Collecting for non-emulatable hardware

[chair 7]

I collect first and foremost to play the games I acquire.  For the most part, emulation and recent Chinese portables have scratched my retro gaming itch.  The experience of the (3)DS however can't really be replicated with a single-screened device, and I am not interested in playing on a desktop computer, so I decided to spring for actual hardware.  Anyone else collect in this manner? What other systems benefit most from playing on original hardware? 

[DefaultGen 5,132]

The only reason I want Jaguar games is because Jaguar emulation is bad. This concept affects the arcade market too. Games that you can't just throw on a MAME cabinet like Paperboy and 720 get premiums. And if you're going to take up that amount of real estate in your house, it might as well be a game you can't just play on MAME and get the same experience.

Edited September 12, 2021 by DefaultGen

[Tanooki 4,894]

Well you got it right with the 3DS/DS, it's not quite the same, it doesn't work too well emulated because you're stuck using a mouse or trackball in most cases, few have their own mouse pens to simulate the stylus.  Typically though most DS games don't juggle both styles, so many can work, but some you're in trouble.  3DS though, if you want to do the 3D can't be done so you're right.

Other systems, those who have to be simulated would work.  I'm talking old stuff, segmented LCD games like Tiger handhelds and Game & Watch, or tabletops like Coleco did in the early 80s and others from that era/decade largely too from all the others.  You can simulate them, but it's just interpretations of them, enough don't use the original code from those but try and act like it.

Since you brought up weird chinese stuff, most of it actually is emulated, but usually in terrible emulators like mednafen which are all command line and aggravating.  I've got a Timetop Gameking2 which have their own carts, there is no stand alone emulator for it, visuals of Pokemon Mini, audio sampled from like 16bit quality, it's screwy but decent.

 

As far as that other part goes...I largely collected to collect and play.  But as prices have soured worse and worse in the last 10 years I tried kits, and I keep them but they feel fake to me as I have no value in the games so I don't use them much.  I've gotten rid of a good bit, and like you now, what I collect I collect to play, not just to have or it's out.

[Alder 242]

41 minutes ago, Tanooki said:

Well you got it right with the 3DS/DS, it's not quite the same, it doesn't work too well emulated because you're stuck using a mouse or trackball in most cases, few have their own mouse pens to simulate the stylus. 

I got a drawing pad years ago (Huion, I think) and the computer just sees it as a mouse. There's special software to set drawing-specific stuff for paint programs, but otherwise it just acts like a mouse, so I'd assume any DS emulator that works with mouse input would work with that. 

My first thought for "non-emulatable hardware" was the Action Max, but uhh... I don't think anyone is interested in playing that thing.

[Tanooki 4,894]

I had that back in the day was gifted with 3/4 tapes it ever had.  Despite the video even being terrible and cheesy back then, the shooting was a lot of fun.  I think that might fit for not emulatable, but then again, depends on intent.  NES emulators for 20+ years have done the Zapper using a mouse/crosshair quite nicely as a pre-cursor to the DS doing that with Point Blank DS among others.

[Ze_ro 2]

Don't forget games like Kirby Tilt n' Tumble, where emulation may work fine, but totally ruin the experience. Likewise Wario Ware Twisted, Yoshi Topsy Turvy, the Boktai games, and maybe half the games on Wii U.

Even on consoles there's quite a few games that use odd controllers that may never be properly emulated due to lack of interest, like Book of Spells and Eye of Judgement on PS3 and basically anything that used Kinect.

[Tanooki 4,894]

Or some emulator authors just won't add for whatever reason, but probably feel despite documentation just not worth the effort like the rumble feature of various GBC carts but also the one stand alone Drill Dozer on GBA too.  It's not like a large amount of PC controller don't have that feature within.

[AdamW 713]

13 hours ago, Ze_ro said:

Don't forget games like Kirby Tilt n' Tumble, where emulation may work fine, but totally ruin the experience. Likewise Wario Ware Twisted, Yoshi Topsy Turvy, the Boktai games, and maybe half the games on Wii U.

Even on consoles there's quite a few games that use odd controllers that may never be properly emulated due to lack of interest, like Book of Spells and Eye of Judgement on PS3 and basically anything that used Kinect.

I mean, emulating Boktai on an emulator that lets you trigger the sun whenever is kinda better than playing it for real and having to go find a bright source of light all the freaking time. What, you wanted to play your game today? Oh too bad it's cloudy.

[Chaos Control 61]

Some systems cannot be considered emulated, as they have hardware that no emulator can fully replicate. Sure, you might be able to play the ROMs, but for something like the Vectrex you need the original vector monitor of the system itself to get the full experience. Other early systems are the same way- can any emulator really replicate the unique Astrocade or Channel F controllers (short of a USB solution), or the those of the Odyssey or Studio II? Other systems like the Telstar Arcade have no emulator at all given how basic they are. How would somebody even go about dumping one of those triangular cartridges, anyway?

