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Emulating Yourself, Like Others DoDec 27 '01 Write an essay on this topic.
Popular Products in Video Game Accessories
The Bottom Line Revisiting the classics…. without the doctor's bill for "Gamer's Thumbs".
So the holidays are over. You've made it free and clear and the shirt is still on your back. The new year is coming and you are ready to celebrate… Or are you? Something about the last few weeks nagging you? Could it be the egg nog? The power tool you bought for your wife? Or was it that incessant nine year old who beat you at the demo of "Tony Hawk Pro Skater 27" playing at the local toy store? Nah, it couldn't be that. You've matured. You've graduated from that boxy old console experience and immersed yourself in the jet stream of cooling fans that is the PC. The zit ridden, date-less, geek of a teenager you once were has forever been replaced by the charming, Bill Gates lap-dancing, person you are today. But every time you hear the words "pole position," your palms begin to sweat, your hair returns to its natural color, and that high-pitched squeal of a voice you thought was long gone, rears its ugly head again. Don't be alarmed. You have an affliction, one that effects millions of people every day. But unlike other ailments, all the Viagra in the world can't cure this. Your disease has a name. It's called retro-gaming-itis, but fear not for there is a cure available right now on the Internet - the console emulator. Gone are the long hours you spend at night cursing yourself for selling all your prized console games and hardware on Ebay to some snot-nosed, Insync loving, Brittney spearing, 21st century brat who could never appreciate your beloved classics or give your old hardware the tender loving care it richly deserves. Console (ken'sol) me, Console (kon'sol). Now you're itching for some action. But what is this new fangled contraption that transforms my thousand dollar PC into a hundred dollar Nintendo Entertainment System? Where do I get it? Whose blood must I suck to taste the sweet richness of an apple that fell from the tree in a time long ago, ruled by myth and legend, when the gods were petty and cruel? That Atari 2600 collecting dust in your attic has more in common with the computer sitting before you then you may realize. Both have operating systems and both depend on hardware to pump silicon through their veins. Because of this shared heritage, programs, called emulators, have been created to "trick" console video games into believing they are running in their native habitat (instead of on a PC that was designed for, *gasp* business applications). Simply emulating the hardware, however, is only half the challenge. Obviously, the computer was not designed to accept the old Nintendo cartridges into its bowels (though I'm sure the tech support people reading this have plenty of the "'Sonic the Hedgehog' cartridge in the zip drive" stories). These cartridges were simply covered circuit boards with an eprom chip containing the video game's actual programming code (and graphics) in read-only memory. Thus, the task has fallen upon a few people in the community to extract the code (called rom) and place it on the Internet for download. For the math freaks in the room that's, emulator + rom = the voice in your head saying, "start the morphine drip!" Current emulators come in all shapes and sizes. Many support multiple operating systems and you can't beat the price (free!). Of course, there are some legal issues surrounding the emulator issue. Most rom sites will bombard you with legal warnings about not downloading roms that you either never bought or never paid for in the arcade (as the case may be). Also, don't expect to find any recent titles floating around in cyberspace - most rom creators stick to old games that are no longer making a profit for the companies that own the rights to them (in an effort to prevent lawsuits against them). So go ahead, pull that old Sega Genesis off the shelf to make room for the model of "Dr. Who's" tardis you built, the picture of you standing next to someone wearing a silon costume from "Battlestar Galactica," and the book of Klingon love poetry you've been saving for that "special moment." The Best of Both Worlds…Er, Without The Borg Here's a list of some of the classic roms that'll finally give you a repetitive-strain injury you can be proud of (in no particular order). Arcade Machine Games: 1. Dungeons and Dragons: Shadows over Mystara 2. Dungeons and Dragons: Tower of Doom 3. 1942 4. Outrun 5. Danny Sullivan's Indy Heat 6. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 7. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2: Turtles in Time 8. The Simpsons 9. Rampage 10. King of the Dragons (links to these roms can be found at http://www.mame.dk/ ) Sega Genesis: 1. Sonic the Hedgehog 2. Streets of Rage 3. Star Control 4. Star Flight (links to these roms can be found at http://www.freeroms.com/ ) Super Nintendo Entertainment System: 1. Super Mario RPG 2. SimCity 2000 3. SmashTV 4. Super OffRoad 5. Wing Commander 6. Wing Commander: the Secret Missions (links to these roms can be found at http://www.freeroms.com/ ) Nintendo Entertainment System: 1. Baseball Stars 2. Baseball Stars 2 3. Blades of Steel 4. California Games 5. Dragon Warrior 6. Dragon Warrior 2 7. Dragon Warrior 3 8. The Legend of Zelda (links to these roms can be found at http://www.freeroms.com/ ) Top Emulators http://www.mame.net/ -- the Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator, emulates the classic coin-op arcade machines. Is very stable and runs on multiple platforms. It is very difficult for the newbie to figure out exactly how it works and what buttons are needed to push to insert coins and the like. Just stick with it! You'll be glad you did. Has the ability to cheat with an add-on text file that can be downloaded at the above site. http://www.zsnes.com/ -- ZSNES, emulates the Super Nintendo Entertainment System and runs on both Windows and DOS machines. Beyond it being incompatible with a few SNES roms floating around, I haven't had any troubles with it. It includes the ability to cheat by modifying game registers while playing, and you can save your games as you play (whether or not the original games have save capabilities). http://www.retrogames.com/ -- GNES, emulates the Nintendo Entertainment System and runs on both Windows and Linux machines. There are a few NES roms it is incompatible with (namely Dragon Warrior 4), but it allows you to save your games (whether or not the original games have save capabilities) and you can even play multi-player games over a modem connection. ROM Sites http://www.mame.dk/ -- A huge site filled with arcade roms ready for your MAME emulator. http://www.freeroms.com/ -- A site with SNES, Genesis, Atari, Turbo Graphix 16, and NES roms at your service. Also contains links to emulators. Conclusion OK, you've gotten the scoop about emulators and I've provided you with some good places to start feeding your addiction. So the next time that kid at the toy store wipes the floor with you, you can whip out your copy of "Pong" and look him straight in the eyes and say "saddle up sonny, let's see who's really 'da bomb' in this town!" Tim Connolly is a full-time College student in Computer Science and a part-time Webmaster. When he's not giggling at all the experience points he's gained while playing Dragon Warrior, he's wondering if it is possible to play retro-games long enough to see an image of yourself as you were, when the games were new, staring back at you from the other side of the screen. No former CEO's were harmed during the making of this article. And yes, "in a time long ago, ruled by myth and legend, when the gods were petty and cruel" was lifted from the opening credits of "Hercules: The Legendary Journeys."  |
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by jeremy1456
