gaming Emulation Discussion

[The Historian 518]

14 hours ago, Kzr haekS said:

Back on topic, I have noticed that the statement that 100% perfect SNES emulation is still not "technically" achieved holds truth.

I won't get into too much detail, but testing Earthbound on a PC with emulation, an iMac with emulation, the SNES classic with emulation and the original cartridge (thanks to a friend) and on the original hardware via an everdrive, I can safely say... There is MINOR slowdowns on all but the original cartridge and the everdrive. So it's definitely a hardware issue.

This is part of why emulation is so important, a lot of these games were built around very unique custom hardware that is long since gone. If emulation didn't exist... These games would not basically be playable at all.

Emulation is functionally impossible to achieve "100% perfection." You're emulating hardware with software, which isn't always simple and will inevitably lead to inaccuracy. If perfect emulation existed, there would be emulators for every system under the sun, even the most esoteric ones. Crazy shit like the Bandai Playdia and Bandai Pippin do not have emulators and will eventually be lost to the sands of time.

But, using the Super NES example, it's pretty dang close. I haven't found a game yet that hasn't played well in at least one of the major emulators. I usually use ZSNES and Snes9x, but others do exist. In either case, Super NES games generally run very, very well. 99% accuracy is pretty goddamn good as far as I'm concerned.

[Guest]

12 hours ago, The Historian said:

Emulation is functionally impossible to achieve "100% perfection." You're emulating hardware with software, which isn't always simple and will inevitably lead to inaccuracy. If perfect emulation existed, there would be emulators for every system under the sun, even the most esoteric ones. Crazy shit like the Bandai Playdia and Bandai Pippin do not have emulators and will eventually be lost to the sands of time.

But, using the Super NES example, it's pretty dang close. I haven't found a game yet that hasn't played well in at least one of the major emulators. I usually use ZSNES and Snes9x, but others do exist. In either case, Super NES games generally run very, very well. 99% accuracy is pretty goddamn good as far as I'm concerned.

I know everyone screams "heresy!" about ZSNES because it's technically not "the most accurate" emulator, but I grew up with it because it was a lightweight emulator that worked on my old computers back in the day, and I always like the aesthetic of it. I get that it's "outdated", but I still prefer it for some reason.

[The Historian 518]

47 minutes ago, Kzr haekS said:

I know everyone screams "heresy!" about ZSNES because it's technically not "the most accurate" emulator, but I grew up with it because it was a lightweight emulator that worked on my old computers back in the day, and I always like the aesthetic of it. I get that it's "outdated", but I still prefer it for some reason.

I've found that ZSNES is more accurate than Snes9x. At least, it plays games better. Snes9x is nice but ZSNES still works like a champ.