HOMEABOUT DOWNLOADS EMULATION / FEATURED / GUIDE GUIDE: RETROGAMING THROUGH EMULATION (PART 2: EMULATOR SOFTWARE) 1 FOLLOW: PREVIOUS STORY Guide: Retrogaming through emulation (Part 1: Organizing) To search type and hit enter BY NILS · 2. NOVEMBER 2014 EMULATION / FEATURED / GUIDE GUIDE: RETROGAMING THROUGH EMULATION (PART 2: EMULATOR SOFTWARE) 2 NOV, 2014 EMULATION / FEATURED / GUIDE GUIDE: RETROGAMING THROUGH EMULATION (PART 1: ORGANIZING) 10 AUG, 2014 FEATURED / PROJECTS PROJECT: UI AND DESIGN OF EMULATIONSTATION V2.0 EMULATOR FRONT-END 13 JUL, 2014 GENERAL REPORTS OF MY DEATH HAVE BEEN GREATLY EXAGGERATED 20 JUN, 2014 In my last post I have described the basics of emulation and how to organize your ROM collection. This post is part 2 of my guide ‘Retrogaming through emulation’. This time it’s all about the emulator software you will need. Emulation software (called emulator) exist for nearly every operating system you can imagine. Of course, you will find the most variety for the Windows operating system. Because of this it’s hard to pick the best one. But guess what? This article aims to be the best guide on which emulator you should choose! It covers the most important computers, video game consoles, arcade machines and handhelds of the past. But wait, what does ‘best’ mean? Emulators are developed with mainly two goals: To emulate the given system as accurate as possible and to EMULATION / FEATURED / GUIDE GUIDE: RETROGAMING THROUGH EMULATION (PART 2: EMULATOR SOFTWARE) 2 NOV, 2014 emulate it as efficient as possible, meaning that it even runs smooth on older systems with low performance. Some emulators have additional features which the original platform didn’t have. For example changing the graphics processing, adding cheats or making it possible to play two player games over the Internet. For this article I searched for the most recent, compatible and feature- rich emulators for Windows. I separated them in four different types of platforms: EMULATION / FEATURED / GUIDE GUIDE: RETROGAMING THROUGH EMULATION (PART 1: ORGANIZING) 10 AUG, 2014 2014 CATEGORIES Emulation (2) .0 EMULATOR FRONT-END 13 JUL. 2014 Commodore VIC-20 GENERAL REPORTS OF MY DEATH HAVE BEEN GREATLY EXAGGERATED 20 JUN.COMPUTERS Amstrad/Schneider CPC Commodore 64 Apple II Commodore Amiga Apple Atari 400/600XL/800/800XL /65XE/130XE/1200XL Atari ST BBC Micro Commodore Plus/4 IBM PC (MS-DOS) MSX ZX Spectrum FEATURED / PROJECTS PROJECT: UI AND DESIGN OF EMULATIONSTATION V2. VIDEO GAME CONSOLES Panasonic 3DO Philips CD-i Atari 5200 Sony PlayStation 2 Atari 2600 Atari 7800 Atari Jaguar ColecoVision Fairchild Channel-F Magnavox Odyssey² Mattel Intellivision Nintendo Entertainment System Nintendo Virtual Boy Super Nintendo Entertainm. Sony PlayStation Sega SG-1000 Sega Master System Featured (3) General (1) Guide (2) Projects (1) Sega Genesis/Mega Drive & 32X/CD Sega Saturn Sega Dreamcast SNK NeoGeo CD NEC TurboGrafx 16/PC Engine GCE Vectrex System Nintendo 64 Nintendo GameCube Nintendo Wii ARCADE MACHINES MAME (Multi Arcade Machine Emulator) ARCHIVES November 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 . HANDHELDS Atari Lynx Nintendo Game Boy/Game Boy Color Nintendo Game Boy Advance Nintendo DS Gamepark GP32 Sony PlayStation Portable Sega Game Gear SNK Neo Geo Pocket/Neo Geo Pocket Color Bandai Wonderswan . as well as sound and specific hardware related settings. You can configure the display emulation to your liking. tape and cartridge image files. It emulates the entire CPC computer range very accurate and loads disk. A nice feature for that is that you can create text macros to input bigger amounts of text automated.net/ Windows It says ‘APE’ in it’s name.COMPUTERS AMSTRAD/SCHNEIDER CPC WINAPE http://winape. complete with color sets. it has an ape in his logo but what’s really meant here is ‘Amstrad Plus Emulator’. audio or take screenshots of what you are doing in the emulator. If you are familiar with the operating system the CPC computers use. . WinAPE features a debugger as well as a Z80 Assembler for the more advanced users. interlacing and blur. It also provides a function to take snapshots of the current state of the emulation. WinAPE can read all sorts of uncompressed image formats and zipped data. you can dive directly into the command line. You can record movies. net/ Windows | Mac | Linux | Android Pom1 emulates the first computer created by Apple. There is not much to say here.APPLE POM1 http://pom1. You’ll have to obtain programs in form of ASCII or binary files or as HEX codes. There is no menubar or context menu to reach settings. because it’s a whole different world. The readme file contains some shortcuts for accessing functions in the emulator. I never tried it.sourceforge. It only accepts commands in form of HEX values. . too. floppy and hard drive settings as well as input configuration which let’s you use a mouse. . Like the original Apple II you have two disk drive slots to load with disk images. You can choose the Apple II model to emulate from the settings menu.APPLE II APPLEWIN https://github. The emulator also features save states and a debugger. There are also settings for sound emulation (emulate sound card or speaker/beeper). It can load uncompressed as well as zipped disk images.com/AppleWin/AppleWin Windows AppleWin emulates the Apple II series of computers including sound. Altirra comes with substitute BIOS ROMs to run programs and games. 