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emulator vs real console

11K views 25 replies 20 participants last post by  Radix865 
#1 ·
Just a while ago I managed to finish KH2 in full speed in my laptop because my ps2 was broken. It's just recently fixed and I could play normally again, but after tasting playing games in emulator, it makes me lazy to play in real console again because the simplicity of emulator. If I have powerful hardware I might choose to shelf my console (keeping it for nostalgy). what about you? do you prefer to play in real console or in the emulator?
 
#3 ·
Well, this might be a shock to everyone...but I prefer the emulator :p

Enhanced graphics/higher resolution, save states, unlimited FPS (good for impatience), in some cases better sound, and all the other benefits that come with an emulator.

I do like consoles for their simplicity--you pop a game in and you're good to go immediately. And of course, the allure of sticking a real game into a real piece of hardware and playing it the way it was meant to be played has always drawn me in.

So for me, it's close, but emulation wins out.
 
#4 ·
Well, this might be a shock to everyone...but I prefer the emulator :p

Enhanced graphics/higher resolution, save states, unlimited FPS (good for impatience), in some cases better sound, and all the other benefits that come with an emulator.

I do like consoles for their simplicity--you pop a game in and you're good to go immediately. And of course, the allure of sticking a real game into a real piece of hardware and playing it the way it was meant to be played has always drawn me in.

So for me, it's close, but emulation wins out.

This, plus the convenience of not having to carry a huge ass stack of CDVDs and carts. :thumb:
 
#5 ·
There are times I like to play the "real thang" such as the Atari 2600 or NES, particularly if I want to play a gun game on the NES, and I love many Atari 2600 games.

When it comes to the Playstation, Super NES, Genesis, and a couple other systems I prefer emulation.
 
#6 ·
well since this is an emulation forum, im going to be guessing most people here are going to be slightly more inclined to say emulators. But i my preferences change depending on what console im emulating, for example i preffer to play snes and nes, and sega mega drive games, on the respective console, for nostalgic reason, and because i dont have to shell out for a converter for the controllers, it's just not right playing these systems without the respective controller in my view. If its any other system i can live with just using the keyboard.

also one more condition if its a rpg its emulators all the way, thank god a way to remove the fps limit, no more level grinding for me.
 
#7 ·
For me it all depends on what an emulator is capable of.

Some emus can't beat the console with proper scart rgb wired to a standard crt tv, especially those that do not have well advanced and appropriate filtering/scanlines options to compensate the scaling on hi-res displays.
I hate badly filtered/deformed graphics ! :dead:

It's another story with the ones like ePSXe that allow many, many graphic enhancements. It requires some learning but in the end it can really improve the gaming experience.

To sum up: I like emulators that really bring enough improvements and features over the real console gaming.

PS: Another thing I don't like is input lag (and any other form of delay). Emulators that add too much delay can just kill the gameplay. :(
 
#8 ·
i prefer emulators, the range of enhancements and improvements that are offered by most are what attracts me compared to the real thing.
 
#10 ·
real thing ftw!

I prefer playing games on the system they've been developed for.
In other words: I prefer the real hardware, not the emulation.

I usually only use emulators if I want to capture screenshots or if
I want to record some gameplay footage of consoles that do not
have their own A/V output (for example the Nintendo DS).

And still then I play the games on the real hardware and only copy
over my savegames to use in the emulator for capturing process
(so that I can take screenshots from where I actually am in the
game and don't have to start from the beginning).


ceno
 
#11 ·
It really depends for me. For instance, I still prefer to play SNES games on the console with the original, plenty comfortable controller on an old CRT TV. With the N64 however I prefer the emulator so that I may use my 360 or PS3 controller. I guess that if the consoles native controller is a bit iffy for my tastes I will use an emulator, rather than the real thing.
 
#12 ·
bump since I just bought PSPgo. I cant believe how much emulator has changed my taste. I simply cant stand playing in small monitor, I hope there would be working emulator soon... :(
 
#20 ·
There is a certain plugins that lets you display it to the pc or laptop monitor instead given you have a usb cable. But it's only available if you're using custom FW. Not sure if I am allowed to discuss it here.

Anyway, for current consoles, I'm satisfied with using the consoles itself, but for older generation games like PSX, SNES, Genesis, GBA, I'm using emulators.
 
#21 · (Edited)
I stopped playing games several years ago but recently i builded a HTPC and since then am playing a lot of games because of the better graphics. atm am playing Zelda TP and yesterday i hooked up my original GC to see the difference and seriously the emulated version is miles better due the higher resolution and graphics enhancements.
 
#22 ·
Up to fifth generation I prefer emulators, then I prefer the real deal, meaning playing on a console. I'm not really a graphics whore so I don't really care about enhancing the game's looks, I even use PSX Emulator for PSOne most of the time. Weird? Maybe but that's how I remembered those games.
 
#23 ·
The more compatible and reliable the emulator is, the more likely it is I'll play on it. I prefer emulator overall, but I'm past my days of willingly losing and wasting hours trying to get them to work.
 
#25 ·
For the person who enjoys spending hours tweaking and doing everything in their power to make an image look slightly (or plenty) better or getting a few extra frames per second, emulators can be amazing. Some people though would rather just "put in and play". That's why I always preferred VGS / Bleem! (despite the terribly low compatibility rate) and then eventually the most excellent PSX~.

That's not to say that customization is a bad thing by any means, like I said, different tastes for different people. But in general, despite the improvements you can get, I prefer the real deal over the emulator, it's like reading a book in paper vs reading it on an e-reader; despite all the advantages, the latter feels like it's missing something~.
 
#26 ·
I play pre playstation era games on emulators, because in most cases they didn't even have save function... Well, with the exclusion of GBA, I play that on emulator as well because "the small screen < 19 inch screen"...

Playstation and after I play on the actual console... I don't really like save states on these because a lot of these games became way too easy with save states as they were kinda easier to begin with and as I couldn't really care a flying f**k about graphics either I use the actual console...
 
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