2000's era console/arcade emulation on PC's

[TheGameCollector]

On 4/27/2022 at 8:57 PM, eightbit said:

Wow, thinking back on this. It was a time when there were big cart dumping projects going on to get everything archived....and there was a way to go back then. 

I remember in 2005 or so emailing the guy who put together the GoodTools sets asking him why there was no rom for Captain America on Game Boy. Of course that was included in the GoodGBx update from 2. something to 3. something.

[Keatah]

Genecyst, early MAME, Nesticle, Sparcade, ColEmDos, Retrocade, Mike Cuddy's Gyruss Audio Emulator, Digital Eclipse' Defender & Robotron dedicated emus, Bleem!.. all those.. all those early emulators conspired to convince me it wasn't necessary to go collecting consoles and cabs anymore. Or restart collecting them again. Or even make weekly pilgrimages to Galaxy World or Aladdin's Castle any more. Surprisingly any 2600 or Apple II emulators weren't in the running yet.

 

I did have the Activision Action Packs, and was able to swap in some dumps from the internet. But it was a real hassle. And anything Apple II was pretty rough. Microsoft Arcade also had a role. It was nicely polished and fit well with Windows 3.1. It wasn't an emulator, but a port. A re-write, but not a re-make. I was ok with that and it an influential purchase.

 

Overall I do like the lesser lag time of early releases, but they've seen their days and are scheduled on archive. Newer emulators have so many more features and accuracy improvements. I typically use bluetooth controllers when I want a faster response time. The stack is faster than USB.

[The Usotsuki]

For Apple ][ emulation, ApplePC is what I used back then. And AppleWin did exist, but I wasn't running Win9x at the time.

[eightbit]

On 5/13/2022 at 7:14 AM, Keatah said:

Overall I do like the lesser lag time of early releases, but they've seen their days and are scheduled on archive. Newer emulators have so many more features and accuracy improvements. I typically use bluetooth controllers when I want a faster response time. The stack is faster than USB.

 

 

I just found and picked up a brand new vintage X-Arcade controller. It is not the USB version but rather the model that plugs into the PS2 keyboard port and the keyboard then connects to the back of the controller. So it can grab any keyboard key input and map it to the controller.

 

I don't have it hooked up yet since I have to find the space (thing is huge!) but if it works anything like the good old Hanaho Hot Rod controller I used to have it'll be great. I lost that Hanaho in a flood back in the late 2000's....man I wish I had that thing again. But, the X-Arcade feels just as good...just not in the cool purple of of Hot Rod