While it is nice to use original hardware to play the games themselves, the thing is that, overtime it'll become an inconvenience to the point where having to hook them up once or every time you want to play that console, not to mention you need to get a surge protector, a large CRT/HDMI tv, the console, the storage compartment full of games that don't have cases or boxes for them (if you've ever kept the boxes that is), hooking up the controller, hooking up the wires from the TV to the VCR (or to the console if you only have one console hooked up one at a time), then get the CD/Cartridge into the console, and hopefully it works (because sometimes it doesn't). Then, when you finally play the game, well, you either play it or you don't (they were expensive back in the day). Nowadays, it's much easier to get games you didn't own back then and be able to play it on a computer. Which in my opinion has become the all-in-one go to for my personal gaming needs. And since 2015 I've transitioned from being a console gamer to a PC gamer, emulation included, as I feel there are a ton more settings on PC games than there are on console games (but that's just me). And plus, once you have all of the settings, files, folders, everything you have installed, all you have to do is use whatever first party/third party controller you wish to play on, setup the controls, test them out, double click on a game to boot it up and enjoy. Personally, considering it's been fourteen years since I've used a CRT for gaming, it's hard for me to imagine what I thought back in the 1990s and 2000s as the highest quality of 480p I can ever get. But once I've been exposed to 1080p/4K look of the older games, it's very, very difficult for me to ever get used to the old fashion CRT look from the early 2000s and before. So for me I personally play video games on emulators on my PC, since you also don't have to worry about bringing your console, video games, cables, controllers, and accessories over to your friends house just to play that video game as well. It's much easier to hook up the wireless controllers via micro/mini/type-c usb cables into the computer's USB 3.0 ports, assign the controller profiles to Players 1-8, click the game you want to play, adjust some visual settings here and there, and off to the races. It's much easy to get it up and running then what most people realize.
@TroboTicTac about $20 15 years ago when the ps2, Xbox, and Gameboys were in thrift stores. I picked up a PS2 for $40 15 years ago. That's gonna run you alot more today.
There was a time where you could back in early 2000’s. I remember I wanted to get a Dreamcast and went to a eb games and got one for $20 with one controller and bought a few games, pso for $7 and nfl2k for like $3.
Yeah retro games used to be cheap (aside from rare games, of course) before it became trendy to scalp. You could buy a older console for around 50$ at most. Gamecubes sold for 99$ retail for awhile too. Nowadays, things are so bad. I remember seeing game prices go up when even a youtuber did a review/retrospective on them.
As a newbie, it wasn't that hard to use emulation at all! I just don't mess around with the settings too much, and keep on the mostly the default, unless I think something might help with emulating the game like anti-aliasing... which I don't know what it does, but I guess it's the feeling that I'm playing as close as to the original, I don't know xD
And with tools like EmuDeck and Emulation Station is really easy nowadays, just drag and drop the games in the folder and it'll automagically be configured and ready to play for you! (unless the console requires a bios file, but most don't and those are very well documented)
Nah you'd still be surprised. I have a colleague with multiple consoles all set up on their TV. She complained that she couldn't find an affordable copy of a particular original PlayStation game and I just naturally responded with "Well you could just emulate it if you want to scratch that itch." and she seemed baffled, as if emulation was some mystical dark art. Turns out she had a PSP in very good condition and I offered to softmod it and put the PSP eboot on there. It took me literally 15 minutes and I threw on a whole bunch of games because she had a 1GB memory card there. She was so grateful, as if I went to the end of the earth just to set it up. I tried explaining it to her and she was horrified that I would go to a roms site, as if I was guaranteed to get a virus. Some people just don't really know enough about computers to even try.
When I start up pcsx2 I always I turn off fast boot so I can see the whole startup and make it feel like a real ps2 to me and it does. Makes me feel like I’m still playing on one even tho my older brother took our childhood ps2 when he moved out 😂
A big reason why I opt for emulators more nowadays is that my setup at my desk has literally no more room for anything other than my PC, Switch, and PS5. The enhancements and convenience of not having to put in discs or cartridges is also really nice too, but my biggest issue is definitely space.
I did have to laugh at the initial statement that finding CRTs, original hardware and media was somehow easier than say, downloading RetroArch and browsing one of many sites that host ROMs/ISOs. Yes, there is a BIT of a learning curve to most emulators (moresoe for emulating more recent platforms), but it's still so much easier and more convenient than having to find room for and hook up old hardware. Not that I don't appreciate the original hardware.
I got to that point where my collection got too big and it was more convenient to size down and just have a pc at the tv and a lot of controllers for each console game. If the emulator is well supported emulation is very convenient with a little know how.
I love games but I like keeping my money for more important things even more and emulation provides that for me the price of games nowadays I’m not in the position to keep up and don’t have the space either maybe love is too much of a strong word for those who are truly going at it despite the economic climate so I’ll say I like games.
@@chronology556 first one I bought off marketplace for $40 worked just fine other than me switching out the composite ports which was super cheap and easy it even had a built in working VHS player so I could watch all my old movies
If not for emulators, I wouldn't be nearly as big into retro gaming as I am today. It's truly amazing how many options and ways there are to play old console games in the modern age. Learning RetroArch was rough for me a few years back, but now I find it so freaking useful and essential for many of my devices (PC, Vita, Shield TV, etc). The CRT shaders alone make me want to buy a 4K OLED VRR display. I tend to only use CRT shaders for 2D games or 3D games with heavy use of 2D assets / low res backdrops. If a game leans heavily towards 3D, then I'll try to push the internal res as high as my system can handle + other enhancements, such as the ones in DuckStation. As for my controller setup, I use a DualShock 4, a bluetooth adapter, and DS4Windows (software). I find it much more reliable than Steam for emulation. These days I only use Steam Input for old PC games that have little to no controller support. Nintendo 64 games... Most of them I can barely stand to play on original hardware. Gotta have the majority of them overclocked to reduce the frame stutters / slowdown. This video was great to listen to while I drove. Nice work, man!
Same, no way i could had afforded to buy 30 years old games twice the price of a modern game on steam and consoles, just to try out what i would like. Furthermore, i cant just buy one and plug it. I have to order it from over the sea and solve compatibility issuses. Or play the slowed down pal version and get a lesser experience. Nowadays even tough i have exposable income and patience and i would like to play my favorites on og hardware, the prices are just unreal nowadays. More people are stocking them for reselling than how many of them are actually playing retro games.
I've always been an advocate for emulation but since I got my steam deck, my appreciation for it has grown massively. Being able to play backups of the majority of my game collection conveniently and on the go is simply incredible. Physical hardware definitely still has its place. Even games from systems like the DS and 3DS, I'd prefer to play on their respective consoles due to their unique hardware gimmicks. Whilst playing on original hardware is for sure a special experience, it's getting difficult for me to go back since PC emulation continues to be super convenient and further enhance the gaming experience for numerous consoles.
Ds is fine I played pokemon ranger with just my finger on a old android phone by getting used to it (although a stylus on a Samsung would be better) I think 3ds is a lot better than it used to be but it’s a system that the og hardware is probably still better
I first got a taste of handheld emulation on the PSP and that system was just great for it 2D games looked great in that small LCD screen, since it's target resolution was so close to what those games ran anyway. I miss it a lot, specially for playing the old RE games, the backgrounds looked perfect on that screen, it was so comfortable too, fit in your pocket and you could easily whip it out whenever
I agree as well I don't play gb/gba emus cause I like bringing my original brick Gameboy and my yellow Gameboy color and my orange gba whenever I'm in a public area or at home
@Diet_sprite that does sound fun and nostalgic but those systems are pretty nicely adapted to android phones and handheld consoles since it matches being a handheld system and borders to make it feel more authentic but I do get the feeling of using original is pretty hard to beat.
The conjunction *but* means “on the contrary,” and is used to indicate contrast or opposition between elements in a sentence. “I’ve always been an advocate for emulation, AND since I got my steam deck… “ ✅
I used to have a large collection of retro machines but abut 3 years ago I decided to move them on to friends that still had an interest in these things. A big part of it was just that maintaining the hardware was starting to get problematic and combined with things like disc rot, I figure I would leave it to folks that still had the time and passion to maintain those things. To that emulation now is at the point where it is 'god enough'. Yes, it isn't exactly the same but the trade off for convenience and simplicity was worth it too me. It is great just having a single PC do everything, not having to worry when a disc drive dies or a capacitor leaks through the PCB, having to mentally block out that - yes these controllers are dying, etc. Big respect to those that can keep the original hardware running because more it is feeling like Sisyphus trying to keep these things going. Looking at the retro computer space, you can see a vision of the future where getting parts becomes ever more difficult and obscure. For those that can do it, kudos to you!
I love all of the options today. It is very case by case on the game to me. The performance can be awful on original hardware on say n64, or the look and controls of the game can be nearly impossible to replicate by emulation. Having experienced a lot of games for the first time on original hardware, sometimes I prefer to experience it in a new way on emulation as a fan remaster. Online games shut down by companies, can be played again today thanks to fans.
@@N5hot hmm I guess, though I’ve tried steam deck hooked up to a monitor, just use a long usb c and the steam deck is like a touch screen and works fine, I play Wii U like that also. So it isn’t impossible but pretty hard for ds and Wii U I guess
.....ABOUT REMASTERS\REMAKES ..... *_THEY RE NEVER GOOD_* BC SOMETHING WAS ALWAYS MISSING WHAT WAS MAKING GAME CATCHY...... .....BUT...MOST IMPORTANTLY IS ABOUT *_THE POINT OF PAYING FOR GAMES IS FOR WILLINGFUL FINANCIAL SUPPORT OF GAME'S DEVELOPER_* ........OR KIND OF THAT..........SOOO IF U LIKE WHAT DEVELOPER IS DOING, U'RE PAYING MONEY IF NOT OR IT'S IMPOSSIBLE FOR VARIOUS REASONS--THEN OKAY ........THAT'S HOW IN REAL DIGITAL ERA THINGS ARE GOING..... .......AND NOT LIKE KINDA YOU'RE PAYING FOR GAMES FOR SHOWING THAT YOU CAN AFFORD *TO* ...........ESPECIALLY IF IT'S ABOUT SOME ANCIENT CONSOLES, THO..........WHICH IS ALREADY BECAME SOME KIND OF STATUS THING, THO..........BC IT'S GETTING MORE AND MORE EXPENSIVE AND STUFF ALONG WITH IT IS NOT A PROBLEM FOR EVEN A MOBILE HARDWARE TO EMULATE EVEN PS2 NOW ......SOOO WHY *NOT* ......WHY IF U WANT TO PLAY SOME NES OR GC U'RE A MUST TO SEARCH FOR EVERYTHING ORIGINAL OR GFY........JUST BC SOME JERKS SAID THAT U'RE HAVING NO RIGHT TO DO SO.........THE WORLD IS REAL, NOT SOMEONE'S
@@Mingodough yeah usually you can play with the exact or very similar controller for home consoles, but like someone mentioned touch controls on portable or Wii u etc. Tiny things like Dreamcast vmu or sound on a controller or something. Even the best emulation can be a tiny bit different for better or worse basically. Some original controllers just suck imo lol.
