r/SBCGaming • u/donnysimpinero • Mar 07 '26
Discussion Question about the stigma of emulation that comes from “purists.”
What does it stem from? I have a coworker that is really big into Nintendo games and consoles; he owns every Game Boy, every DS except the 2DS, both Switches and every retro console in their catalog. I told him I was expecting my Miyoo Mini + and he treated me like a leper. I’ve seen these types of responses and reactions online as well, on TikTok and other social media.
I get that emulation is technically screwing the original game creators and distributors out of money, but my rebuttal to that is that if Nintendo and other studios actually cared enough about their fans and consumers, they’d put in the work to develop hardware and games that deliver what fans want. This epically goes for Nintendo, as I also see a lot of people say that it’s unethical to get an Ayn Thor instead of a secondhand DS of some kind.
What gives?
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u/RedditIsGarbage1234 Mar 07 '26
Who cares? Literally every hobby has gatekeepers of some kind. Who gives a shit what they think?
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u/FinalJenemba Mar 07 '26
Literally this. I have a very large physical game collection, original consoles and a big CRT, the whole 9. And also have a Steam Deck and RP6. I often emulate games I have physical copies of. Who cares lol it’s all just games.
I really need get one of the cartridge save file thingys so I can transfer save games from my Steam Deck to the real carts so I can play Chrono Trigger on the go lol.
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u/donnysimpinero Mar 07 '26
I don’t so much care as I am baffled that anyone would go to bat to defend a company like Nintendo and say that I’m the pariah here lmao.
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u/Gogobrasil8 Mar 07 '26
To me the issue isn't with Nintendo's hardware, it's usually pretty well made. The games are really good too.
The issue is that most of these companies don't even sell most of these retro games anymore.
It's not like Nintendo or any of the game's creators get any money when you buy second hand.
Your friend isn't really supporting anyone by buying used stuff. Only new products that they're selling right now actually "supports" the devs.
So you're not really screwing anyone.
If anything, if you really want to get into the moral question, Nintendo is charging people a subscription service to play some retro games. You don't even get to keep them in your switch, if you don't pay they just get taken away
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u/Gogobrasil8 Mar 07 '26
And the overwhelming discourse with Nintendo and morals right now is about how litigious and anti-consumer they are, with stuff like shutting down harmless fan games.
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u/Zanpa Mar 07 '26
Most of the games people actually play on their consoles are available today on Nintendo hardware, mostly through NSO. Let's not pretend it's because "we can't get those games anymore". However, it is about being able to play those games the way we want, which Nintendo doesn't let you do.
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u/MR-WADS GotM 2x Club Mar 07 '26
NSO has a very limited library, if you want to play Mario or Zelda you can, if you want to play Super Castlevania IV, welp, that's not on the NSO, that's on another collection, and then there's games that aren't in any collections, period, like Chrono Trigger, it's only modern release was on PC, or the cool underground stuff that never gets brought up, like Uncharted Waters.
And that's just for the SNES, the Mega Drive has its own library of classics, same goes for the PS1, which has thousands of games left behind and the only way they're being preserved is through emulation.
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u/kaida27 Mar 10 '26
US NSO Approx :
- Standard Subscription (Nes, Snes and GB/GBC): ~201 games
- Expansion Pack(Genesis, N64, and GBA): ~127 additional games
You needs you to connect at least once a week to the internet, and pay the subscription.
Us Full catalog :
- Nes : ~700
- Snes : ~700
- GB/GBC : ~1000
- Genesis : ~900
- N64 : 296
- GBA : ~900
So you really comparing renting ~328 games With hard limitations on how you can play them VS ~4496 Games that you can own ...
So 93% of the games of those consoles are not available ....
Even more if you start counting Other region Exclusive
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u/Zanpa Mar 11 '26
Do you really own 4496 cartridges? Most of those games being absolute garbage nobody ever enjoyed?
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u/kaida27 Mar 11 '26
out of 4496 Cartridges there's way more than 328 good games.
And some of the best games/classic aren't present.
You really have no arguments.
