# WOOHOO!!! Emulators!!!
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woohoo-emulators/92789
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [November 11, 2001, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woohoo-emulators/92789 "2001-11-11T18:59:22Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@moe.ron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moe.ron)
#### Post date: [November 11, 2001, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woohoo-emulators/92789/1 "2001-11-11T18:59:22Z")
I just found out that these existed, and they’re so freakin cool!!! I can now play all the video games I loved while growing up. Though this will probably have an adverse effect on my GPA, I just can’t help myself. I’ve been playing the Adventures of Link for the past couple of days, and this has to be one of my favorite games of all times. The only problem is that the controls are a bit unwieldy, so I need to go out and get a controller. So what were some of your favorite games growing up?
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### Author:  [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)
#### Post date: [November 11, 2001, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woohoo-emulators/92789/2 "2001-11-11T19:01:56Z")
You just found out about these now? I’m sorry. I love emulators. I can play all my favorite games (like the original Legend of Zelda, the best video game ever.)
Of course, you do know it’s illegal, right?
(despite what the website may say, it is not legal to own them for 24 hours if you don’t have the cartrigde. If you do have the catridge, however, it might be legal, I’m not sure…)
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### Author:  [@saepiroth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saepiroth)
#### Post date: [November 11, 2001, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woohoo-emulators/92789/3 "2001-11-11T20:33:46Z")
it’s perfectly legal if you have the cartridge. i use a NES emulator to run all the stuff that i can’t since my NES got coffee spilled into it six years ago, and a GENESIS emulator to run all the Sonic stuff i have but can’t use since my SEGA Genesis crapped itself and stopped even turning on.
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### Author:  [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)
#### Post date: [November 11, 2001, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woohoo-emulators/92789/4 "2001-11-11T20:45:26Z")
I got a Commodore 64 emulator. It rocks!
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### Author:  [@Hanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hanna)
#### Post date: [November 11, 2001, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woohoo-emulators/92789/5 "2001-11-11T20:46:21Z")
Where can I find info on these emulators? I have heard of them, but don’t know much. I am looking for Super Mario 1 & 2 (Nintendo) and Sonic 1, 2, &3(Sega Genesis). I have the consoles and the cartridges, (I can take a photo if you want proof), it just that I have my Playstation (and hopefully an Xbox soon) hooked up to the spare TV and it’s a pain to unhook & rehook every time I want to play the older games. PS - I only want info if this is totally legal.
Thanks
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### Author:  [@saepiroth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saepiroth)
#### Post date: [November 11, 2001, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woohoo-emulators/92789/6 "2001-11-11T20:54:08Z")
just google on them. i won’t do links; that’s still too borderline for the mods’ taste, even if it is legal in your case.
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### Author:  [@Bossk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bossk)
#### Post date: [November 11, 2001, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woohoo-emulators/92789/7 "2001-11-11T21:37:14Z")
Nothing beats the MAME 32 emulator.
They’ve got close to 3,000 old arcade games available.
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### Author:  [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)
#### Post date: [November 11, 2001, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woohoo-emulators/92789/8 "2001-11-11T21:55:14Z")
I love emulators but not for games. I like exploring other folks’ operating systems. (How geeky is that?)
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### Author:  [@kgriffey79](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kgriffey79)
#### Post date: [November 11, 2001, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woohoo-emulators/92789/9 "2001-11-11T23:20:33Z")
Somebody mentioned the legality. Well, if you purchased the cartridge, it is very legal for you to own the ROMS. It is the same issue as songs being distributed in P2P programs. However, there is more gray area, what if you sold your game to a used video game store? I think legally you would have sold your right to use the game, but I am no lawyer. Also, many people feel they have the right to play any game that is not for sale anymore. These games have been dubbed ‘abandonware’. Abandonware is a VERY touchy subject for game companies and fans. I mean, I love playing old games, but those games are not my property and just because they exist, doesn’t mean I have the right to use them, oh nevermind.
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### Author:  [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)
#### Post date: [November 11, 2001, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woohoo-emulators/92789/10 "2001-11-11T23:40:57Z")
I downloaded Nesticle and started playing Super Mario Brothers. I couldn’t stop. I had to have a Super Mario intervention. I was losing _days._
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### Author:  [@Grok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grok)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2001, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woohoo-emulators/92789/11 "2001-11-12T02:34:33Z")
Oh man, I love the MAME emulator. It was one of the single most nostalgic experiences I’ve ever had, the first time I played it. All the old games from my misspent youth, right there for me, and no quarters needed.
It was interesting for me that, while playing the games was great of course, it was the SOUNDS that really brought it back to me. I miss the sounds of a busy 1980’s arcade.
Just the other day I bought a Dragon’s Lair game. It’s the original game animation set up to run on a PC. That just about rounds out my collection, along with my full sized Tapper arcade game!