65XE. 130XE and 1200XL computers as well as the Atari XEGS and 5200 video game consoles. The emulator can load various disk image formats uncompressed or as zipped archives. 800. Apart from that. 800XL. a debugger.org/altirra. 600XL. a screenshot function.virtualdub.ATARI 400/600XL/800/800XL/65XE/130XE/1200XL ALTIRRA http://www. the emulator has the usual features like save states. It’s focussed on emulation quality and has many features.html Windows Altirra emulates the Atari 400. if you want to improve compatibility you need to use BIOS ROMs of the original Atari machines. a cheat module and a load . audio and video recording. The controller input mapping is a real pain as you have to map each key manually by selecting the right button from a drop down menu. ATARI ST STEEM SSE http://ataristeven.org/Steem.t15.IPF format you need an additional support library available for download at the website of the ‘Software Preservation .of system/hardware options that would go beyond the scope of this guide. partly based on the other Atari ST emulator ‘Hatari‘.htm Windows | Linux Steem SSE is an advancement of the original Steem with emulation improvements. The emulator reads various disk image formats but if you have Atari ST disk images in the . me.uk/beebem/ Windows | Mac | Linux . settings profiles (you can create your own) and several graphics and sound/MIDI options.Society‘. a patcher module. Features of Steam SSE are snapshots. BBC MICRO BEEBEM http://www. a shortcut editor. a screenshot function. zipped ROMs are not supported. You have to download the 32-bit version 5. text paste into emulator. In any case the disk images have to be uncompressed. You will need original Atari TOS ROMs to use Steem SSE. a macro recorder.1.mkw. COMMODORE VIC-20.sourceforge. video capture and a debugger.BeebEm emulates the BBC Micro Model B. COMMODORE PLUS/4 VICE http://vice-emu. B+ and Master 128. COMMODORE 64. a screenshot function. It has a ton of options for emulating the hardware. Features include save states. you will have to unpack them before. Unfortunately BeebEm can’t read zipped disk images.net/ Windows | Mac | Linux | DOS | other . A nice feature of BeebEm is that it can run disks automatically without the need to tinker with the command line. The emulator also simulates disk drive and beep noises. For the extra bit realism you can define motion blur to mimic the old CRT and TV screens from the past. the VIC-20. In fact. it emulates the Commodore 64. . tape and datasette image formats as uncompressed or zipped files. you can also use the console. the versatile Commodore emulator doesn’t have his name just by accident. VICE emulates drive sounds and CRT look for more realism and it has an experimental netplay function. VICE reads various disk. The emulator has an autostart feature to execute disk or tape image contents automatically. but it’s for sure that this is the best Commodore emulator you can get. the Commodore 64 DTV. almost all PET models. There is also an extended snapshot function to save and later load the complete state of an emulation session. but if you know what to do. the Plus/4 and the CBM-II (aka C610). Describing all the settings would blow this article.VICE. VICE has been translated in to numerous languages. you can switch it directly in the main menu. the Commodore 128. even in zipped form. Input configuration is very intuitive and should be no problem.COMMODORE AMIGA FS-UAE http://fs-uae. FS-UAE has a nice intuitive interface with a list of available games and disk images on the right and everything hardware related to the left.net/ Windows | Mac | Linux | FreeBSD | OpenBSD As this guide is about retrogaming in emulation. . simply use the scan function to search for disk images in the selected folders. A very nice feature is the database connection to OAGD. the recommendation for the best Commodore Amiga is FS-UAE because it’s focussed on video games. You can get them by purchasing an Amiga Forever DVD. Notice that you will need the original Amiga Kickstart ROMs for the various Amiga models. FS-UAE reads various Amiga disk image formats. To add disk images.net (free signup required) which enriches the UI with meta data and screenshots/boxart and configures the emulator to run the game perfectly. The emulator derives from the original WinUAE which is the best general-purpose Amiga emulator. The emulator let’s you know which ones it needs. The emulator is configured using a config file. DOSBox is just the right emulator for this