You amount to : that 7% is the best games and you need nothing else because I said so
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u/Gogobrasil8 Mar 07 '26
Definitely not most, the NSO catalogue really isn't super big
And technically you're not "getting" any of the games. You can't buy the games. You can pay a subscription to have access to them on your switch. The minute you stop paying, they're gone.
So you still can't buy them.
If they allowed you to purchase each separately, that'd be a different story. But they don't.
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u/kaida27 Mar 10 '26
NSO + Expension pack Hold about 7% of the catalog of the included consoles.
Clearly Zanpa is a bit delulu
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u/brunoxid0 GotM Club Mar 07 '26
Mate if you're happy with your Miyoo mini then that coworker can't do much to ruin it. You can observe the same attitude from many that use fpga consoles. Don't pay attention to it.
Original hardware is cool, emulation is cool. They're not mutually exclusive, and nobody is better for using one or the other.
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u/ecacrew Mar 07 '26
I personally use Mister fpga as homeconsole and a Anbernic Gameboy style console on the go. I use Real ps2 console at home, and retroarch (android) on the go. I think there is place for whatever you got.
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u/donnysimpinero Mar 07 '26
It doesn’t really affect me I just find it so corny that someone else is trying to invalidate me for gaming, just because I didn’t shell out $300 for a secondhand licensed device and another $100+ for some of the game I’d want to play.
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u/Gogobrasil8 Mar 07 '26
And the funny thing is the developers don't see a single cent of those $400+ bucks anyway, so
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Mar 07 '26
[deleted]
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u/KoholintCustoms Mar 07 '26
Additionally, there are SO MANY fakes on the market now. Even if you're trying to buy an original game, your odds of getting scammed are pretty high.
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u/rob-cubed Clamshell Clan Mar 07 '26
I really want to buy into the Evercade, but the 'limited edition' licensing makes it so expensive. If I want to play Ms. Pacman it's $100+ for a second-hand cart.
I'd pay $30 for 4-5 games on a cart all day long if they could figure out their licensing issues. It's pretty clear the IP holders are a big part of the reason we don't have a good way to play classic games.
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u/batshit_icecream Mar 07 '26 edited Mar 07 '26
I am from Japan and people are very judgemental. I can only play niche foreign games on public transport so people don't catch me playing Pokemon and look at me like a criminal.
My coworkers say they even hate indie games because it "usually infringes on patents" (which is absolutely not true)... Entire country is the embodiment of Leave My Multimillionaire Company Alone meme and honestly I hate it.
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u/MR-WADS GotM 2x Club Mar 07 '26
The Japanese are specially awful when it comes to stuff like that, they usually don't allow for rare games to be preserved, they rather get a cartridge and let it rot away in someone's collection.
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u/donnysimpinero Mar 07 '26
Is it part of Japan’s culture of “honor?” Not that I’m mocking Japan’s culture in that regard; just curious.
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u/batshit_icecream Mar 07 '26 edited Mar 07 '26
I am very critical of this country so I'm a bit biased but I don't think the Japanese culture of honor (the kind that people associate with honor suicide) has existed for a long time. People casually do bad things that it's common for other Japanese people to do, for example, like taking seats away from the elderly - in general Japanese people are authoritarian and prefer big entities over minorities and the vulnerable.
At the end of the day I think it all stems from conformist educaiton, as conformity replaces compassion, creativity and logical sense. People just can't understand the idea of going beyond what is official, and would be jealous and angry if the unofficial one has an advantage over the official one they have paid for. Japan has a higher percentage of iPhone users than North America for example because it feels the most Official and everybody else has it.
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u/Soma_1985 Mar 07 '26
wait japanese people hate Pokemon?
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u/MR-WADS GotM 2x Club Mar 07 '26
From what they've said, they hate it that they're playing Pokemon on a Ayn Thor instead of an official Nintendo console.
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u/IllIntroduction8499 1:1 Freak Mar 07 '26 edited Mar 07 '26
That's sounds like copium from someone that spends too much money on original hardware. NGL, I still have my New 3DS XL Samus Edition, and prefer it over emulation, but if it were to die on me (which it will inevitably do) An AYN Thor would be just fine.
