Difference between emulators and real consoles

Do you prefer to play old games on emulators or consoles?

  • Emulators

    Votes: 2 50.0%
  • Consoles

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • I use both depending on the circumstances

    Votes: 2 50.0%

  • Total voters
    4

PenguinManiac

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2016
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Let's face it: emulators are a blessing. You can relive years of gaming experience on a single console and see what it was like to be a gamer in the past and what it must have felt like to watch it evolve.
However, emulators give off a different vibe compared to the real thing. The controllers, the cartridges, even the smell are all things that can't be reproduced. Emulators bring videogames down to their true essence: games.

Considering all this, what is your stance on the matter? Is the trade-off worth it, or is the gaming experience in its entirety too broad to narrow it down just to the games themselves? Is it satisfying to play games on emulators, or do you prefer playing on the original consoles?
 
I have to be honest; I find emulators and digital downloads make me less willing to really 'try' and play a game. Maybe I just feel like I have less investment in finishing them if I don't feel like I bought the game at full price on a physical disc/cartridge with my own money.

You can see this difference in the status of my eShop download games and my physical ones. The latter are almost all 100% complete or close to it, the former are often abandoned long before the end.

That said, I don't mind using an emulator for some types of games. If it's not released in my region and hard to find, I'll emulate it. If it's a mod or hack of a commercial game I'll use an emulator.

So it depends on the game and situation really.
 
I don't mind emulators, but like you said the controller can be off putting pending on the game you're playing. But these days you can get any USB/PC able controller from NES to xbox.
I can't agree more. I do most of my LP's on emulators and it's actually pretty difficult to play some N64 games with an Xbox 360 controller. As for GBA games, it's not difficult, but it sure feels weird.
 
Emulators can be accessed in the PC, which from a convenience standpoint is very good. You can simply download the emulator, get the game, fire it up, and you'll be in the game in no time. You need a controller for the game? Attach one with a PC controller for either the Xbox or Playstation. The only issue I have had is the graphics performance, as old PS games may get laggy because they were not coded properly. Other than that, everything seems to be fine.
 
I have to be honest; I find emulators and digital downloads make me less willing to really 'try' and play a game. Maybe I just feel like I have less investment in finishing them if I don't feel like I bought the game at full price on a physical disc/cartridge with my own money.

That's so true. Under certain aspects, this debate resembles the one between physical books and eBooks. Virtual content is often more practical, but sometimes the sheer amount of texts you get access to can get overwhelming.
I like to stare at my collection of games and say "Well, I've accomplished quite a lot". I can't say the same for a folder full or ROMs, nor my Steam library. Maybe my love for collectibles and my preference for physical consoles are correlated.
 
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