two dozen game cartridges. I had to buy a power supply through eBay for it, but the game controllers don't work. I'll have to wait until new ones are released on Amazon, like the CX30 paddle controllers. My old ones don't work anymore, so I can't play breakout on my old machines or on my new ones, and I need to get new controllers. Amazon says these will be released in June. Both of these controllers have a "+" after the model number so I'm guessing we might be getting a new Atari 7800+ to go along with the Atari 2600+. I would be reluctant to look for hardware as old as this on eBay, even though I did buy a power supply and that was OK. I'm not looking to buy more game cartridges because they've become collectors items, even if they don't work right. Don't forget to check Goodwill and thrift stores. Often they don't realize what they have. Even more so for the consoles and game systems needed to play these cartridges. "Original hardware" in good working order is getting harder and harder to find, and much more expensive. I'm lucky to have what I already bought thirty and forty years ago. Some of it even still works. I got a modern device for my Atari 400 that will let me load software from a Micro SD card, so I can load all my emulator games onto my original hardware.
As far as original ds emulation goes, about five years ago I found the perfect solution. Emulate on an android phone with a Bluetooth controller. I personally use an old snes30 from 8bitdo though they don’t make them anymore, feels just like the original Super Nintendo controller which makes it feel like you’re playing on the game boy. 8bitdo makes an attachment so you can put your phone on the top of the controller, which makes it feel even more like a game boy/ds. However when you have your phone sideways, it has the screens side by side which can be a little weird when there’s cut screens, but the android emulator runs flawlessly on 8 year old android phones so any new device should have no problem. The touch screen works too. Played Pokémon heart gold that way and it was about as close as I could come, I was immersed! Obviously this works for game boy/advance games too. It’s the next best thing. As far as a controller though since 8bitdo stopped making the snes controllers, opting to put two joysticks on them, if you want a wireless snes controller just buy an old snes controller that the buttons still work on, and buy 8bitdo’s Bluetooth mod kit for snes controllers. Cheaper than Nintendo’s Bluetooth snes controllers and actually has Nintendo branding too.
Awesome video! I'm very partial to gba and ds lite - I completely agree with you about emulation versus OG - I pick OG personally if I'm able. Gained a sub here :)😊
Emulation is pretty great now . Anbernic and Miyoo making hardware around it is only making things better. With WATA Games ruining retro game prices, I don’t think the original hardware experience matters much anymore
I lived through this and I hoarded like many objects that I would inevitably sell. These were not cherished items but impulse purchases. The way one would buy several Nintendo Switches today is no different to how people would obtain records in the past. You’ve never had to wade through filler music, which is garbage on most albums designed to serve an industry. Sometimes the bulk of an album track list would be entirely different in tone to what was advertised on MTV (Eminem and Marilyn Manson albums spring to mind, immediately). This is how items become used. Physical objects were as disposable as they are today. Romanticism is the path the collective misery. I do not miss not having a smart phone and missing calls or information as it is happening (or a text these days) and having 1TB on two Switches is amazing! _There is no value in romanticizing anything._ It only feeds an opportunistic political machine (that serves corporations, their incompetence, fear of the future, sloth which would lead to our own ultimate _disempowerment)_ and as it has always been, _before you were born._ No sale. You may have _seen_ a rotary phone, you never had to use one, daily. Nor known the joy of upgrading to a touch tone phone… _Influencers know nothing and are dangerously ignorant._ Youth can be forgiven, but you’re speaking nonsense. No one misses the objects they’ve purposefully parted with. There’s no value in owning a clunky DMG Game Boy when I can just have the cadence of a game on a console I and many others _have been done with for decades._ Internet Rhetoric is as valueless and much as it Chafes.
I've got an AV Famicom, SNES Jr, Genesis Model 1 w/ Sega CD Model 1, PC Engine white model w/ SSDS3, and original Sony PlayStation, all RGB-modded and sitting in storage, because the MiSTer replicates them perfectly and even allows me to use the original controllers for all these consoles. I don't bother with save states myself, I play as if I was using a console. and then I've got Analogue Pocket for handheld games. These more modern solutions to replicate these old games and consoles on a transistor level via FPGA are much more preferable to me, even when I have the real hardware available.
About DS emulation, there are newer smartphones that have two screens, like the Samsung Galaxy Z-Fold. You can emulate DS games as if you were playing them on an actual DS. Look up the Android emulator, DraStic.
I agree with most of this video. Emulation is a great tool but it does change the way you play the games. Not to mention that the vast majority of emulators have a noticeably higher input latency than original hardware. Only thing I disagree with was that a Wii U is worth getting, I got one launch week and will go to war over hating the system :P
From what I understand of the wii u it was at least a good system but the marketing/name is what killed it honestly even to this day I'm still kinda confused on what it actually is on if its just the tablet or if it had the actual console with it or if it was just like an extra piece of hardware for the wii
@@BorderFreak I got a Wii u launch week. It's not a good system. Library was very weak, backwards compatibility and Virtual Console had issues, OS was slow af, it was underpowered, controller was clunky and useless. The marketing was a problem but even with perfect marketing it was a bad console.
@@GhabulousGhoti I also got my Wii U on launch day, and I don't think the library is weak. Most of it has been ported to the Switch nearly as-is and was met with great success. The main issue always was that all of theses great games released too late into the console life-cycle (I remember we had to wait nearly 2 years between launch and the first true wave of anticipated first party games like MK8). Backwards compatiblity worked perfectly for me (Wii games worked exactly like on original hardware, just like Gamecube game worked on Wii) and Gamecube games worked like a charm through Nintendont. That's the main strength of the Wii U hardware: it's basically an overclocked Wii CPU with 3 cores instead of 1 combined with a much more powerful GPU (which includes the full Hollywood GPU from the Wii for backward compatibility) and 2 GB of RAM. As for the Virtual Console, I remember that some systems like the NES were awful, but others ran great like SNES games. N64 was not the best but fine, maybe better than the Switch Online emulator (to be fair the N64 was never really emulated well, and I personally recommend playing on original hardware if possible). The OS was indeed very slow, especially for the first couple of years. It was optimized a bit over the years but even now it remains one of the slowest console OS ever. The CPU was indeed underpowered, that's the Achilles'heel of the hardware. I suspect Nintendo wanted to stay as close as possible to the architecture and instruction set used for the Wii and Gamecube to enable perfect backward compatibility, but as a result the CPU is not powerful at all (a bit slower than the 360's Xenon and PS3's CELL). The GPU however holds itself pretty well (more powerful than the 360's Xenos and PS3's RSX). My biggest gripe with the Gamepad is the weigth but overall it is much more ergonomic than one would think seeing it from afar. The integrated screen served me well when playing while the TV was used, even if it was never really used effectively as a second screen in game. The Pro controller was missing the rumble feature but it has one of the best battery life of all controllers I've ever used (I mesured it at more than 70 hours, which is kind of insane). The Wii U in itself was not a terrible system hardware-wise (except for the slow-ish CPU), the main issue was marketing and the game library taking ages to release in the first half of the console life-cycle (just like on 360 and PS3 from 2005/2006 to the end of 2008).
as far as portable emulation goes, modded 3ds for game gear, gb, gbc, gba, psp, ds, ps vita and of course pirated 3ds games, steam deck for just about any main console it can run and you're good to go. as for home emulation, pc is king
I prefer emulation devices for multiple reasons: can have more games, larger screens (the Gameboy color i have with the backlit screen mod is nice but geez, my poor eyes) also ergonomics for more adult sized hands.