and it’s really good.IBM PC (MS-DOS) DOSBOX + D-FEND RELOADED http://www. you will know MS-DOS and how to use it.com/ Windows | Mac | Linux | FreeBSD | OS/2 | RISC OS | Solaris | BeOS If you are a child of the 80s and 90s like me. The most powerful of them is ‘D-Fend .dosbox. You have to read the documentation to be able to do that but thankfully there are some really good front-ends for DOSBox. A nice feature is the profile wizard which helps you at installing or copying games into the DOSBox environment. . With D-Fend Reloaded you can create profiles with individual settings for each game and organize them in categories. you can change the language directly from the welcome screen or the settings menu. this tool is really powerful and has some really useful additional features you wouldn’t expect from a front-end – for instance an ISO image file creator or a floppy disk image file writer. As said before.Reloaded‘ which comes with DOSBox out-of-the-box. D-Fend Reloaded is multi-language. It has the usual features like save states. video and audio recording and a screenshot function. blueMSX reads various uncompressed disk image and cartridge formats as well as zipped ones. Input configuration is straight-forward and easy to use. cpu save states (snapshots). In the video settings you can choose a monitor emulation to add more nostalgia feeling to your game.com/ Windows MSX is more a standard for a series of home computers than a single device. as well as a nice sound mixer panel. Nonetheless there exist emulators for these systems and the most advanced of them is blueMSX. The emulator lets you choose the model to emulate.MSX BLUEMSX http://www. You can also edit these machine profiles to suit your needs.bluemsx. There were dozens of MSX computers back in the time. Other features are a built-in debugger and a trace logger. for instance the MSX or MSX 2. . sometimes the recommendation goes to a commercial product. +2A. +3. Spectaculator sells for 15. 128.com/ Windows Because this guide focusses on emulators with the most features and the highest emulation quality.ZX SPECTRUM SPECTACULATOR http://www. 48K. Spectaculator has a ton of options for the different . Pentagon 128 and Scorpion ZS 256. +2.99 USD and emulates the ZX Spectrum 16K. So in this case.spectaculator. Spectaculator can read various zipped and uncompressed disk image formats including the . Features of the emulator include audio and video recording. For instance you can mimic a TV screen with different settings to achieve a more realistic look. The free alternative for this emulator is ZXSpin with similar features but without support for . action replay (gameplay recordings in different formats).ZX Spectrum models and it’s hardware. a cheat/pokes module and a debugger. a screenshot function.IPF format introduced by the Software Preservation Society. You can also open a virtual ZX Spectrum keyboard on-screen. .IPF files. Input configuration is simple. com/ Windows 4DO is the better one of the two available programs for emulating and running 4DO disks or disk images. You will need a 4DO BIOS file in order to run games. It’s available in numerous languages.VIDEO GAME CONSOLES PANASONIC 3DO 4DO http://www. Besides the usual features like save slots and graphics processing it has also a Disc Browser which lets you explore the contents of a disk or disk image and extract files from it.fourdo. . It reads zip compressed ROMs as well as uncompressed ones. . It has it’s own GUI which can be a bit odd.ATARI 2600 STELLA http://stella. video and sound configuration or taking snapshots you can simulate a TV screen with various effects to get the real retro feeling. It also has a built-in debugger and you can audit your collection of Atari 2600 ROMs with it. The emulator has some nice features. Mac and Linux.net/ Windows | Mac | Linux Stella is the best Atari 2600 emulator and available for Windows. Besides the usual like input.sourceforge. Atari800Win-PLus – as the name suggests – is also an Atari 800 emulator.ATARI 5200 ATARI800WIN-PLUS https://github. .com/Jaskier/Atari800Win-PLus/downloads Windows Atari800Win-PLus is an enhanced version of the emulator ‘Atari800′ with many video and audio options. joystick or keyboard to act as your controller. Unfortunately it doesn’t open zipped ROMs. It also supports playing games over network with another person running the emulator. You can config a mouse. you will have to unzip every ROM to load it. but it also emulates the 5200 as well as Atari XL/XE. ATARI 7800 EMU7800 http://emu7800. You can search for games with different criteria. Key binding is pretty simple and restricted to predefined keys and there are only basic graphics options. Everything before starting the game takes place in one window. It reads zipped files which is good for your collection. for instance games which use a certain controller or by the machine they run on.net/ Windows EMU7800 is a simple but the most compatible emulator for