Spot on... I moved from Europe to Asia and left a huge collection behind. As much as the "real deal" is concerned, there is a slight difference, but then there is also different ways of emulation like FPGAs. It is more accurate but you can still play through the games no matter what method. And then there is that other "controversy"... some are self proclaimed "collectors" trying to defend their "investment"; the copy of a 30 year old game someone tries to sell for 30$ today while I got it for 2$ at a backyard sale 20 years ago doesn't change the game; go, collect what is really important to us that really grew up with those games: the memories of kids sitting together with their friends for a video game session, not "connect to likeminded individuals" that you will never meet real life and will never have any meaningful impact on your life
Mister FPGA is an ideal solution in my experience. Easy connectivity for CRT TVs, and feels like playing on real hardware due to the low latency and accuracy. Between MisterFPGA and a dedicated Xbox System S/X for emulating PS1 to Wii era consoles, you're completely covered -- and no tripping or fire hazard dealing with dozens of consoles ;)
I've recently been busy diving into NTSC colorspaces and colorspace emulation. It's so interesting to figure out the many layers that make retro games look faithful to their original CRT look. For example, did you know US TVs and Japanese TVs, despite both being NTSC, do NOT share the same colorspace? NTSC-J uses D65, while NTSC-U uses D93. As a result, games actually looked a lot bluer in Japan. As a post-retro kid that doesn't actually have any nostalgic affiliation to these games as I haven't played any of them in their original form when I was younger, I find that the bluer D65 colors are probably what the developers originally intended, and prefer that to the warmer color palette you may be more familiar with. Most emulators, capture devices and modern displays actually need this kind of colorspace conversion, because they assume the input is in sRGB. And even some consoles like the Sega Genesis have a natural color or even exposure bias baked into their analog video DACs, that can be lost in emulation and RGB mods along with the antialiasing-like smoothing and color generation properties of composite video. It's a lot more involved than just slapping a CRT shader on your output and calling it a day (even a fancy multipass one like CRT-Royale!). Even the image scaling algorithm (bilinear vs. bicubic or catmull-rom) and how scanlines are factored in affects the realism of the simulated CRT output. I don't know how hardware scalers hold up in this regard. The big ones, probably not too badly.
The Mister FPGA project is a great all-in-one solution. I find it provides the best of both worlds in terms of ease of use. It's one little box that I can plug into a CRT or modern display with no fuss, it just werks.
@@Mr.Welbig Great video - I've followed a similar path to yours regarding, authentic, accurate and lag-free experience of real hardware and CRTs. The Mister FPGA was a recent game-changer for me: connection to CRTs, cycle-to-cycle circuit modelling of 5-6th generation of consoles,computers and arcade boards; you can, with some extra connectors, use your original controllers connected directly into the mister (SNAC) without USB-input lag. You can simultaneously/configure for RGB and HDMI out, and has built in lag free crt/console filters. I've found the signal cleaner than my S-NES 1-chip! Overall, I find the mister fpga bridges the gap between for when I don't want to set-up the real hardware for a mixed gaming session and the convenience of cycle-accurate, lag free play on different monitors without the rewiring or emulator lag (which is a game-killer for me). Worth a try! :)
I agree, I really only use save states as a more convenient save option so I can start and stop a game at my leisure. Or if it feels like a level or challenge was poorly designed or built to artificially extend playtime and would be likely patched out in a theoretical remaster.
For me the biggest blow against original hardware is the saving. A lot of cartridge games that can save can have their battery die at any time now, and even if they don't, saves can get corrupted by bad connection or the console moved by wire tripping or something. Ironically this makes the less fancy password saving method more reliable. It truly sucks, because I love playing on original hardware, but it's getting less and less convenient. Also they don't support bluetooth headphones like the PC or Switch does.
Yeah, I know the feeling about cartridge games! From what I know you have to replace the batteries, but I'm too scared to do that since I'm scared of messing up and breaking the game :
Not to mention the controllers themselves are often subpar. A lot of plastics haven't survived the years too well, and parts like the N64 thumbstick are well known to be faulty.
CRTs are a massive pain in the ass. How much of a pain in the ass? I legitimately had the thought 'Oh no, the earth's magnetic field is moving a couple of degrees to the south, I had better redo my geometry calibrations' about a week ago.
Either that, or the insane weight that CRT has, which is unevenly distributed (front side is heavier than back side). But instead of pain in the ass, it'll be back pain instead.
Emulation is typically a better experience. Way more flexible. Latency is negligible and I bet 90 percent of the people who complain wouldn't be able to tell which I which in a blind test.
I believe Consoles should be preserved as part of our history where many men came together and created these machines that were part of our childhoods. I say preserve both Games AND Consoles
Unfortunately that's much easier said than done, since you'd need to recreate the hardware eventually, where-as saving ROMs is easy so long as you stay out of legal trouble
As someone who has played consoles since the late 80's and emulation since the late 90's it's amazing how far we have come.. from console mods to emulators to FPGA... what is now available for someone to pick up and play their favorite games it's like a kid in a candy store. There are so many options.. if I want to play OG hardware on one of my CRT TV's, or use my Mister, or upscale to my 4K TV, or on my PC, or on one of the many handhelds now available... it's so nice to not be constricted to one type of setup.
This video is fantastic. I never thought of using CRT filters, or how many options there were, until you showed it here. Also, I agree with about 95% of your opinions stated. Around 2006 I got a wired Xbox 360 controller for $20 from Circuit City and played countless hours of games I already enjoyed (and ones I couldn't get as a kid) on consoles I had next to me. It showed me a parallel world I could've grown up in if I chose different games in the game store. Emulators are a god-send and I thank those hard working people for bringing them to us for free.
I recently got a Mister set up. I haven’t played roms since 2001 so it felt like a mountain to climb. I did get it set up, and love the variety of games I can play without changing games physically. I have a basement filled with games, original consoles and CRTs and I have to say you were spot on when you said “it just hits different”. Thanks for your take.
Hey, good video. I had a massive retro collection in the age before crt’s were fully gone but I had to sell it all due to needing money (over 15 years ago now), but I always told myself “if I really want to play these games I can just use an emulator on PC”, and I still do that to this day. Emulation on my Steam deck’s new OLED screen works pretty well!
Yes! I just think back to selling all my old hardware i had over the decades (NES, Gameboy, SNES, PS1, Gamecube) and how i regret selling them....but, emulation is really good these days, and has brought most of my old fav games back to me. Plus i don't have the room (in my little apartment) for all my old consoles (plus a CRT), anyway...it seems emulation is my only option, no matter even if i still had those great consoles.
I find emulation is just so much more convenient and takes up way less space than consoles. The amount of games I have on my hard drive would fill multiple storage units if they were all physical.
I find the only consoles where emulation just don't cut it are the DS family, or consoles with very specific gimmicks like Wii U. Sometimes things are lost with emulators by virtue of some features being impossible to translate, this happens a lot with MAME. In other cases though? It simply doesn't make sense to track down original hardware when it's a simple plug and play console which experience can be easily replicated if not bettered through emulators. I'll let professional collectors and modders get their hands on those and preserve them. I won't do any good. And if I really want the CRT experience, a modded Wii through regular old composite looks INCREDIBLE. Better than the original consoles in some cases, it's a great compromise
Nintendo is just the bane of every emulators existence, cant replicate the gamecube layout, cant replicate the wiimote without having one, the ds touch screen and dual screen, the wii u gamepad etc...
For the DS/3DS, the closest you can get is playing on a phone with DraStic/Citra, and adding in a stylus for good measure. If you wanna get even closer, play on a foldable to replicate the dual screens, lol.
Definitely! That's what sold me on the Steam Deck. I had a Switch, and initially I doubted the Steam Deck, but once I saw that it could emulate both PS2 and Switch, I ended up selling my Switch, games, and accessories just to buy one. Later on, I found out it could emulate pretty much all the older gen consoles up to PS3, and now I have more games than I could probably beat in a lifetime lol. Totally worth it.
I think even HD texture pack artists would admit their work is shit - it's just such an impossible task filled with second-guessing about how faithful you're being to the original art style. And it's A LOT of work - there's a reason most go unfinished. Nerrel has some great videos about his work on textures for Majora's Mask and Metroid Prime talking about how amateurish it all feels - plus he has a whole video dedicated to fanboying over the RE4 HD texture pack that had thousands of hours of work put into it. Texture packs like that that actually manage to be a suitable replacement are the exception rather than the norm. I freaking hate when HD texture pack artists put in easter eggs or memes or garbage into their work though. I played through Persona 3 FES with its community texture pack and while largely a nicer experience than the original, there's a random meme about the creator on some TV screens and it's so distracting. Still recommend it as the best way to play Persona 3 (at least for two more weeks lol) and playing in emulator with speed-up capabilities is a lifesaver for long RPG's with repetitive animations. Also that Link's Awakening PC fan version isn't a decomp, to my knowledge - just a full recreation.
Heck, even official HD textures fall to these issues sometimes. TPHD had a rather infamous case of how one of the texture artists could not make sense of one of the textures, so instead inserted their own fanfiction referencing stuff not even in the timeline the game takes place in, causing a lot of community chaos.
@@JokerX350 Unironically reminds me of Xenoblade DE. That one does look overall much better than it's original, but some things were randomly left barely touched or were touched up in a poor way, where some of the original UI-icons for instance actually had more detail baked into them despite the lower res. It feels like a halfmeasure.
I never bother with HD texture packs at all, but the high resolution texture pack for Super Mario Sunshine seems to do everything right. It does require a special build of Dolphin, so I'll just stick with regular Dolphin, up the internal resolution & apply a 60fps hack. That's good enough.
The only texture pack I'll stand by is Four Swords Adventures HD, the original had upscaled bilinear textures that looked blurry af, the pack properly upscales the resolution of all sprites and makes it feel like a totally different game, highly recommend
N64 is basically the only 3D console worth playing on original hardware unless you own a $4000 computer… playing FFX after 20 years on PCSX2 at 480p & DualShock 3 controller is honestly a priceless experience
14:02 please note that most dualshock 2 to usb adapters will *not* support pressure sensitive buttons, I think the best alternative is using a dualshock 3 which will also work (albeit with a bit of setting up) wirelessly with it's pressure sensitive buttons.
I use emulation for the convenience but I love original hardware too much to sell my console collection. I use all my original consoles with Everdrives, other flash carts, ODEs and disk drives. That my perfect solution for having the great feeling of using original hardware with the convenience of having all my games digitally. I don't have that much space to store thousands of games. I know that I am missing the ritual of putting in the original games but I am okay with it. That's the way I am playing today. I know that it is probably a very expensive solution to keep all those older systems alive but I am ready for that. Luckily I didn't have to repair my systems that often until now. I own about 100 original consoles so letting a professional recap my systems is already expensive but I am going this route. It is a hobby and a passion so spending money doesn't hurt that much.
UA-cam algorithm gang where you at? Who’s here after the whole Nintendo Switch Yuzu emulator lawsuit? 😅 I forgot I had this video downloaded and it still popped up with the algorithm lol
Your knowledge on display is astounding. Subbed. Hope to learn how to better emulate, as I sorely miss all of my old games and I have issues with my current simple setup.
