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[Hugare]

Imagine waiting for Nintendo's goodwill on releasing some of your old favorite games on their paid subscription service, despite owning the games, just because you want to play them on the go.

Emulation is a godsend. I have more than 12 devices at anytime. With improved graphics, improved performance, CRT filters, savestates, mods, fan translations and the list goes on.

 

[Sleepwalker]

to Convenience. I own the games but don't want to have multiple old systems connected all the time. Besides, PC emulator makes all those games better.

I went through a period of adding old consoles to my collection to play natively but I found out I never actually ended up using said consoles. So im limiting my collection to mostly just games for now... and emulation for when I want to play them.

I have a lot of nostalgia for older systems and I love having them around but I end up just playing my PS5 80% of the time and my steam deck/xbox the rest.

 

[Miyazaki’s Slave]

I'm not unpacking all my boxes just to play a few levels of LoLo (and jam to the amazing music...obviously).

 

[ssringo]

Primarily for accessibility and convenience of playing my old games that don't have PC releases because I dont want to hook up a bunch of systems on the off chance I want to play an old game. However in the case of the Switch its 100% for performance. I can't stand the shitty resolution and framerate.

 

[Shakka43]

I found out you could buy a USB Wii infrared bar for PC, then I loaded up Sin and Punishment Star Successor for the first time in years. Upscaled to 4k I was blown away at how clear it looks. Plus other Wii games. I've never been loyalist to playing games on its original hardware. Software is software to me. I've been playing San Andreas in its original form and I love that I can still play games with the original art direction in mind but with a nice resolution bump. It just makes the game more enjoyable. Outdated textures do not bother me. There's charm to what devs try to achieve on limited hardware.

Super Mario Galaxy 1&2 with 4k texture packs and ultrawide patches look insanely good on dolphin Emulator.

 

[AeonGaidenRaiden]

Got a steam deck, emulates a lot of consoles perfectly. I mean the fact that without even changing anything, I get upscaled 4K res on PS2 games. That automatically defeats the original console and its image quality. Not to mention the modding community making HD textures for these old games, achievements implemented for titles that never had them, if you really want you can even activate cheats if the game is too hard for you. Can save anywhere, I can go on and on about why its better than storing all this OG hardware.

Also yes, Im a proud pirate. No effin way am I going to be spending $1000 on Kuon, Rule of Rose or Haunting Ground, Piglets Grand Adventure (lol)....games that were never even considered that good except maybe the story but are expensive just because they are rare.

 

[Kagoshima_Luke]

I prefer playing on the actual system and probably always will.

That said, I like emulation for convivence, retro leaderboards (and achievements), translations, and access to games that are basically impossible to find or way too expensive.

 

[Nitty_Grimes]

I use WinUAE for all my Amiga stuff.

1. I have the old hardware though but
2. I don’t have a CRT or monitor (or room for one) to properly have the Amiga set up all the time.
3. You can use a Xbox joypad to play Amiga games with.

 

[CGNoire]

Why didnt you include enhanced video (resolution, AF, AA ect...)?

 

[Neilg]

The only games/platforms I've ever emulated are :
Snes - never had one, wanted to play Mario world & Mario RPG
N64 - never had one, wanted to try Mario and Zelda
Switch - never had one, wanted to try Zelda

In all instances, didn't finish any of the games. Barely got more than a few hours in. Didn't convince me to buy the console either - just reinforced that I don't gel with these super hyped platform specific titles

 

[Knightime_X]

I'm quite honest when it comes to emulation.
For switch and bloodborne, I own all the titles emulated.

For older games, its a mixed bag.
Either can't support og dev, the hardware is too outdated to be enjoyed on modern hardware without expensive extra equipment.
I purchased the game at least once, the game is worth very very little. Mods, options for controllers, 4k resolution.
The list is rather expansive.

 

[SHA]

Better experience and convenience, Nintendo says high specs don't matter then what the hell are they doing with emulators? Cause they got weaker hardware and they don't want you to improve your experience and left their console users behind, obviously for spoiling pc users.

 

[Pantz]

If they're old games that are not currently being sold digitally anywhere. Used copies are too expensive and may be too old or broken.

 

[Bartski]

I only emulate PS1 and PS2 on Steam Deck now, primarily abandonware games that are impossible to buy. If there was a shop with legal ROMs I'd be more than happy to buy them at full price.

Better experience is also a factor, I played Silent Hill 1 recently via Duckstation and it was amazing with all the tweaks. Having a choice to play something like the original RE1 there with geometry and texture correction vs streaming it on PS+ looking like hot mess in comparison, the choice is rather obvious.

 

[Dacvak]

Because I can’t fit a Sega Genesis in my pocket, no matter how many times I try.

 

[Tarnpanzer]

As a kid: Piracy. Able to play SNES/GBA Games on PC for free was mindblowing.

