I'm curious what everyone's opinion on emulators is. Some people hate them, some people love them. As for me, I like them, they don't compare to playing the games on their original console though. If I have the original game and console, that's what ill be playing the game on, however, if I don't have the game and console, if the game wasn't released in my country or if the game is ridiculously priced then I'll emulate it. Though, I think flash carts + the original system are best for those situations, however that can be pricey as well. I don't have much of a problem with them morally either, I don't emulate console newer than the ps1 and n64. If GameStop still sells the games, I won't emulate it. Coming this next console generation, I'm sure I'll be fine emulating original Xbox, ps2 and GameCube games as well. I figure theres no hurting anyone this way since if I were to buy these games, the money wouldn't be going to the game developers anyways.

So what is your opinion on emulators?

It is always better to play it on the original hardware, but if that is not an option then emulation is FINE! If the game isn't being sold by any publisher and hasn't been re-released in some online store, then why would it even be an issue?

If the developers aren't losing money, then there is no issue at all. For example, most people can't afford to or are willing to pay a hundred+ dollars for a loose earthbound cart. Should these people be punished and never get the opportunity to play the game?

Emulation is great for gaming. It gives the masses the opportunity to play amazing games of the past and appreciate them. Certain people need to get off their high horses and stop being jealous of the fact, that people can emulate their super expensive game they bought.

You can't replace a physical copy or the original hardware. It is a win win situation for everyone.

BTW if emulation didn't exist retro games would cost way more than they do even with today's prices. Not to mention games that are being translated to this day, that can only be played through emulation. Not every game gets a reproduction cart and those are very expensive.

Ah, the gray area of gaming. I've never really minded them honestly. They've kept new generations fed with games they other wise would have never experienced and given people in areas where they simply don't have access to the games access.

Personally, I like having physical cartridges and disks of the games. However, I can't go out and buy Earthbound (Mother 1) for NES with English text, my only option is a ROM of it or a Cart that's had the ROM written to it sold by a person who has no copy rights or licensing to sell it. Or I could spend half my life and a car payment finding a prototype cart.

This being said I'm a HUGE fan of the Everdrive products. I enjoy their convenience of having all my games on one cartridge. It makes life really easy to just grab my console and the everdrive and go off to a party with. Not to mention the Everdrives themselves are normally major conversation pieces by just taking them out.

I've never used any ROMs past the N64 age though and the N64 was long discontinued then. I just never felt right running ROM'ed files of non-cartridge based systems for some reason.

Quote from rampage on December 11, 2012, 15:06
I love to play the games on the real thing, but emuletor help me to play some games i could not get before, now is posible to play the Roms on the real system with the Everdriver , but is real expensive to get one of them, at least for my that I live in El Salvador, Central America, I will love to get one sega genesis Ever Drive. it will be ezer to me to play genesis game that I did not get, since here all ppl loved Nintendo and sega was not popular here

I think the everdrive is pretty much the same price everywhere as long as you're getting it from stoneagegamer. It's no surprise they're so pricey, the guy makes each one by hand!

I think emulators are pretty cool, but it has nothing on playing the game how it was intended to be played. Recently I downloaded Pokemon blue on my phone, and it has certainly revived my interest in Pokemon. One thing I didn't like about it though is how it lets you alter the game in a way. It lets you speed up the game to travel and do everything faster. I tried it and now when I play at normal speed it feels WAY too slow.I have to set it at half speed now, just to reverse what I did, lol. So they are convenient, but if it comes down to it, I would much rather be playing the game normally!