# Anybody Still Play Games From Back In the Day On An Emulator? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 31, 2007, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-still-play-games-from-back-in-the-day-on-an-emulator/398211 "2007-03-31T14:01:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2007, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-still-play-games-from-back-in-the-day-on-an-emulator/398211/1 "2007-03-31T14:01:17Z")
All of this “modern” gaming has passed me by to some degree. Like in many aspects of my life, I am stuck in the 80’s like the Brady Bunch movies except later. A couple of years ago, I found out that free emulators can let you play most any console game from back in the day. I have a Commodore 64 emulator which was my first computer love. I use it mainly for experimenting just like I did when I was 9 but I screw around with some games as well. However, my original Nintendo emulator gets some serious use as a gaming machine. I still choose to believe that [Tecmo Bowl](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tecmo_Bowl) is the finest game released on any platform for reasons that are hard to articulate unless you play it for an hour. I am not even a big sports fan but this simple football game has what it takes. Tecmo Super Bowl is also great but despite being a more sophisticated sequel, just barely misses that certain something. So, do we have any regular travellers to a simpler time here? ---
**Author:** ![Chum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3ab097/32.png) [@Chum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chum)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2007, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-still-play-games-from-back-in-the-day-on-an-emulator/398211/2 "2007-03-31T14:23:26Z")
My boyfriend has an Xbox and an Xbox 360. I’ve tried to play his games (like Halo), but I cannot get used to the controls and I get dizzy. He modded his Xbox (shh!) and put on a ton of Nintendo and SNES emulators so I can play Zelda and Mario all I want. I definitely prefer older video games. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2007, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-still-play-games-from-back-in-the-day-on-an-emulator/398211/3 "2007-03-31T14:23:35Z")
I use DosBox a lot. It keeps getting improved with each release–several years ago, I would never have been able to play Wing Commander Privateer in it. Now I can do so easily. And it emulates all the memory properly, so I didn’t have to sit there and mess around with freeing enough EMS and XMS to play a game like Privateer. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2007, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-still-play-games-from-back-in-the-day-on-an-emulator/398211/4 "2007-03-31T14:26:43Z")
My wife and I just finished Ocarina of Time for the first time last night, on an emulator. We constantly play old games, from the King’s Quest series to Monkey Island and Myst. We prefer them too. ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2007, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-still-play-games-from-back-in-the-day-on-an-emulator/398211/5 "2007-03-31T14:40:43Z")
[QUOTE=Mahaloth] My wife and I just finished Ocarina of Time for the first time last night, on an emulator. We constantly play old games, from the King’s Quest series to Monkey Island and Myst. We prefer them too. [/QUOTE] _Ocarina of Time_: one of the best games ever. If someone would be kind enough to post where and how various emulators can be obtained, and the general specs required…? ---
**Author:** ![capybara](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/capybara/32/202_2.png) [@capybara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capybara)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2007, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-still-play-games-from-back-in-the-day-on-an-emulator/398211/6 "2007-03-31T14:45:57Z")
We may or may not, depending on legalities which are a gray area (emulator ROMS are fuzzy gray colored), have a setup like Chum’s boy; if we did we’d have epic Xevious and Galaga/Galaxian/etc days. Zelda and Castlevania and all that, too. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2007, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-still-play-games-from-back-in-the-day-on-an-emulator/398211/7 "2007-03-31T15:02:54Z")
[QUOTE=DSYoungEsq] _Ocarina of Time_: one of the best games ever. If someone would be kind enough to post where and how various emulators can be obtained, and the general specs required…? [/QUOTE] I don’t think emulators themselves are a problem. They are usually reverse engineered versions of defunct consoles. Computer science students often build them as part of a project and put them out for all to use. You can just google for X emulator and there are probably several. Read the reviews to find the best one for you. The only (slight) problem is usually configuring the joystick and maybe the sound. All modern computers are ridiculously more powerful than the original systems ever were so I doubt there are any spec problems. From there, you have to come up with your own ROMS (images of the games). This usually falls under the category of abandonware although it is theoretically possible to create your own from old cartridges. Lets just say that Google is a big help on how it acquire these. All common consoles have pages dedicated to it. ---
**Author:** ![Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2007, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-still-play-games-from-back-in-the-day-on-an-emulator/398211/8 "2007-03-31T15:35:12Z")
I also have no interest in modern gaming, but I hypothetically have had loads of fun with NES and SNES emulators. ---
**Author:** ![Arrimus\_2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f08c70/32.png) [@Arrimus\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arrimus_2)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2007, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-still-play-games-from-back-in-the-day-on-an-emulator/398211/9 "2007-03-31T16:10:33Z")
I nearly became an emulator user. Doesn’t count, I know. But, a friend recently acquired such a thing to emulate Sega Genesis’ _Nobunaga’s Ambition_. He wished to share, but my mad-ass kompyootaur skillz are sorely lacking… Arrimus ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2007, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-still-play-games-from-back-in-the-day-on-an-emulator/398211/10 "2007-03-31T17:21:29Z")