Newer systems than those, such as CDi, don't have perfect emulation, and what does exist only works with some titles. If one really wants to experience the obscure titles, they have to get the actual discs, and given how many there are and how rare they are the only hope for most are disc images or a large wallet.

 

All the early systems above? One might think that systems with small libraries would be easy to collect for, but generally they have the same percentage of near-impossible rarities as most other systems. Collecting for them is in a way even worse than newer systems, given the passage of time. The really rare titles only show up once or twice a year on eBay, if that. 

[Chaos Control 61]

On 9/11/2021 at 11:55 PM, Alder said:

I got a drawing pad years ago (Huion, I think) and the computer just sees it as a mouse. There's special software to set drawing-specific stuff for paint programs, but otherwise it just acts like a mouse, so I'd assume any DS emulator that works with mouse input would work with that. 

My first thought for "non-emulatable hardware" was the Action Max, but uhh... I don't think anyone is interested in playing that thing.

There's a homebrew Action Max DVD compilation of all the original games, along with a homebrew DVD game or two. They work great! At least the Action Max doesn't need to be emulated!

[DoctorEncore 3,688]

This is probably the coolest type of games to collect. Nothing really compares to playing some of these games in the original form factor. I love playing pixel perfect NES games on a giant 4k screen, but playing the DS with a mouse just doesn't stack up.

 

[RegularGuyGamer 1,903]

Couldn't a touch screen emulate a DS or 3DS more easily? Just have the two screens displayed and allow the the mouse clicks to register as touch inputs.

[Gloves 11,205]

2 minutes ago, RegularGuyGamer said:

Couldn't a touch screen emulate a DS or 3DS more easily? Just have the two screens displayed and allow the the mouse clicks to register as touch inputs.

Samsung Flip:

[RegularGuyGamer 1,903]

6 minutes ago, Gloves said:

Samsung Flip:

That's what I'm talking about. With the amount of touch screens in the world, I'm amazed that anyone would even want to play DS on a PC. It seems counterintuitive. 

[RH 4,555]

On 9/11/2021 at 11:55 PM, Alder said:

My first thought for "non-emulatable hardware" was the Action Max, but uhh... I don't think anyone is interested in playing that thing.

Funny you mention that. I've toyed with the idea of making a "homebrew" for it based off of movies. I thought my first might be the trench run from Star Wars.

[Tulpa 3,279]

13 minutes ago, RH said:

Funny you mention that. I've toyed with the idea of making a "homebrew" for it based off of movies. I thought my first might be the trench run from Star Wars.

Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future had an Action Max style game play that featured a similar scenario over the closing credits of the show.

[Tanooki 4,894]

3 hours ago, RegularGuyGamer said:

Couldn't a touch screen emulate a DS or 3DS more easily? Just have the two screens displayed and allow the the mouse clicks to register as touch inputs.

You don't even need that, just one would do, that's the sneaky design of the original 2DS.  It is one long single vertical screen with a plastic window making it look like two.  In that case, someone could just throw DS through 3DS on a mobile device(phone, tablet) and it would reproduce it entirely accurately.  It could get a little weird trying to use the touch+buttons, but there are things like clip on controllers that can handle the newer bigger phone sizes like the iphone 12 max pro/android equal uses, and that would get the DS style down 100%.

[DoctorEncore 3,688]

4 hours ago, Gloves said:

Samsung Flip:

Is this a real, functional emulator that works with the whole library? I'd be shocked, but impressed considering how rare these folding phones are right now.

As others have said, the DS could be emulated with a single touch screen if the phone/tablet has a useable shape.

Edited September 19, 2021 by DoctorEncore

[Gloves 11,205]

18 minutes ago, DoctorEncore said:

Is this a real, functional emulator that works with the whole library? I'd be shocked, but impressed considering how rare these folding phones are right now.

As others have said, the DS could be emulated with a single touch screen if the phone/tablet has a useable shape.

I can't vouch for the whole library. It's a functional emulator though, and doesn't require a Flip, they just work quite well for emulating the form factor.

[DoctorEncore 3,688]

2 hours ago, Gloves said:

I can't vouch for the whole library. It's a functional emulator though, and doesn't require a Flip, they just work quite well for emulating the form factor.

That's awesome. Add in a touch-compatible pen and that's a damn good replacement.

[RegularGuyGamer 1,903]

On 9/19/2021 at 7:56 PM, DoctorEncore said:

That's awesome. Add in a touch-compatible pen and that's a damn good replacement.

The z fold does accept a specific s-pen that has a softer tip.