13:30 I was having this problem too recently! I figured out it was because I had the "Use Desktop Configuration in Launcher" option checked under the controller properties in Steam.
Great video, I am in the same boat. I dabbled in emulation years ago to find out what games are out there but thats it. To actually play them I always wanted an original copy. Its so expensive though. And unlike the USA where you have a basement the size of a tennis court I live in a country where space comes at a premium price. The USA seems to also be the primary place for modding/RGB and upgrading these days, which means it takes time to filter into other countries and then you have import costs. Folk tend to want original hardware as a personal thing, its not a competition. I tend to aim for Analogue products as its giving me a chance to use my real games on new hardware. Emulation is fine but I would still want the original controllers and in some cases the original aspect ratio of the game. These 1 box emulation devices don't cater for spinners, rotated monitors, games that use joysticks or joypads. Its just one box, 1 controller and get on with it. But if your used to using a controller with buttons in certain positions like the N64 controller and put on Mario kart 64, it doesn't play the same at all. It plays like shit.
Living in the US in apartment life is hell, not enough space to collect anything anymore. I had to leave all my gaming collection at my parents house to make sure it was safe, I only got into emulation preference because I haven't had space for my games since I moved from my parents place 6 years ago. I wish I had a huge basement space again or even a nice big useable attic, there aren't even houses with basements for miles here. Having space is truly a blessing that many take for granted. And like you, I like N64 emulation and even with an N64 controller can never get it to feel right. N64 is just one console you gotta have feeling right.
When it comes to texture packs, I agree that a lot of them clash with the original look of the game in one way or another. However, I do try to at least find accurate replacements for the HUD in some games as the low res and poorly filtered 2D elements just stick out like a sore thumb on my flat panel.
Glad someone said something about HD texture packs lol The only one I've ever used and enjoyed is the one for TTYD, and that's mostly because the art style is fairly simplistic, making it kinda hard to fuck up upscaling and redrawing them while making them look bad.
A lot of the vanilla TTYD textures have random miscolored pixels anyway, so even if you keep the base resolution the same and just redraw them, it's still technically an improvement. And the Remastered version Nintendo's coming out with this year is a (from the looks of it) from-scratch asset recreation along the same lines as Metroid Prime Remastered (which was _gorgeous_ af), so I'm legit looking forward to seeing what the game looks like in "true, unhacky HD"...
For me, personally, actually owning a game is what does it for me, I don't care if I'm using an aftermarket console, just having the cartridge, taking it out, and putting it in the console is truly what makes me want to play through it all! Much like music, I have a lot more connection to it when its in my hands physically
I can understand that as I have a pretty good retro collection. But the prices of retro games have gone up so high that I can't enjoy collecting at all an more.
@@TeaBeeAdventures Overall its more about where you look rather than the average price you'd find somewhere. I'm perfectly happy having a smaller collection since the cheaper ones are harder to find! It also lets me cherrish the ones I do have alot more!
For me once i set up CRTEmudriver it was over. Getting all the benefits of a CRT, with on the fly filter switching, and all the benefits of modern emulator features... i just feel no need to keep investing in real hardware. Im even at a point now where I'm debating dropping the consoles I do own altogether. The prospect of being able to sync saves between my CRT setup, modern PC setup, and my Steam Deck is only the biggest of many benefits to using emulators. And there's far more than that to get into. Really just the concept of playing it as "authentically" as possible is why i even hold on to my consoles. And the fringe case where a game may just not be compatible. But the gap between the two in authenticity only closes in each day, and I'm hopeful for the future that emulation will bring in an age where retro games are seen more as a financial investment than something to enjoy.
Another advantage with emulators (and this can also apply to flash carts on retro consoles), there's ways to extract ROMs from a lot of the retro collections that are widely available on Steam etc. So you can build a library that way.
This is one of those moments where near the start of the video the way you talk and do your video, I knew I found another youtuber ima love and subscribe to
It's weird. I've had Super Mario Bros. 3 on SNES and Wii through All-Stars, GBA through SMA 4, and Virtual Console on both Wii and Wii U. But I never actually sat down and played all the way through, until I had an original NES hooked-up to a CRT. Something about it just makes the game click for me...
Hmm.. for me nothing just beats playing on original hardware and using the carts/disc. My N64 I’ve had since childhood just feels the way to go for me it’s just the aesthetic, the feel of the remotes, the fellowship of friends gathered around the TV reliving those old long gone nights of Mario Party and smash… emulators can do it but it’s just not the same man.
I'm so glad I made the decision a few years ago to take a deep dive into emulation and make the effort to learn how to use it and make things work. A person definitely needs to learn how to ignore their natural tendency to want immediate gratification. Especially if you're trying to emulate a lot of different systems within a single build. Just keep learning and over time, you will end up with something you can be proud of and have a lot of fun with. It's become a very rewarding hobby for me.
If you use a front-end like retroarch you can't really deny that emulation is inherently better than playing old cartridges and disks. You have all your systems and games in one place and browse like it's s Steam, you have preemptive frames, upscaling, mods ect. Without emulation I would not even be able to play that many old games, no way I'm buying them all especially when many of them are just bad games
I totally agree with everything you are putting out there. I uh, spent my twenties and thirties high, not weed high either. Wasted a lot of years. I started collecting in my late thirties and never looked back. I kick myself in the rear for not starting sooner but, well druggzz, so I cleaned up. There are some things out there that are just to expensive for me to snatch up and I want to experience them, emulation really saves the day here until I can get the real thing. I love everdrives and they are well worth the money. Great channel, I really enjoy what you are putting out here.
hey about that psone that died on you, have you checked the voltage regulator? ive seen them over heat and die causing the fuse you mentioned to die aswell. i hope this helps!
In India, Nintendo has never officially existed, limited Xbox and only got Playstation presence after PS2. If not for emulation, Pokémon and Mario wouldn't have become HUGE in India.
The problem is - time. It's one thing having all this kit, it's another thing being able to play each individual game. I have always thought less is more when it comes to gaming. * looks at Steam library 😶
I believe the best part of all emulators is that it inherently makes all console games more accessible. There are countless games that people might want to play, but would be too costly or too much of a pain in the ass to get legitimately. Then emulators can do stuff that consoles can't do. Not just stuff like upscaling a game. But there is cool stuff like a widescreen hack for Super Mario World on a SNES emulator. Or being able to play games at 60fps as opposed to 20 or 30fps.
even as someone who owns real hardware and physical games, I never understood this "real hardware hits different" angle. I was playing on Dolphin for years since our consoles were at my brother's place, but last year I finally took the Wii back to my place, hooked it up to the CRT that I got specifically for that purpose, loaded up a real GC disc and... was underwhelmed because the moment I was in the game, it felt absolutely identical to playing on Dolphin. The fact that I eventually modded the Wii with a USB loader for convenience and am now picking games from a list to start them just like I would with an emulator makes it feel even more pointless. obviously everybody has their own view on things, but I just hope that nobody gets lulled into this idea that they need "real hardware" for the "real experience", then spend hundreds of bucks on rare items just to play the exact same game in perhaps a slightly different way, if there's any difference at all.
I think the biggest difference is the controller rather than the console itself. I definitely feel a difference when I'm playing Melee with a GameCube controller or Warioware with a Wiimote, but whether or not my Wiimote is connected to Dolphin or a Wii is not that big. I think unique controllers are the main reason to consider a physical console. I would not get the same enjoyment out of Powerstone without my Dreamcast's VMU, and playing Pikmin 3 with the Wii U game pad is a unique experience that I loved. For weird controllers like those, connecting them to a real console is often much easier than getting them to work with a PC.
You are correct, though I think I understand the notion. One reason, as you stated, is the CRT, which _certain_ games from _certain_ consoles look objectively better on. The other is the controller, which I think is the main factor. I've used emulators since I was a kid, and have mostly played with Playstation controllers, and having played a real NES in a mall, there's specific nostalgia that's evoked from knowing this is how people experienced the game when it first released. In other words, it hits different. However I don't think that feeling is anywhere near strong enough to justify committing to real hardware, especially when great filters like CRT-Royale and console-specific controllers exist on PC. At the end of the day, it's the exact same game being emulated as what's on the disc/cartridge, sometimes with massive improvements to performance. I'd never recommend someone play Jet Force Gemini at 8 FPS on a real N64 when there's a flawless version of the game readily available, unless they're strictly a purist.
I had a similar thing happen with both my DreamCast and PS2, that had been stored away in my junk filled attic for years. I have been playing them both emulated, along with several other retro consoles and computers for a few years now on my PC. Anyway, after several good naggings by my wife around 9 months ago, I finally spent a weekend clearing out of my attic and found them both (with games) and an old 22' Hitachi CRT TV. Actually it was a bit of a surprise, since I had almost forgotten they where even there. Nostalgia suddenly kicked when I started looking though the games, so I dusted them all down, cleaned them up and tested them out. When I did, instead of expecting a further Nostalgia trip, I instead felt deeply disappointed and slightly underwhelmed. They all worked perfectly fine apart from that typical smell you get off old unused electrical gear, however it was more from the games themselves. They actually looked worse to me on a CRT display than I remember and several games also played worse than when do when emulated on PC (slowdowns and jittering camera). I think this is simply because I'd now gotten so used to and spoilt by playing them emulated on PC, with a whole bunch of enhancements added. Things like using resolution scaling, using visual enhancements, enhanced textures and other mods. Even having a higher and more stable frame rate while emulated, simply makes them look and play better, at least to me. Also, I found the original controllers compared to the XBox controller that I use today, just weren't nearly as good. I've simply been spoilt this day and age, by a bunch of improvements to the way games play via emulation. Many of which you could only dream about back then The higher resolutions, better visuals, less jagged look, better controls and higher frame rates while using emulation today, has simply won me over from even using the original hardware. Like you said don't get lulled into falsely thinking that using the original hardware for a game will somehow be a much better experience, than it will be emulated. If anything, I found the opposite to be true. Don't get me wrong some people might like using the original hardware or like how pixelated, jagged and low res the games used to look on a CRT display. However to me, it's more a case that people who do are mostly just looking at them through rose tinted glasses and/or are just on a Nostalgia trip and want that original look they remember. By they way, they are now both now back in storage. Only now alongside the junk and mess in the stairs closet (until the wife nags me about that as well). I'm still keeping them as a future investment. Although I doubt I'll actually play them again, other than testing that they still work every now and again. From now on when playing retro games, it's just going to be done via emulation.
I use Dolphin still but you can’t hook it up to a CRT display without some tricky hackery. The lack of input delay and the look of a CRT is unmatched to me even with the best fake scanlines. And I really can’t stand 5th or 6th gen 3d games rendered at high res with blurry/pixelated low res textures. There’s nothing that feels quite like a real console or FPGA on CRT.
