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[Iowa]

I first encountered console emulators when one was given to me by one of my friends, it imitated a SNES and came with several entertaining games. These titles ranged from Act Raiser, to Chrono Trigger, to Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. Of course, because they were the SNES versions of the games their sound wasn't exactly up to par with the industry standard.

But nonetheless, they're fun, and provide an excellent distraction from getting anything done (a telltale sign of good games).

The question/discussion that I propose to the Abandonia community is this: Are console emulators, such as the as-of-now unnamed one I use reasonable to use? Or are they just another warez-esque tools that rob developers of money?

The thing I don't understand is that because i'm using an emulator of such an old console, I don't believe i'm doing much harm, seeing as those games are generally not sold in stores anymore. But if such an emulator turns out to not be such an unspeakable act of piracy, i'll gladly post up some info on obtaining them, because I think that several users are reading this and thinking things like "Man, he's right, i'd love to be able to kick the crap out of Mortal Kombat 2, or pull out my hair at the difficulty of Contra 3 from the comfort of my PC." and that'd be cool to spread around.

If, however, it turns out that these are immoral to have...

*looks at warn level*

:wallbash: "Curse you Abandonia moderators!!!!" :wallbash:

Closing sidenote: I specifically mentioned console emulators, because as we all know, good 'ol DOSBox is 100% emulator itself.

[Scatty]

As far as I know emulators are nothing illegal, however the game ROM's are copyrighted and downloading them therefore is probably still considered illegal. The rights to the respective games are still held by the companies that were producing the earlier consoles, like Nintendo that's still in business, and they hang on to their old games as sometimes they re-release them as part of the new games, such as the classic Donkey Kong in Donkey Kong 64's gaming machine.

[Tulac]

I would say obtaining ROM's is pretty much the same as obtaining games on this site. It is illegal but if the software maker doesn't actively protect it's rights you have no problems.

[Havell]

This particular site (Abandonia) is related just to abandoned DOS games, so there won't be any console emulators or ROMs here.

However, I seem to remember the possibility of a new site being opened, by the Abandonia people, specifically for the purpose of console ROMs, in the same way that Reloaded is dedicated to freeware. The long term goal here is a network of Abandonia sites, catering to a large variety of gaming needs.

How it will be before this site makes an appearance, if at all, I have no idea. Probably some time after the upcoming Abandonia redesign.

[bobson]

It's going to be Abandonworld
One site for Dos Games, one for freeware, one for consoles, I hope there'll be something for C64

[Mighty Midget]

One Ring to rule them all and in the DOS-ness bind them. Mwahahaha

This sounds very good indeed. A whole bunch of little sisters covering different grounds. I cheer to taht.

[punch999]

I don't like the idea simply because after reloaded popped up this site just lost most of it's active community and split it in two. Just what we need. Three sites to split us up.

[Iowa]

Hmm, well it would make sense to have an Abandonia dedicated to emulators...

Anyway, the SNES emulator I was given is called "ZSNES", and I love it because of it's simple functionality and general ease of use.

However, I can never seem to get MAME emulators to work...anyone know anything 'bout those?

[Japo]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Iowa @ Jun 19 2007, 05:25 AM) [snapback]295101[/snapback]</div>

However, I can never seem to get MAME emulators to work...anyone know anything 'bout those?[/b]

I think the one you can download at the official site is for the command line. So you'd have to make a shortcut for each game adding the name of the game (of the ZIPped ROM) as a parameter to the target. For example the target could be «"C:\Program Files\Mame\mame.exe" tetris». All ROMs should be in the "roms" subfolder for Mame to find them.

The easy option though is using something like Mame32 which provides you with an easy interface and lets you run all your games from a single shortcut.

[TheChosen]

I support emulators all the way, just like any other type of gaming.