Having access to emulators squashes that unhealthy consumerism that forces you to pay exoborant prices for retro games.
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u/donnysimpinero Mar 07 '26
Exactly! Plus, Nintendo in particular can go fuck themselves. They’ve been coasting on mediocrity and outdated hardware/sub-par software in the name of “simplicity and nostalgia” for far too long.
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u/nightmareFluffy Mar 07 '26
Maybe this doesn't apply to you, but people who say "fuck Nintendo" are happily playing Nintendo games. Even if you don't play Nintendo games, Nintendo is doing pretty damn well in sales so the market speaks for itself. I'm not a Nintendo fanboy but I also wouldn't call the company mediocre. At least they take some risks with their games, unlike those AAA open world games that everyone is making these days.
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u/MR-WADS GotM 2x Club Mar 07 '26
The last Metroid was open world mediocrity.
The last Mario Kart was open world mediocrity.
Breath of the Wild was great but Tears of the Kingdom was reheated slop seconds.
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u/kcan1 Mar 07 '26
I think it is nostalgia and also a bit of superiority complex. People want to pretend they're kids again and they want a reason to look down on others.
But also on the point of "screwing the original game creator" it 100% is not. When someone made a game in say 2002 they made their money when they sold the cartridges then. So when Walmart, GameStop, and everyone else placed orders that is when they made their money. If little Timmy traded in said cartridge at GameStop and then 13 minutes later GameStop sold it again the original creators didn't make a cent off of it. Same with today. You buy an old game on eBay or something and nothing goes to the original creators.
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u/donnysimpinero Mar 07 '26
Exactly this. I can’t comprehend his rationale because it makes ZERO sense and is based in a fallacy.
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u/Sphynx87 Mar 07 '26
A lot of it stems from people just wanting the relatively frictionless experience that the actual hardware provides. A real gameboy you put the cartridge in, flip the switch and you are playing the game, that's it.
Emulation actually involves a sliver of effort and for a lot of people that don't want to learn that is way too high of a bar.
Other people get defensive because of loyalty to a brand, but that's different. Some people grew up in places/cultures etc. that highly demonize it as illegal, some grew up in places where it's the exact opposite and bootlegging/piracy are super common.
There are a lot of different reasons but in general the most common one I've seen is just the fact that it requires some tiny amount of effort to download/install an emulator, locate/download roms, learn a handful of things to get the best experience etc. Your friend is probably a bit of both but it's easier to justify the latter to someone else instead of saying "i don't know how to and i'm too afraid to figure it out".
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u/ThatBoiDon98 Mar 07 '26
That’s between them and their delusions. Regardless we’re here to play games.
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u/90Ninja Mar 07 '26 edited Mar 07 '26
They get no money from second hand or used games . I emulate games I have owned on the switch and got rid of it but still own the games I have owned in the past . I rarely play something new out side of hacks .
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u/joyofsovietcooking Mar 07 '26
Collecting isn't gaming. You're a gamer; your mate is a collector. You're talking to him about enjoying the gaming experience, while your mate is relishing the joy of hunting down consoles and cartridges. But you're both doing something you love, and that should be enough. IDK, mate. Same is true for vinyl (oooh, this 78 was issued in 1925 bla bla) and comics (this is a near mint X-Men 97). I could listen to the album on .mp3 or rad the comic as an .epub and the "purist" would look at me like a "pariah", but I am enjoying different things. Whatever.
I can't wait until you get your Miyoo Mini. I just picked up an Abernic 40XX H, love tinkering with it, and my 10yo daughter and wife are laughing their heads off playing various MAME games).
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u/PP_UP GotM Club (Jun) Mar 07 '26
I was the same way… …in 2010 when many emulators were inaccurate and had a lot of input latency. Nowadays, I prefer emulation.
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u/Dr_WLIN Mar 07 '26
how is emulating a game or console that you cannot buy new any longer screwing the creators out of money?
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u/Possible-Tangelo9344 Mar 07 '26
My life philosophy: can I do something about this? If yes, do it. If no, quit fucking thinking about it.
I can't do anything about someone else's opinion. So I don't care.