In my country (Hungary) consoles were just too expensive when I was a child in the early 2000's. We only had a PC because of school and work related things. But when I discovered the world of old video games I became obsessed with the NES and SNES library because these were the only games I could run on our computer. Never got a chance to have one Console or one Handheld, just the PC. But I loved to play those old games and I became a Nintendo fan because of them. But as an adult when I was 25 years old I finally bought my first console ever, the Nintendo Switch. It's a great console and since that day I never used emulators on my PC.... Only on my PSP and New 2DS XL. These Handhelds became my go to emulation machines for the 8-16 and 32bit area. I still have the Dolphin, N64, PS2 and PPSSPP emulators on my PC because if one day my Switch breaks I still have an option to play games.
Emulation setup will be even easier for the average everyday pc user once emudeck releases for Windows. The only thing you'll have to do is place your arms and bios files in the correct folders and do any personal configurations. And steam ROM manager will already be set up to have all of your games be integrated into steam with cover art.
As scarcity and prices keep getting worse, emulation is becoming the best way to preserve and play. Real hardware is fun but no way in hell am I paying 100 bucks for a copy of melee. The rise of the massive handheld market has improved the space as well.
I think controllers and storage are the main 2 reasons I stick with real hardware most of the time. Systems with unique controllers like the Dreamcast, PS3, DS, or Wii U all require varying levels of hassle to get all their hardware features working on an emulator. And with modern disk based games, ISOs take so much longer to download from Vimms and move around that when I can just store them on a flash cart or softmodded console instead, that's the way I normally go.
I own many consoles (I got almost all of them for really cheap). I almost never play on them (I haven't played on some of them). I thought I needed a crt but looking at your gameplay I'm rethinking diving into console mods and all that and just using my PC. It sure would save a lot of space.
14:30 Consensus seems to be if the original dev isn't able to make money off it, then it's not stealing. Usually you're paying GameStop or a random person
for PS2 emulators and pressure sensitive buttons, you should try using a dualshock 3 ! I played MGS2 with it on RPCS3 and the pressure sensitive actions were working well. that's how i discovered dualshock 2 and 3 had pressure sensitive buttons this feature is very funny
I had to use a PS4 controller (all I had) and it worked ok. I don't think it has the pressure sensitive capabilities but at least the majority of things worked. When I tried the Xbox controller, it absolutely sucked. I thought the Xbox controller would work fairly well with MGS2 but it definitely did not.
12:58 I have a legit question about this. Would an actual CRT display these scanlines in Gamecube/PS2 games (several of which output at 480i)...? I was under the impression that the typical "CRT look" was mostly limited up to 240p. I must've been 15 last time I had a PS2 plugged to a CRT, so my memory is hazy. Great video btw!
My CRT was so cheap that it did not even have scanlines in 280p. The big TV in the living room showed no scanlines for TV contents ( interlaced). First time scanlines for me was 350p EGA on a VGA CRT. Only after that CRT TV got sharper ( at night). Bilinear filtered texture and scanline don’t go together IMHO.
You can see the interlaced scanlines "crawl" down the CRT if you look close enough. From a distance it just looks like a subtle flicker that kinda goes away after your eyes adjust to it. I only find it appealing on real CRTs and don't think it looks good with a filter. PVMs would also have scanlines, but they'd be so much smaller on 480 games than 240 games. Still an awesome look though!
Thanks for the detailed responses. It about checks out with my memory then. It’s funny because PCSX2 has several CRT shaders built-in, even though an actual CRT would not display PS2 games in such a manner. But hey, if it looks good…
Being able to choose your controller makes emulation just inherently better for me. I had so many different controller adapters (like 6 of em at some point) to use the controller I wanted and emulation removed the need to have any of them.
1:47 Super true. My best friend wanted games, so I gave him several options to emulate, but he thought that would be hard/might brick his system (not really possible) so he just bought a $300 console
Something else to check on the PS One is the power supply/power cable. They can go bad as well. Make sure that that is good and then go from there. Excellent video!
@@Mr.WelbigMaybe you could try with a multimeter inserted into the input jack, that's pretty much how I diagnosed my N64. I checked the input voltages on the motherboard and it turns out nothing was coming from the PSU.
This was a lovely video! I have grown up both playing on original hardware and on emulation. I really try to play the official way where I can, but like you said, PC can just be so much more convenient. Want to play with mods, or HD enhancements, or in another language? So much quicker and easier then console emulation.
13:46 If you go into steam settings, you can change the "desktop" controller configuration to the gamepad template. You can also use steam rom manager to link your roms into steam as if they were steam games.
Dang dude. Incredible video. This belongs in a museum or something. Maybe one day we can have the schools use this video to prepare the youth for video game preservation efforts
12:29 another fellow non-retroarch fan, I used it because someone told me it was the best emulator ever because it mixes everything into an easier to use application, and is not, downloading multiple cores just to realize most of them dont work and trying to figure out which button does what is kinda very annoying, having separated and dedicated emulators is way better, even if I have to learn a new emulator (some day I start using you, PSCX2)
See I get the idea behind Retroarch. But i'm sorry i've never had a good UI experience with it. Like you said many cores straight up don't work. Remapping buttons feels more convoluted. The whole PS3 inspired interface feels more complicated to navigate. When it comes to booting back to the menu to change something, and then back to the game it often results in crashing. I see the appeal, and if everyone else has a good experience with it then that's just fine, buts it's never been that good to me personally.
Great video - I used to exclusively love a native resolution with clean pixels but I recently dived into CRT filters and I'm loving it. It takes a lot of tweaking and time but once I've dialed in a great setting, the nostalgia and feeling of how these games used to look adds a lot to the experience for me.
I guess it all depends on the nostalgia and cost: if you're an older gamer and you have the possibility to invest in this hobby, you'll definitely find a way to play on original hardware with original games and/or Everdrives/ODEs. On the other hand, if you're and older gamer which just wants a "quick fix", or a newer gamer without any nostalgia for the hardware, emulators are way more accessible. Whatever the path you choose, emulators will definitely be the future, as old consoles stop working and become more expensive to replace. For now I'm happy with my setup, and made the extra effort to have a second console of each type as a backup in case the current one fails and I can't service it.
Honestly those portable emulators are just stupid considering it doesn't take too long to set up an emulator on PC. And if you want portable emulation, then just mod a 3DS, PSVita, or even use an Android Phone.
The best part on playing on original consoles is experiencing it as it was intended to be played. Also physical media is very collectable. The best part on playing on emulation is experiencing it with higher performance and resolution. Also having all your roms into one place is very convenient.
The problem that I have with any software emulator is the ever present input lag that makes moving a character feel heavier, if not outright delayed. You could resolve it with run-ahead feature, but it can require a beefy CPU to pull that off on the more modern platforms. Even with that, you're still not safe from the OS randomly interrupting that feature at any time. Hardware emulation (FPGA) is entirely devoid of these issues by offering a practically instantaneous input response time. This leaves the TV, controller and possibly the upscaler being the only sources of input lag. MiSTer FPGA and the upcoming MARS FPGA can support your native retro controllers connecting directly to the hardware for eliminating ALL controller input lag. The initial hardware configuration can get a tad more involved and most consoles past the 5th gen aren't supported. As of today, some cores still lack save states. Personally, I prefer using real hardware since it restricts what games I could play while enjoying an authentic and mostly lag-free experience. Without facing much of choice paralysis.
Your console setup is a dream! i respect the scart/component setup and hope to one day have the same kind of thing, i've gone from the hd emulation look to emulating the original look as much as possible and cant wait to get a CRT if i ever have the space (and fire extinguisher) one of my favorite ways to play ps2 era games on emu is to double render res and custom set CRT lottes or royales preset which renders each pixel and i use that to downsample the image to the original game's resolution yet with slightly more detail and perfect anti aliasing. It's like each pixel is actually a point of light!
original hardware and retro game collecting is a luxury, sadly, and that will not change, it will only grow naturally as the hardware is simply not produced anymore. emulation is awesome, however, and feel free to call me crazy, but I admire the tangibility of a shelf filled with video game boxes/cases over looking at a file picker it's not just emulation, it's gaming in general, the future is online distribution and the slow disappearance of physical media, and to me physical media holds a lot of "soul" and "charm" of gaming. I understand the convenience of digital, I have over 1000 titles in my steam library.
For me I love both playing in original hardware and playing on emulators, this is why I’m all for emulators being the future of Retro gaming.
🌽🌽🌽
Same
@@dullah1434 same and I see a YYH PFP nice one, yes I love using both emulators and consoles
Both, both is good!
While it is nice to use original hardware to play the games themselves, the thing is that, overtime it'll become an inconvenience to the point where having to hook them up once or every time you want to play that console, not to mention you need to get a surge protector, a large CRT/HDMI tv, the console, the storage compartment full of games that don't have cases or boxes for them (if you've ever kept the boxes that is), hooking up the controller, hooking up the wires from the TV to the VCR (or to the console if you only have one console hooked up one at a time), then get the CD/Cartridge into the console, and hopefully it works (because sometimes it doesn't). Then, when you finally play the game, well, you either play it or you don't (they were expensive back in the day).
Nowadays, it's much easier to get games you didn't own back then and be able to play it on a computer. Which in my opinion has become the all-in-one go to for my personal gaming needs. And since 2015 I've transitioned from being a console gamer to a PC gamer, emulation included, as I feel there are a ton more settings on PC games than there are on console games (but that's just me). And plus, once you have all of the settings, files, folders, everything you have installed, all you have to do is use whatever first party/third party controller you wish to play on, setup the controls, test them out, double click on a game to boot it up and enjoy.
Personally, considering it's been fourteen years since I've used a CRT for gaming, it's hard for me to imagine what I thought back in the 1990s and 2000s as the highest quality of 480p I can ever get. But once I've been exposed to 1080p/4K look of the older games, it's very, very difficult for me to ever get used to the old fashion CRT look from the early 2000s and before. So for me I personally play video games on emulators on my PC, since you also don't have to worry about bringing your console, video games, cables, controllers, and accessories over to your friends house just to play that video game as well. It's much easier to hook up the wireless controllers via micro/mini/type-c usb cables into the computer's USB 3.0 ports, assign the controller profiles to Players 1-8, click the game you want to play, adjust some visual settings here and there, and off to the races. It's much easy to get it up and running then what most people realize.
0:08 Picking up a console for $20??! What world are you loving in?!
Not even 20 bucks when they released 💀
@TroboTicTac Ironically that is only possible now the ps1 was notoriously cheap at 199 dollars
@TroboTicTac about $20 15 years ago when the ps2, Xbox, and Gameboys were in thrift stores. I picked up a PS2 for $40 15 years ago. That's gonna run you alot more today.
There was a time where you could back in early 2000’s. I remember I wanted to get a Dreamcast and went to a eb games and got one for $20 with one controller and bought a few games, pso for $7 and nfl2k for like $3.
Yeah retro games used to be cheap (aside from rare games, of course) before it became trendy to scalp. You could buy a older console for around 50$ at most. Gamecubes sold for 99$ retail for awhile too.
Nowadays, things are so bad. I remember seeing game prices go up when even a youtuber did a review/retrospective on them.