Atari 7800 and in active development. .sourceforge. icculus. . Don’t get confused by the filename extensions.ATARI JAGUAR VIRTUAL JAGUAR http://www. you either have to place all ROMs in a path you can define in the settings or you just drag and drop your zipped or uncompressed ROM onto the executable. Apart from this it’s a very compatible emulator. but with nowadays computers it should be no problem. Unfortunately CD support is not yet implemented.org/virtualjaguar/ Windows | Mac | Linux | BeOS Virtual Jaguar is under active development and available for all major desktop operating systems. In order to play games. It’s not as fast as ‘Project Tempest’ – the first Jaguar emulator ever created. You can open zipped ROMs as well as uncompressed ones.j64. The emulator also loads ROMs named with . There is also an embedded debugger. . Creating save states is of course a base functionality. You can open zipped ROMs directly.bluemsx. It can also capture audio and/or video or take screenshots of the game. A central feature of the emulator is the simulation of different TV screens (effects).COLECOVISION BLUEMSX http://www.com/ Windows blueMSX is actually a MSX emulator but it also supports other hardware like the ColecoVision. MAGNAVOX ODYSSEY² O2EM http://o2em.org/ Windows | Platform independent (source code) MESS is a multi-system emulator and I really wanted to avoid them because emulation quality is mostly worse than with emulators specifically made for a platform.FAIRCHILD CHANNEL-F MESS http://www. Please read the MESS wiki to know how to set up everything.sourceforge.mess. However. in the case of the Fairchild Channel-F the MESS emulator is the only choice.net/ Windows . The GUI is fairly simple.O2EM is the only emulator for the Odyssey². You can take screenshots and there is a built-in debugger. You have to define a path where your unzipped ROMs are.intellivision. It also shows a screenshot of the selected game. Unfortunately input configuration can’t be changed. You will have to unzip your ROMs in to a folder and set the path to it in the settings of Nostalgia. Its GUI comes as a separate download. The emulator doesn’t have that much options but you can configure your . then you can choose the game you want to play from the list. MATTEL INTELLIVISION NOSTALGIA http://www.php Windows Nostalgia is a Intellivision emulator which displays your ROMs in a list along with a box shot of the selected game.us/intvgames/nostalgia/nostalgia. A nice feature is the built-in game . support for different NES input devices.sourceforge.input device as you want. input configuration and cheat system. A nice feature is the built-in Kaillera client which allows to play 2-player games with people over the internet.net/ Windows | Mac | Linux Nestopia is compatible with nearly all NES games and has a good feature set which include save states. screenshots and support for Intellivoice. The emulator supports ROMs compressed as 7Z. the voice synthesizer of the Intellivision. screenshots. NINTENDO ENTERTAINMENT SYSTEM NESTOPIA http://nestopia. The alternative to Nostalgia is ‘Bliss‘ which has a more clean GUI. video and audio recording. Other features include audio and video capture. ZIP and RAR. Netplay over Kaillera. com/p/vbjin/ Windows VBjin can open zipped as well as uncompressed Virtual Boy ROMs. As the original Virtual Boy was a console with stereoscopic view. video and audio recording and a memory watcher. There is also a hotkey configuration which let’s you define the keys used to control emulation.launcher which displays detailed information for every ROM and lets you launch games from there. .google. NINTENDO VIRTUAL BOY VBJIN https://code. you can alter this in the emulator. for instance to display only one side to get rid of the stereoscopic effect. Features include gameplay. The alternative to Nestopia is ‘FCEUX‘ which has similar features and some really advanced debugging/hacking functionalities. SUPER NINTENDO ENTERTAINMENT SYSTEM SNES9X https://github. You can emulate every input device that was released for the SNES and you can of course configure up to five different joypads which you can enable or disable as you like. This is handy if you want different configurations for different games. Snes9x can open your . Beside these features you will find the usual audio and video settings such as sample rate window size and bilinear filtering. The emulator also supports Lua scripting. It has the standard features such as multiple save game slots. video recording and a cheat system and also has netplay built-in.Input configuration is straight forward and should be no problem.com/snes9xgit/snes9x/releases/ Windows Snes9x is the most popular SNES emulator. ROMs in zipped form. video and input. My recommendation for a emulator is based on which one is able to work properly out of the box with the included plugins. This means you have a sound plugin. a video plugin and a input plugin. anti-aliasing and .com/ Windows