old versus older? Retro gaming.

[scoobydoo]

I wanted to converse about this with members.


It is quite remarkable to me how one's idea of retro gaming varies.


That is to say, there are people out there who only consider TRUE retro gaming gaming to be with all the original hardware and software. Otherwise, anything else is rubbish including of course and specifically emulator machines [including phones,tablets, etc,.].


There are others, such as myself, who appreciate both modes. Needless to say, there still are certain gaming devices the best emulator machines cannot emulate...yet . For example, my beloved Dreamcast machine. Ahhh yes another forum beaten to the core So having the best of both worlds of retro gaming is advantageous to me.


I know people who just feel the true experience of retro gaming is marred using the emulator devices. Very intelligent people, who own thousands of dollars worth of gaming equipment and who publish reviews on the web. Serious collectors to say the least and staunch in their opinion on what retro gaming is mean't to be.


Others, again such as myself, get the adrenaline rush knowing I have thousands of quality retro games in my hand on such a well made gizmo. The thrill of the chase, seeking and finding various emulators,roms can be a rewarding quest. Having software sorted like this is not only a blast of the past at my fingertips but a feeling of conquest and power.Just knowing I have a great rare game that goes on ebay for hundreds or thousands of dollars is so satisfying. For example ,TETRIS by SEGA[Genesis]!!


I noticed at the recent expo the plethora of retro hardware out there versus handheld emulators. Seeing this manifested this thread.


Why the disparage amongst people and do you think this potentially could hurt Pandora sales? I realize the Pandora is more than a gaming device but IMHO retro gaming is it's bread and butter .


Oh well then ,my rant. I had to get this off my chest. Sorry if I bored you and wasted time you will never get back :angry: .


Cheers!

 

[Sugar_Kane]

Ultimately emulation is the best way to enjoy retro gaming, as you can still use the original pads but you get the added benefits of enhanced visuals (without having to buy expensive converting equipment), greater access to rare and multi region games, you can store an entire rooms worth of equipment and games onto a single SD card, and most importantly; save states - I love my old games as much as anybody, but some of them require so much more patience and time than I have to give these days that save states are a real life line to enjoying them again.


I did enjoy collecting megadrive and megacd games for many years, but recently I had to sell them all off to cover some debts. Amazingly I didn't feel sad about it because I made a shit ton of money, freed up a large amount of space, I couldn't enjoy them properly without a CRT TV which I no longer have, and I have my pandora whispering "don't worry, mate, I've got you covered" into my ear.

 

[F_Slim]

I don't know why everything has to be turned into a religious quest, with only one true and pure way of doing things, and everyone who says or does differently is a blasphemous bastard that does not deserve to even speak?


Live and let live.


I can see the thrill of having the original hardware and all that. But I can also see the thrill and/or convenience to just use an emulator on your normal PC, or carry all your digital childhood memories in your pocket.


True, there's nothing like booting your Amiga, insert the floppy and kkrnrnnnnnnnnrrrnnkkk-pt-pt-pt-tp-kkkkrrrnnnnnnkklnglnglng


No Emulator can do that for you, playing a .wav file just isn't the same!


On the other hand I can tell my emulator to speed up things and reduce loading times more to what we are used to nowadays, and hey: that's great! Even back in the days I sometimes thought it took way too long to load something.


Sure, playing an old game with a different controller also isn't the same. On the other hand, I bought a USB Competition Pro joystick in case I feel like I need to grab a real stick and not fiddle on some tiny D-Pad. (Probably I could even buy an adapter and really use my old joysticks) Although some games seem to work better and are more fun (sometimes hurt your hand less) using a modern gamepad.


There are pros and cons for every stages of retro gaming, and there is not just "1" and "0" in the real world.


I even enjoy retro-remakes, some of them are even better than the original game (although that happens rarely)

 

[Prometheus]

I can't say I've really seen that sort of attitude - it's the first time I've really seen any suggestion that this is anything that could hurt Pandora sales.