"Emulation is too complicated" Meanwhile, this guy's console set up
As a newbie, it wasn't that hard to use emulation at all! I just don't mess around with the settings too much, and keep on the mostly the default, unless I think something might help with emulating the game like anti-aliasing... which I don't know what it does, but I guess it's the feeling that I'm playing as close as to the original, I don't know xD
And with tools like EmuDeck and Emulation Station is really easy nowadays, just drag and drop the games in the folder and it'll automagically be configured and ready to play for you!
(unless the console requires a bios file, but most don't and those are very well documented)
Nah you'd still be surprised. I have a colleague with multiple consoles all set up on their TV. She complained that she couldn't find an affordable copy of a particular original PlayStation game and I just naturally responded with "Well you could just emulate it if you want to scratch that itch." and she seemed baffled, as if emulation was some mystical dark art. Turns out she had a PSP in very good condition and I offered to softmod it and put the PSP eboot on there. It took me literally 15 minutes and I threw on a whole bunch of games because she had a 1GB memory card there. She was so grateful, as if I went to the end of the earth just to set it up. I tried explaining it to her and she was horrified that I would go to a roms site, as if I was guaranteed to get a virus.
Some people just don't really know enough about computers to even try.
I also turn on the shared memory card options so I can look at all the animations and GIFs of my game collection
even phones can emulate. even a normie should be able to emulate competently in 2024
When I start up pcsx2 I always I turn off fast boot so I can see the whole startup and make it feel like a real ps2 to me and it does. Makes me feel like I’m still playing on one even tho my older brother took our childhood ps2 when he moved out 😂
I do exactly the same so I can taste the memberberries lol
Pcsx2 with God of war upscale rehaade sheesh
Those boot ups go a long way for me. To me they're an essential part of the experience :D
I do the same for ps1 and ps2 emulation lol. I play with right now with a ps3 controller which is close.
I didnt even know you could do that thanks for the info
A big reason why I opt for emulators more nowadays is that my setup at my desk has literally no more room for anything other than my PC, Switch, and PS5. The enhancements and convenience of not having to put in discs or cartridges is also really nice too, but my biggest issue is definitely space.
My issue has been finding working CRTs... I have 3 of them, and all three of them have some kind of issue.
I did have to laugh at the initial statement that finding CRTs, original hardware and media was somehow easier than say, downloading RetroArch and browsing one of many sites that host ROMs/ISOs. Yes, there is a BIT of a learning curve to most emulators (moresoe for emulating more recent platforms), but it's still so much easier and more convenient than having to find room for and hook up old hardware. Not that I don't appreciate the original hardware.
I got to that point where my collection got too big and it was more convenient to size down and just have a pc at the tv and a lot of controllers for each console game. If the emulator is well supported emulation is very convenient with a little know how.
I love games but I like keeping my money for more important things even more and emulation provides that for me the price of games nowadays I’m not in the position to keep up and don’t have the space either maybe love is too much of a strong word for those who are truly going at it despite the economic climate so I’ll say I like games.
@@chronology556 first one I bought off marketplace for $40 worked just fine other than me switching out the composite ports which was super cheap and easy it even had a built in working VHS player so I could watch all my old movies
If not for emulators, I wouldn't be nearly as big into retro gaming as I am today. It's truly amazing how many options and ways there are to play old console games in the modern age. Learning RetroArch was rough for me a few years back, but now I find it so freaking useful and essential for many of my devices (PC, Vita, Shield TV, etc). The CRT shaders alone make me want to buy a 4K OLED VRR display.
I tend to only use CRT shaders for 2D games or 3D games with heavy use of 2D assets / low res backdrops. If a game leans heavily towards 3D, then I'll try to push the internal res as high as my system can handle + other enhancements, such as the ones in DuckStation.
As for my controller setup, I use a DualShock 4, a bluetooth adapter, and DS4Windows (software). I find it much more reliable than Steam for emulation. These days I only use Steam Input for old PC games that have little to no controller support.
Nintendo 64 games... Most of them I can barely stand to play on original hardware. Gotta have the majority of them overclocked to reduce the frame stutters / slowdown.
This video was great to listen to while I drove. Nice work, man!
Same, no way i could had afforded to buy 30 years old games twice the price of a modern game on steam and consoles, just to try out what i would like.
Furthermore, i cant just buy one and plug it. I have to order it from over the sea and solve compatibility issuses. Or play the slowed down pal version and get a lesser experience.
Nowadays even tough i have exposable income and patience and i would like to play my favorites on og hardware, the prices are just unreal nowadays. More people are stocking them for reselling than how many of them are actually playing retro games.
Emulation saved us from the resellers scamming
I've always been an advocate for emulation but since I got my steam deck, my appreciation for it has grown massively. Being able to play backups of the majority of my game collection conveniently and on the go is simply incredible.
Physical hardware definitely still has its place. Even games from systems like the DS and 3DS, I'd prefer to play on their respective consoles due to their unique hardware gimmicks. Whilst playing on original hardware is for sure a special experience, it's getting difficult for me to go back since PC emulation continues to be super convenient and further enhance the gaming experience for numerous consoles.
Ds is fine I played pokemon ranger with just my finger on a old android phone by getting used to it (although a stylus on a Samsung would be better) I think 3ds is a lot better than it used to be but it’s a system that the og hardware is probably still better
I first got a taste of handheld emulation on the PSP and that system was just great for it
2D games looked great in that small LCD screen, since it's target resolution was so close to what those games ran anyway.
I miss it a lot, specially for playing the old RE games, the backgrounds looked perfect on that screen, it was so comfortable too, fit in your pocket and you could easily whip it out whenever
I agree as well I don't play gb/gba emus cause I like bringing my original brick Gameboy and my yellow Gameboy color and my orange gba whenever I'm in a public area or at home
@Diet_sprite that does sound fun and nostalgic but those systems are pretty nicely adapted to android phones and handheld consoles since it matches being a handheld system and borders to make it feel more authentic but I do get the feeling of using original is pretty hard to beat.
The conjunction *but* means “on the contrary,” and is used to indicate contrast or opposition between elements in a sentence.
“I’ve always been an advocate for emulation, AND since I got my steam deck… “ ✅
I used to have a large collection of retro machines but abut 3 years ago I decided to move them on to friends that still had an interest in these things. A big part of it was just that maintaining the hardware was starting to get problematic and combined with things like disc rot, I figure I would leave it to folks that still had the time and passion to maintain those things.
To that emulation now is at the point where it is 'god enough'. Yes, it isn't exactly the same but the trade off for convenience and simplicity was worth it too me. It is great just having a single PC do everything, not having to worry when a disc drive dies or a capacitor leaks through the PCB, having to mentally block out that - yes these controllers are dying, etc.
Big respect to those that can keep the original hardware running because more it is feeling like Sisyphus trying to keep these things going. Looking at the retro computer space, you can see a vision of the future where getting parts becomes ever more difficult and obscure. For those that can do it, kudos to you!
This was a good video. You hit all points.
Big fan
I just set up Dolphin today based on your last video. Perfect timing for this one. Love the content man keep it up.
I love all of the options today. It is very case by case on the game to me. The performance can be awful on original hardware on say n64, or the look and controls of the game can be nearly impossible to replicate by emulation. Having experienced a lot of games for the first time on original hardware, sometimes I prefer to experience it in a new way on emulation as a fan remaster. Online games shut down by companies, can be played again today thanks to fans.
What do you mean controls? You can buy controllers that are basically the same form factor or use an adapter to pc. Controls aren’t much an issue
@Mingodough it can be pretty awkward to play a DS game that requires heavy touch screen use, for example
@@N5hot hmm I guess, though I’ve tried steam deck hooked up to a monitor, just use a long usb c and the steam deck is like a touch screen and works fine, I play Wii U like that also. So it isn’t impossible but pretty hard for ds and Wii U I guess
.....ABOUT REMASTERS\REMAKES ..... *_THEY RE NEVER GOOD_* BC SOMETHING WAS ALWAYS MISSING WHAT WAS MAKING GAME CATCHY......
.....BUT...MOST IMPORTANTLY IS ABOUT *_THE POINT OF PAYING FOR GAMES IS FOR WILLINGFUL FINANCIAL SUPPORT OF GAME'S DEVELOPER_* ........OR KIND OF THAT..........SOOO IF U LIKE WHAT DEVELOPER IS DOING, U'RE PAYING MONEY IF NOT OR IT'S IMPOSSIBLE FOR VARIOUS REASONS--THEN OKAY ........THAT'S HOW IN REAL DIGITAL ERA THINGS ARE GOING.....
.......AND NOT LIKE KINDA YOU'RE PAYING FOR GAMES FOR SHOWING THAT YOU CAN AFFORD *TO* ...........ESPECIALLY IF IT'S ABOUT SOME ANCIENT CONSOLES, THO..........WHICH IS ALREADY BECAME SOME KIND OF STATUS THING, THO..........BC IT'S GETTING MORE AND MORE EXPENSIVE AND STUFF ALONG WITH IT IS NOT A PROBLEM FOR EVEN A MOBILE HARDWARE TO EMULATE EVEN PS2 NOW ......SOOO WHY *NOT* ......WHY IF U WANT TO PLAY SOME NES OR GC U'RE A MUST TO SEARCH FOR EVERYTHING ORIGINAL OR GFY........JUST BC SOME JERKS SAID THAT U'RE HAVING NO RIGHT TO DO SO.........THE WORLD IS REAL, NOT SOMEONE'S
@@Mingodough yeah usually you can play with the exact or very similar controller for home consoles, but like someone mentioned touch controls on portable or Wii u etc. Tiny things like Dreamcast vmu or sound on a controller or something. Even the best emulation can be a tiny bit different for better or worse basically. Some original controllers just suck imo lol.
Spot on... I moved from Europe to Asia and left a huge collection behind. As much as the "real deal" is concerned, there is a slight difference, but then there is also different ways of emulation like FPGAs. It is more accurate but you can still play through the games no matter what method.
And then there is that other "controversy"... some are self proclaimed "collectors" trying to defend their "investment"; the copy of a 30 year old game someone tries to sell for 30$ today while I got it for 2$ at a backyard sale 20 years ago doesn't change the game; go, collect what is really important to us that really grew up with those games: the memories of kids sitting together with their friends for a video game session, not "connect to likeminded individuals" that you will never meet real life and will never have any meaningful impact on your life
Mister FPGA is an ideal solution in my experience. Easy connectivity for CRT TVs, and feels like playing on real hardware due to the low latency and accuracy. Between MisterFPGA and a dedicated Xbox System S/X for emulating PS1 to Wii era consoles, you're completely covered -- and no tripping or fire hazard dealing with dozens of consoles ;)
I've recently been busy diving into NTSC colorspaces and colorspace emulation. It's so interesting to figure out the many layers that make retro games look faithful to their original CRT look.
For example, did you know US TVs and Japanese TVs, despite both being NTSC, do NOT share the same colorspace? NTSC-J uses D65, while NTSC-U uses D93. As a result, games actually looked a lot bluer in Japan. As a post-retro kid that doesn't actually have any nostalgic affiliation to these games as I haven't played any of them in their original form when I was younger, I find that the bluer D65 colors are probably what the developers originally intended, and prefer that to the warmer color palette you may be more familiar with.