Nintendo 64 emulators are working with plugins for each component of the system. This gives the user incredible freedom of choice. The alternative would be ‘Higan‘ but be advised that it uses it’s own organization structure which can be annoying for some people. The video plugin allows some enhancements like higher resolution.pj64-emu. Project64 includes the popular plugins from ‘Jabo’ for audio. NINTENDO 64 PROJECT64 http://www. It has the popular Rice Video video plugin included. Mupen64++ also has two versions of the Kaillera netplay client built-in and also similar features as Project64. The emulator is available in various languages. changeable from the ‘File’ menu.anisotropic filtering which increases the graphics quality dramatically. There are two alternatives for Project64: 1964 has the Kaillera netplay client built-in and a similar feature set as Project64 and a better video plugin called 1964Video (you can use the DLL in Project64). Be sure to place the plugin DLL file inside the ‘Plugin/1. For netplay. you will need an additional plugin called ‘AQZ Netplay‘.6 Plugins’ folder. then the emulator scans it and displays the titles in a list along with compatibility info and more. . It replaces the input plugin but you can plug your actual used input plugin on top of it. The main window of Project64 acts as a games list. you have to choose a folder where your ROMs (uncompressed or zipped) are located. you can either host or join game. A defining feature of Dolphin is its Netplay functionality which built into the emulator. Besides that. Be advised that you need to own the original disc to be allowed to own a copy.NINTENDO GAMECUBE DOLPHIN https://dolphin-emu. After setting a folder where your disc images of GameCube games are located. original discs are not supported.org/ Windows | Mac | Linux Dolphin is a Nintendo GameCube emulator available for Windows. You can also run games from burned discs. Dolphin displays them in a list in the main window. You can configure up to four input devices. Dolphon has the usual features like a screenshot function and multiple save slots. anti-aliasing. Mac and Linux. The graphics settings allow some nice enhancements like higher resolutions. . You can also record movies of your gameplay. anisotropic filtering or special postprocessing effects. org/ Windows | Mac | Linux Besides the Nintendo GameCube. Read the paragraph above for more information on the emulator itsef. It’s recommended to own a real Nintendo Wii Remote (with or without Motion Plus) together with a sensor bar (like the ‘DolphinBar‘) for gameplay how it’s meant to be.NINTENDO WII DOLPHIN https://dolphin-emu. mouse or gamepad to play. but it’s more complex than the original hardware. Dolphin can also emulate the Nintendo Wii. You can also use an emulated Wii Remote and use your keyboard. . There is no input configuration.cdiemu.org/ Windows Apart from MESS which is a multi-system emulator and ignored in this guide. You will have to pay 35 USD for the ‘Unlimited edition’. It needs a BIOS ROM file of the CD-i to work.PHILIPS CD-I CD-I EMULATOR http://www. . Unfortunately the beta version only runs for three minutes. You can load various disc image formats with the emulator. there is only one dedicated Philips CD-i Emulator named exactly the same. You can set the video mode to PAL or NTSC and the emulator has a simple debugger. You will have to pick your own plugins for video. a video plugin and a input plugin. Unlike the Nintendo 64 emulator ‘Project64′ ePSXe doesn’t come with plugins. like the Nintendo 64 emulators. the emulator itself has not so much to offer.EXE – don’t confuse with Windows executables) and run the BIOS alone. The alternative to ePSXe is ‘PCSX- . PlayStation executables (. various disc image formats. The emulator also allows to use two virtual Memory Cards to save your progress in game. You can manage their contents when booting in to the plain BIOS. audio and netplay functionality. As the feature set highly depends on them. Speaking of. Controller config and CD-ROM functionality is built-in so you don’t need a plugin here. This gives the user incredible freedom of choice.epsxe.SONY PLAYSTATION EPSXE http://www. This means you have a sound plugin. It can load games from real PlayStation discs. I will recommend the best PlayStation emulator plugins for the other stuff later. As an alternative you can save your game using save slots which saves the complete state of the current game. you need a BIOS ROM file to use ePSXe.com/ Windows | Linux | Android Sony PlayStation emulators are working with plugins for each component of the system. P.10b (1.5b2 (1.4 Netplay: CyberPad Kaillera 1. DSound PSX SPU 1.E.7 CD-ROM: P. Recommended PlayStation emulator Plugins: Video: Pete’s OpenGL2 PSX GPU 2.9 Audio: Eternal SPU 1.S.Reloaded‘ which may run some more games and comes with a netplay plugin. PSX CDR 1.S.9) Controller: SSSPSX Pad 1.41).net/ Windows | Mac | Linux .4 SONY PLAYSTATION 2 