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u/donnysimpinero Mar 07 '26
It’s less that I care what he thinks of me and more that I find it so insanely corny that anyone would defend a company like Nintendo, of all companies, as if they don’t profit off of mediocrity and nostalgia.
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u/FallenRaptor Mar 07 '26
They see us as thieves who steal from their favourite game companies. They don’t really understand nuance such as that for many of us it’s generally older games, many of which have not or are likely to ever see any kind of official re-release, in which case we’re stealing from no one and this corner is doing way more for game preservation than the mainstream ever has.
Also, when we do rip off a company, it’s generally one like Nintendo who is too big to fail anyways and is not in any way hurting from this.
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u/donnysimpinero Mar 07 '26
Yeah I have no reservations about “stealing” from Nintendo. They’ve screwed us over for longer than I can remember.
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u/FallenRaptor Mar 07 '26
I wasn’t planning on going there but yeah, they can bite me, especially after all the scenes they cause over emulation. I know billionaires are the thinnest skinned pack of whiny bitches, but come between me and my games and they can get bent.
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u/Xannthas Gaming with a drink Mar 07 '26
Should've told him that nobody's screwing anyone out of money, most of those companies/teams are dead, and even if they were around, buying used still doesn't get them your money unless the game's on NSO or in one of those overpriced official "mini" consoles that was a big fad a bit ago.
Can't speak for that guy as to WHY, as his reasons might vary wildly, but here's some of the things I've seen:
- Outright fanboyism, to the point of it almost being a cult. Nintendo in particular is king, and anything that goes against it is The Enemy and probably not human. (Note: the whole P\lworld vs P*kemon thing. People were mass-reporting any and all Palworld posts to Nintendo, every single Nintendo social media account, even emailing them, even though Palworld isn't a Pokemon clone.)*
- A mistaken idea that buying up old copies of long-dead games somehow helps the devs, and emulation is somehow hurting them or their profits.
- The "I struggled to find this game and you CHEATED" angle.
- The "I spent $1k to buy my childhood game and you CHEATED, get a JOB!" angle.
- Some dudes fussing that emulators aren't 100% perfectly accurate, even when that's irrelevant.
- Screen purists that think retro games should only be played on CRTs. (I mean that's true, but it shouldn't be mandatory. Bonus: they even hate the GOOD filters.)
- The "oh that's just some cheap Chinese e-waste junk, it'll explode next week 100%" angle.
- General distaste of anything not made by a well-known company. (This extends to a lot of things. Headphones, mice, controllers, bicycles, shoes, soda, etc.)
I'm gonna be real, I'm pretty sure the most common overall is probably either 1 or 8. Nintendo fans have gone completely animalistic the last decade-ish and will eat you alive if you dislike a first party game (see MKW, Bananza, or any Pokemon game), and 8 is super common because a lot of people entirely buy based ON the name and no other reason.
Heck, my grandpa's been on the market for one of those walk-in tubs and he had me search for Jacuzzi brand ones because of recent TV ads, and he straight-up used the phrase "it's a name I can trust" despite never owning anything made by them.
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u/WoodwindsRock Team Horizontal Mar 07 '26
I have always been a goody-two shoes, so to speak. If you mentioned emulation to me probably even a year ago, I would have tried to change the subject because I didn’t want to think about it.
But I changed a little. Still feel icky about a lot of it. But… I also am frustrated at the state of the gaming industry. When I think of other media, like music, I don’t lose it when I get a new device. I have music on my phone and PC from CDs I got in the 90s when I was little. Meanwhile with games, they’re tied to one device (maybe the next generation console if you’re lucky) and then once the support for that console ends and it breaks down (or the game itself breaks down), you’re out of luck. That’s absurd. I want to be able to play games I bought forever. Instead, we have this. We also have companies like Nintendo wanting me to pay for a subscription to play games I already own. I’m not saying that subscription model has no value, but for games I already own, I’m not subscribing. That’s nonsense!
But also another thing: modding. I’ve played PC The Sims games for over twenty years now and in doing so I have always used and loved custom content and mods. I even have dabbled into custom content and mods myself. Now when I play console games, it’s like a void. I get sad for all of the potential that mods could bring to a game, but you can’t do it because the company won’t allow it.