Now: Playing some (old) classics in 4K/60-120fps with mods is mindblowing too. BotW looks insane with viewdistance mods in 4K/120fps via Cemu.

 

[Soodanim]

Ctrl+F Nintendo spy

0 results

You may have the rest of them fooled hououinkyouma00 , but not me

 

[octos]

I also use emulators to play NEW games. Games are still being made for C64, Amiga, Megadrive etc.
There's a new Super Street Fighter 2 for C64 that is pretty cool for ex, and also a bunch of original indie games.

Edit: another big reason is to play games in higher quality than possible on the original hardware, for 3d games: higher resolution, higher framerate.

 

[deriks]

Mostly accessibility since retro is expensive as hell and "we don't have Sonic 3, but we have Sonic & Knuckles"

 

[IAmRei]

simple: Translation, because there are so much, tons of games, stay in japanese languages, in golden era, genre invention video games (90s - end of 00s)
some of popular untranslated games in that era are already translated, and it can trigger both nostalgia and admiration from me.

 

[Lunarorbit]

Emulation is awesome. I've only emulated nes, snes, and gba games over the years. I have no qualms about stealing from Nintendo for a litany of reasons.

 

[Pasta la Vista]

EDIT: My bad the option is there

Fan translations/patches

 

[hououinkyouma00]

Why didnt you include enhanced video (resolution, AF, AA ect...)?

Mods/QoL. I couldn’t edit the text once I posted.

 

[cireza]

Games being better with hacks than the originals, and also not being able to play a game in any other way.

Otherwise, I buy and support every initiative that gives me access to old games in good gaming conditions.

 

[NeoIkaruGAF]

This question makes no sense.
If you’re playing a game on a current system that was released on a previous system, with some exceptions, you’re emulating that game.
If you bought a Mini console a few years ago, you did so to play emulated games.
We are all emulating games legally, and we’re paying for it.
Why do we do it? Because it’s the only way to play old games without hardware that’s not for sale anymore.

 

[TintoConCasera]

It's very nice to have a Wii plugged to a CRT and being able to enjoy lots of 8bit and 16bit games without the need for having all those old systems setup and taking space.

 

[Bartski]

inspired by this thread I just installed EmuDeck

 

[MadchesterManc]

I don't usually emulate, prefer to play original hardware as its part of the nostalgia for me (also helps having a decent enough scaler with RGB Scart input) which is why I've kept most of old systems around and maintain them myself. Usually the only time I will emulate is out of necessity. At the moment the optical drive on my Sega Saturn isn't spinning, console powers on fine, so if I want to play any Saturn games I will emulate (until I've repaired it)

It can also be fun running some old games in higher resolutions to see how much more detail there was behind the fuzzy outputs of yesteryear. Folk will claim they used some fancy connection back in the day, but in reality they were scumming it out tuning their RF cable into channel 6 like everyone else.

 

[Hawk The Slayer]

I ain't going to buy a old console just to buy a few old games and besides most of my emulated games I already bought in the past.

 

[Ulysses 31]

Convenience of not having to hook up older systems to new displays.
Often you can apply enhancements to the graphics and performance.

 

[analog_future]

I emulate games because I can run them at higher frame rates/resolutions and add HDR into them.

 

[GeorgioCostanzaX]

With all the retro collections out recently I’ve mostly only stuck to emulating stuff that’s completely unavailable for purchase on Steam or Otherwise like Punchout for Wii or Sega Saturn games and certain PS1 and 2 titles that will probably never see the light of day again.

 

[Lorianus]

Higher resolution but also prices of some older games are just laughable some of those games trade at a rate like they are a famous painting or something.

 

[KiteGr]

Mods and Translations.
I want to be able to remove pesky censorship and perhaps fix some bad mechanics or oversights.

Also, region codding.
Now they know better to no region lock their games, but the stuff Europe didn't get was the reason most of us got into emulation. The first Final Fantasy we got was seven. The first Parasite Eve was 2. The first tales game was Symphonia on Nintendo and Graces on Sony's consoles.
We never got Chrono Trigger or Cross, or Xenogears.
We only got the second episode of Xenosaga (not even the 3rd after that).
No Mana games before Sword of Mana on GBA.
The list goes on...

Emulation was a no-brainer.

 

[Mahnmut]

Because of cost mainly. I bought a Blast City arcade cabinet and at first I wanted to run real Jamma boards inside and nothing else. After a few purchases, I realised the waste of money it represents. The games I want cost around 500€. I'm lucky enough to have a very good salary but on the other hand having a collection of costly jamma boards that you have to maintain and swap every time you want to play something else didn't seems to be a good solution on the long run. So I opted for a jammafied raspberry Pi setup and I'm really happy with it. On the other hand, for retro consoles, I'm going all in regarding collecting.