PCSX2 http://pcsx2.Op.Op.E. It’s also possible to run PlayStation 2 executable files (.ELF). disc drive. PCSX2 can read various disc image formats and of course load original PlayStation 2 discs. They work pretty well so I don’t give recommendations for other plugins here. To actually run a game you need a BIOS ROM file of the PlayStation 2. For this you need to switch to ‘Plugin’ in the ‘CDVD’ menu and select the ‘cdvdGigaherz’ plugin in the Plugin config window. The emulator also allows to use two virtual Memory Cards to save your progress in game.Like for the Nintendo 64 and Sony PlayStation emulators. controls. As an alternative you can save your game using save slots which saves the complete state of the current game. sound. You have freedom of choice on which plugin to use. PCSX2 comes with plugins out of the box. . PCSX2 works based on plugins for each component of the console. There are plugins for graphics. usb and more. SEGA SG-1000 KEGA FUSION http://www.com/kega-fusion/ Windows | Mac | Linux The Sega SG-1000 was the first video game console by Sega and was released on the same day as the Nintendo Famicom. Kega Fusion is the emulator of choice for this system. SEGA MASTER SYSTEM KEGA FUSION http://www.carpeludum. Read the paragraph on Sega Master System below for more information on Kega Fusion.carpeludum.com/kega-fusion/ Windows | Mac | Linux . . SegaCD/MegaCD and 32X! It has a lot of features including a own built-in netplay functionality. multiple save states. The alternative to Kega Fusion is ‘Gens Plus!‘ which has the Kaillera client for netplay built-in. it even sets your status message while you are playing games. Genesis/Megadrive. Apart from that.Kega Fusion can not only emulate the Sega Master System but also Game Gear. scanlines and tv-mode simulation in the graphics settings. If you use MSN Messenger. The emulator also offers a Game Genie menu where you can enter cheat codes. screenshot functionality. SVP. Kega Fusion loads uncompressed ROMs as well as zipped ones. it’s similar to Kega Fusion except it lacks some graphics effects like the scanlines and tv-modes. Pico. org/ Windows | Mac | Linux | FreeBSD | Dreamcast | PSP | Wii . it’s similar to Kega Fusion except it lacks some graphics effects like the scanlines and tv-modes. Apart from that. Read the paragraph above for more information on the emulator. SEGA SATURN YABAUSE http://yabause.carpeludum.SEGA GENESIS/MEGA DRIVE & 32X/CD KEGA FUSION http://www. Kega Fusion runs without them. The alternative to Kega Fusion is ‘Gens Plus!‘ which has the Kaillera client for netplay built-in. You can define BIOS ROMs for each supported system but except for Sega CD.com/kega-fusion/ Windows | Mac | Linux Kega Fusion is also the reference for Sega Genesis/Mega Drive & 32X/CD. Yabause is the most advanced emulator for Sega Saturn. a screenshot function. including some video game devices. You can also use a simulated memory cartridge to save your progress in games. a cheating module and a debugger. . It’s available for different platforms. You can load disc image files as well as original Sega Saturn discs with it. but you will need an original Sega Saturn BIOS ROM to play any games. Yabause has the usual features like save states. mouse or keyboard for it. Input configuration is very good as you can simulate the different perpherials for the Sega Saturn and use your gamepad. If you want to use your gamepad or joystick with nullDC. You also need the original Sega Dreamcast BIOS files to play games with nullDC. sound. be sure to select ‘PuruPuru Dreamcast Controller’ in the first dropdown menu in the plugins settings. Graphics.html Windows nullDC is the most compatible Dreamcast emulator.SEGA DREAMCAST NULLDC http://www. input (Maple) and external devices (e.g.com/2013/03/nulldc-svn-r150. Modems) are controlled by these plugins. In the second dropdown you have to select Puru-Puru Pak [XInput]. There is a region free BIOS out there which eliminates the need to switch between BIOS versions of different regions all the time. It has a plugin structure like emulators for Nintendo 64 or Sony PlayStation 2.emucr. you have to do the same with ‘Port B’ in the plugins settings window. . GD-ROM. After that you can configure your controller from the menu ‘Options’ > ‘Maple’ > ‘Port A’ > ‘Config keys for player 1′. If you want to play with another person. uk/ Windows | Mac Raine can emulate the Neo Geo MVS as well as the Neo Geo CD. you will have to use a tool like ‘Daemon Tools Lite’ or ‘Virtual CloneDrive’ to mount the disc images. audio recording and a screenshot function. .swishparty. You can configure your gamepad or joystick to use with Raine. It loads zipped and uncompressed Neo Geo MVS ROM files and for Neo Geo CD various disc image formats as well as original discs. There are also some video filtering options.co. There are a few other emulators for Neo Geo CD (like ‘NeoGeo CDZ’ or ‘Nebula’) but none of them is able to read disc images.SNK