As the Wikipedia page tells us, emulators, in computer science, are programs that allow you to run on a computer, applications and software designed for other types of devices. For example, you can start Windows programs on Linux and vice versa.
In particular, the emulators are used to install a game environment on the PC, so as to be able to start console video games .
These are always programs developed by amateur programmers (in the sense that they are not commercial software), for Windows Linux and Mac, who, fond of a particular console, want to run the video games of these consoles on a normal PC.
Hundreds of emulators exist and, on an English Wikipedia page, there is a complete list of all emulators divided by console, starting with computers from the 70s, 80s, 90s and up to today. In the list there are also emulators for Playstation, Nintendo console, for the first Xbox, for the old Sega and for many other video game consoles, including some that have never arrived in Italy.
The emulators of the newer consoles require recent and rather powerful computers to be able to replicate console functions such as the Playstation 2 for example. Sometimes these programs also have some games included but, in general, you have to download the ROMs, looking for them in dedicated sites. It should also be noted that, in some cases, it may be illegal to play games of which there is no free copy.
The following emulators are, I believe, the best available to play the most famous and historical console games of the past .
1) SAW
With this Japanese house, whose traces have been lost, you can start with the historic 8-bit Sega Master System (1985) and the 16-bit successor Sega Mega Drive (1988). Above all the Mega Drive was a worldwide success on which you could and can still play games like Sonic today.The emulators for playing with these 80s Sega consoles are two programs for Windows, Linux and Mac: KEGA Fusion and Gens GS .
Successor to the Mega Drive was the 32-bit Sega Saturn, a console that was crushed by the Playstation. There are not many Saturn games because this console has not had the success hoped for; however the quality of the video games is very high.
Yabause is the emulator of the Sega Saturn and the latest Sega console, the DreamCast .
Yabause also allows you to play with mastered or original game CDs (also from the PSP) and works on Windows, Mac OS X, Linux.
The last Sega console was the 128-bit Dreamcast from 1998. It was a failure but the Dreamcast remains a cult console because it had innovative and cutting-edge hardware features for those times. Some independent companies still develop Dreamcast video games today. Reicast or NullDC is the emulator for Windows. while on Mac and Linux another emulation program called lxdream works .
Both emulators are still in development, so not all games work and, since Dreamcast was powerful, you need a good computer.
2) Nintendo
Nintendo is also a historic home of video game consoles that has now risen to prominence with the DS and Wii.Starting with the first Nintendo, you can play the 1983 Nintendo Entertainment System today with the FCEUX emulator for Windows.
Another excellent emulator is Nestopia .
The 16-bit Super Nintendo with cartridges, you can play on the PC with the ZSNES emulator which should work well enough to replicate the downloadable videogames from ROM sites or even with SNES9X which is better and newer.
I had already written an article about the Nintendo DS emulators .
After the great success of Super Nintendo, the Japanese company came out with the Nintendo 64 which was a commercial flop due to the cost of the games (still with cartridges) and the competition from Playstation which instead used the CDs.
However, fantastic titles can be played on N64, including the first Mario Bros adventure in 3D.
The mupen64plus emulator works on Windows, Linux and Mac with decent compatibility for most ROMs.
Nintendo tried again a few years later with the GameCube which, finally, used disc media in the form of 1.5 GB mini DVDs. The GameCube sold very little and it really seemed the end for Nintendo which only stood on the Nintendo DS portable console, before the launch of the Wii which, as we know, made a bang. The fantastic Dolphin emulator is capable of running GameCube games and also those of the Wii on Windows, Linux or Mac (Intel OS X).
The most surprising thing is that this emulator makes Wii and GameCube videogames play in high definition, which is not possible on the original consoles.
Dolphin is really worth trying and Wikipedia also talks about it.
3) Playstation
In 1994 Sony conquered the world of video games with the PlayStation which killed the competition of Sega and Nintendo. The PlayStation 2 is the best-selling console of all time. The console was so successful that Sony still keeps it in production (the PS2 slim), and there are over 10, 000 video games available.As seen in another post, there are two Playstion and PS2 emulators for Windows to play old games .
Playstation Portable or PSP can be emulated on PC with the PPSSPP program
4) XBox
In 2001 Microsoft jumped into the world of video game consoles with the XBox . The first Xbox sold slightly more than the GameCube and was not exactly a hit despite games like Halo. DxBx is the emulator available but it doesn't work well and there are few playable games.5) NeoGeo
One console that deserves a mention is SNK's NeoGeo which brought games like Fatal Fury, King of Fighters and Puzzle Bobble. This console was very expensive and the games could be found in the arcades of the past. The emulator is Neoragex.NeoGeo games and many other arcade arcade titles are also played on the excellent MAME emulator, which I mentioned some time ago.
OpenEmu is perhaps the best Mac console emulator to date, which focuses on usability, with an easy-to-use interface.
Certainly something is missing therefore, if you have experience of other emulators loaded on the computer successfully, let people know.
Finally, I remember that some old 80's and 90's games can be downloaded for free on pc.