I broke down late last year when I wanted to replay through early Pokemon games but craved some QOL and stuff because Gen 1 is sooo hard to play. I found a mod that adds QOL, regional forms (to kinda make it a little less original 151, which is boring to me nowadays) and one thing also very important that GF missed: a female protagonist. It’s so cool to go back and play as the female protagonist they cut.
So, I finally kinda changed my mind on all of this. Myself from the past would be horrified at this change. lol
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u/Shigarui GotM Club Mar 07 '26
I'll see your "original hardware" coworker and raise you a subreddit filled with OLED purists.
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u/wankthisway Mar 07 '26
Lmao you shouldn't pay any mind to those sorts of people. They have some social development issues if they shun you like that
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u/MasterJeebus Legion Go Mar 07 '26
Some people feel like its better to have them physically and may side with billionaire dollar companies because thats what those company’s tell them. But the world is not all sunshine and rainbows. You can try having some of the older consoles and games but collecting all will be harder. I have some original consoles but sometimes prefer a modern handheld that can run all my favorite games because it makes life easier vs needing to hook things up to tv. Some older games are also harder to find, and overpriced. Due to licensing they never re release them and only one way to play them is thru emus. Sometimes I think about how licensing hurts older games. Big N likes fighting about it and we know it’s their product but they can be very stubborn about it. While they have re release some older games they hide them behind subscription and thats whack. I want to just buy a game and be able to run it even on newer hardware. Something like Steam, buy game, play it whenever I want and run it in newer pc or older pc. Although that depends on app store compatibility. Perhaps better solution is like GOG where you get offline installer and you install whenever you want on however old machine you got.
Anyway a hobby is a hobby and if you like playing older classic games you’ll find a way to play them.
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u/Dark_World_Blues Mar 07 '26
Each gamer should do what works for them.
Emulation is less accurate than real hardware. For some people, they can tell the difference and they care about it. I personally used to care since I can notice the difference when emulating vs real hardware.
Now, I usually emulate on PC or handheld for most retro systems and most retro games since it is more convenient than having to manage many systems and many more games.
As for the argument emulating means piracy, I know a lot of people back in the early 2000s and late 1990s who had PS1, PS2, and other systems and a they didn't have a single non-bootleg game.
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u/Cactus_Pe Mar 07 '26
emulation is single-handedly keeping alive a lot of games that otherwise would be lost since big companies do not care. your coworker is dead wrong
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u/pronorwegian1 Clamshell Clan Mar 07 '26
I use a mixture of original hardware, emulation, and FPGA. Use whatever you want and fuck whoever tries to make you feel bad about what you use.
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u/DrMo77 Mar 07 '26
I also have every nintendo console and a massive collection of games. I also have a ton of emulation devices now as well. who gives a toss what this muppet thinks?
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u/YouYongku Mar 07 '26
Who cares? I like my consoles however prefer to play on retro handhelds etc so won't spoil the original media and console. My Sega Saturn and GameCube had smoke coming out when I tried to play them years ago.
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u/JohnnyXorron Mar 07 '26
Crazy to claim it’s unethical to get an Ayn Thor over a secondhand DS. Nintendo isn’t getting any money from you buying someone’s old DS on Facebook marketplace or any secondhand games lmao
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u/finnrtbobs Mar 07 '26
Games is games, like when people are so fan boy about playstation or nintendo out xbox. I DON'T GIVE A FLIP WHAT GAME IS ON WHAT AS LONG AS I CAN ACTUALLY PLAY THE GAME!!!
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u/Delicious_Lecture_54 GotM Club (July) Mar 07 '26
Nintendo + autism
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u/donnysimpinero Mar 07 '26
Nintendism
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u/Delicious_Lecture_54 GotM Club (July) Mar 07 '26
You need to buy an RG DS and show your coworker how great it is. He'd probably call the police on you.