Most emulators, capture devices and modern displays actually need this kind of colorspace conversion, because they assume the input is in sRGB. And even some consoles like the Sega Genesis have a natural color or even exposure bias baked into their analog video DACs, that can be lost in emulation and RGB mods along with the antialiasing-like smoothing and color generation properties of composite video. It's a lot more involved than just slapping a CRT shader on your output and calling it a day (even a fancy multipass one like CRT-Royale!). Even the image scaling algorithm (bilinear vs. bicubic or catmull-rom) and how scanlines are factored in affects the realism of the simulated CRT output. I don't know how hardware scalers hold up in this regard. The big ones, probably not too badly.
The Mister FPGA project is a great all-in-one solution. I find it provides the best of both worlds in terms of ease of use. It's one little box that I can plug into a CRT or modern display with no fuss, it just werks.
I told myself that if I were to retire all my consoles, then i'd get a Mister. Probably the best "clone" console there is.
@@Mr.Welbig yeah mine are carefully stored away now and I can still use a lot of the hardware on my mister too
@@Mr.Welbig Great video - I've followed a similar path to yours regarding, authentic, accurate and lag-free experience of real hardware and CRTs. The Mister FPGA was a recent game-changer for me: connection to CRTs, cycle-to-cycle circuit modelling of 5-6th generation of consoles,computers and arcade boards; you can, with some extra connectors, use your original controllers connected directly into the mister (SNAC) without USB-input lag. You can simultaneously/configure for RGB and HDMI out, and has built in lag free crt/console filters. I've found the signal cleaner than my S-NES 1-chip!
Overall, I find the mister fpga bridges the gap between for when I don't want to set-up the real hardware for a mixed gaming session and the convenience of cycle-accurate, lag free play on different monitors without the rewiring or emulator lag (which is a game-killer for me). Worth a try! :)
I agree, I really only use save states as a more convenient save option so I can start and stop a game at my leisure.
Or if it feels like a level or challenge was poorly designed or built to artificially extend playtime and would be likely patched out in a theoretical remaster.
For me the biggest blow against original hardware is the saving. A lot of cartridge games that can save can have their battery die at any time now, and even if they don't, saves can get corrupted by bad connection or the console moved by wire tripping or something. Ironically this makes the less fancy password saving method more reliable.
It truly sucks, because I love playing on original hardware, but it's getting less and less convenient. Also they don't support bluetooth headphones like the PC or Switch does.
Yeah, I know the feeling about cartridge games! From what I know you have to replace the batteries, but I'm too scared to do that since I'm scared of messing up and breaking the game :
Not to mention the controllers themselves are often subpar. A lot of plastics haven't survived the years too well, and parts like the N64 thumbstick are well known to be faulty.
Why not just replace the battery? Good for another 30 years.
CRTs are a massive pain in the ass. How much of a pain in the ass? I legitimately had the thought 'Oh no, the earth's magnetic field is moving a couple of degrees to the south, I had better redo my geometry calibrations' about a week ago.
Either that, or the insane weight that CRT has, which is unevenly distributed (front side is heavier than back side). But instead of pain in the ass, it'll be back pain instead.
I emulate because I'm broke
What if you said I emulate because games are too expensive?
Emulation is typically a better experience. Way more flexible. Latency is negligible and I bet 90 percent of the people who complain wouldn't be able to tell which I which in a blind test.
Trueeee
Both are correct @@doombat04
Same bro except I like emulation as well
I believe Consoles should be preserved as part of our history where many men came together and created these machines that were part of our childhoods.
I say preserve both Games AND Consoles
Unfortunately that's much easier said than done, since you'd need to recreate the hardware eventually, where-as saving ROMs is easy so long as you stay out of legal trouble
As someone who has played consoles since the late 80's and emulation since the late 90's it's amazing how far we have come.. from console mods to emulators to FPGA... what is now available for someone to pick up and play their favorite games it's like a kid in a candy store. There are so many options.. if I want to play OG hardware on one of my CRT TV's, or use my Mister, or upscale to my 4K TV, or on my PC, or on one of the many handhelds now available... it's so nice to not be constricted to one type of setup.
This video is fantastic. I never thought of using CRT filters, or how many options there were, until you showed it here. Also, I agree with about 95% of your opinions stated.
Around 2006 I got a wired Xbox 360 controller for $20 from Circuit City and played countless hours of games I already enjoyed (and ones I couldn't get as a kid) on consoles I had next to me. It showed me a parallel world I could've grown up in if I chose different games in the game store. Emulators are a god-send and I thank those hard working people for bringing them to us for free.
I recently got a Mister set up. I haven’t played roms since 2001 so it felt like a mountain to climb. I did get it set up, and love the variety of games I can play without changing games physically. I have a basement filled with games, original consoles and CRTs and I have to say you were spot on when you said “it just hits different”. Thanks for your take.
9:20 I use save states to continue the game when I wanna stop playing but continue later when they don’t have saves in the vanilla game
Hey, good video. I had a massive retro collection in the age before crt’s were fully gone but I had to sell it all due to needing money (over 15 years ago now), but I always told myself “if I really want to play these games I can just use an emulator on PC”, and I still do that to this day. Emulation on my
Steam deck’s new OLED screen works pretty well!
Yes! I just think back to selling all my old hardware i had over the decades (NES, Gameboy, SNES, PS1, Gamecube) and how i regret selling them....but, emulation is really good these days, and has brought most of my old fav games back to me.
Plus i don't have the room (in my little apartment) for all my old consoles (plus a CRT), anyway...it seems emulation is my only option, no matter even if i still had those great consoles.
The Steam deck is one of the greatest devices to ever come out..Im in love with mine.
I find emulation is just so much more convenient and takes up way less space than consoles.
The amount of games I have on my hard drive would fill multiple storage units if they were all physical.
I find the only consoles where emulation just don't cut it are the DS family, or consoles with very specific gimmicks like Wii U. Sometimes things are lost with emulators by virtue of some features being impossible to translate, this happens a lot with MAME.
In other cases though? It simply doesn't make sense to track down original hardware when it's a simple plug and play console which experience can be easily replicated if not bettered through emulators. I'll let professional collectors and modders get their hands on those and preserve them. I won't do any good. And if I really want the CRT experience, a modded Wii through regular old composite looks INCREDIBLE. Better than the original consoles in some cases, it's a great compromise
Nintendo is just the bane of every emulators existence, cant replicate the gamecube layout, cant replicate the wiimote without having one, the ds touch screen and dual screen, the wii u gamepad etc...
@@thechugg4372 You can seek out Wiimotes, a sensor bar, or a GameCube controller just fine for Dolphin
For the DS/3DS, the closest you can get is playing on a phone with DraStic/Citra, and adding in a stylus for good measure. If you wanna get even closer, play on a foldable to replicate the dual screens, lol.
@@thechugg4372 that's why it's good to have a Wii U, so you can play GC, Wii and Wii U on it without turning crazy
an xbox controller can replicate gamecube controls well@@thechugg4372
I like playing PlayStation 2 games on Steam Deck. It’s crazy that we now have portable gaming PCs that’s powerful enough to play AAA console games.
Definitely! That's what sold me on the Steam Deck. I had a Switch, and initially I doubted the Steam Deck, but once I saw that it could emulate both PS2 and Switch, I ended up selling my Switch, games, and accessories just to buy one. Later on, I found out it could emulate pretty much all the older gen consoles up to PS3, and now I have more games than I could probably beat in a lifetime lol. Totally worth it.
@@amit_patel654i'm personally excited for ps4 emulation. it's in early stages.
@@dean14554 If the Steam Deck 2 can emulate PS4, that would be insane
I think even HD texture pack artists would admit their work is shit - it's just such an impossible task filled with second-guessing about how faithful you're being to the original art style. And it's A LOT of work - there's a reason most go unfinished. Nerrel has some great videos about his work on textures for Majora's Mask and Metroid Prime talking about how amateurish it all feels - plus he has a whole video dedicated to fanboying over the RE4 HD texture pack that had thousands of hours of work put into it. Texture packs like that that actually manage to be a suitable replacement are the exception rather than the norm.
I freaking hate when HD texture pack artists put in easter eggs or memes or garbage into their work though. I played through Persona 3 FES with its community texture pack and while largely a nicer experience than the original, there's a random meme about the creator on some TV screens and it's so distracting. Still recommend it as the best way to play Persona 3 (at least for two more weeks lol) and playing in emulator with speed-up capabilities is a lifesaver for long RPG's with repetitive animations.
Also that Link's Awakening PC fan version isn't a decomp, to my knowledge - just a full recreation.
Heck, even official HD textures fall to these issues sometimes. TPHD had a rather infamous case of how one of the texture artists could not make sense of one of the textures, so instead inserted their own fanfiction referencing stuff not even in the timeline the game takes place in, causing a lot of community chaos.
@@lpfan4491we don't talk about TPHD textures...
@@JokerX350 Unironically reminds me of Xenoblade DE.
That one does look overall much better than it's original, but some things were randomly left barely touched or were touched up in a poor way, where some of the original UI-icons for instance actually had more detail baked into them despite the lower res. It feels like a halfmeasure.
I never bother with HD texture packs at all, but the high resolution texture pack for Super Mario Sunshine seems to do everything right.
It does require a special build of Dolphin, so I'll just stick with regular Dolphin, up the internal resolution & apply a 60fps hack. That's good enough.
The only texture pack I'll stand by is Four Swords Adventures HD, the original had upscaled bilinear textures that looked blurry af, the pack properly upscales the resolution of all sprites and makes it feel like a totally different game, highly recommend
N64 is basically the only 3D console worth playing on original hardware unless you own a $4000 computer… playing FFX after 20 years on PCSX2 at 480p & DualShock 3 controller is honestly a priceless experience
Hey man, Thanks for the consistent uploads! Loving your content so far :)
This dude Is the male version of a cat lady, but with consoles 😂
14:02 please note that most dualshock 2 to usb adapters will *not* support pressure sensitive buttons, I think the best alternative is using a dualshock 3 which will also work (albeit with a bit of setting up) wirelessly with it's pressure sensitive buttons.
Dually noted. I figure a basic usb adapter would be less of a hassle. Thanks for the tip!
I emulate because it's so much more accessible and I'm ok being a pirate
As a Pirate too, I can be a real villian...
I use emulation for the convenience but I love original hardware too much to sell my console collection. I use all my original consoles with Everdrives, other flash carts, ODEs and disk drives. That my perfect solution for having the great feeling of using original hardware with the convenience of having all my games digitally. I don't have that much space to store thousands of games. I know that I am missing the ritual of putting in the original games but I am okay with it. That's the way I am playing today. I know that it is probably a very expensive solution to keep all those older systems alive but I am ready for that. Luckily I didn't have to repair my systems that often until now. I own about 100 original consoles so letting a professional recap my systems is already expensive but I am going this route. It is a hobby and a passion so spending money doesn't hurt that much.
UA-cam algorithm gang where you at? Who’s here after the whole Nintendo Switch Yuzu emulator lawsuit? 😅 I forgot I had this video downloaded and it still popped up with the algorithm lol
Your knowledge on display is astounding. Subbed. Hope to learn how to better emulate, as I sorely miss all of my old games and I have issues with my current simple setup.