NEO GEO CD RAINE http://rainemu. The GUI is similar to MAME. The emulator has the basic features like save states. MagicEngine’s comes with its own GUI which is pretty nice. There is a monthly contest on the website with a chance to win a registered version of the emulator.magicengine.NEC TURBOGRAFX 16/PC ENGINE MAGICENGINE http://www. but it’s by far the best emulator for NEC’s TurboGrafx 16/PC Engine console. There is a demo version available for download but it’s limited to five minutes of play time. You can add video filters to improve image quality and configure your gamepad/joystick or keyboard . It also features save states. movie recording and a screenshot function.com/ Windows | Mac MagicEngine is a commercial program and costs 20 USD. The free alternative to MagicEngine is ‘Turbo Engine‘ which has a lot of features and loads ROMs and CD-ROMs. I think the bigger the program window.as input device. The emulator loads uncompressed as well as zipped ROM files and original PC Engine CD-ROMs. I noticed a weird scaling bug in windowed mode. GCE VECTREX PARAJVE http://www.fr/ParaJVE/ Windows | Mac | Linux . the image is jagged in a grid-like pattern. the less this effect is visible.vectrex. This Java-based emulator is just awesome. It includes all the games made for the GCE Vectrex. It even displays a canvas of the game around the game window. If that’s not enough, it also emulates the blur of the vector screen in the original hardware. ParaJVE featues save states and a screenshot function. You can also tweak the graphics settings to your liking. The emulator allows you to use your mouse as analog stick, but you can configure your gamepad/joystick, too. I had some problems quitting the emulator. The emulation still continues after closing the main window. The only way to really quit it is to kill the ‘javaw.exe’ process with the Windows Task Manager. ARCADE MACHINES MAME (MULTI ARCADE MACHINE EMULATOR) http://mamedev.org/ Windows | Platform independent (source code) MAME is actually no platform but an emulator for every arcade machine that ever existed. Because of this, it’s the first choice for playing arcade games. To use MAME, you need to have the correct ROM files (usually as zipped archives), equal to the version of MAME you are using. Let’s say you have MAME 0.155, you will need ROMs that are authored in a way this version of MAME recognizes. You can use authoring tools like clrmamepro which I have described in the first part of this guide. Once you have these ROMs, you have to add the folder where they are to the mame.ini file. You can also add paths to extras like game art in mame.ini. Once you did that, you can run MAME. It’s interface is very unusual and simple. To search for a game, just type it’s name, otherwise MAME displays a bunch of games randomly. I recommend using a frontend with MAME. There are dozens of them, some graphical and some as Windows UI. I can’t give a perfect recommendation here as I don’t like any of them but the following front-ends seem to be popular: HyperSpin, Maximus Arcade, mGalaxy, GameEx. There is a nice overview of different front-ends at the Arcadecontrols Wiki. HANDHELDS ATARI LYNX HANDY http://handy.sourceforge.net/ Windows Handy can not run all commercial games but it’s the only dedicated Atari Lynx emulator out there. The emulator can open uncompressed as well as zipped ROMs. It can save snapshots and has a screenshot function. Apart from some graphics options and a non-functional netplay function there is not much more to discover here. When playing certain games.NINTENDO GAME BOY/GAME BOY COLOR BGB http://bgb. a debugger. a screenshot function. they are surrounded by a graphical border with game art. The emulator has many graphics and sound settings. BGB supports Super Game Boy. You can open uncompressed as well as zipped ROMs with it.org/ Windows BGB emulates the Nintendo Game Boy as well as Nintendo Game Boy Color. You can change the LCD color scheme on non-color games. A feature only BGB has is the link support which enables you to play two player games over LAN or internet. . audio recording and a cheat module. a VRAM viewer.bircd. It uses a context menu for all operations. a module for the Nintendo Super Nintendo system which let’s you play Game Boy and Game Boy Color games with it. which is nice. The emulator has settings for audio and video. input configuration is easy. Features include a cheat module. VisualBoyAdvance-M also supports the Game Boy and Game Boy Color including the Super Game Boy module.NINTENDO GAME BOY ADVANCE VISUALBOYADVANCE-M http://vba-m. a screenshot function. save states and a bunch of expert debugging and hacking tools .com/ Windows | Linux Besides the Nintendo Game Boy Advance. The original Nintendo DS has a microphone. It has link functionality but it’s incomplete so you only can play two player games on one computer. You can also . You can change the layout in which the screens are displayed and you even can rotate