What game is the mascot of emulation?

[TamagotchiTamaHero24's icon TamagotchiTamaHero24 TamagotchiTamaHero24]

I’m interested to see what the forum thinks. I personally there are different “mascot games” based on the era of emulation we are referring to, but my big games are as follows:
1. Final Fantasy V - The “lost” SNES Final Fantasy was super enticing to people in and around the late 90’s-early 00’s with emulation. Most people didn’t have great SNES emulation available, but this game was so much of a missing puzzle piece and Final Fantasy was so hot at the time around the world that FFV became the game to play.
2. Earthbound - Infamously a financial bomb, most people have played this game only through emulation for decades. And for that way, it shall remain, as the original game is still a collectors item among collectors items. It’s quirky, non-conforming, and the perfect kind of game to appeal to the internet age when things that were niche and funky began to have more dedicated communities around them.
3. Chrono Trigger - It’s Chrono Trigger. Its legend has only grown with time. Akira Toriyama’s art is all over it, so fans of his work want to play it. It’s one of the best classic RPG’s, so RPG fans want to play it. It’s one of the best GAMES for many people, so people in general want to play it. It’s the game to play, and it’s expensive in the west, so to emulation we go.
4. Pokémon Emerald - GBA was cracked and emulated very early on, and the best GBA Pokémon title was always going to be high in demand. Pokémon is a massive emulation draw anyway, always has been, but Emerald is the game you can’t seem to escape nowadays.
5. Super Mario 64 - The 3D benchmark game. People just love this game, they love hanging out in it, they love dissecting it, and it has the most dedicated fandom for a single game I’ve ever seen. It’s on another level, so this game has always been emulated even when other N64 titles are not.

That’s my list. Are there any others you think should be included? Any games that are just icons of the emulation scene?

Post automatically merged: Jun 21, 2025

I forgot to add Little Samson. Hecc

 

[Waffles's iconWaffles]

I think the many Blockbuster-exclusive releases from the N64 era could easily claim that title.

I also think Snatcher and Knuckles Chaotix are the "mascots" of the SEGA CD and 32X emulation.

 

[Carlnshake]

Bootleg characters like Somari come to mind for me

 

[SliperyHippo]

Could be Star Fox 2 since that was a game only playable through emulation for a while, but I'm not sure it's well known enough to be the emulation mascot so I'd say that title probably today would go to Mario 64 since it has had a huge speed running scene for almost 20+ years now

 

[TamagotchiTamaHero24's icon TamagotchiTamaHero24 TamagotchiTamaHero24]

Bootleg characters like Somari come to mind for me

Based call.
Discovering bootlegs naturally is actually one of my favorite parts of emulation.

 

[Sleepstate]

As the old saying goes can it run Doom?

 

[Soma_Shotgun]

The Mega Man series has a strong following despite actually being sold poorly compared to other Capcom franchises. I would bet most fans just emulated them. Heck, even I also only paid for like 5 Mega Man games in my life and pretty much played all the classic, X and Zero games through emulation.

 

[aquova]

Mother 3, easily. It has a character in Smash, which will shine a massive spotlight on the game forever forward, and continues to be discussed as part of weird decisions Nintendo continues to make. It can't be played in English except via emulation, and demand for that translation is so high that Nintendo themselves even has acknowledged it.

 

[otogirisou]

any pokemon game

 

[RanmyakuIchi's icon RanmyakuIchi RanmyakuIchi]

Fire Emblem springs to mind for me, as a good chunk of the franchise was only available through emulation in the West for a while, either due to never being localized or to being not readily available/ prohibitively expensive.
There's also the expansive Fire Emblem romhacking scene, which likely wouldn't exist without emulation also.

 

[Natsuyasumi]

I think Bahamut Lagoon is a contender. Similar to Mother 3 and others, a Japanese exclusive that never received any modern ports or translations.
But also because of its close ties to Byuu/Near, the developer of BSNES. It was the first game he translated and ultimately what set him on his path into emulation. Might be other games like that, but I’m not aware of any at the moment.

 

[underhandwriter]

This is a really good question. Seiken Densetsu 3 came to mind. Back in the day it was this fabled sequel to Secret of Mana, and gap in the series, that you you had to emulate to play in English.

Bahamut Lagoon was one of the first games that caught my attention once I got into emulation.

Yoshi's Island also comes to mind because it's often used as a test for accuracy due to the "Touch Fuzzy, Get Dizzy" level being hard to emulate.

 

[DLION812]

any pokemon game

I agree too many pokemon games

Post automatically merged: Jun 22, 2025

I agree way too many lackluster pokemon hacks. Im a big fan of the fire emblem hacks tho! Very well done

 

[Xdqwerty Xdqwerty]

Maybe the pre-GBA Fire Emblem games

 

[Anti-Law Savior]

For awhile back it was SM64coop and Smash Remix, wait do these count?

Then again recently I started getting back into some PS1 classics like the front mission series or parasite eve which I am God awful at haha!

 

[secreto7]

Too many Nintendo here

 

[NardoBoom]

Earthbound Zero. I remember when the prototype was dumped and many emulation fans where all playing that game. It was great playing an unreleased game at that time.

 

[secreto7]

Earthbound Zero. I remember when the prototype was dumped and many emulation fans where all playing that game. It was great playing an unreleased game at that time.

From 1989?

 

[χKai]

If we're talking about emulation in the 90s

I'm between these two.

 

[Cantarella]

yeah I think you'd need to break this up by era or system or something. for me the answer would undoubtedly be sd3.

 

[NardoBoom]

From 1989?

Yeah. That game was only released in Japan but it was already localized and ready to release in the US but it was cancelled. Many years later, rom translator Demi of Neo Demiforce was working on a translation of the game but someone was selling a prototype of the US version of the game. Long story short, he had to pay $400 to the seller to BORROW the game and dump it so we could all play it

 

[secreto7]

Yeah. That game was only released in Japan but it was already localized and ready to release in the US but it was cancelled. Many years later, rom translator Demi of Neo Demiforce was working on a translation of the game but someone was selling a prototype of the US version of the game. Long story short, he had to pay $400 to the seller to BORROW the game and dump it so we could all play it

Wow what an adventure

 

[Zerohour2k12]

The many OG fan-transltions and Romhacks.

 

[sneakyguts]

me

 

[alpha_wolf24]

any Pokemon games, most Mario games, most obscure yet well reviewed RPGs (especially ones that havent been officially translated), bootleggs, games that are way too expensive to own (yes even before the retro game price hike)