Emulation vs. Original Hardware

[Matricks]

Emulations with Cheats and speedrunning on Anbernic handhelds.
Now I can finally finished any games, where else on OG were impossible and no time to spend on.

 

[MegaDrive1987]

I used to swear by real hardware but it's having the space to set it up properly although I do have my model 1 Mega Drive set up under my TV for nostalgic purposes. It's mostly about cost these days too as I remember being able to pick NES games up for 50p each in the early 2000s from second hand shops but now both hardware and software prices are far too much for me to justify spending money on. It's just easier to have emulators on my gaming PC so it's just one system for everything too and shaders are an absolute godsend for someone like me who craves that CRT look

 

[Ikagura Ikagura]

...and the retro gaming market is very greedy

How come? What happened so that we'll end up like that?

 

[Retro Doomer]

How Come ? What happened so that we'll end up like that ?
Answer:
People who want to get rich in short scalpers who buy in mass and sell for double or triple the price.They artificially create a shortage by buying in mass to sell it to you very expensive while taking advantage that its not produced and sold by the Developer anymore pretty much don't giving you Option if you want to own it Legally.Price Example here

 

[BunnyLain]

Ahhhh it's a hard one for me.
I like original hardware just because the controllers are something special for each console, but they barely last (n64, GC, PS2 mostly) so you can't even get the authentic experience from them. Plus actually plugging games in, while it's great... a flash card is super nice. If the flash card isn't just hot garbage like the DS and GBA seem to be prone too. So really the best way is to just go with the original hardware...

That said we don't live in a world where emulation is awful any more so you can just emulate and get a damn fine experience most of the time or just use an FPGA console... the real issue with all of this now days is actually the damned TV. We don't have CRT's like we used to, so reliving your childhood is just too expensive. I kinda envy the youth that grew up on the 360, while you never got kids games so to speak, you certainly never had your games cursed with nostalgia!

All said... disk based consoles are great to hack and load iso files onto, thanks Sony for being bad at console security! You're next microsoft...

But yea! Emulation is amazing and made it so many people can experience so many games that they never would have. Part of the charm of how games used to be was having to find them in stores. Not really a thing anymore, thankfully!

 

[Rebecca]

Whatever you can afford and is good enough
As long as you enjoy it, it's good enough.

 

[sadasa]

collecting videogames and other things is not secure anymore:
https://gamerant.com/house-fire-destroys-video-game-collection/

 

[Ikagura Ikagura]

Collecting videogames and other things is not secure anymore:
https://gamerant.com/house-fire-destroys-video-game-collection/

I'll be honest: if my house caught fire I think video games would be my least of the worries.

Also let's not forget:

• Flooding (ruining the sensible components).
• Burglary.
• Disc Rotting.
• Natural decay from UVs and oxydation.
• Game prices going down.
• Evictions.

 

[BunnyLain]

You might also just get bored of games.
That would be awful.

 

[Den MDM Den MDM]

I know emulation is a big plus, and I play more on emulators than real hardware. However, if I really want to get immersed in a video game I use real hardware (which nowadays would only be my PS2 and PC). I don't know, but it just catches my soul when I'm playing on a console!

 

[Ikagura Ikagura]

You might also just get bored of games.
That would be awful.

Which is understandable, real life has some obligations.

 

[bigstinkie]

hm i made a post in another thread that was probably more fitting here
i will summarize myself - my happy medium is softmodding/hardmodding my older video game consoles. no absurd second hand game prices, while playing the games on actual hardware. if you have an old world tv i find this to be the best solution by a country kilometre
essentially the best of both worlds of emulation and using original hardware

 

[Mini_Man.XW]

Original hardware's badass, but I don't have the money or space to invest in them.

 

[Your_Homie_Gale]

I only go for emulation when I have no other option because somebody out there wants to charge like $200 for Persona 2. If anything I tend to mod and install custom firmware to my handhelds and systems to have the "closest" experience to that of original hardware. Like installing Nintendont on my Wii to play F-Zero GX, hacking my PS Vita to play all the persona games 1-4, and the same goes for my 3DS to play Devil Summoner Soul Hackers. I tend to use my PC for bigger games like the PS2 library but always keep it 4:3 ratio and use some CRT shaders.