them. too. VisualBoyAdvance-M can open zipped as well as uncompressed ROMs. NINTENDO DS DESMUME http://desmume. You can record audio and/or video. The emulator has some unusual graphics enhancement settings for scaling.org/ Windows | Mac The Nintendo DS handheld was the first one with two screens and DeSmuME emulates them both.like a disassembler and a tile viewer. too. with DeSmuME you can either emulate one or use your physical microphone if present. DeSmuME has a bunch of advanced debugging and hacking features like a disassembler and various viewers. Like VisualBoyAdvance-M. DeSmuME can open zipped as well as uncompressed ROMs. tiles. If you want you can also define original BIOS ROMs which should enhance compatibility. for instance memory.define your DS avatars details. palettes. Input configuration is easy. . a cheat module and a screenshot function. . but only uncompressed. zipped files are not supported.GAMEPARK GP32 GEEPEE32 http://users.be/firefly/gp32/ Windows GeePee32 is a basic emulator for Gamepark’s GP32 handheld.skynet. It has a built-in disassembler. Unfortunately GeePee32 does not support sound. a memory editor. Configuration options are limited and the input configuration is limited to predefined keys or buttons. It can open SmartMedia card images or GP32 binaries. Settings. a disassembler and a memory viewer. It reminds me of the Android OS. a paid version with exactly the same features as the free version.org/ Windows | Mac | Linux | Android | Symbian | Blackberry | iOS PPSSPP has a very nice GUI that acts as a file browser to find your disk image files which can be zipped or uncompressed.ppsspp. advanced graphics and audio settings and some expert tools like a debugger. PPSSPP features a few post processing shaders to alter the visual appearance of the emulated games. including input configuration are accessed using the GUI which is nice. . You can also change the internal rendering resolution to improve graphics quality.SONY PLAYSTATION PORTABLE PPSSPP http://www. There are save states and a screenshot function. It’s more a donation for the developers than a real product-wise benefit. There is also PPSSPP Gold. It’s the reference for Sega Master System and Sega Genesis/Mega Drive & 32X/CD and it’s also the reference for Sega Game Gear.SEGA GAME GEAR KEGA FUSION http://www.carpeludum. Please read the description of these two systems for more information on Kega Fusion. you already know Kega Fusion.com/kega-fusion/ Windows | Mac | Linux If you have read this guide from the top. . There is an alternative for Kega Fusion named ‘Meka‘ but I personally don’t like it because of it’s strange GUI. . The emulator features save states and a link function for two player games. Except for some graphics options. It supports zipped as well as uncompressed ROM files.SNK NEO GEO POCKET/NEO GEO POCKET COLOR NEOPOP http://www.emulator-zone.com/doc. Input configuration is limited to predefined keys and it seems that the d-pad can only be mapped to keyboard keys. NeoPop does not offer much more.php/misc/neopop. You should use a tool like ‘GlovePie‘ to remap the keys.html Windows NeoPop is not being developed further but it’s nonetheless the best available emulator for SNK Neo Geo Pocket / Neo Geo Pocket Color. .BANDAI WONDERSWAN OSWAN http://sourceforge. Input configuration works fine. The predefined keys will help you map the right new keys. a screenshot function and some graphics options for scaling and a few filters to improve image quality.jp/projects/oswan/ Windows Oswan supports the Bandai Wonderswan as well the color version. the only problem is that some glyphs are not displayed due to the japanese origin of this emulator. It features save states. The best one I know is of course ‘EmulationStation‘ but let’s see… SHARE 1 Tags: 4 0 emulation retrogaming rom emulator 0 emulator software gaming guide retro . please let me know. I am happy about your feedback. If you find any errors or mistakes or missing things in my guide. I hope you found this information useful because most of the listings of emulators don’t rate them. Feel free to comment.COMING SOON: PART 3 – USER INTERFACES AND FRONT ENDS This was part 2 of my guide ‘Retrogaming through emulation’ with focus on emulator software. Thanks for reading! The next part of this guide will give you an overview of different general front-ends for use with any emulator. 2014 Pingbacks 0 ..0 EMULATOR ORGANIZING) FRONT-END 10 AUG. 0 21 GUIDE: RETROGAMING PROJECT: UI AND DESIGN OF THROUGH EMULATION (PART 1: EMULATIONSTATI ON V2..YOU MAY ALSO LIKE. 2014 1 RESPONSE Comments 1 13 JUL. Many Thanks Reply LEAVE A REPLY Name * Email * Website Comment POST COMMENT Notify me of follow-up comments by email. I have the hardware picked out and this guide is one of the best I have come across in many hours of surfing.Toby 15. . November 2014 at 19:51I am researching a HTPC/emulation build at the moment. 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