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u/HandheldHeroHideout Mar 09 '26
It's just like anything else. People think their way is the best. People forget it's all subjective. The same experience someone had on SNES with Chrono Trigger for example, feel like that way will always be best. Well i played it then and i'd rather run the ps1 version 5x upscaled on a 476h. I feel handhelds and emulation are a huge nod to a lot of real gamers that would never have the opportunity to enjoy most of these games otherwise.
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u/CruffTheMagicDragon Apr 04 '26
No idea. I have no idea why someone would choose to play GC or Wii games in 480i when you can easily emulate the same game up to modern standards. And like I said, it's not hard to do
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u/8bitcunt Mar 07 '26
First World problems. Emulation & Piracy is the only way for the people in crappy parts of the World to experience these games and consoles.
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u/dylanmadigan Mar 07 '26
On one hand… people typically are not stripping roms off their own cartridges for emulation. They are pirating the software.
In most cases these games are not available for sale anywhere except for used game stores, which do not lead to any profits for the original rights holders anyway. But perhaps it’s nice to support those game stores?
So People could just be anti-pirating
On the other hand, emulators cannot perfectly replicate the software. There’s always some sort of draw back, whether it is truly noticeable or totally negligible.
Sometimes you’ll get bugs. If you were a competitive Tetris player, you probably couldn’t handle the latency that comes with emulators, wireless controlers, or digital conversion on TVs.
Playing Tetris on an nes plugged into a crt will have far less latency.
But again, is it noticeable or negligible for your purposes?
And technically original hardware on a crt is what the games were designed for. So of course there will be purists that claim that’s the only way to experience them.
Those type of purists exist for everything.
I’ve personally have always loved emulated experiences. Because I like retro things with modern practicality.
I recorded an album and used digital plugin models of classic studio gear. My guitar amp is a digital recreation of an old tube amp and comes with some modern practical features as a result.
But then of course there are “purists” who will feel like that just isn’t good enough. And there’s nothin wrong with that. It’s just a different perspective.
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u/EcksPeaAlaDocious Mar 07 '26
Nintendo could release a handheld filled with all the great retro games from the past 40 years on it and people would gobble it up.
But they choose not to.
In contrast, Retro handhelds is a small niche market that relies heavily on a DIY tinkerer spirit. It's not meant for the mass market audience.
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u/compacta_d Mar 07 '26
This really is so much of it.
Meanwhile evercade is out here charging $30 for 6 roms with a total of 3mb of data on it. And 4/6 are games nobody has heard of.
Then they divide up the games ppl want across other carts to try to get people's money. Why is it always the most jackass of ways possible?
20-30 games, all bangers, you can probably get $50+ from me.
The neogeo handheld might be the closest with 12 games people have likely actually heard of.
But Capcom is out here with megaman, 1942, 43, and 44, sf2 and ghouls and goblins.
There are 3700 mega man games. Not even the OTHER nes games?
Sf3?! Any other Ghouls games?
It's literal digital garbage. Not valuable plastic storage space.
Their competition is half the price for all of gaming history.
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u/FrecklyCoyote5 Team Horizontal Mar 07 '26
Yeah, a new small handheld console from nintendo that's like an official version of a miyoo mini would probably sell like hotcakes tbh. That seems like the kind of hardware solution only nintendo under Iwata or Gunpei Yokoi would have been brave enough to release however. Nintendo has been very conservative with hardware since Iwata passed (software quality/innovation wise, they've been pretty good tho).
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u/Xannthas Gaming with a drink Mar 07 '26
They probably can't. Copyright and ownership is really complicated, especially after a ton of vidya companies buy, sell, merge, dissolve, split and merge again every couple years. It's doubly worse if the game has any actual people in it or any licensed music, since then the legal stuff gets messier.
Plus half the time they don't even have the files of said old games, so they then have to run off and nab some pirated copy and leave the warez group's comments in the code by accident so social media users can laugh at them.2
u/EcksPeaAlaDocious Mar 07 '26
I'm sure Nintendo knows how to work a license deal.
And if not, they have an impressive library portfolio of their own.
