The Emulation Thread

[ManchestrMorgue]

Use this thread to discuss emulation, including:

Arcade Machine Emulation (eg MAME)
Computer Emulation (eg WinUAE for Amiga, VICE for earlier Commodore machines)
Console/games machine emulation (Atari 2600, Vectrex, etc)

Personally I find emulators fascinating. Especially realising that a low end computer today can emulate, in software, arcade machines of the past that were the pinnacle of gaming technology at the time.

It is not just mapping the instruction set of the emulated CPU, but the ancillary chips, timings, etc. So the computer that is doing the emulating has to be many times more powerful than the emulated system. Amazing then that a Nintendo DS can even emulate some of the less taxing systems!

My favourites include:

MAME, because I spent heaps on the earlier games when they were new and in the arcades

WinUAE for Amiga emulation - I had an Amiga 1000 when they first came out, and it was seriously cutting-edge at the time. The games were a step ahead of any other system on the market, besides the Atari ST, its only natural predator. WinUAE has really improved with the newer releases - much more user friendly.

VICE, for Commodore 64 and Vic 20 emulation. Again, I had both of these machines when they were new. Got the Commodore 64 when it first came out, with a tape deck which was so incredibly slow. Like, put in a tape of a game to load, have dinner, come back and it would be just about done. Later added a disk drive, dot matrix printer, monitor instead of TV, and a 300bps modem :D

Stella - for Atari 2600 emulation. The Atari pre-dated any of my computers, and at the time was the duck's nuts of console gaming. Today, the games look ancient.

[Despare]

I've used just about every emulator out there. Most recently I've been fiddling with the CPS3 emulation and I'd have to say my favorite emulation memories stem from Nesticle and Genecyst.

[ManchestrMorgue]

Nesticle is fun, there were some great games on the NES.

Magnavox Odyssey emulator (?Odyemu) is interesting. The Odyssey was an analogue computer, so emulating it is a bit different to emulating digital computers. I remember having a similar device before the Atari 2600 (can't remember what it was, but it wasn't from Magnavox). Basically a Pong game with different sizes and numbers of "racquets" to produce games such as tennis, football, etc. So basic :)

[Despare]

Have you ever checked out www.emuasylum.com ?

It used to be emusa and has always had the best emulators.

[Phalanx]

I've been using MAME and DEGA recently.

Still waiting on a good Atari Lynx (system never came out here) and Sega Saturn emulator...I played an alright saturn one a while ago, but it was far from perfect.

Too bad emulation isn't legal...they could finance people to work on it, and all those games could run perfectly, and be available for download at a reasonable price (hopefully)...think about it...it's not as though they wouldn't make enough cash, I know I for one would fully support it, if it meant better quality experience.

[ManchestrMorgue]

Originally Posted by Despare

Have you ever checked out www.emuasylum.com ?

It used to be emusa and has always had the best emulators.

That's a great site.

planetemu.net is another good one - lots of amiga adf images.

[ManchestrMorgue]

Originally Posted by Phalanx

I've been using MAME and DEGA recently.

Still waiting on a good Atari Lynx (system never came out here) and Sega Saturn emulator...I played an alright saturn one a while ago, but it was far from perfect.

Too bad emulation isn't legal...they could finance people to work on it, and all those games could run perfectly, and be available for download at a reasonable price (hopefully)...think about it...it's not as though they wouldn't make enough cash, I know I for one would fully support it, if it meant better quality experience.

Yes it is a shame. Especially since older computers were never viewed until reasonably recently as having much historical value. It is sad to see that some of the old games are probably lost forever. For example, the original version of Balance of Power for the Amiga (not the update which I think was done in 1986). I used to have the original one when I had an Amiga and it was an amazingly deep strategy game for its time. The author of the game actually has the later version for free download on the web, but last time I checked the original wasn't there

Arctic Fox for the Amiga is another one that doesn't seem to be available. There are a few images going around but sadly I haven't seen one that works. This was a great game - one of the very earliest first person perspective shooters.

I would gladly pay for both of these games in their original form.

[Phalanx]

My first "computer" was something called an AMSTRAD from memory...I was pretty young then, but I remember 2 games I used to love to play on it.
One was Batman, that you viewed top-down, more of a puzzle game than anything, you had to run around avoiding traps and collecting items.
The other was called "Roland in space" which I can't remember AT ALL, just that I loved it...it would be interesting to know if this system was ever successfully emulated, as it ran something like audio-tapes as games.
Anyone ever play it?

So, what's the last emulated game anyone here played?
I fired up Alex Kidd in Miracle World with friends a little while ago, but we were too drunk to play, ha.
Bomberman world, one of my favourite games, is what I played last in MAME.

[Despare]

Last emulated game I played was Barbarian for the C64, I used to love playing that when I was younger. My uncle would pirate thousands of C64 disks and we'd alway have a ton of games.


Load "*" ,8 ,1

[ManchestrMorgue]

Last night I played Ports of Call for the Amiga.

It's a pretty good game about international shipping. You have to start a shipping company, buy ships, and then send them around the world transporting cargo for money. I had it on the Amiga when it was new.

Also played some 1942 and Metal Slug 2 on MAME.