Roms + RetroArch + BigBox + Controller.
It's so much easier and convenient than even this video would lead anyone to believe.
If you’re having issues emulating, your cpu and Gpu arnt strong enough, along with needing a tv that can keep up.
Rolled my eyes hard when he said "nefarious" and pulled out an NES R4 cart
13:30 I was having this problem too recently! I figured out it was because I had the "Use Desktop Configuration in Launcher" option checked under the controller properties in Steam.
Huh? I'll have to look into that cause yeah it's pretty annoying. Thanks!
Pure gold dude! This was the video i needed
I would be interested to see a video on FPGAs and your thoughts on the current state of them as compared to emulators, cheers for the great video
Great video, I am in the same boat. I dabbled in emulation years ago to find out what games are out there but thats it. To actually play them I always wanted an original copy. Its so expensive though. And unlike the USA where you have a basement the size of a tennis court I live in a country where space comes at a premium price. The USA seems to also be the primary place for modding/RGB and upgrading these days, which means it takes time to filter into other countries and then you have import costs. Folk tend to want original hardware as a personal thing, its not a competition. I tend to aim for Analogue products as its giving me a chance to use my real games on new hardware. Emulation is fine but I would still want the original controllers and in some cases the original aspect ratio of the game. These 1 box emulation devices don't cater for spinners, rotated monitors, games that use joysticks or joypads. Its just one box, 1 controller and get on with it. But if your used to using a controller with buttons in certain positions like the N64 controller and put on Mario kart 64, it doesn't play the same at all. It plays like shit.
Living in the US in apartment life is hell, not enough space to collect anything anymore. I had to leave all my gaming collection at my parents house to make sure it was safe, I only got into emulation preference because I haven't had space for my games since I moved from my parents place 6 years ago.
I wish I had a huge basement space again or even a nice big useable attic, there aren't even houses with basements for miles here. Having space is truly a blessing that many take for granted.
And like you, I like N64 emulation and even with an N64 controller can never get it to feel right. N64 is just one console you gotta have feeling right.
When it comes to texture packs, I agree that a lot of them clash with the original look of the game in one way or another. However, I do try to at least find accurate replacements for the HUD in some games as the low res and poorly filtered 2D elements just stick out like a sore thumb on my flat panel.
Glad someone said something about HD texture packs lol
The only one I've ever used and enjoyed is the one for TTYD, and that's mostly because the art style is fairly simplistic, making it kinda hard to fuck up upscaling and redrawing them while making them look bad.
A lot of the vanilla TTYD textures have random miscolored pixels anyway, so even if you keep the base resolution the same and just redraw them, it's still technically an improvement. And the Remastered version Nintendo's coming out with this year is a (from the looks of it) from-scratch asset recreation along the same lines as Metroid Prime Remastered (which was _gorgeous_ af), so I'm legit looking forward to seeing what the game looks like in "true, unhacky HD"...
The thing I’ve come to love the most about emulators is online. Being able to play Smash or Mario kart with my friends online is a godsend.
I still haven’t learned to do that online. I would have loved to play Super Smash Bros. 64 online with my friends.
Thanks for putting this video together. Helped clear up some things I’ve been thinking about.
For me, personally, actually owning a game is what does it for me, I don't care if I'm using an aftermarket console, just having the cartridge, taking it out, and putting it in the console is truly what makes me want to play through it all!
Much like music, I have a lot more connection to it when its in my hands physically
I can understand that as I have a pretty good retro collection. But the prices of retro games have gone up so high that I can't enjoy collecting at all an more.
@@TeaBeeAdventures Overall its more about where you look rather than the average price you'd find somewhere.
I'm perfectly happy having a smaller collection since the cheaper ones are harder to find! It also lets me cherrish the ones I do have alot more!
For me once i set up CRTEmudriver it was over. Getting all the benefits of a CRT, with on the fly filter switching, and all the benefits of modern emulator features... i just feel no need to keep investing in real hardware.
Im even at a point now where I'm debating dropping the consoles I do own altogether. The prospect of being able to sync saves between my CRT setup, modern PC setup, and my Steam Deck is only the biggest of many benefits to using emulators. And there's far more than that to get into.
Really just the concept of playing it as "authentically" as possible is why i even hold on to my consoles. And the fringe case where a game may just not be compatible. But the gap between the two in authenticity only closes in each day, and I'm hopeful for the future that emulation will bring in an age where retro games are seen more as a financial investment than something to enjoy.
Another advantage with emulators (and this can also apply to flash carts on retro consoles), there's ways to extract ROMs from a lot of the retro collections that are widely available on Steam etc. So you can build a library that way.
Ooohhhh ps1 frogger for the outro music, nice. Instantly recognized it. Great video, solid points. At the end of the day, the gamer wins.
The algorithm did good serving this up! I enjoyed your even-handed approach, and the 1440p crisp visuals. Sláinte! 🍻
Hey, what are you doing here, interacting with us normal people? 😊
This is one of those moments where near the start of the video the way you talk and do your video, I knew I found another youtuber ima love and subscribe to
It's weird. I've had Super Mario Bros. 3 on SNES and Wii through All-Stars, GBA through SMA 4, and Virtual Console on both Wii and Wii U. But I never actually sat down and played all the way through, until I had an original NES hooked-up to a CRT. Something about it just makes the game click for me...
Yeah it varies for me how I want to play certain games. Also I'm really glad to hear Frogger music in the background near the end lol
Hmm.. for me nothing just beats playing on original hardware and using the carts/disc. My N64 I’ve had since childhood just feels the way to go for me it’s just the aesthetic, the feel of the remotes, the fellowship of friends gathered around the TV reliving those old long gone nights of Mario Party and smash… emulators can do it but it’s just not the same man.
I'm so glad I made the decision a few years ago to take a deep dive into emulation and make the effort to learn how to use it and make things work. A person definitely needs to learn how to ignore their natural tendency to want immediate gratification. Especially if you're trying to emulate a lot of different systems within a single build. Just keep learning and over time, you will end up with something you can be proud of and have a lot of fun with. It's become a very rewarding hobby for me.
If you use a front-end like retroarch you can't really deny that emulation is inherently better than playing old cartridges and disks. You have all your systems and games in one place and browse like it's s
Steam, you have preemptive frames, upscaling, mods ect. Without emulation I would not even be able to play that many old games, no way I'm buying them all especially when many of them are just bad games
I totally agree with everything you are putting out there. I uh, spent my twenties and thirties high, not weed high either. Wasted a lot of years. I started collecting in my late thirties and never looked back. I kick myself in the rear for not starting sooner but, well druggzz, so I cleaned up. There are some things out there that are just to expensive for me to snatch up and I want to experience them, emulation really saves the day here until I can get the real thing. I love everdrives and they are well worth the money. Great channel, I really enjoy what you are putting out here.
hey about that psone that died on you, have you checked the voltage regulator? ive seen them over heat and die causing the fuse you mentioned to die aswell. i hope this helps!
In India, Nintendo has never officially existed, limited Xbox and only got Playstation presence after PS2.
If not for emulation, Pokémon and Mario wouldn't have become HUGE in India.
The problem is - time.
It's one thing having all this kit, it's another thing being able to play each individual game.
I have always thought less is more when it comes to gaming.
* looks at Steam library 😶
That last Steam Winter Sale got us all.
I must have over a dozen games in my library I never even downloaded 😂😭
@@unbearifiedbear1885I been getting through them
Last on the list is P5 royal
Fantastic breakdown - love your videos, fella.
I believe the best part of all emulators is that it inherently makes all console games more accessible. There are countless games that people might want to play, but would be too costly or too much of a pain in the ass to get legitimately. Then emulators can do stuff that consoles can't do. Not just stuff like upscaling a game. But there is cool stuff like a widescreen hack for Super Mario World on a SNES emulator. Or being able to play games at 60fps as opposed to 20 or 30fps.
I can smell the money burning from just hearing what you had to do to make this possible for retro games.
even as someone who owns real hardware and physical games, I never understood this "real hardware hits different" angle. I was playing on Dolphin for years since our consoles were at my brother's place, but last year I finally took the Wii back to my place, hooked it up to the CRT that I got specifically for that purpose, loaded up a real GC disc and... was underwhelmed because the moment I was in the game, it felt absolutely identical to playing on Dolphin. The fact that I eventually modded the Wii with a USB loader for convenience and am now picking games from a list to start them just like I would with an emulator makes it feel even more pointless. obviously everybody has their own view on things, but I just hope that nobody gets lulled into this idea that they need "real hardware" for the "real experience", then spend hundreds of bucks on rare items just to play the exact same game in perhaps a slightly different way, if there's any difference at all.
I think the biggest difference is the controller rather than the console itself.
I definitely feel a difference when I'm playing Melee with a GameCube controller or Warioware with a Wiimote, but whether or not my Wiimote is connected to Dolphin or a Wii is not that big. I think unique controllers are the main reason to consider a physical console. I would not get the same enjoyment out of Powerstone without my Dreamcast's VMU, and playing Pikmin 3 with the Wii U game pad is a unique experience that I loved. For weird controllers like those, connecting them to a real console is often much easier than getting them to work with a PC.
You are correct, though I think I understand the notion. One reason, as you stated, is the CRT, which _certain_ games from _certain_ consoles look objectively better on. The other is the controller, which I think is the main factor. I've used emulators since I was a kid, and have mostly played with Playstation controllers, and having played a real NES in a mall, there's specific nostalgia that's evoked from knowing this is how people experienced the game when it first released. In other words, it hits different.
However I don't think that feeling is anywhere near strong enough to justify committing to real hardware, especially when great filters like CRT-Royale and console-specific controllers exist on PC. At the end of the day, it's the exact same game being emulated as what's on the disc/cartridge, sometimes with massive improvements to performance. I'd never recommend someone play Jet Force Gemini at 8 FPS on a real N64 when there's a flawless version of the game readily available, unless they're strictly a purist.
I had a similar thing happen with both my DreamCast and PS2, that had been stored away in my junk filled attic for years. I have been playing them both emulated, along with several other retro consoles and computers for a few years now on my PC. Anyway, after several good naggings by my wife around 9 months ago, I finally spent a weekend clearing out of my attic and found them both (with games) and an old 22' Hitachi CRT TV. Actually it was a bit of a surprise, since I had almost forgotten they where even there. Nostalgia suddenly kicked when I started looking though the games, so I dusted them all down, cleaned them up and tested them out. When I did, instead of expecting a further Nostalgia trip, I instead felt deeply disappointed and slightly underwhelmed. They all worked perfectly fine apart from that typical smell you get off old unused electrical gear, however it was more from the games themselves. They actually looked worse to me on a CRT display than I remember and several games also played worse than when do when emulated on PC (slowdowns and jittering camera). I think this is simply because I'd now gotten so used to and spoilt by playing them emulated on PC, with a whole bunch of enhancements added. Things like using resolution scaling, using visual enhancements, enhanced textures and other mods. Even having a higher and more stable frame rate while emulated, simply makes them look and play better, at least to me. Also, I found the original controllers compared to the XBox controller that I use today, just weren't nearly as good. I've simply been spoilt this day and age, by a bunch of improvements to the way games play via emulation. Many of which you could only dream about back then
The higher resolutions, better visuals, less jagged look, better controls and higher frame rates while using emulation today, has simply won me over from even using the original hardware.