I'd say some consoles are worth it, but when it comes to nintendo handhelds, I'd recommend just getting a 3ds and softmodding it to play all the old games, or a vita to play psp and ps1 games. They both have that "official hardware" feel, and are better than the older consoles. Especially with nintendo, considering a 3ds can play every ds game perfectly and almost every gba game besides like 1 or 2
I definitely do not agree that save states ruin games. It's the mentality you have. If I'm up at 3 am grinding Metroid fusion and I gotta go to bed... You best believe I'm using save state. I didn't sacrifice sleep for work for nothing 😅
Almost all the gimmicks you mentioned for the gba are available in an emulator. Will agree that DS is still a little awkward to control cause we don't have easy access to two screens though.
I think that using the original controller is important to replicate the feel of the game however some systems have multiple controllers so I don't know which one to go with. This applies to handhelds as well when someone says play on original hardware do they mean you have to use an original Gameboy advance and not an SP or an original DS over a DS lite? What counts as "original hardware" do I have to use one of the Xbox 360s that don't have HDMI? Etc
To me original hardware is if it doesn’t use any sort of emulation to play the game. Like using a ps2 to play ps1 games to me is still original hardware.
I collect games digitally, or should I say - have collected most of them. I love emulation for emulations sake, but yes, I prefer to play my copies on modded original hardware when I can - and with almost all original consoles.........I can.
I though the same too but is just necessary in the case where the hardware has something to do with the gameplay for example dreamcast with the vmu functionality or Wii U gamepad, in the other cases just find the controller for that console and connect it to the pc and that's all, same experience.
There's so many games that are improved by ROM hacks, cheats, hardware hacks (CPU overclocking, removing sprite limits, etc) and input lag reduction (e.g. RetroArch's runahead) that sticking to the real thing would be very limiting in my opinion.
So if you're going to play things on original Hardware there's nothing wrong with giving like fake games on Etsy you save a bunch of money you still get the nostalgic feeling and most of them are usually perfectly fine there are some games I don't want to pay $300 to play on original consoles as much as the game is a lot of fun if I can go and pick up a copy of it for $20 and it works some of us remember playing NES some of those games are going for a fortune also keep in mind you can get the mini consoles like the PlayStation that was not very good out-of-the-box ended up getting a bunch of them dirt cheap and I ordered a bunch of flash drives off of AliExpress at the time they were like 20 bucks I think it was like the crackhead pack and it's pretty cool thing
100% agree. using the right controller att he right scale and speed can chnage games so much. some games I hated on emulators but loved on original hardware!
I am not paying these prices to the used market / third party sellers that are selling used games for $100+. Nintendo doesn’t see a cent of it. I will emulate until Nintendo provides a legitimate alternative.
I'm 35 and I grew up playing on emulators before they went mainstream, so using my retroid pocket 3+ actually does evoke nostalgia for me.
I'm 36 and have been emulating since 1999 when a friend of mine burned me a CD with SNES, Mega Drive, and Game Boy emulators and a bunch of ROMs. It practically broke my brain at the time!
Because I never had enough money to enjoy arcades I have more nostalgia for arcade games on my winxp computer back in the day lol
A middle-point between playing original games on original hardware and the ease of emulation, is a flash cartridge that can play game roms (like an emulator) on original hardware. You get the original hardware feel and experience, but without the (sometimes steep) cost of buying the increasingly-rare physical copies. Some even have save state features!
Best option. Everdrive ftw.
100% this
And even if the game has a gimmick there are mods that can remove that gimmick so you can play on flash cards. Boktai and Kirby Tilt 'n' Tumble have one.
I also soft modded my PS2 so I can play repros on it. Blood Will Tell is expensive but I got a repro for a fraction of the cost.
Agreed. ISO emulators too (like Rhea for Saturn, GDEmu for Dreamcast etc...) or soft (or hard) mods like for Xbox are great options. The trick is to not have every single game on it and just what you want to actually want to play (otherwise, decision paralysis/overchoice rears it's ugly head). I used to have this problem when I loaded every single SNES game on to my SD2SNES (Time is more of a factor these days too what with work, having a kid and technically having to be an adult). But when I cleared a bunch of games, it made things so much better. Let's face it - who is going to sit down and actually play something like Fifa 95 or Mahjong or anything like that?
I just bough a controller similar to the original and the experience is the same and don't use save points is exactly the same experience. Emulation is the best way to play nowadays specially for old hardware with emulators that have a lot of work behing like higan for snes or dolphin for GameCube and Wii.
I've heard this argument that "You don't appreciate games as much if you don't own them physically" so many times and it grinds my gears so much cuz it's just plain wrong...
I had a GBA in my childhood, still have it in fact, and I played on it *A LOT*, but I just didn't have very many games for it, the overwhelming majority of my GBA experience has been emulated/digital, and guess what? That's one of my favourite libraries in all of gaming! I have SO Many precious memories with SO Many GBA games! Games that I still go back to regularly!
Furthermore, my entire 3DS library is digital, I don't own a single physical copy of any 3DS game, it was all eShop, and that too has become one of my favourite libraries in all of gaming! The 3DS is my single most played piece of hardware and I still play on it regularly to this day, not stopping anytime soon, and I'm not letting ANYONE tell me I appreciate these lovely wonderful games any less than a game they bought a physical copy of, played maybe once, and then left it on a shelf to rot...
I've had physical copies of games that I loved, and I've had physical copies of games that I played maybe once and never touched again, and that was while being poor and not having many games... Playing games in the form of ROMs or digitally purchased copies has not affected my enjoyment or appreciation of games at all, I'd feel exactly the same about them if I had them physically, because what I care about is being able to play the games, not owning a physical manifestation of the ROM...
You are totally right.
Probably what people really think when they claim so, is that by buying so many games digitally, for a few bucks, and having so many of 'em, you're basically drowning in choice.
This means that focusing on just one game becomes harder if you don't have as much spare time as when you were a child.
This happened to me for example, and by just focusing on one game at a time, and restricting myself to buying them physically, I've at least partially recovered a passion that I felt was lost!
@@blaz7678 I get that whole 'drowning in choice' thing, it's why I don't like to download entire romsets for any system, and if having physical copies helps you focus on what games you want to play, then by all means.
What I don't like is this kind of elitism that exists in the retro gaming community surrounding physical copies, where they like to stereotype people who emulate games as just pirates who don't really care about the games, or not real fans, or whatever, without considering the MANY reasons why someone may not be able to have physical copies of games, like lack of space, poverty, regional availability, and so on...
