Emulation

Does anybody play through games with emulators?

Obviously it isn't as good as having the original, physical game, but in certain situations it can be a great way to play games. For instance, I've got the following Gamecube games on my laptop and they work great! Racing games aren't the greatest experiences due to dips in frame-rate, but for RPGs it's perfect. I don't think I would have played Paper Mario: TTYD or Chibi-Robo without an emulator.



I recommend Project 64 for those late N64 titles although even with an Xbox 360 controller, it doesn't feel quite right.

Interested in others' experiences with emulators...

Well.  I've played a few games with emulators, and my number one rule is: never a game I would have played otherwise.  Then you get into two categories.  

There's games that have never been released over here, and are unlikely to be so, and if they ever are I'll buy the game proper.  What's more, in these an emulator is often the only way to play the downloadable fanslation.  So I've played Ace Attorney Investigations 2 (highly recommended, the only AA game with no filler case); Mother 3 (also recommended, the game that made Earthbound feel unplayably old for me according to Jay); and Ouendan 2, which didn't have a fanslation but didn't really need one!

And then there are games I'd never have played otherwise anyway.  These mostly came from when my then-girlfriend had an R4, so I got to sample Super Princess Peach, Elite Beat Agents, Pokémon Platinum, and whatever the bobbins Mario basketball game was called that way.  I feel slightly more guilty about those, but I can honestly say that I'd never have shelled out for any of them otherwise.

I don't like emulated gaming and would much rather play them legally.  But when there's no other option, for whatever reason, I can just about find room in my conscience.

I have precious little experience with emulators, to be honest. I've never had an R4 or the like, and I've never played anything emulated on a PC. However, I talked a friend through A Link To The Past in French on his PC, and watched another buddy play a bit of Pokémon Blue on his. It's not something I want to do - I have more than enough games to be playing and anything I've missed, I've missed.

Like Balla, I'm not big on playing games I could otherwise obtain legally, but in some instances it's either impossible to buy a game here (case in point: Mother 3) or next to impossible. By that, I mean games that haven't seen a Virtual Console rerelease. Earthbound fell into that bracket for me, and when it was released on the 3DS Virtual Console I snapped a copy immediately. Even if I don't get around to replaying it, I wanted to actually own a copy considering how much I'd enjoyed playing it on an emulator.

Yeah, like you guys, I originally played Earthbound with an emulator. I did also play a few other SNES games, but I definitely felt a bit guilty; this was in the mid 2000s, way after (and yet before, Virtual-Console-wise) it was possible to purchase SNES games in a meaningful way. But I'd never feel happy emulating something that is sort-of-current gen, or still being actively sold (and of course I bought Earthbound on VC as soon as physically possible).
In terms of really old hardware that's well beyond any sort of market or large-scale interest, that's a different matter - I've probably spent more of my life with a BBC Micro emulator than a real Beeb.

I'm pretty much computer-illiterate, so I don't use emulators because I simply don't know how. A bit daft, I know, but that's the way it is. I've tried to follow instructions and figure out what everything all means, but I don't understand it. I've got a spare Wii and an old PSP 2000 that I know I could put emulators on, but I don't know what I'm doing. I'd love it if somebody could tell me how to do it in plain English.

I managed to get some N64 games on my mobile phone though, but sadly the only one that I find plays well with the touchscreen controls is Cruis'n USA.

I've briefly dabbled in emulating, but only games I couldn't buy "new" in the UK. For example, Ogre Battle 64 before it was on the Virtual Console - a game I got hooked on in the states. I also downloaded a PS2 emulator so that I could pop American region locked discs into my computer, pretty much just so I could play Fire Pro Wrestling Returns, a game which only received an Italian release in Europe and was outrageously expensive to inport.

Something that is handy about emulators is that they can save the game whenever you want or adjust the speed at which the game runs, making RPGs much less of a chore. They're also great as 'archival' "services" because, until very recently, publishers haven't typically gone to the effort of making their old games available on modern hardware. Honestly though, and I know this won't happen due to licensing issues, but if the big wigs could just agree on a Netflix style emulation program that essentially lets people rent a metric ton of old games, from classics to stinkers, via an app or software programme for a fair monthly fee then emulation as we know it would be dead. Gameflix would just be less hassle for all, except the lawyers I guess.

Never been a fan (unless we are talking official like VC) and I like collecting but due to prices sometimes I do miss out in something I want.

Reason I've actually popped in here is, I was thinking about playing Snathcer or Policenauts. Anyone got any idea how I would do this?