Play Old School Video Games On Your Computer

I know a lot of the more geeky among us probably already know about this, but for the uninitiated here's a bit of a primer on emulation.

Basically people have written freeware programs that allow your PC (I've found few for Mac) to emulate the hardware of console video game systems. This means that you can play console and arcade games on your PC, for free, as long as you can find the games. The games exist in .ROM form, which are images [copies] of the original cartridges.

This is mostly about the older game systems, both in that there has been more time to develop the emulators, the .ROMs are easier to find and smaller, and the game makers aren't quite as aggressive about stamping it out.

[Note: Technically, it's only legal to keep the .ROM of a game you don't actually own on your computer for 24 hours. I'm *sure* you'll comply. ]

Links:
Super Nintendo ROMs

SNES9X -- My favorite Super Nintendo Emulator

ZSnes -- Another Super Nintendo Emulator

Atari 2600 Roms

Atari 2600 Emulators

Some arcade roms

More emulators

NES emulators and roms

You get the idea. Have fun!



[Edited on Aug 30, 2003 by Keith]

BEST ...... POST ....... EVER

I second that

WORD!!

yhea, ive been using emulaters for a long time, absolutely love em

This site has a lot of roms too, after you register

This site has emulators for almost every system ever created, including classic PC operating systems.

...awwwwww guy, you can get in trouble...don't want you to get in trouble

What, for posting it here or for having ROMs on my computer? I think I'm less worried about that than the..

[glances at 40 gigs of MP3s on my pc.. ]

John Ashcroft's coming to get me!

I think the worst thing about emulators is all the time spent on them that could've been used more productively.

all I have to say is FROGGER!!!

nothing beats the original frogger... except maybe Q-bert

It becomes more of an experience thing, init? To learn new things we must create new things that can then be applied to other areas.

What about Ms. Pacman? She's hot and she swallows.

It's all about Zelda for the SNES. That shit rocked, yo.

I've known about emulation for years, but a lot of ROMs are hard to come by these days since Nintendo took a major effort to shut a lot of those sites down.

Anybody looking for a specific ROM or emulator, talk to me.

I'm a MAME fanatic
I always download the latest release of the emulator, although it was getting increasingly harder to find roms, what with the shit being dished out to romsites by Nintendo. So i done a search on ebay and found quite a few people selling the entire MAME Roms collection on aproximately 12 cd roms. Thats over 3000 games!!!!! I've now got EVERY international arcade game from 1979 upto 1994. Some of the Japanese stuff is really perverse too, like manga style schoolgirl strip poker games!!!

hell yeah!! i have an atari emulator w/roughly 100 games....

of course, i also recently bought an Atari as a fleamarket, too.... i love Atari.

I really need one of those videogame controllers that hooks up to a pc

because megaman xii... kicking my ass.
i hate playing console games, snes ones anyway, on a keyboard

thats why i have a super nintendo and a oldskool nintendo, besides, this way I can play 2player games

very nice

very nice

That's one of the only games I use my emulator for just bc the old Nes games used a little watch battery to save data and changing those is a pain in the ass, not a fan of them otherwise, prefer the real thing much more. It's not the same without a tiny little retangular controller.

I loved being able to go back and finally beat the first mario brothers game after all these years. I was but a boy when I first got it. Now I am a man.

My name is Mario, you stole my princess, prepare to die!

Commodore 64 Emulator

The C64 rocked!

And one of the games they have is "Impossible Mission", which you have to get just for the bad-ass things it says.

"Another visitor. Stay a while. Staaaaaaaaay FOREVER!"

You complete and utter bitch!
Only kidding I want to build a MAME cabinet. What Frontend do you use in yours?

God, Al, just when I think we have learned the extent to which you rule, you go pushing into new territory. [bows]