Some people also like to pretend that because the 3DS eShop closed I don't own my games anymore, which is a load of rubbish, they're all still here and 100% playable, and for as long as I keep backing up my SD card, I can always transfer the backups to a new SD card if the old one goes bad...
What I CAN'T do is buy new 3DS games, but at this point noone but resellers is making money off 3DS games anymore, so uhh... Yeah, I don't really care, I'll get whatever new games I want however I can...
I don't think it about physical vs digital. I would say it's more about buying a copy vs downloading a ROM.
You can easily discard a pirated copy than coping with buyer's remorse.
@@Wesmoen He literally said it was about physical copies in the video, and mentioned massive steam/switch digital libraries as contributing to 'too much choice'
I've been playing most of these consoles since they were new and having flashcarts for almost everything is such a game-changer. Don't have to drop hundreds for a single game a bubble, can get savestates on a lot of consoles, can play fan translations and romhacks on real hardware, in some cases it lets me avoid hard to find or flaky hardware add-ons entirely
Its an interesting conundrum for me because I play these retro games for work. I have a ton of them physically and love playing them on original hardware, but most of the time cant because emulators look a lot crisper, so I have to play them on a computer for higher quality footage. The only exceptions to this rule are DS and 3DS games because a lot of those games require the actual hardware's touch screen, and thankfully people have built capture cards into those handhelds. One day I'll be able to play these retro games properly without having to worry about recording them 😅
You’re everywhere Nathaniel. Keep up the great vids 😃
You could also use an emulator handheld like the Anbernic or Retroid line with an hdmi out, it's extra steps to get good footage, but at least you can enjoy recording with actual hardware.
the DS/3DS emulators allow for mouse to be used as a touch-screen counterpart, wdym?
3ds looks horrible at native resolution. It actually legit feels unsatisfying to play on my new 3ds vs my s24 ultra android. Music is alot louder and clearer in 3ds pokemon games on my phone where as my 3ds I can't even hear all the beat of some songs like the bass. The 3ds is more stabile than 3ds emulation currently which is changing fast since it's pretty stabile now with drivers but when it zooms at pokemon it lags on the 3ds where it doesn't on my phone. But audio can lag sometimes on the emulator where it doesn't on the 3ds. So 3ds lags don't affect the audio from what I've seen. 2x res on the emulator is a god send cause 1x looks like crap on 3ds and my phone.
@@robmalcolm8042 If you have surround sound on the audio is weird
When visiting stores with classic stuff such as cassette, VHS, Vinyl, old magazines and books and things like that it's always a fun experience and brings back so many memories, you can feel the decades coming back to you.
I wonder, though, how many of us actually listen to music or watch classic films, cartoons and even analog-era TV content using "original hardware" as we certainly have more convenient ways of enjoying them. Sure, they have a tactile feel and it's a joy being able to interact with them physically, but if anything, the digital era came to show us how and what media, that is, written works, imagery, videos, music and software-programs really are and how they don't require being locked to a specific format or device tree to be reproduced infinitely and thus, enjoyed or utilized as such.
Sometimes I wonder, are we, because of the above, enjoying more of these classic games, from the Atari to the PS2 eras more due to their accessibility than ever compared to their heyday, what do you think?
Classic films and cartoons are typically on 35mm right? Or 16mm dupes - either way you'll have to use a film reel set + projector, but then you need sound insulation because regular moviegoing audiences back then almost certainly didn't want to actually hear noisy projectors.
original hardware. but upgraded - yes please.
Hdmi mods, no cd or cart mods, ran replacements and sound upgrades … yes please! Maybe even use a updated 8 bit do controller as many of the old ones are very mushy now or have damaged cables etc
Even saw a ps2 slim hard drive mod before with a ssd, part of the phat ps2 third party hard drive bay and it was all soldered with custom ribbons to the mobo, they even took out he disk tray and made a custom smaller case for it.
Screen upgrades awesome 👍 but totally against SD card mods , they cheapen and ruin classic hardware , , you really should OWN classic Hardware ,I do enjoy and support Emulation but when I pickup a handheld it better play cartridges or UMD disc media it's made for , otherwise it's contaminated/compromised , if solders were questionable it could end up becoming worthless brick later , , always remember that , , ,🤔🎃🤔
And waste hundreds to thousands of dollars, lol No Thanks Bro.
I'd like to point out that for most cartridge based systems you can get a flash cart with a SD card for $60 and play any game like you would with emulation while having the benefits of original hardware and consoles that don't often have a mod where you can load games off a USB drive for the same effect
I feel like this is a good middle ground. Original hardware but without the thousands of spending for these older games.
why not do both with a flash cart plus original hardware
You definitely can. Especially for rom hacks.
this randomly showed up in my recommendations, and i gotta say, this is a great video man!
Good Points. For me the golden middle is my Retron 5. I can play all my original games and buy games on ebay or elsewhere and pop in the cartridge and play with an original controller. No Loading Times, upscaled on my TV. Great.
But games that are too expensive I can download as rom and convert them into a patchfile. With patchfiles you can easily play any game on the retron. You have the comfort of Save Stats and Speed up.
I personally try to play games legit as they were ment to be. But it's good to know, that you have the option for a quick save.
If a game is too hard, I normally try to get as far as I could without savestats, and play the first playthrough with save stats. For example, when I'm reaching the last boss with only two lives to spare and no continues, I save, so that I can practice. After beating the game I'm better than before and try it again. So I play the game one to three times to get good at it and afterwards I challenge myself and make at least one legit run throught the game without save states.
With this method I build up a conncetion to the game and spend some days or weeks with it. Similar to childhood experience. If I run through a game only using save stats, I can't build a connection with it and forget about it two day later. It's no fun for me.
And like you said: I just play one game at a time, sometimes two. (Maybe a RPG and a shorter Platformer) And after finishing it at least one time legit, I move on.
With this way to go I'm not buying stuff like crazy just to put it on the shelf. And limit myself to buy AND PLAY games that I really want to play and put on my shelf.
Sometimes I bought the japanese Games because they were cheaper and pactched them, so that I can play them, but still have the feeling to put in a cartridge. And yes I even bought repros, because they were way cheaper, than the original.
Of course it would be nice to have all the original games with orginal packing and manuals. But for me it's too expensive. And in the end the most important thing for me is the game itself. No matter how I play it, mixed with the feeling of starting a console and have a original controller in my hand.
And now that I have bought all the games that I wanted, over the last years, I'm thinkink about an emulation handheld as well. Because I think, Retro Cartridges are to expensive as well. Even if I have not that may games as others do, I spent a bit of money, and for me it's enough.
Can someone recommend a good emulation handheld hardware? The more consoles it emulates the better. Thank you.