 

[SF Kosmo]

Emulation is the most convenient way to access classic games.

I have a 4TB drive dedicated to a well curated emulation set up spanning through the sixth gen, with complete sets (minus redundancies), screenshots, artwork, etc, so I can just easily find and hop into any game.

If I had a CRT set up I might consider FPGA but for the most part I am fine with filters.

 

[Life Diff]

I've really only started emulating recently with my deck and honestly it's down to not being able to access certain games. Sure I could buy a gba, get the games I want but being able to enjoy those games on a larger screen with better resolution etc blows the original experience out of the water. Especially 3DS where some of the Atlus games are going for a small fortune.

 

[Darsxx82]

Convenience and ease of access. Emulation is highly developed on many devices and it's always easier to appease nostalgia with a quick game on the closest and most accessible device.

Lately I frequently play emulators on XSX where they work great. I even bought a Chinese handheld console that emulates even Dreamcast games for the same reason.

And this is said by a person who collects and maintains his consoles from Master System 2 to the current consoles of all brands (except Gamecube). But it's not always easy and quick to play on these.

 

[StereoVsn]

Convenience, mods, extended features and image quality.

I have a PS2, PS3, Dreamcast, PSP, Saturn and more retro consoles. Not all of them are hooked up to TV and even with Retrotink 5x (4K is too much $), upscaling is ok but not amazing.

A lot of games can be rendered at 4K or higher, and then played back with great visual fidelity, often with widescreen and QoL mods/cheats. I still play on actual hardware, especially with hardware upgrades allowing me to use SD cards, but firing up a game on a PC is often a lot more convenient and offers better quality.

Edit: maybe if I had a good CRT I would play more on OG hardware, but even with OLED and Retrotink it’s not quite the same.

 

[Mattyp]

I personally prefer and do play on the original hardware 90% of the time, I know this is a costly adventure, takes shit loads of space etc for most people but.

I use a Retroid for anything else. But typically I try and buy the original titles each time, you spend more time actually playing it that way not just loading 1000 roms onto a device

 

[SF Kosmo]

I use a Retroid for anything else. But typically I try and buy the original titles each time, you spend more time actually playing it that way not just loading 1000 roms onto a device

Once I got my emulation set up finished, I spend way more time actually playing games. If you use a good front end like LaunchBox or EmulationStation then the it becomes really fun and easy to browse and jump into games.

1000 roms is chump change, I'm probably closer to 50,000 uniques.

 

[ResurrectedContrarian]

Mostly preservation; I'm rarely interested in "upgrades" because those tend to ruin the intended aesthetics of the originals.

Nothing annoys me more than "take an old game and raise the resolution / up-res the textures" because now it looks even more empty than before, like the difference between watching a theatre play from an appropriate distance versus walking into the middle of the set and seeing the weird geometry too clearly. Everything was planned for the original output dimensions/resolution/etc, you can't just change a couple params and have it still artistically cohesive.

But emulation means access to thousands of classics. As do flashcarts on real hardware, which I also have a ton of.

So my preference order:

best: totally original hardware / software, if I have it
second-best: totally original hardware + flashcart/multicart or other ROM-loading method
still great: emulated (raspberry pi, etc) but output in exact original res to a classic curved CRT
bad: emulated on a modern screen
awful: modern screen and modified resolution/textures/etc

 

[Kenpachii]

120+ fps / ultrawide / higher visual settings / mods / "speedup function specially in older pokemon games" / easier access and storage

 

[dan76]

Mainly to play arcade games that never got a port. With consoles it's revisiting old games I still own but either don't have the actual console or just convenience. I don't collect old hardware at all - except my 360 with all the Cave ports.

Having everything playable in one place, upscaled with crt shaders is fine for me. Old lightgun games are now playable on modern screens and I've an arcade stick that I use for everything it's a no brainier to go pc all the way. But then again, I don't play many modern games. The most recent one I bought was the RE4 remake.

 

[MMaRsu]

I have a Switch, but if I'd play a Switch game I'd prefer playing it on PC, where I can play it with my DS4 and hooked up to my big ass tv.

And then upscale the game to 4k or 1440p.

 

[darth.shrimp]

Most of these, to be honest.

Sometimes it's to more easily use mods/retranslations, like I did for Tales of Graces or Xenoblade 2.
Sometimes for the convenience of having all my games in one place, or to use any controller on any game.
Sometimes it's because I could never find the actual game anywhere at a decent price, like the GC version of Twilight Princess.
Sometimes it's because there's no real way of playing the games; while I do still have my Master System, N64, or Saturn, I don't have any compatible TV or monitor anymore.
... and sometimes it's because I'm not going to pay that much for a compilation of old games, however good they still are.

Anyway, what difference is there supposed to be between the first and last options in the poll, "monetary" and "piracy"?