Emulation

What is emulation

Emulation, at a high level, is recreating what a console does on PC. Most the time, this is to allow running console games on PC. I can use an Emulator, load a ROM onto it, and play it on my PC.

Commonly asked questions about emulation

Is emulating legal?
Emulation itself is fully legal, since it just involves reverse engineering and doesn’t contain any official code. The non-legal part is with Firmware and ROMs, since those do contain official code.

How do I get started emulating?
First, you’ll want to choose an Emulator. Which emulator you choose really depends on what console you want to emulate. This guide will cover that. Next, you’ll want to get the rom for the game you want to play. How you obtain this rom is up to you. Finally, you can start playing! Some emulators will require extra setup, which will be documented here.

Where do I get game roms?
There are 2 main ways to get game roms: Dumping, and the internet.

Dumping involves using the actual console to dump the contents of a game onto a flash drive, which can then be used by the emulator on your PC. This is the most legal/ethical method, and most emulators will recommend you do so.

If you don’t own the console or the games, you can go to the internet. Now, I initially wasn’t going to provide any links, but I realize a lot of you will probably end up downloading a virus, and I’d like to at least some-what prevent that. So I’ll be providing one link: https://r-roms.github.io/. This is the ultimate and best source of game roms, but do keep in mind that 1. This isn’t super legal (not like cops are gonna come busting down your door), and it doesn’t have roms for anything newer than the Xbox 360/Wii U. If a game you want isn’t on here, I’d recommend just doing without unless you’re experienced with tech, especially if you want one for newer games like the Switch.

What is the best place to draw the line for emulating?
This is different for everybody, and I think it’s really up to you. Some people only emulate old games (>2005), while others only like emulating games made by giant corporates. It’s really up to you.

What emulator do I use?

There are many emulators, and often multiple choices per-console. Here are my personal favorites:

Arcade: MAME, but good luck figuring out how to use it
Atari: Stella
NES: NEStopia (I may switch to a different one eventually)
SNES: BSNES
N64: TBD (I own a real N64, so I haven’t really tried emulating it)
GameCube: Dolphin (but I use Nintendont on the Wii)
Wii: Dolphin (It can run both, I have a real Wii)
Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance: mGBA
DS/DSi: MelonDS
3DS: It’s changed a lot, but right now Lime3DS or Azahar are the best. I use Lime3DS.
Wii U: Cemu
Switch: It’s changed a lot, but right now Sudachi is the best.

As you can see, I mostly emulate Nintendo consoles. I have a real Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox One, PSX, and PS2.

Terminology

Emulator: A program used to emulate a console, allowing playing games from it.
ROM: Stands for Read Only Memory, dumps of real game cartridges and discs.
Firmware: The software pre-installed on a console. Some emulators require it, some give you a better experience with it, and some get no benefit from installing it.