14 replies to this topic

[greencoman]

Hey guys. I have been hearing about these emulators and roms and all. I was just wondering more about it. Can you put these games on you computer/home console legally and easily? I was wondering if you could put them on your console instead. I was also wondering if you can get all the games from x time to x time. Like from pong to the Dreamcast. Please help me out and where to get started.

Edited by greencoman, Fri Aug 26, 2011 2:33 AM.

[greencoman]

Of course because it is early I meant to say wondering. Now I can not go back and fix it.

[Random Terrain]

greencoman, on Fri Aug 26, 2011 2:34 AM, said:

Of course because it is early I meant to say wondering. Now I can not go back and fix it.

I was wonder about that.

[greencoman]

Thanks Random I guess I will just have to make another new topic.

[Random Terrain]

greencoman, on Fri Aug 26, 2011 3:43 AM, said:

Thanks Random I guess I will just have to make another new topic.

You can ask Albert to change it for you.

[Austin]

You can emulate most platforms from before and after the Atari 2600 up to the Nintendo Wii, depending on the power of your computer and the quality of the emulator. For instance, 2600 and PlayStation emulation is great and do not require strong computers by any means these days, but 3DO, Jaguar and Saturn emulation can be less than ideal. Obviously newer platforms, like the Dreamcast and Wii, require far more powerful computers.

Emulators themselves are legal, but ROMs of commercial software are not. Sort of. I've always been under the impression that if you own a game, then getting a ROM of it should be legal (you have the game/cart in-hand already). I could be wrong, but I don't really care--I emulate regardless. If you are concerned about it, download homebrew ROMs that are offered for free. That is legal provided the original author meant them to be available in that manner.

So, you want to set up an emulator for first-time use? Start with something simple, like the NES or Atari VCS/2600. Generally you just install the emulator, then place your ROM files in whatever folder you want. From inside the emulator, you can load the ROM, and the game will start as if you had a cartridge inserted into the original console and flipped on the power switch. Later systems, including the PlayStation, Neo-Geo CD, and more, all require extra BIOS images, so if you are confused already, don't start with them first.

To get an emulator of your choosing, find a site based around emulation. It's old, but I still revert back to Zophar's Domain by habit (zophar.net, I think?). Anyways, a quick plug on a search engine will help you find loads of other sites that host emulators.

If you want to emulate ON a console, you can do that too. Emulators exist for the Dreamcast, the XBOX, the Wii, and more. Also, you can get emulators on portable devices like the PSP, N-Gage, Zodiac, and iPhone. Some of these devices need to be cracked, hacked or jailbroken though (respectively) before you can install the emulators.

The Wii is the most ideal if you want to run emulators on a console and not a computer. It's the cheapest, it's the easiest to hack, and supposedly the easiest to use/most user-friendly after everything is loaded. The XBOX isn't as powerful as the Wii, but it's still a monster, doing everything well up through the PlayStation, even the N64 (compatibility is what hinders N64 emulation on it though). I believe if you have custom firmware on your PS3, you can emulate on that, too. It's by far the most powerful of the three named, but I'm not sure how easy it is to do, not to mention I'm not sure I'd want to do it to that since they are still relatively expensive consoles.

Edited by Austin, Mon Aug 29, 2011 8:14 PM.

[HuckleCat]

greencoman, on Fri Aug 26, 2011 2:32 AM, said:

Hey guys. I have been hearing about these emulators and roms and all. I was just wondering more about it. Can you put these games on you computer/home console legally and easily? I was wondering if you could put them on your console instead. I was also wondering if you can get all the games from x time to x time. Like from pong to the Dreamcast. Please help me out and where to get started.

Scroll down.

http://www.atariage....or-xxxx-thread/

It's a thread I made to help people like yourself with just this thing. Pretty much every machine except the Xbox, Xbox 360, and PS3 can be emulated - and most of them very well.

[onlysublime]

greencoman, on Fri Aug 26, 2011 2:32 AM, said:

Hey guys. I have been hearing about these emulators and roms and all. I was just wondering more about it. Can you put these games on you computer/home console legally and easily? I was wondering if you could put them on your console instead. I was also wondering if you can get all the games from x time to x time. Like from pong to the Dreamcast. Please help me out and where to get started.

If you're looking to do emulation on a console, pretty much the only console that can do that is Xbox1. There are tons of emulators that'll run on the old Xbox including Atari (2600, 8-bit, 7800, Lynx, etc.), Commodore (64, Amiga, etc.), MAME, NES, SNES, Sega, etc. There are emulators that'll run on the Dreamcast. But the Xbox is far more affordable and easier to manage since you just buy a big hard drive and dump all the images/games onto it. One of my Xboxes has a 500GB drive. Another has a 320GB drive. My friend put a 1 TB drive on his Xbox.