Like you said don't get lulled into falsely thinking that using the original hardware for a game will somehow be a much better experience, than it will be emulated. If anything, I found the opposite to be true. Don't get me wrong some people might like using the original hardware or like how pixelated, jagged and low res the games used to look on a CRT display. However to me, it's more a case that people who do are mostly just looking at them through rose tinted glasses and/or are just on a Nostalgia trip and want that original look they remember.
By they way, they are now both now back in storage. Only now alongside the junk and mess in the stairs closet (until the wife nags me about that as well). I'm still keeping them as a future investment. Although I doubt I'll actually play them again, other than testing that they still work every now and again.
From now on when playing retro games, it's just going to be done via emulation.
I use Dolphin still but you can’t hook it up to a CRT display without some tricky hackery. The lack of input delay and the look of a CRT is unmatched to me even with the best fake scanlines. And I really can’t stand 5th or 6th gen 3d games rendered at high res with blurry/pixelated low res textures. There’s nothing that feels quite like a real console or FPGA on CRT.
Playing DS games on any non DS hardware is abysmal.
In my country (Hungary) consoles were just too expensive when I was a child in the early 2000's. We only had a PC because of school and work related things.
But when I discovered the world of old video games I became obsessed with the NES and SNES library because these were the only games I could run on our computer.
Never got a chance to have one Console or one Handheld, just the PC. But I loved to play those old games and I became a Nintendo fan because of them.
But as an adult when I was 25 years old I finally bought my first console ever, the Nintendo Switch.
It's a great console and since that day I never used emulators on my PC.... Only on my PSP and New 2DS XL. These Handhelds became my go to emulation machines for the 8-16 and 32bit area. I still have the Dolphin, N64, PS2 and PPSSPP emulators on my PC because if one day my Switch breaks I still have an option to play games.
Emulation setup will be even easier for the average everyday pc user once emudeck releases for Windows. The only thing you'll have to do is place your arms and bios files in the correct folders and do any personal configurations. And steam ROM manager will already be set up to have all of your games be integrated into steam with cover art.
Playing Stickerbush Symphony, ah a man of culture.
Edit, Forest Interlude as well. David Wise is a musical genius.
As scarcity and prices keep getting worse, emulation is becoming the best way to preserve and play. Real hardware is fun but no way in hell am I paying 100 bucks for a copy of melee. The rise of the massive handheld market has improved the space as well.
That frogger music at the end. Nostalgia hit.
Emulation is the best thing ever, the best reason to have an a internet a connection
Emulation is like garlic, kryptonite or sunlight to an eBay scalper and I love it.
Love these vids, your video format is one I really enjoy, thanks.
I think controllers and storage are the main 2 reasons I stick with real hardware most of the time. Systems with unique controllers like the Dreamcast, PS3, DS, or Wii U all require varying levels of hassle to get all their hardware features working on an emulator. And with modern disk based games, ISOs take so much longer to download from Vimms and move around that when I can just store them on a flash cart or softmodded console instead, that's the way I normally go.
Great coverage, awesome explanations. Good cadence
I own many consoles (I got almost all of them for really cheap). I almost never play on them (I haven't played on some of them). I thought I needed a crt but looking at your gameplay I'm rethinking diving into console mods and all that and just using my PC. It sure would save a lot of space.
I was thinking of getting my Wii serviced for better video. But after Dolphin got updated for sharper pixels im not so sure anymore.
14:30 Consensus seems to be if the original dev isn't able to make money off it, then it's not stealing. Usually you're paying GameStop or a random person
for PS2 emulators and pressure sensitive buttons, you should try using a dualshock 3 ! I played MGS2 with it on RPCS3 and the pressure sensitive actions were working well. that's how i discovered dualshock 2 and 3 had pressure sensitive buttons this feature is very funny
Yeah I use a real ps3 controller for ps1, ps2, psp, and ps3 emulation.
I had to use a PS4 controller (all I had) and it worked ok. I don't think it has the pressure sensitive capabilities but at least the majority of things worked. When I tried the Xbox controller, it absolutely sucked. I thought the Xbox controller would work fairly well with MGS2 but it definitely did not.
12:58 I have a legit question about this. Would an actual CRT display these scanlines in Gamecube/PS2 games (several of which output at 480i)...? I was under the impression that the typical "CRT look" was mostly limited up to 240p. I must've been 15 last time I had a PS2 plugged to a CRT, so my memory is hazy. Great video btw!
My CRT was so cheap that it did not even have scanlines in 280p. The big TV in the living room showed no scanlines for TV contents ( interlaced). First time scanlines for me was 350p EGA on a VGA CRT. Only after that CRT TV got sharper ( at night).
Bilinear filtered texture and scanline don’t go together IMHO.
You can see the interlaced scanlines "crawl" down the CRT if you look close enough. From a distance it just looks like a subtle flicker that kinda goes away after your eyes adjust to it. I only find it appealing on real CRTs and don't think it looks good with a filter. PVMs would also have scanlines, but they'd be so much smaller on 480 games than 240 games. Still an awesome look though!
Thanks for the detailed responses. It about checks out with my memory then. It’s funny because PCSX2 has several CRT shaders built-in, even though an actual CRT would not display PS2 games in such a manner. But hey, if it looks good…
For me emulation on my PC is my first choice
Being able to choose your controller makes emulation just inherently better for me. I had so many different controller adapters (like 6 of em at some point) to use the controller I wanted and emulation removed the need to have any of them.
DO WHAT YOU WANT CAUSE A PIRATE IS FREE,YOU ARE A PIRATE🗣🗣🗣❗️❗️❗️
And Nintendos are the Marines 💀
1:47 Super true. My best friend wanted games, so I gave him several options to emulate, but he thought that would be hard/might brick his system (not really possible) so he just bought a $300 console
Something else to check on the PS One is the power supply/power cable. They can go bad as well. Make sure that that is good and then go from there. Excellent video!
I had a reddit reply saying the same thing. I'll have to look on how to check the ac adapter itself as I don't want to test it on another psone.
@@Mr.WelbigMaybe you could try with a multimeter inserted into the input jack, that's pretty much how I diagnosed my N64. I checked the input voltages on the motherboard and it turns out nothing was coming from the PSU.
This was a lovely video! I have grown up both playing on original hardware and on emulation. I really try to play the official way where I can, but like you said, PC can just be so much more convenient. Want to play with mods, or HD enhancements, or in another language? So much quicker and easier then console emulation.
13:46 If you go into steam settings, you can change the "desktop" controller configuration to the gamepad template. You can also use steam rom manager to link your roms into steam as if they were steam games.
Come here for just a simple opinion. Left with a lot more info than I bargained for.
Thank you for your service sir!
Dang dude. Incredible video. This belongs in a museum or something. Maybe one day we can have the schools use this video to prepare the youth for video game preservation efforts
12:29 another fellow non-retroarch fan, I used it because someone told me it was the best emulator ever because it mixes everything into an easier to use application, and is not, downloading multiple cores just to realize most of them dont work and trying to figure out which button does what is kinda very annoying, having separated and dedicated emulators is way better, even if I have to learn a new emulator (some day I start using you, PSCX2)
See I get the idea behind Retroarch. But i'm sorry i've never had a good UI experience with it. Like you said many cores straight up don't work. Remapping buttons feels more convoluted. The whole PS3 inspired interface feels more complicated to navigate. When it comes to booting back to the menu to change something, and then back to the game it often results in crashing. I see the appeal, and if everyone else has a good experience with it then that's just fine, buts it's never been that good to me personally.
Great video - I used to exclusively love a native resolution with clean pixels but I recently dived into CRT filters and I'm loving it. It takes a lot of tweaking and time but once I've dialed in a great setting, the nostalgia and feeling of how these games used to look adds a lot to the experience for me.
I guess it all depends on the nostalgia and cost: if you're an older gamer and you have the possibility to invest in this hobby, you'll definitely find a way to play on original hardware with original games and/or Everdrives/ODEs. On the other hand, if you're and older gamer which just wants a "quick fix", or a newer gamer without any nostalgia for the hardware, emulators are way more accessible. Whatever the path you choose, emulators will definitely be the future, as old consoles stop working and become more expensive to replace. For now I'm happy with my setup, and made the extra effort to have a second console of each type as a backup in case the current one fails and I can't service it.
Honestly those portable emulators are just stupid considering it doesn't take too long to set up an emulator on PC. And if you want portable emulation, then just mod a 3DS, PSVita, or even use an Android Phone.
The best part on playing on original consoles is experiencing it as it was intended to be played. Also physical media is very collectable.
The best part on playing on emulation is experiencing it with higher performance and resolution. Also having all your roms into one place is very convenient.
Just found your channel. Thanks for sharing your opinion and looking forward to more vids :).
"I don't like to use Retro Arch".
THANK YOU! YOU ARE MY FUCKING HERO!
I also despise Retro Arch.
The problem that I have with any software emulator is the ever present input lag that makes moving a character feel heavier, if not outright delayed.
You could resolve it with run-ahead feature, but it can require a beefy CPU to pull that off on the more modern platforms. Even with that, you're still not safe from the OS randomly interrupting that feature at any time.
Hardware emulation (FPGA) is entirely devoid of these issues by offering a practically instantaneous input response time. This leaves the TV, controller and possibly the upscaler being the only sources of input lag. MiSTer FPGA and the upcoming MARS FPGA can support your native retro controllers connecting directly to the hardware for eliminating ALL controller input lag.
The initial hardware configuration can get a tad more involved and most consoles past the 5th gen aren't supported. As of today, some cores still lack save states.
Personally, I prefer using real hardware since it restricts what games I could play while enjoying an authentic and mostly lag-free experience. Without facing much of choice paralysis.
A really thoughtful video. You just earned my sub.
Your console setup is a dream! i respect the scart/component setup and hope to one day have the same kind of thing, i've gone from the hd emulation look to emulating the original look as much as possible and cant wait to get a CRT if i ever have the space (and fire extinguisher) one of my favorite ways to play ps2 era games on emu is to double render res and custom set CRT lottes or royales preset which renders each pixel and i use that to downsample the image to the original game's resolution yet with slightly more detail and perfect anti aliasing. It's like each pixel is actually a point of light!
jesus, this was 20 minutes? flew by, great vid mate 👍
Emulation is the way forward unless you're rich. Companies haven't been keeping old games alive & buying devices is expensive as hell
original hardware and retro game collecting is a luxury, sadly, and that will not change, it will only grow naturally as the hardware is simply not produced anymore.
emulation is awesome, however, and feel free to call me crazy, but I admire the tangibility of a shelf filled with video game boxes/cases over looking at a file picker
it's not just emulation, it's gaming in general, the future is online distribution and the slow disappearance of physical media, and to me physical media holds a lot of "soul" and "charm" of gaming.
I understand the convenience of digital, I have over 1000 titles in my steam library.