Nuh uh I aint playing MK Wii On 480i when dolphin exists
I agree with you, around the time I had Gba I always dreamed about having many games but I couldnt afford it and years later, when I got an emulator with every game I wanted I just played a few minutes of a few dozens of games and never finished any of them, these last couple of years I have been buying some of the games I always wanted to play and I realized that playing on original hardware gave me the motivation to actually finish the games, and it is a great feeling when I finally did (It took me basically 18 years to finish Megaman Zero but man, it was worth it) . I know this is not for everyone but your video is great at explaining why its a very different experience from emulation, and why some should try it.
I had a terrible habit of not finishing games growing up for some reason. I’m talking playing a ton and getting overpowered and stopping before the final goal/boss. I really want to go back and finish a good 6 or 7 ps2 and ps3 games. Also marjora’s mask. I’m low key afraid my memory cards might be corrupted because I haven’t dug it out the closet in many years
Haven't the prices been ridiculous though? You must be rich!
I agree - flashcart/R4 with GBC, GBA SP, and 3DS are my definitive ways to play!
The thing for me is that retro hardware is expensive, the prices have gone up a lot and also I just don't have the room for all the consoles. I emulate games on my PC but use original controllers with USB adapters. It feels like the real thing and you can make the games look way better be rendering them at higher resolutions.
"Endearing" is one way to describe the Wii's motion controls...
Flashcarts are a great solution for using retro consoles
MAD respect for still having the South of Heaven album. Such a classic.
I absolutely loved this video, talks to me to a very personal level
I'm with you on the feeling of that original experience.
Case in point, playing N64 games on Nintendo Switch online with a Switch Pro controller or Joy Cons feels off.
With retro game prices being so high, like you I'm happy emulation is an option, but also I'm glad for stuff like the Mister project, Flashcarts, Softmods and ODEs, as well as new retro inspired controllers. The retro-bit Saturn pad is a personal favourite for that particular library.
To be fair, the Nintendo 64 emulator on the switch is notoriously bad. It has extra input lag and rendering glitches galore. On PC we have software to statically compile N64 games into native windows applications. Only thing missing at that point is the controller, but it's PC, so... All you need is an adapter and you are good.
Hey, I'm a retro repair technician. Here is my take. People can be sorted into 3 categories: the Collector, the Nostalgia Chaser, and the Causal Gamer. The collector has their dedicated unit and then a wall of show units. The Nostalgia gamer is a mix, they want the original hardware and may have OEM games but also will get flash cards like EZFlash or Everdrive. Lastly, there is the causal and they only emulate.
I personally say emulate at your own risk. Roms can fail or glitch and I've gotten to the end of a game before just to have to crash before the final boss. OEM doesn't do that.
For the Nostalgic Collector, emulate to try then buy.
Either way, if you are not a collector and want to play on the original hardware please upgrade the screens. Don't torture yourself. Upgrading isn't that hard but if you are unsure there are techs out there to help.
Happy Gaming.
P.S. Save states for shut down > jump back in or speed run practice only...no cheaty! 😂
2 screens hadn't really been seen on consoles at the time, except that Nintendo started off with 2 screen consoles called 'Game&Watch'
Most of the gimmicky features on the DS were things they had been experimenting in previous consoles and cartridges before, but now all rolled into 1 on the console itself. ♥
I never truly appreciated mgs1 until I got a ps1 and eventually got a crt. I had played the game on an emulator but the ps1 + crt combo made it one of the best games I have ever played.
Ive been emulating for the last 10 years thinking i didnt want to spend the time and money for less convenient waysbto play... then i missed my real Sega Genesis and bought a system and hookup and dug out my few games i had left and controller thinking id just get a taste back. Even bought my mother in laws boobtube we used to use when our son was born...
Booting up that sega brought tears to my eyes and i knew i needed to rebuild that collection and play with my kids.
I also stopped using save states and fast forward functions anymore. I disable them since i still emulate to practice my games.
Beaten way more games and legitimately too because of this.
I got both worlds now and im not turning back
I still prefer playing PS1 games with geometry correction and 4K upscaling.
I find that for home consoles that don’t have gimmicks like motion controls, emulation is just a straight upgrade. Try using a PS2 on an HD TV. It’s hell. But when it comes to handheld consoles, original hardware is just always the way to go. I started by playing GBA games on my 3DS, but the games were blurry and didn’t fit right on the screen. So I bought a modded GBA (backlight so I could actually see the screen lol). And I played some game boy and game boy color games on this GBA, but they’re so small on the GBA screen, and they stick out of the console. So I bought a modded game boy color after that. I find that backwards compatibility on handheld games always have a big drawback that makes it an unideal experience. For me, it’s not even about nostalgia. I grew up with a wide GBA and a DS, I never owned the SP that I now use or the game boy color. The experience is just better on the original hardware.
Using a PS2 on an HD TV is fine if you have component cables and your TV can display 480P... It won't look as nice as on a CRT, but that's true of pretty much an standard definition console.
@@LunarShift you’re forgetting that not every game uses 480p. For many ps1 games and even some ps2 games the resolution drops down to 360p or even 240p, which is literally too low for most HD TVs available today to even display at all. Also, none of the TVs in my house have component ports, meaning I have to use an adapter for my component cables, and adapters come in two varieties: terrible but cheap, and good but waaaay too expensive. And if you don’t go with the expensive option, expect very distracting input lag, letalone poor image quality. On top of all that, the PS2 just doesn’t look good outside of a CRT. Tons of games use blur filters that look fine on CRTs but horrible on HD screens. That’s why there’s a “skip draw” feature in ps2 emulators to literally gut those filters out of games.
If you have an old HD TV that has component in and supports 240p you won’t have as many issues. But almost any TV from at least the past 5 years is a non-starter.
@@Arcad3n I haven't forgotten this lol. I'm just saying in the best case, you're using component cables and a TV with a scaler that works for those affected games. It's definitely not always as simple as plugging in and going, and that's why solutions like retrotink and OSSC are so popular.
Honestly I think handhelds make the biggest case for emulation, aside from portability and sentimentality there is no argument I can see where playing portable games on original hardware is actually better. I don't see the appeal of playing games hunched over on a 3 inch screen when I can have a much bigger screen on my PC with a controller in my hand with all sorts of visual and audio enhancements that come with it. And then the ability to easily play rom hacks or apply translation patches to games not released in the US which can require a bit of work on OG hardware.
@@LunarShiftThe vast majority of PS2 games will only display 480i even with component cables, which can be a bit flaky even with the good scalers. With interlacing there's always a trade-off when it comes to games, better quality deinterlacing will always cause more lag.
Luckily it's mostly a PS2 (and Dreamcast) issue, on the N64 480i is somewhat rare and laggy, and GC/XBOX have better/near-perfect high resolution support, respectively.
Fun fact: The original AGB-001 Game Boy Advance can stand up on its own
Bro im not going to collect and fill my room. New way of living is here
Really enjoyed your thoughts on this one. Articulate & insightful, great stuff! 👍
Thank you ! That means a lot
As someone who was born in 91, had a lot of the original consoles on the original hardware when they were still on the market, nowadays I just prefer emulating.