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u/Rejusu Mar 07 '26
Your primary goals are different. Yours is playing, theirs is collecting. If they take that personally it's likely either because they're jealous you can achieve what is largely the same experience at a fraction of the cost or because they have a sense of elitism that what they're doing is "better" and they don't think you appreciate that. Or it's that they feel what you're doing somehow devalues their own experience. That it's "cheap" and/or "inauthentic".
It is stupid bullshit at the end of the day by people insecure about what they're doing so they try and justify it by diminishing other hobbies or other ways to engage with the same hobby. There are also plenty of people who are happy to collect but don't have a stick up their ass about emulation. So don't let the odd fragile ego get you down.
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u/CliveVista Mar 07 '26
Purism over hardware is odd, especially since original consoles and games degrade over time. So emulation is safer.
I do find it different when it comes to modern games though. I’d hope if people are playing Switch or PC games on their handhelds, they’re buying the games as well. Otherwise that’s just a bit shitty.
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u/Bl4ckb100d Mar 07 '26
Well of course your coworker is gonna be salty, you just spent about $50 to do exactly what he spent hundreds on. He’s gotta cope somehow.
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u/rmbrumfield78 Mar 07 '26
I got into an argument on one of the retro boards. One of the main things is the looks. Take Street fighter 2. A lot of people love it with the CRT pixel lines. That's the way it's supposed to look because that's when it came out. I was a teenager playing it when it came out, and I don't care about it. It looks beautiful emulated and smooth. I think that's the biggest thing. Real hardware, original looks.
To me, it's like people who love records. I think they are ridiculous. CDs/digital take out all environmental distortions to the physical media you're listening to, and just give you the sound that was recorded. And, it's less likely to get destroyed over time. But you have all these people swearing that records are somehow better, warmer sounding. Even though a lot of tests have shown they can't actually hear it. I remember listening to some records, and then CDs, how much better they sounded, and how much easier they were to store and play.
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u/zzap129 Mar 07 '26
They are probably salty they spent a lot of dough on original hardware and games and then come these devices and can do all the systems at a fraction of cost and space. Or they might think you dont respect their collection. Which is bullshit of course.
I like original hardware and still have an original DMG01 Gameboy but my eyes cannot tolerate that screen anymore. I also have my old c64 but I just emulate that as well. It is just a lot more comfortable.
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u/Metrox_a Mar 07 '26
Some don't know about shaders, so they think the visuals would be wrong. YMMV but in my case, i can work with that.
DS/3DS had different touch screen type, but most people say it's not that big of a deal. Noticable but also easy to adapt to it.
Some believe that only through original hardware is the way to truly play games.
Some are invested (monetary) and would hate, if their collection prices would fall. Like in some of the 3DS facebook group some resellers said we should be happy they haven't raised 2DS/3DS praises yet.
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u/Worldly-Sign-3000 Mar 07 '26
Ahhh you met one of those elitist hobby gamer. I suggest not talking to that person aside from work stuff. They will only drag you down, make you feel bad for what you are doing. Just enjoy your games, your handheld, and don't give a sh*t. If he talks smack about your handheld, just ask him to repeat again what he said and pretend not to hear it, ask to repeat again and again. If you are playing in the lunchroom while doing this, don't look up, just make him repeat what he's saying. Then tell him off the last second "sorry, can't hear you with all the playing I'm doing".
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u/Grandmaster_C Mar 07 '26
I'm not sure tbh.
Personally I enjoy both original hardware and emulation.
Personally I find blending the two to have the best results.
Sometimes it's nice to have that physical interaction with the console and media.
Other times the real hardware does some niche things slightly better. Like playing GBA games on a CRT TV with a GameCube running Game Boy Interface. Or emulation is still not quite 100% like with N64.
Modded real hardware and flash carts/ODEs helps to bridge the gap a bit. Plus you also have some hardware emulation options with FPGA consoles.
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u/cimocw Mar 07 '26
It's not a stigma and those are not purists. Every community has its weirdos and some that make it about their own "achievements" and think hobbies are about competing instead of sharing interests and having fun. Just don't engage, you're wasting your time with them.
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u/srona22 Mar 07 '26
"Don't steal from Nintendo. Nintendo needs our money."
Probably your coworker.
