Introduction

If you’ve been around in the gaming space for any length of time, one topic you’ve probably heard of is that of video game emulation. And how could you not?  Emulation has been, and continues to be, an interesting topic of discussion in the community as many argue that it allows for the preservation of games from times long since past while others will say that it promotes piracy of copyrighted works. But before we get into that, there is a question that must be answered.

What is Emulation?

To emulate means to endeavor to equal or excel that is often done by imitating something or someone that one desires. The best example of this would be an artist who looks to things they may enjoy, such as comics, games, or anime,  and looks to try and emulate that style in their work.

Video game emulation is similar in that it is the process of emulation a hardware or software platform/program on another program or platform and provide equal or greater performance. Of course, you also need a dumped ROM of the game that you want to emulate. A ROM, in this case, typically refers to the full data that has been dumped from the memory of a game cartridge. So, if you wanted to emulate something like Super Mario World, you would need a ROM of the game itself along with an emulator to…well…emulate the SNES hardware on the device.

But the ability to play copyrighted content does bring us to one of the more discussed parts about emulation.

Legality

The legality of video game emulation can be an interesting discussion that leads into one pressing question. Are emulators legal?

The simple answer is…yes. video game emulators are legal to download. What is NOT legal is the downloading and distribution of game ROMs which I do not condone. The reason why is fairly straightforward. The games are copyrighted content and are protected by copyright law.

So, when a company such as Nintendo, Sony, or SEGA take down a website hosting these ROMs, they are perfectly within their legal right to do so as the copyright holder because hosting these ROMs is would fall under the definition of piracy which is the illegal copying, using, distributing, or selling of legally protected software. That’s all their is to it.

Benefits

Emulation has many benefits when it comes to how you play and experience your games.

Better Graphics and Performance - Due to the increased capabilities of modern platforms, older titles are able to be enjoyed with a greater amount of graphical fidelity and at higher framerates along with some emulators adding features such as widescreen support.

Save States - Save states are a wonderful feature that allows the player to essentially save and reload the game at that specific point in time. This is a godsend in games that came before the advent of saving.

More Control Options - Emulators provide additional control options through the ability to play your games using whatever controller you wish. Along with that, the easy remapping of buttons is also a great benefit.

Allows for Preservation of Older Titles - Arguably, the most substantial benefit of emulation is the preservation of older titles. Now this is a topic that deserves further discussion, but the short answer is that game emulation allows gamers to experience titles that maybe hard to come by or are otherwise outrageously expensive.

Drawbacks

On the other side, there are also many drawbacks as well.

Graphical / Performance Issues - In many cases, emulators can provide graphical and performance improvements. However, due to the nature of emulation, there can be graphical and performance issues due the imperfect emulation of the actual hardware.

Incompatibility - This sort of leans onto the last point and the imperfect nature of emulation. It’s just a fact of life that not every game will run perfectly and their will always be some incompatibility issues such as the game crashing or not booting into the title screen.

Legality Issues - Like mentioned before, the legality issues come not from the emulators but the distribution and downloading of game ROMs. On top of this, some emulators require BIOS files to be dumped from the console itself which is illegal in that it is copyrighted material.

Closing Thoughts

Emulation is an issue that I find myself quite torn on. The ability to play and enjoy these classic titles in the present day and with the benefits mentioned above is wonderful. Video game emulation has also given exposure to new players who otherwise may have never gotten to experience them. Considering many of these games are not as readily available as they once were gives emulation a great reason to exist.

However, the drawbacks are evident. While I hate to see these titles removed with no other way to play them available other than spending an obscene amount of cash to play them on official hardware, these companies have every right to do so as it is THEIR copyrighted content. My only wish is that the video game companies would put additional effort into preserving their older titles and allowing them to be more readily available so that they can be enjoyed for years to come.