I moved overseas so almost the entirety of my collection is thousand of kilometers away from me and I can't play them. Not only that, but with emulators I don't have to carry around a lot of stuff whenever I have to move, it is just really practical.
Besides, I am so used to playing on the original hardware that I don't use save states (unless it is a game with no save at all and I have to stop playing) or fast forward. The emulator features I really look up to are enhancement features, things like giving colors to original Game Boy games, adding CRT filter, upscaling the internal resolution of 3D games to 1080p, etc... So in the end emulators feels like I am playing a remaster of said game.
I also like the fact that I can play games I never had the chance before because I couldn't find them to buy. I am originally from a country where games used to go for crazy prices when I was a kid (I still remember my dad paying the equivalent of $150 dollars for Wind Waker to me back in 2004) and I am against piracy of consoles that are still available on the market, so I had no choice but to play few games.
Either way, great video, keep up the good content.
I think you make good points for both sides. I lost my consoles (SNES, GN, GG, PS1/2, OG Xbox, only the Dreamcast survived) in Hurricane Katrina and to try to buy back what I lost including the games will be very expensive but at same time I do miss, putting the cartridge or CD in sitting down and enjoying the game and seeing it through and that is what is missing from emulation as well as not having the safety net of save states and readily available cheats. Great Job on the video, I'll subbing to your channel and look forward to more from you.
Modern FPGA consoles are the sweet spot
The value of emulation is awesome. There are a lot of pros to original hardware and that is my preferred choice most of the time. However, the stinger is the price tag. I say find a healthy mix of both. Emulating can often be like having a retro version of Game Pass. Use it to jump in and try something out, if you love it great go and look for a physical, if not whelp move on, you just saved yourself from buying a game you wouldn't have liked.
I love emulation for arcade games the most. I love OG hardware but man collecting and maintaining arcade PCB's is an whole thing I am not willing to deal with right now. With MAME or MiSTer, I can play through Cadillacs and Dinosaurs and have unlimited fun! I will say though that if you are interested in original hardware then track down a CRT television. Seriously. Yeah, they are big and heavy, but it will save you a lot of hassle in the long run and if you look around it doesn't have to be expensive either. Plus your games will look amazing.
I love the work that Mike Chi does on the Retrotink upscaler and if you are dead set on implementing a setup on a flat panel screen then go for it. But if you are thinking of plugging in you'r retro consoles into your HD/4k tv and get collecting, then your gonna realize that it can get complicated and expensive real quick if you are not happy with how it looks or plays. Whereas, just pluggin a good ol' CRT into the wall and your console to the CRT is about as easy as it gets. Plus it also looks and plays the best due to having 0 lag. Just throwing this out there. Have FUN!
You are right about emulation.😸👍🎶
But you are wrong about price tags.
I got a CIB PSX Digital Video Recorder; a CIB DualShock 2 White Ceramic; a CIB Beatmania IIDX TurnTable ASC; a CIB Beatmania IIDX 7th Style; a CIB Stepup and Down Transformer; a CIB Sanyo Plasma TV; for 45 €.
And I've already found 43 vendors with low price tags (Original Retail Price - 70,80,90%). Many people said "There is no hope. Original Hardware is a Holy Grail.". It's wrong. It's 2024. The year of the Retrogaming Revolution.
Original hardware is great, but prices are obscene for older stuff nowadays. If you can afford it, sure. But most people cannot. It is not worth it to play on real hardware anymore.
Watch my latest video. I have a feeling I might change your mind on some of this.
r4 cart for older consoles or jailbreaking it through sd cards for dsi/3ds.
Also buy a Japanese console as they are cheaper. I got a Japanese 3ds and made it to act like an American one. Very easily.
I like playing 3D games in hd which is why I stick to emulation and yes there is some glitches but I don't care.
I only play on og hardware I never sold my old games and just kept them now ny collection has grown and its pretty huge valued at like 15k on price charting
I'll gladly play on original hardware, but I'm using Everdrives, Flash Carts, burned CDs and homebrew because there's absolutely no way that I am giving a single cent to scalpers who sell used games.
No problem with Everdrives either! And yeah I hate scalpers too. But they're not the only people who sell retro games. A lot of people on FB Marketplace will give you some great deals. And then there's yard sales, flea markets, and even asking your friends.
The best part about playing on the original hardware is the modding community. It's possible for me to play my gameboys,sega handhelds and others with the everdrive, im able to mess with mapping, save states, graphics options, and the ability to pull up cheats and many other options. Expensive yes but so sooo worth it. Not only do I get my nostalgic feeling, but it's amplified x2 or more having those options at hand bringing in modern features.
you can also get flashcarts/mod consoles to get more games on the real hardware, still getting the authentic experience without selling your left kidney for them. for my dreamcast i play a lot of burned cds for games, or on my ps2 i play them off an ide hdd, and that in and of itself imbues a sense of nostalgia even though im not playing a manufactured copy
I agree that original hardware is superior in almost every case. But I end up emulating more games than I could on original hardware simply due to convenience. The time it takes to go to a store and buy a game, or wait for it to be shipped, clean the game, hook up the console and controller, and then sit down to play adds up. It's much easier to just pick up one wireless controller and turn on one console to play everything.
Get a cartridge with an sd reader and play the emulated games on the original hardware. Best of both worlds.
@@BigTrees4ever Flash carts aren't emulation
@@geoffgero6081Bad Form
Opposite end for me. Emulation seems too tedious having to set up thus and that, keeping track of save files, something slowing down, frame pacing going to shit, etc. Real hardware is much easier in my book
@90sNath Right on man 👍
imo n64 and up is fine on an emulator, but the first time playing SNES on a CRT was a revelation for me. It legit felt like I was taken back to my friends house (who had the SNES in my childhood).
>playing original hardware
>dmg, gbc, gba are all modded with ips screens
Naw son, you need to bend over the light like I had to as a kid.
I have a retropie setup on a crt for retroachievements but I found myself just going back and hooking up my NES and genesis because I don't have to worry about overhead or input lag using run ahead etc. My genesis has an everdrive I want one for my nes but it's more expensive. Cheaper than collecting though. Ever drive is amazing to keep original hardware alive
We would if it were still easily available.
Millennial here. I still have my old consoles. There's a certain feeling of euphoria when you actually accomplish beating a hard game or a hard boss battle in some of these older games, rather than just savestate/rewinding to realign your attacks to win at a game. And maybe I just liked punishing myself to keep trying to win no matter how long it took, and get my full money's worth out of a game I bought. It's not like I kept getting new games dropped on my lap every other week; usually I'd get a new game once every 6 months or so, where I'd get something like Donkey Kong 64, and then 6 months later (after 100% it), I get Zelda: Majora's Mask. Each game at their original retail value, which was something like $70 CAD. In today's age, a similar game to something like Super Mario 64, but made by an indie dev, would end up being $30 on release, then go on sale for $15-$20 a year later. Granted, Nintendo still pumps out games with AAA game costs, and some are rather justified, but I could just get a similar experience with an older game at a fraction of that cost (or free if ya sail the seas), or spend $10/month for game pass, and have access to more games than you know what to do with, then just default back to playing whatever F2P, MMO, mobile gacha, or whatever.