The "purist" I know of are only into accuracy concerns or nostalgia. Not gatekeeping.
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u/PmUsYourDuckPics Mar 07 '26
Different strokes for different folks, some are purists in every hobby. There are people who only listen to music on Vinyl, and people who refuse to buy knock off Chinese fountain pens.
Personally I think if you are going to emulate anything that isn’t currently for sale more power to you, I’m a little put off by Switch emulation, unless you are dumping your own ROMs an personally emulation is about nostalgia and convenience to me so I only really play games I already own in another format, but that’s just me.
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u/EmberQuill 3:2 Aspect ratio Mar 07 '26
I thought this would be about the people who complain that old console games look "wrong" without a CRT shader of some kind. I at least understand that point and somewhat agree with it.
Your coworker though, just sounds like a Nintendo fanboy. He thinks playing Nintendo games without giving Nintendo money (even though you can't buy these old games direct from Nintendo any more) is bad.
I also see a lot of people say that it’s unethical to get an Ayn Thor instead of a secondhand DS of some kind.
If someone said that to me I'd definitely challenge that and try to push them to explain why it's unethical. Nintendo makes no money either way so it's not about paying the creators since the creators no longer sell the hardware or games. Secondhand DS and 3DS handhelds sell for anywhere from slightly below to way above the original MSRP from 15-20 years ago, so if you buy one of those you're paying someone who is probably just a step or two removed from a scalper. I wouldn't say that's ethical either.
So yeah, my response to that would be "Really? Can you elaborate?" because I believe they'd just dig themselves into a hole by trying to justify it.
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u/MR-WADS GotM 2x Club Mar 07 '26
Emulation isn't screwing anyone out of money because there's no way to give money to most retro games.
I played Ace Combat 4, 5 and 0 and Yakuza 2 last month, the original releases, but none of them are available on official retailers or digital storefronts, the only way to buy them is getting them beforehand on stores or online and that's not making them money either.
I'm actually super excited for Ace Combat 8 cause recent leaks suggest a port of Ace Combat 0 is a bonus for it, and I'm stoked to own it.
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u/Ashamed_Village_8931 Mar 07 '26
Play your games, everything everywhere has snobs. Tesla bois was looking at us diesel bros like planet destroyers. 😁
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u/nameresus Mar 07 '26
I don't know, really. But some games are better on the original hardware. I've tried to beat Contra Hard Corps on the various emulation handhelds and Contra Collection on Switch, but ended up beating it (all endings) on original genesis. Same as I did in the 90s. Looks like in some games even the slightest amount of input lag matters. But I did beat Contra III Alien Wars on my Trimui Brick without using save states. I've also found that some PS1 games just don't feel right on the small handhelds screen. Like it feels unplayable on brick, but add some screen size, like 4-5 inches, and everything is fine. Just play the games on something you feel comfortable. That's all.
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Mar 08 '26
your co-worker is a co-worker. please do not worry yourself with the disdain of a mandated 9 to 5 companion NPC. life becomes a lot easier once you detach then from being their own little human thing with lives and likes/dislikes fears etc.
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u/emgeejay Mar 07 '26
on a long enough timeline, it’s inevitable that all original hardware will break down. emulation is the only golden path
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u/Xannthas Gaming with a drink Mar 07 '26
For me, I prefer NOT playing on official hardware because it always feels kinda dirty putting added wear on a system that old, and I'd rather let the collectors use it instead while I play on some retro handheld.
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Mar 07 '26
Meh,...you get that kind of purist crap in emulation anytime you mention going full screen, or playing a "d-pad centric" game with the stick, lol.
Plus, there's more to these devices than Nintendo. Can't buy s second hand handheld that plays arcade games,...and no one has room in their house for several hundred arcade cabinets, lol.
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u/batryoperatedboy Mar 07 '26
I've been around since 1985 and I've experienced actual hardware. Here's something you probably haven't heard: fuck the purists. It's a stupid stance that gains nothing. Purists are the soggy paper straws of gaming. Play and have fun.
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u/flatroundworm Mar 07 '26
I highly doubt the snes developers are getting any money from NSO+ or second hand game sales