Worst emulation experience(s)?

[Pearly]

The switch was a serious pain in the ass. I tried to see if I could get tears of the kingdom going in 4k at full speed on my new laptop, It does run perfectly like that.

I will still play it on my switch though so I am a master waster of my own time.

Oh yeah, reminds me also MAME with many arcade games is a bitch to make it work. I managed with little patience just only for Wonder Boy, I can't imagine for 3D ones like Tekken.

All those different arcade machines and needing a very specific rom is the sole reason I don't bother emulating arcade. It's just not worth the hassle for me.

 

[Nickakyoin]

All those different arcade machines and needing a very specific rom is the sole reason I don't bother emulating arcade. It's just not worth the hassle for me.

I need to play Ninja Baseball Batman and classics like that smh

 

[χKai]

I need to play Ninja Baseball Batman and classics like that smh

I now need to know more

 

[Ikagura Ikagura]

My old Laptop with Dolphin which played Smash Bros Melee in slow motion.

But usually I either have a decent experience or I don't play at all.

 

[groundbeef]

Demul. Utter trash. I don't generally have many bad issues with emulation, but this one really annoyed me because it did not emulate well and the plugins were garbage.

Unz for FM Towns was a messy affair for me to get running properly. Tsugaru is way better.

 

[Roy U. OmOm]

Worst emulation experience(s)?

Retroarch.

 

[csanjuro]

Retroarch.

this, I don't know how people can use this convoluted mass of things
also Mednafen

 

[diet_orange]

Non arcade MAME is extremely difficult and such a pain
Computer based emulators are more difficult to use (Sharp x68000, pc98, dosbox, atari st, etc.)
Sometimes old computer games had some weird quirks, like the controller having to be in port 2 you may not realize that when you're emulating (but not the emulators fault)

That's why I'm glad stuff like Final Burn Alpha exists. Shit works like a charm

Post automatically merged: Oct 26, 2025

Retroarch.

Yes, let's find a way to play old games using the most convoluted way possible! How people can actually recommend this shit is baffling

 

[Cardboardtubeknight Cardboardtubeknight]

Early early early Project64 was virtually unplayable

 

[diet_orange]

Early early early Project64 was virtually unplayable

Conker was still a mess when I was using Project 64 in the late 00's

 

[Big Finger Jim]

I spent like an hour earlier this week trying to get Beetle Saturn working again after a bit, redownloaded Retroarch twice, only to find out that it was bad bios that came from here. For gods sake, update your Saturn bios please.

 

[Nickakyoin]

Early early early Project64 was virtually unplayable

How much early? Like "just released" level or, idk, 2002/2003 at best/worst? I had a potato PC but it worked with no issues. Out of curiosity: what happened in your case, if you can remember? Apologies for all the questions ahah.
That was basically how I discovered Super Mario 64, Zelda OoT + MM and Mario Party 3. Good times.

 

[Ikagura Ikagura]

Early early early Project64 was virtually unplayable

I managed to play Goldeneye and Mario 64 in the early 2010's on a mediocre desktop.

 

[Cardboardtubeknight Cardboardtubeknight]

How much early? Like "just released" level or, idk, 2002/2003 at best/worst? I had a potato PC but it worked with no issues. Out of curiosity: what happened in your case, if you can remember? Apologies for all the questions ahah.
That was basically how I discovered Super Mario 64, Zelda OoT + MM and Mario Party 3. Good times.

Like 2005ish so many many many beers ago, so I don't know the full details. I just know I could barely play anything, and that was the general consensus when doing research into it.

 

[secreto7]

@Nickakyoin @χKai @Jangiku @SoThankful
Did you try emulating N64 using Rosalie's Mupen GUI? It's the third most recommended on the Emulation Wiki, comes bundled with the best plugins like ParaLLEl and GLideN64

GitHub - Rosalie241/RMG: Rosalie's Mupen GUI

Rosalie's Mupen GUI. Contribute to Rosalie241/RMG development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com

RMG - Emulation General Wiki

emulation.gametechwiki.com

@Max @Bakuma1997 @CheesyExplosive
For Saturn, the most simple way is Bizhawk or you can try Ymir

GitHub - StrikerX3/Ymir: Sega Saturn emulator

Sega Saturn emulator. Contribute to StrikerX3/Ymir development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com

 

[MajesticSiN]

Trying to play PSX games on my old Mac G3 made me pretty sad.
2D games played fine but 3D was a quick invite to the farty party.

 

[secreto7]

ePSXe with the juggling of plugins.
But once I got it right, didn't had much problems.

 

[Nickakyoin]

@Nickakyoin @χKai @Jangiku @SoThankful
Did you try emulating N64 using Rosalie's Mupen GUI? It's the third most recommended on the Emulation Wiki, comes bundled with the best plugins like ParaLLEl and GLideN64

GitHub - Rosalie241/RMG: Rosalie's Mupen GUI

Rosalie's Mupen GUI. Contribute to Rosalie241/RMG development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com

RMG - Emulation General Wiki

emulation.gametechwiki.com

@Max @Bakuma1997 @CheesyExplosive
For Saturn, the most simple way is Bizhawk or you can try Ymir

GitHub - StrikerX3/Ymir: Sega Saturn emulator

Sega Saturn emulator. Contribute to StrikerX3/Ymir development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com

I will take note of this, especially if I wanna every replay Smash Remix one day. Ty!

 

[Sheepy765]

I've been emulating games for I don't know how long and I STILL can't wrap my head around MAME.

 

[Miles Miles]

Lately, N64 just seems to not work properly on whatever core I try on my Retroid Pocket. Project64 20 years ago didn't give me trouble

Other than that, PCSX2 always craps itself in some way or form, but that's just the nature of it.

When did you last use PCSX2? PCSX2 is almost perfect these days.

 

[moonbits]

almost perfect these days.

 

[secreto7]

While is true that PCSX2 still have problems, it's so much better than years ago.

 

[moonbits]

While is true that PCSX2 still have problems, it's so much better than years ago.

Even without any upscaling or changes, it still craps itself. You gotta play russian roulette with Vulkan, OpenGL, Software, DirectX3D.

but it is much better than 2011, oh boy. The DDS graphical glitches forever in my mind

 

[Miles Miles]

Even without any upscaling or changes, it still craps itself. You gotta play russian roulette with Vulkan, OpenGL, Software, DirectX3D.

but it is much better than 2011, oh boy. The DDS graphical glitches forever in my mind

I don't see any issues with PCSX2. Real hardware has way more issues like shit image quality, failing components, and super expensive games.

 

[ThatOneLum ThatOneLum]

Anything that is trying to emulate a home MicroComputer of the 80s/early 90s.

I always struggled to get the fuckers working, even when I had some working knowledge of the system in question.