"Save states ruin hard games." No, that's where you're absolutely wrong. If a game is only good because it's frustratingly hard, then it isn't really all that good. Remember, these old games were modeled after coin-op arcade machines that were designed to eat another quarter every 2 minutes, and they didn't always adjust for that when designing or porting to the home market. Difficulty was even weaponized to artificially inflate the replay-ability of certain games so you couldn't beat them on a rental weekend. Why do you think Nintendo Power and the Game Genie did such bonkers sales numbers? We were desperate for every little tip or tool that would make these games easier for us to beat!
Example: Bayou Billy is way harder than Mega Man 2, but not remotely better, nor is it worth your time to find out why. Contra, however, is hard as hell, but it's so damn fun that its difficulty doesn't matter - most Gen-Xers' memories of this game coexist hand-in-hand with the Konami Code, yet it still easily ranks as one of the best 8-bit games ever released. Battletoads is honestly straight trash - if you actually LIKE it, you're better off investing your time into TMNT2, River City Ransom, Double Dragon 2, or Mighty Final Fight - same type of game, but way better, regardless of difficulty. No need to guilt-trip yourself over using save-states, because you'll still get 100% the same fun experience I did as a kid.
Games being harder to eat quarters back in the day is so forgotten about. Real shame no one acknowledges it anymore.
Will be honest, yeah. I don't use save states for action games, but I also don't play games with BS difficulty. Fast forward is a godsend for grindy old role playing games, though. I will happily use fast forward to skip past unskippable cutscenes.
I got myself a MiSTer FPGA and never looked back! Hardware emulation has been a game changer for me and i can literally feel the difference between FPGA and the more traditional software emulation. The only consoles i own are the "gimmick" ones like the Virtual Boy(the Wario game still kicks ass) and the 3DS XL(Hylian edition + hacked), and the Switch(RCM vulnerable) Great video!
the pokemon touchscreen menu was always the coolest
2:45 Who is she? Asking for a friend.
Thanks for not bashing my love of retro games via emulation
Though I wouldn't call it "retro" yet, this is one reason why I just bought a Wii U on ebay. My PC can run Cemu just fine (32GBs of RAM, 9900K, 2080 Ti). I can even utilize a second screen with either a portable monitor or my Android tablet using SuperDisplay. But it's just the odd quirks and occasional incompatibilities here and there, like using a mouse to emulate touch functionality, or having to change various settings if a game isn't running well, that made me want to have the actual hardware. No having to keep in mind which games prefer DirectX, OpenGL or Vulkan and their various sub settings. Following the instructions for installing custom firmware is a one time thing, and the games just work as you expect them too.
14 seconds in, says "original hardware" to video of a modded Game Boy Color.
I mean... A backlit GBC is still original hardware. Its just a screen upgrade to see better
Best thing I can suggest is if you go with emulation, but want the feel of the original console, there are controllers that are ergonomically friendly, but mimic the original buttons. Like the Retro Fighter line has a really nice N64 controller for people who don’t have three hands. There’s also a GameCube one that has the button placement but fits in the hand better.
The biggest benefit of original hardware is that for a good chunk of these consoles, you have both the options of playing these games physically and homebrewing the system. I find this to be particularly useful with the PS2 and Wii.
Just because you've changed the way you play doesn't mean you're right now, I'll play my games the way I want, you should too.
Ive had too many issues where emulators don't correctly emulate, and marr the music, sound FX, or just have glitches like that sound and gameplay desyncing over time. Sucks when 40 hours later the audio is 3 seconds behind.
Emulation can only ever be "good enough", games were designed for their specific consoles back in the day and thats always the superior way. Whether you care or not is up to you.
Besides, the feel of playing retro on original hardware is so much better than the soulless experience of just running it off your PC. It just doesn't hit the same.
Simplest answer: To play it the way it was intended.
Couldn’t agree more
Si a huevo i agree 2 pal...
Modded Original Hardware is the way to go. Incase the games become more expensive. Also Flashcarts. Modding a Xbox Original, GameCube, or PS2, helps ALOT in playing the games. And on in its original forms. And the fact that you could through in SNES and stuff too on them if you can't afford a SNES. And if you got SNES and other Cartridge consoles. Flashcarts are the best way to have all your games to play through.
I do both, mainly OG hardware. And emulate things that i just can't get ahold of, like silent hill. I love. Hearing that bios screen every time on boot up and looove using a real memory card. Recently found a conplete copy of Parasite Eve and i'm currently playing that on my OG PS2 slim.
Obviously all subjective. As an adult I do wanna have an actual game boy tho.
About save states, i love them. They’re a net positive for me. Being able to save just before a boss fight begins instead of back tracking each time is great.
I can relate with being able to use them in ways that cheapen the experience, but that’s why I don’t want to use them that way, and to someone else it could make it better rather than cheapen it.
More importantly, I desire not just the original hardware, but also the original media, i.e. original cartridges. Flashcarts and disk simulators are absolutely a life-saver for budget reasons, but sometimes they create gaps in the saving process (carts).
I'm not into arguing about period-accurate displays or TVs, so I exclusively collect handhelds with built-in screens, but ultimately the TVs and external displays will become something no self-respecting retro gamer can avoid.
You made really interesting points and the video is very well made and understandable. Thanks m8.
Yes, make a video on the Wii U as it seems a great console to play Virtual console these days (idk if this falls under Emulation)
Without owning a Wii U back in the days I wouldn't have been introduced to games like Earthbound
I also played the shit out of first party titles such as Mario Kart 8, Splatoon, Mario Maker and the Zelda remasters
Awesome video! I use original hardware when it comes to handhelds (PSP, Gameboy etc.) but any console I gotta hook up to a TV I tend to emulate.
Yep this is me too !
Personally for me it depends on the system. Cartridge consoles for some reason even when I have all the games in the world to emulate, there’s something magical about playing with the controller and plugging the console in. But once the discs came out, it’s not quite the same.
When the emulator is solid and you can play it on a tv, so long as you can use some sort of USB or Bluetooth adapter to use the original controller, it feels pretty much the same as using the console, though a bit less magical.
The steam decks track pads make wii emulation so good.
I like hearing about your experiences.
When I missed working on my Atari Home Computers I had to turn to emulation to recover the experience.
It was OK, but somehow just not the same. I finally had to get a USB adapter for my old CX40 joystick so I could play the games the way I used to.
I recently got back all my old Atari computer stuff after thirty years. My beloved Atari 800 still seems to work OK but the keyboard doesn't work at all. This is a known problem and just requires some repair. My 1200XL is wonky and prints wrong characters on the screen. I don't know what's going on there, but I have a spare keyboard if I need it.
The Atari 400 I bought used for $20 in 1985 still works just like the day I bought it because I thought it looked cute. At the time, I upgraded its RAM to 48K so it could run all the software my 800 could.