Who wants to come over and play?
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### Author:  [@Bossk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bossk)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2001, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woohoo-emulators/92789/12 "2001-11-12T03:18:47Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Grok \*
> \*\*
>
> Just the other day I bought a Dragon’s Lair game. It’s the original game animation set up to run on a PC. That just about rounds out my collection, along with my full sized Tapper arcade game!
>
> Who wants to come over and play? \*\*
I bought the Dragon’s Lair CD, too.
Which version of Tapper do you have? Budweiser or Root Beer?
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### Author:  [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2001, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woohoo-emulators/92789/13 "2001-11-12T03:54:18Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by OpalCat \*
> \*\*I got a Commodore 64 emulator. It rocks! \*\*
I’ve had one of these for almost as long as I’ve had a PC. Hell, I even sill have my original (non-working) 64, along with a 64C and a 128!
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### Author:  [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2001, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woohoo-emulators/92789/14 "2001-11-12T15:50:45Z")
I dont like playing games on the PC much. There are emulators for almost every system except for the new ones right now, Cube, Xbox, etc.
Funny, but you can get an emulator for your Dreamcast that can play Snes games on it.
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### Author:  [@NutWrench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NutWrench)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2001, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woohoo-emulators/92789/15 "2001-11-12T16:59:12Z")
Try [WinFrotz,](http://www.cris.com/~Twist/WinFrotz/) too. 🙂
It’s a z-machine emulator that lets you play all those old Infocom text adventure games. Activision recently released Zork I, II & III into the public domain, so you’ll have something to play.
–Nut
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### Author:  [@Grok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grok)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2001, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woohoo-emulators/92789/16 "2001-11-12T17:02:43Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Bossk \*
> \*\*
>
> > [@](#):
> >
> > \*Originally posted by Grok \*
> > \*\*
> >
> > Just the other day I bought a Dragon’s Lair game. It’s the original game animation set up to run on a PC. That just about rounds out my collection, along with my full sized Tapper arcade game!
> >
> > Who wants to come over and play? \*\*
>
> I bought the Dragon’s Lair CD, too.
>
> Which version of Tapper do you have? Budweiser or Root Beer? \*\*
I have the Bud version. The game is in really great shape, having been retouched and a new panel overlay put on. The only thing it’s missing is the marquee.
I’m thinking of getting an Arkanoid too. Tapper and Arkanoid are two games one cannot really play realistically on the MAME emulator due to the unique controls.
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### Author:  [@Cabbage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cabbage)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2001, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woohoo-emulators/92789/17 "2001-11-12T17:42:23Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by NutWrench \*
> \*\*Try [WinFrotz,](http://www.cris.com/~Twist/WinFrotz/) too. 🙂
>
> It’s a z-machine emulator that lets you play all those old Infocom text adventure games. Activision recently released Zork I, II & III into the public domain, so you’ll have something to play.
>
> –Nut \*\*
Also, check out the [Annual Interactive Fiction Competition](http://ifcomp.org/). Every year a lot of new games are entered; games using the old Infocom parser. Unfortunately, I’ve never had the time to spare to really try out any of the games, but it looks like they’ve got quite a variety. All free and legal, too.
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### Author:  [@slortar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slortar)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2001, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woohoo-emulators/92789/18 "2001-11-12T17:58:56Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by AHunter3 \*
> \*\*I love emulators but not for games. I like exploring other folks’ operating systems. (How geeky is that?) \*\*
Ah, you do that, too? What’s your current favorite? My personal favorite is Basilisk–very, very accurate. Not being able to switch resolutions on the fly is annoying, but understandable…combined with hdexplore to manipulate image files, it makes mac emulation on pc very painless.
Anybody ever manage to get a dreamcast emulator running (to spell out, an emulator that runs on the Dreamcast hardware that allows your dc to run other systems’ software)?
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### Author:  [@Cleophus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cleophus)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2001, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woohoo-emulators/92789/19 "2001-11-12T22:08:06Z")
Basilisk II is sweet. Perhaps the best perk is that the emulated machines are faster than the real machines could ever be. It’s like running a Quadra 950 with an ATA/66 HD and a 100+ MHz 68040 grafted on.
slortar, what ROM dump and machine do you emulate?
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### Author:  [@Bossk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bossk)
#### Post date: [November 13, 2001, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woohoo-emulators/92789/20 "2001-11-13T06:42:21Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Grok \*
> \*\*
>
> I’m thinking of getting an Arkanoid too. Tapper and Arkanoid are two games one cannot really play realistically on the MAME emulator due to the unique controls. \*\*
I find those two relatively simple to play on the keyboard.
Paperboy and Crystal Castles, on the other hand, are damn near impossible.
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