I am the world’s most clueless and incompetent gamer. When I started working on _The Uninvited_, it ran natively on my Mac SE. It took 3 generations of Macs and two cheatsheets discovered on the internet (the first one, merely consisting of clues, didn’t do the job; a decade or so later I gave up and found a total spoiler guide) and of course by then I was running it in vMac, a Mac Plus emulator. Time to beat game (required total-spoiler cheat guide): 14 years I did make it through _Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets_ though, and in less than a year at that, so maybe I’m not totally a lost cause? ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Carrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Captain\_Carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Carrot)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2007, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-still-play-games-from-back-in-the-day-on-an-emulator/398211/11 "2007-03-31T17:49:28Z")
A lot of my friends play Super Smash Brothers on Project64, an N64 emulator. I much prefer Super Smash Brothers Melee myself, but since my Cube is currently at school,… ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2007, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-still-play-games-from-back-in-the-day-on-an-emulator/398211/12 "2007-03-31T17:54:31Z")
[QUOTE=capybara] We may or may not, depending on legalities which are a gray area (emulator ROMS are fuzzy gray colored), have a setup like Chum’s boy; if we did we’d have epic Xevious and Galaga/Galaxian/etc days. Zelda and Castlevania and all that, too. [/QUOTE] Hey, you! Stop playing games and get back to the business of powering the server here! 😛 Well, at least now I know why the frequent timeouts… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2007, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-still-play-games-from-back-in-the-day-on-an-emulator/398211/13 "2007-03-31T17:57:05Z")
MAME is one of the best programs ever invented. I can play arcade games from the Golden Age all day long thanks to that program. ---
**Author:** ![Clockwork\_And\_Candy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b782af/32.png) [@Clockwork\_And\_Candy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clockwork_And_Candy)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2007, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-still-play-games-from-back-in-the-day-on-an-emulator/398211/14 "2007-03-31T18:04:42Z")
I play Castlevania 3: Dracula’s Curse on my NES emulator at least once a week. And Golden Axe, Sonic & Knuckles, Castlevania: Bloodlines and Splatter House 3 get re-played every once in a while through the magic of [del]time travel[/del] Kega. ---
**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2007, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-still-play-games-from-back-in-the-day-on-an-emulator/398211/15 "2007-03-31T19:40:04Z")
MAME for arcade games, and NESticle for NES games are my favorites for those platforms. I cant remember what I use for SNES. I dont emulate PS1 or N64 games b/c I’d rather buy them for cheap. ---
**Author:** ![MostlyClueless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@MostlyClueless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MostlyClueless)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2007, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-still-play-games-from-back-in-the-day-on-an-emulator/398211/16 "2007-03-31T19:58:28Z")
I still do, but it’s hard to sift through the crap to find the genuinely good games. Can anyone maybe give some recommendations for snes / genesis games that aren’t mainstream (pretty sure I’ve got those), yet still awesomely good? ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2007, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-still-play-games-from-back-in-the-day-on-an-emulator/398211/17 "2007-03-31T20:04:01Z")
Civ 2, here. And I still enjoy it. ---
**Author:** ![Darkhold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@Darkhold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darkhold)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2007, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-still-play-games-from-back-in-the-day-on-an-emulator/398211/18 "2007-03-31T20:06:36Z")
For the life of me I couldn’t get my wife to show an interest in computer games (aside from Sims 2 and titles like Theme Hospital) Then I downloaded an emulator package that had all the English games from the Snes/Genesis generation and before and now we play together all the time much to my joy. Please if anyone knows some good two player games that aren’t fighting games or racing games aside from Mario Cart I’d LOVE to hear any recommendations. Thanks in advance. ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2007, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-still-play-games-from-back-in-the-day-on-an-emulator/398211/19 "2007-03-31T20:08:30Z")
What do you kids use for a controller when you play these games on your PC? ---
**Author:** ![MostlyClueless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@MostlyClueless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MostlyClueless)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2007, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-still-play-games-from-back-in-the-day-on-an-emulator/398211/20 "2007-03-31T20:16:43Z")
[QUOTE=Omniscient] What do you kids use for a controller when you play these games on your PC? [/QUOTE] You can buy a general-use controller at any computer shop for $15 or less. These days, most computers won’t have much problems recognising it, it’s mostly plug-and-play. Otherwise, simply mapping the keys to the keyboard works just as well for me. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-still-play-games-from-back-in-the-day-on-an-emulator/398211.md?page=2)