The disk drives and cassette drive need work to run correctly again, but the cartridges I had still work just fine.
At about the same time I got all my old hardware back I also bought the new Atari VCS game console and the 400 mini with several included fully licensed games. But these new Atari machines include new versions of controllers that I'm finding troublesome. And, yes, both of these new machines actually run emulators that will allow me to add my own games if I have them on a USB drive.
When I was a kid we didn't have video games. I had already graduated high school before I started playing pinball machines. I did get to play the first video arcade game, Computer Space, in a pop-up pinball arcade tent at the Ohio State Fair (we called the game "Rockets and Saucers" but it was the first commercially available video arcade game).
I was interested in computers and fascinated by Pong, Space Invaders, Asteroids, and Pac Man. I shoveled pocketfuls of quarters into Missile Command, Breakout, Lunar Lander, BattleZone, Centipede and Dig Dug.
I was never interested in the original Atari VCS (2600) because of its primitive graphics. Also, I couldn't program it. But when my wife let me buy my Atari 800 on closeout for $299 after the 1200XL was released, I got as many of those old games that I could for my computer.
I had turned my emulator down to 70% speed so I could better beat Missile Command, but it was unsatisfying. I think I would feel the same way about the Save States and Fast Forward that you mention. But actually playing games at all on my emulator is unsatisfying.
On my new game Atari systems, the new controllers frustrate me. My new Atari VCS had the arcade version of Missile command that looks just like it did in the arcades, but the Classic Joystick is just too "hot" to work well with the game. I find it hard to control because it sends the cursor to the far corners of the screen at the slightest touch. I'm having trouble getting the Modern Controller to work with it at all. I tried using my old Atari CX22 Trak Ball Controller with my USB adapter, and it works MUCH better at controlling the cursor (Missile Command was the first arcade game that offered a Track Ball controller), but the trigger only launches missiles from the center missile base, not from the missile bases at either side of the screen.
As it is, I'm back on my old Atari 400 (the membrane keyboard isn't nearly as bad as everyone says), largely because I find the gameplay more satisfying.
I would like to have a handheld game system, but they all seem to be aimed at Nintendo and I don't get it.
The Atari systems are less processor intensive and so, easier to emulate. But everyone seems to only want to emulate the 2600 games.
I also have an old Atari 7800 that came with almost two dozen game cartridges. I had to buy a power supply through eBay for it, but the game controllers don't work. I'll have to wait until new ones are released on Amazon, like the CX30 paddle controllers. My old ones don't work anymore, so I can't play breakout on my old machines or on my new ones, and I need to get new controllers. Amazon says these will be released in June. Both of these controllers have a "+" after the model number so I'm guessing we might be getting a new Atari 7800+ to go along with the Atari 2600+.
I would be reluctant to look for hardware as old as this on eBay, even though I did buy a power supply and that was OK. I'm not looking to buy more game cartridges because they've become collectors items, even if they don't work right. Don't forget to check Goodwill and thrift stores. Often they don't realize what they have.
Even more so for the consoles and game systems needed to play these cartridges. "Original hardware" in good working order is getting harder and harder to find, and much more expensive. I'm lucky to have what I already bought thirty and forty years ago. Some of it even still works.
I got a modern device for my Atari 400 that will let me load software from a Micro SD card, so I can load all my emulator games onto my original hardware.
Emulatores aint bad but original hardware well always be the best
I play whatever I can afford on old consoles, if I can’t afford a certain game, I’ll emulate it
I'm not going to spend 500 dollars for a Gameboy on Ebay.
As far as original ds emulation goes, about five years ago I found the perfect solution. Emulate on an android phone with a Bluetooth controller.
I personally use an old snes30 from 8bitdo though they don’t make them anymore, feels just like the original Super Nintendo controller which makes it feel like you’re playing on the game boy.
8bitdo makes an attachment so you can put your phone on the top of the controller, which makes it feel even more like a game boy/ds. However when you have your phone sideways, it has the screens side by side which can be a little weird when there’s cut screens, but the android emulator runs flawlessly on 8 year old android phones so any new device should have no problem. The touch screen works too.
Played Pokémon heart gold that way and it was about as close as I could come, I was immersed! Obviously this works for game boy/advance games too. It’s the next best thing.
As far as a controller though since 8bitdo stopped making the snes controllers, opting to put two joysticks on them, if you want a wireless snes controller just buy an old snes controller that the buttons still work on, and buy 8bitdo’s Bluetooth mod kit for snes controllers. Cheaper than Nintendo’s Bluetooth snes controllers and actually has Nintendo branding too.
ds emulation is perfect on a wii u or a steam deck. 3ds emulation is perfect on my steam deck paired with a 3d tv and some upscaling
@@TheRetroGamerBayWait, does the 3DS 3D work on a 3D TV?
@@user-vi4xy1jw7e citra has an option for SBS 3d which my TV supports
Love playing on my new shell, back lit GBC, modded GBA SP, and enjoying N64 with the Brawler 64 controller.
Awesome video! I'm very partial to gba and ds lite - I completely agree with you about emulation versus OG - I pick OG personally if I'm able. Gained a sub here :)😊
11:18 love me some retro game over screens “too bad battlebarf” 😂
I have NEVER emulated a single game!
i can emu ds on my pc with a touchscreen. you can also do 3d with red blue 3d glasses
Title: Why you should play Retro Games on the Original Hardware
Thumbnail: OG Pokemon on a Gameboy Color
Emulation is pretty great now . Anbernic and Miyoo making hardware around it is only making things better.
With WATA Games ruining retro game prices, I don’t think the original hardware experience matters much anymore
I lived through this and I hoarded like many objects that I would inevitably sell. These were not cherished items but impulse purchases. The way one would buy several Nintendo Switches today is no different to how people would obtain records in the past. You’ve never had to wade through filler music, which is garbage on most albums designed to serve an industry. Sometimes the bulk of an album track list would be entirely different in tone to what was advertised on MTV (Eminem and Marilyn Manson albums spring to mind, immediately).
This is how items become used. Physical objects were as disposable as they are today. Romanticism is the path the collective misery. I do not miss not having a smart phone and missing calls or information as it is happening (or a text these days) and having 1TB on two Switches is amazing! _There is no value in romanticizing anything._ It only feeds an opportunistic political machine (that serves corporations, their incompetence, fear of the future, sloth which would lead to our own ultimate _disempowerment)_ and as it has always been, _before you were born._
No sale.
You may have _seen_ a rotary phone, you never had to use one, daily. Nor known the joy of upgrading to a touch tone phone… _Influencers know nothing and are dangerously ignorant._ Youth can be forgiven, but you’re speaking nonsense. No one misses the objects they’ve purposefully parted with. There’s no value in owning a clunky DMG Game Boy when I can just have the cadence of a game on a console I and many others _have been done with for decades._ Internet Rhetoric is as valueless and much as it Chafes.