Myself, for the most part I do prefer the real hardware when I have the room and the time to hook it up. The exception to this is disc-based systems, because the media is much more delicate - for those, I ripped my discs (I highly recommend ImgBurn for this - it works via WINE) and use emulators exclusively.


That said, I have my Pandora because it's certainly handy to have almost all of the games I own on one device with TV-out capability as well as portability.

 

[Blue Protoman]

Different strokes for different folks. I myself actually prefer the real hardware for the "feel", but I simply don't have the time, space, or money for it all. So I stick with, err, emulation. Much more convenient for me.

 

[skeezix]

I'm a hardware collector (arcade machines and old computers), and also an emu author. Clearly, one is 'better' than the other, but I'll leave it as an exercise for the reader


ie: Original hardware is moer accurate and often the original feel is better (more 'appropriate'.) Playing Defender with the original painful button layout was how it was designed.. playing on a dpad on an emu is _not_ the same. QBert had a hammer in the cabinet to knock on the side of the machine when he died, and you _cannot_ represent that in an emu, just as you cannot accurately represent the vector brightness on a CRT or LCD than a real vector monitor.


You also cannot easily collect 100 arcade machines, nor carry more than zero in your pocket.


So a 'retro enthusiast' is into 'retro games' (older games) say; if someone prefers one form over another thats fine, but if they dislike one over the other, theres a word for that .. 'snobbery.'


Theres a third category of course -- putting an emu into an arcade cabinet for instance, so you can have a similar feel, similar look, yet the convenience of switching games on a menu instead of swapping pcboards..


.. or using a flash cart on your SNES, awesome as hell.


--


So obviously having a pile of old consoles is superior, but who has the space? How many 30 year old 20" CRT TVs do you have to hook up all these machines to? How many entertainment units and power plugs do you have?


IF you really like SNES games, then SNES+flash cart is probabyl the best, but I imagine most retro gamer like more than 1 machine, so emus are clearly ther way to go. But if you really want to play Starfox right, you need the real SNES..


--


So, easy; they're all good, in their domain


But if you only play emus, you really should try the real thing .. playing a game where you have to flip oiver the 5.25" floppy or wait for the tape to load .. its annoying as hell, but it sometimes brings it back


jeff


edit, consider .. emulation is _not_ accurate, and is very very hard to bring it close to the real thing; dgerees of close. (Take it from someone whose written emus, mostly imperfect ones since perfection is capitol-H hard.) ie: Neo Geo .. most emus are pretty good and perfectly fine, but a very few games were written to draw a tonne of sprites and gameplay was designed to allow for the slowdown; most emus don't emulate slowdown due to over-sprite-rendering, since its hard to do that accurately or never occurred to the emu author. So some games simp do not play 'right' under emulation at all. Likewise, you _cannot_ get the right audio out of an emu .. its always 'too perfect'. So there _is_ something to be said for purists, but msot of us just say .. if you like original, coool, but if you dislike the emu, you're just being a wanker


By the same token.. emulation can let you 'mod' or tweak things, sometimes enhancing (or writing new games for old hardware withou thaving to have the hw handy..); sometimes enhancements detract (some purists argue that having savestates takes away from the game, but most people argue.. it doesn't take away from your game to not use them, if someoner else uses them


Oh man, don't get me started.. as a retro collector for 20 years, I've heard it all, and you can get me yapping for hours

 

[Prometheus]

QBert had a hammer in the cabinet to knock on the side of the machine when he died, and you _cannot_ represent that in an emu

You can do something like this, though. :lol:

So a 'retro enthusiast' is into 'retro games' (older games) say; if someone prefers one form over another thats fine, but if they dislike one over the other, theres a word for that .. 'snobbery.'

Hear hear.

But if you really want to play Starfox right, you need the real SNES..

Thanks - that reminds me, I was planning to offer a bounty (unfortunately small, as I can't put up a ton for it) on that...

 

[Caine]

While I prefer the original systems over emulation anytime, restricting myself to playing only on the original systems would mean that I would not play those games at all. I clock most my retro-gaming time whilst I am waiting or traveling.


Practicality beats purity in this regard.