Otherwise, I think the next most promising is the PS3. The only thing about the PS3 is it's so friggin expensive. It's one thing to mod a $30 system. it's another thing to mod a $250+ system, considering the risks.

[goldenegg]

onlysublime, on Sat Sep 3, 2011 1:30 PM, said:

If you're looking to do emulation on a console, pretty much the only console that can do that is Xbox1.

The Wii is a great system to use for emulation purposes. I'd recommend it over the Xbox for that purpose.

[onlysublime]

goldenegg, on Sat Sep 3, 2011 5:41 PM, said:

onlysublime, on Sat Sep 3, 2011 1:30 PM, said:

If you're looking to do emulation on a console, pretty much the only console that can do that is Xbox1.

The Wii is a great system to use for emulation purposes. I'd recommend it over the Xbox for that purpose.

you can't get a Wii for $20-30. And the hard drive is external on the Wii.

[goldenegg]

onlysublime, on Sat Sep 3, 2011 6:53 PM, said:

goldenegg, on Sat Sep 3, 2011 5:41 PM, said:

onlysublime, on Sat Sep 3, 2011 1:30 PM, said:

If you're looking to do emulation on a console, pretty much the only console that can do that is Xbox1.

The Wii is a great system to use for emulation purposes. I'd recommend it over the Xbox for that purpose.

you can't get a Wii for $20-30. And the hard drive is external on the Wii.

You can get used Wii consoles fairly cheap. Last one I picked up for a friend was $40 off Craigslist. No need for a HDD on the Wii for emulation. You can simply use an SD card and put everything on that.

Regardless, I was mainly responding to your comment that the Xbox is the only console which can be used for emulation. It isn't.

[onlysublime]

goldenegg, on Sun Sep 4, 2011 9:09 AM, said:

onlysublime, on Sat Sep 3, 2011 6:53 PM, said:

goldenegg, on Sat Sep 3, 2011 5:41 PM, said:

onlysublime, on Sat Sep 3, 2011 1:30 PM, said:

If you're looking to do emulation on a console, pretty much the only console that can do that is Xbox1.

The Wii is a great system to use for emulation purposes. I'd recommend it over the Xbox for that purpose.

you can't get a Wii for $20-30. And the hard drive is external on the Wii.

You can get used Wii consoles fairly cheap. Last one I picked up for a friend was $40 off Craigslist. No need for a HDD on the Wii for emulation. You can simply use an SD card and put everything on that.

Regardless, I was mainly responding to your comment that the Xbox is the only console which can be used for emulation. It isn't.

I apologize if I said that the Xbox was the only console for emulation. I meant that it's the most viable option for a console. I did mention the Dreamcast and PS3 as alternatives. I didn't list the Wii and I should've. It's just that I don't commonly see a Wii that cheap.

Plus, with the Xbox1, you only need a free disc to mod it (I used CASH). I paid someone $100 to mod my Wii way back when (though it may sound expensive, back then, it was cheap). So factoring the cost of modding and a Wii system, that's why I didn't think a Wii was a good option for simple emulation.

[Rex Dart]

onlysublime, on Sun Sep 4, 2011 12:19 PM, said:

I paid someone $100 to mod my Wii way back when (though it may sound expensive, back then, it was cheap). So factoring the cost of modding and a Wii system, that's why I didn't think a Wii was a good option for simple emulation.

Haha, you got ripped off. Don't factor in your ripoff. Modding a Wii is free.

[onlysublime]

Rex Dart, on Mon Sep 5, 2011 12:22 AM, said:

onlysublime, on Sun Sep 4, 2011 12:19 PM, said:

I paid someone $100 to mod my Wii way back when (though it may sound expensive, back then, it was cheap). So factoring the cost of modding and a Wii system, that's why I didn't think a Wii was a good option for simple emulation.

Haha, you got ripped off. Don't factor in your ripoff. Modding a Wii is free.

back then, it was all hardware mod chips. and it wasn't cheap if you were an early adopter. I jumped in on mod chips early with the PS2 as well and that chip cost me about $50.

yeah, with my modded Wii, I didn't have to worry about following the softmod scene. So I assume it's progressed far? How does it handle updates?

I wasn't factoring in the cost of what I paid for my mod. I was just laying out my past history. It's not common to get a $40 Wii with game controllers.

Edited by onlysublime, Mon Sep 5, 2011 12:56 AM.

[bloodreptile]

I am having fantastic fun with Stella....I have the atari x box emulation so I play a lot of the old atari games but imagine my joy at getting to play Zaxxon Atari 2600 version after all these years...
Also my version of airlock and journey escape have seen better days... so I will have a go at them later...

So guy was selling Stella on Ebay and I thought... wait a minute ... I will just download it but i could never get it to work... now I see the error of my ways ....