I've got an AV Famicom, SNES Jr, Genesis Model 1 w/ Sega CD Model 1, PC Engine white model w/ SSDS3, and original Sony PlayStation, all RGB-modded and sitting in storage, because the MiSTer replicates them perfectly and even allows me to use the original controllers for all these consoles. I don't bother with save states myself, I play as if I was using a console. and then I've got Analogue Pocket for handheld games. These more modern solutions to replicate these old games and consoles on a transistor level via FPGA are much more preferable to me, even when I have the real hardware available.
About DS emulation, there are newer smartphones that have two screens, like the Samsung Galaxy Z-Fold. You can emulate DS games as if you were playing them on an actual DS. Look up the Android emulator, DraStic.
That’s awesome! I gotta look into that
Look what your doing to poor Mario 😂
I agree with most of this video. Emulation is a great tool but it does change the way you play the games. Not to mention that the vast majority of emulators have a noticeably higher input latency than original hardware.
Only thing I disagree with was that a Wii U is worth getting, I got one launch week and will go to war over hating the system :P
From what I understand of the wii u it was at least a good system but the marketing/name is what killed it honestly even to this day I'm still kinda confused on what it actually is on if its just the tablet or if it had the actual console with it or if it was just like an extra piece of hardware for the wii
@@BorderFreak I got a Wii u launch week. It's not a good system. Library was very weak, backwards compatibility and Virtual Console had issues, OS was slow af, it was underpowered, controller was clunky and useless. The marketing was a problem but even with perfect marketing it was a bad console.
@@GhabulousGhoti I also got my Wii U on launch day, and I don't think the library is weak. Most of it has been ported to the Switch nearly as-is and was met with great success. The main issue always was that all of theses great games released too late into the console life-cycle (I remember we had to wait nearly 2 years between launch and the first true wave of anticipated first party games like MK8).
Backwards compatiblity worked perfectly for me (Wii games worked exactly like on original hardware, just like Gamecube game worked on Wii) and Gamecube games worked like a charm through Nintendont. That's the main strength of the Wii U hardware: it's basically an overclocked Wii CPU with 3 cores instead of 1 combined with a much more powerful GPU (which includes the full Hollywood GPU from the Wii for backward compatibility) and 2 GB of RAM. As for the Virtual Console, I remember that some systems like the NES were awful, but others ran great like SNES games. N64 was not the best but fine, maybe better than the Switch Online emulator (to be fair the N64 was never really emulated well, and I personally recommend playing on original hardware if possible).
The OS was indeed very slow, especially for the first couple of years. It was optimized a bit over the years but even now it remains one of the slowest console OS ever. The CPU was indeed underpowered, that's the Achilles'heel of the hardware. I suspect Nintendo wanted to stay as close as possible to the architecture and instruction set used for the Wii and Gamecube to enable perfect backward compatibility, but as a result the CPU is not powerful at all (a bit slower than the 360's Xenon and PS3's CELL). The GPU however holds itself pretty well (more powerful than the 360's Xenos and PS3's RSX).
My biggest gripe with the Gamepad is the weigth but overall it is much more ergonomic than one would think seeing it from afar. The integrated screen served me well when playing while the TV was used, even if it was never really used effectively as a second screen in game. The Pro controller was missing the rumble feature but it has one of the best battery life of all controllers I've ever used (I mesured it at more than 70 hours, which is kind of insane).
The Wii U in itself was not a terrible system hardware-wise (except for the slow-ish CPU), the main issue was marketing and the game library taking ages to release in the first half of the console life-cycle (just like on 360 and PS3 from 2005/2006 to the end of 2008).
Dude! I just did a retro console collection on my channel. I just subbed to you today.
as far as portable emulation goes, modded 3ds for game gear, gb, gbc, gba, psp, ds, ps vita and of course pirated 3ds games, steam deck for just about any main console it can run and you're good to go. as for home emulation, pc is king
The cut of point for original hardware for me is 6th gen hardware. 5th gen and below hardware is unreliable and their pcb are beginning to fail.
I prefer emulation devices for multiple reasons: can have more games, larger screens (the Gameboy color i have with the backlit screen mod is nice but geez, my poor eyes) also ergonomics for more adult sized hands.
I'd say some consoles are worth it, but when it comes to nintendo handhelds, I'd recommend just getting a 3ds and softmodding it to play all the old games, or a vita to play psp and ps1 games. They both have that "official hardware" feel, and are better than the older consoles. Especially with nintendo, considering a 3ds can play every ds game perfectly and almost every gba game besides like 1 or 2
I definitely do not agree that save states ruin games.
It's the mentality you have.
If I'm up at 3 am grinding Metroid fusion and I gotta go to bed... You best believe I'm using save state. I didn't sacrifice sleep for work for nothing 😅
Almost all the gimmicks you mentioned for the gba are available in an emulator. Will agree that DS is still a little awkward to control cause we don't have easy access to two screens though.
I think that using the original controller is important to replicate the feel of the game however some systems have multiple controllers so I don't know which one to go with.
This applies to handhelds as well when someone says play on original hardware do they mean you have to use an original Gameboy advance and not an SP or an original DS over a DS lite? What counts as "original hardware" do I have to use one of the Xbox 360s that don't have HDMI? Etc
To me original hardware is if it doesn’t use any sort of emulation to play the game. Like using a ps2 to play ps1 games to me is still original hardware.
I collect games digitally, or should I say - have collected most of them. I love emulation for emulations sake, but yes, I prefer to play my copies on modded original hardware when I can - and with almost all original consoles.........I can.
Great video. But I feel so old now. 😂
Love the modded Game Boy Color
I though the same too but is just necessary in the case where the hardware has something to do with the gameplay for example dreamcast with the vmu functionality or Wii U gamepad, in the other cases just find the controller for that console and connect it to the pc and that's all, same experience.
There's so many games that are improved by ROM hacks, cheats, hardware hacks (CPU overclocking, removing sprite limits, etc) and input lag reduction (e.g. RetroArch's runahead) that sticking to the real thing would be very limiting in my opinion.
So if you're going to play things on original Hardware there's nothing wrong with giving like fake games on Etsy you save a bunch of money you still get the nostalgic feeling and most of them are usually perfectly fine there are some games I don't want to pay $300 to play on original consoles as much as the game is a lot of fun if I can go and pick up a copy of it for $20 and it works some of us remember playing NES some of those games are going for a fortune also keep in mind you can get the mini consoles like the PlayStation that was not very good out-of-the-box ended up getting a bunch of them dirt cheap and I ordered a bunch of flash drives off of AliExpress at the time they were like 20 bucks I think it was like the crackhead pack and it's pretty cool thing
100% agree. using the right controller att he right scale and speed can chnage games so much. some games I hated on emulators but loved on original hardware!
What's Cregs list?
It feels like these prices need to be forcibly smacked down
I am not paying these prices to the used market / third party sellers that are selling used games for $100+. Nintendo doesn’t see a cent of it.
I will emulate until Nintendo provides a legitimate alternative.