 

[Deleted member 3339]

Emulation all day every day, I got into so many series with emulation. While there are certain games that you can't emulate due to gimmicks, it doesn't matter because Im not going to buy a game like Kuon which costs iirc 700-800 dollars for a ps2 copy.

Edit: Kuon costs 1048.72 CIB, No thank you.

Kuon Prices Playstation 2 | Compare Loose, CIB & New Prices

www.pricecharting.com

 

[oliver69796]

In my opinion the best option is an emulator since your machine is usually more powerful than the original hardware, but in the case of stranger consoles like the Wii or 3Ds that use movement and touch screens , original hardware would be better !

 

[Deleted member 525181]

OG hardware, always.

People forget that emulation has got more input lag (even if you mitigate it a little with emulation settings like run ahead)
And using CRT filters is horrible; those look nothing like a real CRT. I don't know what people smoke to use those filters. I compared them with my Philips TV via component, and they look like shit, every one of them. I tried all the CRT filters you can imagine. Even on my Grundig TV via composite, it looks miles better than any CRT filter out there. There is just no comparison.

Some days ago I tried a PS2HDMI on my ASUS monitor, and it looks better than PCSX2 at native resolution. PCSX2 at native resolution looks awful—too blurry. Also, input lag on PCSX2 is like 2 or 3 frames more compared to a real PS2. I tried jumping on the same game, pressing the button at the same time, and the delay was like 0.5 seconds more on the emulator—crazy.

In short, console for console games, PC for PC games.

 

[GuiPeli]

I've always been a defensor of OG hardware but recently I've opened my mind a bit. Of course the sensation os playing in a OR hardware is incredible with an CRT television is even better but the currently emulators are bringing some new features to increase quality for old games.

It's a way to give a new life to old titles. Playing with better resolution, retroachieviments, this kind of stuff.

Anyway, I like to play in both ways. It's really hard to choose

 

[fmsynthetic]

Original hardware is more fun from a purely tactile perspective, but at this point isn't emulation, at least for systems most of us would be likely to be concerned with, so near to cycle perfect as to make no practical difference? Duckstation in particular has sort of changed my life.

For me, you also need to have a CRT if you're going the hardware route, and subhuman resellers are now also gouging prices for those, so it's kind of pointless anyway.

I thank God I picked up a cheap Trinitron a few years back.

 

[NeonKnights]

I will always love emulation and original hardware, though I don't see it as the either/or proposition that others seem to. I find that I can enjoy the best of both worlds, Steam Deck and PS2/3. These days I find myself playing emulated digital games on original hardware wherever possible. It's gotten to the point that I have no need or want to ever buy a single exorbitantly priced game for any system ever again. I finally give my intangible future collection over to the ether and know peace. Also I am unable to solder or hard mod an emulator so that's kind of a big concern for me.

 

[iisoide]

I think emulation is nice because I can do it on my Steam Deck and make every console portable; most older generations besides PS3 and XB1 play really well now too, but I do prefer using the original hardware. I just don't like the idea of hoarding around so many different consoles unfortunately.

 

[ThatOneLum]

I tend to play OG hardware if its a game I actually have a genuine personal connection with, so mostly games from when I was growing up.

I used to collect en masse but I realised after a while that I was just collecting stuff for the sake of it so I swapped to emulation for most of the platforms/games I was mostly tangentially interested in.

 

[Nidstang]

I play both pretty equally.
I prefer the feel of playing on original hardware, especially older consoles on my CRT. But CRT filters have gotten really good now, and playing emulators is often the best way to play JRPGS (for me at least) because I can play with uncensorship patches and fan translation hacks.

 

[YoshifreakZX]

I'd be playing games on original hardware a lot more often if retro game prices weren't so ridiculous these days

 

[fmsynthetic]

I like the sound the PS1 disc drive makes when it hits the CD. It's not even the same if you're running it on a PS2.