It's honestly good advice, but I much prefer original hardware when possible.

I tell you something that will make a big difference for titles pre-2005 or so: playing on a CRT television.

Especially on SNES titles which I played a lot as a kid, the extremely sharp look you get from emulators on flat panel displays just looks wrong.

There's nothing wrong with wanting to stick to original hardware, if you already have it or can afford to buy it.

Setting up a Pi or other single-board system as a dedicated retro game emulator is also an absolutely valid choice IMO. It's a fun, generally affordable little project that you can tinker with forever, e.g. changing cases and controllers, UI tweaks, ROM file organization, per-game settings optimization. But I don't think that it's ever been the "best" emulation option for anyone who didn't already have their heart set on "doing something fun and interesting with a Pi".

The smartphone you already have, dedicated retro gaming handhelds, Android TV boxes or sticks, and cheap/secondhand/already-owned PCs (desktop, notebook, or kiosk) all arguably match or exceed the performance and value-for-money of any Pi-based system.

Yet in any thread where someone new to emulation is asking for advice, there's always a flock of folks who suggest getting a Pi like it's the only game in town. It honestly baffles me a little. Especially because almost all of them are just running a pretty frontend over Retroarch, and Retroarch is available for virtually every modern consumer computing platform (and so are a lot of pretty frontends, if that's a selling point).

For context, I've got a dozen or so retro systems, but I prefer to emulate as much as possible.

Steam Deck is the best emulation machine out there right now for me.

Where is the raspberry pi at 30$??? it is more than that nowadays

30 bucks?! Where?!

I have a friend like this, I'm a Nintendo collector and enjoying the hardware is my hobby. I know it's an expensive endeavor, and I don't expect anyone else to do it. I genuinely think any game should be up for piracy and emulation support, and it's incredible what can be done to make games look, sound, and play better than the original. But when I'm sitting there having fun with Metroid Fusion on my GBA SP and you sit there going "why would you ever do that when emulating is cheaper and better" I don't think you're conversing in good faith.

That's really cool and I'm glad people want to maintain the heritage of gaming, but I'm the exact opposite. I never want to play on old hardware or even use old style controllers again if I don't have to.

As someone who owns most of the consoles, has Pvm etc don't play the scalpers game just emulate. Thankfully the bubble has burst on a lot of markets, and we're seeing more reasonable prices, but the OG hardware can only last so long. If anything grab a controller for each system you love, even saying that, 8bitdo have really stepped up, and I would say surpassed a lot of the old first party ones.

I can see the appeal for that... Except for the NES.

I gave my last cartridge blowie a long time ago.

Get a mister.

It IS the original hardware; its an FPGA

A dream project for me, when I have the space for it, is to have a set of Ikea kallax shelves with a cubby for each retro console with some LEDs inside hooked up to a retropie emulating those consoles so those cubbies light up when that console is being emulated.

I have a lot of the actual consoles and they're in working order, but it's a bit of a pain in the ass to get them hooked up, swap cartridges, etc. sometimes. And I have just enough programming and electronics background that I feel up to the task of trying to make it work, just don't have the space for a big display shelf at the moment.

I can appreciate the experience of playing on the actual hardware and the cases where it's superior, but for me the experience emulating them is 99% as good with significantly less effort. Totally cool if others prioritize things differently though.

Honestly, I will emulate almost all consoles EXCEPT N64…. This little weird Frankenstein console barely holds by a thread so most emulators can’t recreate its flaws and quirks correctly (which, funnily enough, are needed to run games smoothly)

PS2 emulators on the other hand, are FREAKING awesome!!! :D Live upscaled Battlefront 2 is GREAT!!

I feel like its the opposite, people keep talking about how original hardware is "better" despite old consoles and games being so expensive a proper collection is basically a luxury.

It's usually the reverse in my experience. I love playing on original hardware when I have access, but some people get really anal when you emulate.

This is a CD vs FLAC discussion.

I never really cared until I emulated Super Mario RPG and literally could not make a specific jump in Booster's Castle because of the frame skipping. I never have any trouble on an actual SNES there. Can't ever make it emulated. :/

How well does it emulate Metal Gear Solid 4?

FPGA master race!

The best of both worlds, I've got Flash Carts for all my retro consoles and I'm (slowly) working on ODEs for the others! In the cases where an ODE removes the disc drive, I have secondary consoles! My partner hates that the entertainment stand is covered in video games but loves that most of the boxed games are in storage!

There’s something relaxing about swapping carts on a SNES.

Can it emulate Crysis?

I have a nice collection of old games but I also have a nice collection of emulators and devices to run them on lol

Does anyone "prefer" emulation?

edit: I should added the caveat "if it's feasible" because yeah it often isn't. We don't all have a lot of space, time, and money to deal with multiple old systems.

edit2: okokok there are plenty of reasons to prefer emulation. I was just thinking of controller/feel of the games almost always was best on the original.

Something about the wire on a NES controller that makes it feel right.

It's why I've used a GameCube controller on the Wii, WiiU, and Switch—coincidentally I adore the Switch Pro controller on PC. And yet, a friend of mine thinks I'm crazy and still rocks the N64 controller.

Some things just fuse into you and you get more dopamine from the "thing" than the thing playing on it.

Aren't they kinda of hard to get a hold of still? During the pandemic they were going for 100$ and up

My only real problem with emulation is that I haven't found a good way to connect my pc to a crt. I've been wanting to play oot randomizers on a proper display but I'm not willing to buy an everdrive at the moment.

I setup and love retropie, but I will say that I was surprised at how many emulation issues I had even on some PS1 games. mostly it was framerate or processing issues, tried same emulator on my laptop with no problem.

raspberry pi is very affordable but it was surprising to me that the hardware specs were a limiter given how much of an increase they were over the ps1

I never liked ROMs on my computer, but I have a modded SNES Mini that feels legit enough for me.

I love old consoles... but old media (carts, cds/dvds) not so much. Flashcarts have been a revelation for me. I'm happy to help out the collectors out there by lowering the demand for original cartridges for my NES or gameboys.

And honestly its a much purer and more fun experience than an everything emulator where you spend most of your time setting it up and then deciding which game of all the games ever created you feel like playing right now. But I do also enjoy setting up emulator devices be they handheld or set top, and playing on them. I'm not a snob, it's all good stuff and its a great time no matter what your choice, tbh.

I've got an Anbernic 353p and I LOVE it for handheld, but trying to use it as a console has proven tricky. I just want a device that I can plug into my TV and play games on with a minimum of tinkering. I shouldn't need to remap controllers every time I turn the thing on. I don't care to follow along with a three+ hour long tutorial to get all the settingsjust right. Plug into TV. Turn on. Play game.

This is where original hardware, or even those SNES Mini or Playstation Classic devices have appeal, because they aren't tinkering hobby devices, they're game systems first, last, and only. Everything above and beyond that should be very optional.

It is not, nor can it

A controller that looks like an old SNES with a PS2 form factor is all the retro authenticity I need

Both are awesome.

One for general use, not scuffing up my gear or games, travel, etc.

The other when I want to really have a beer and just retro out for an afternoon.

I'd understand if it was about the controllers since the games were made to work specifically with them, but choosing to pay several hundred dollars instead of juste using something that cost less than a 100 and got far better UI and features is something i'll Never understand. Tho, It would make sense if you had that console as a child and getting the real one make you feel nostalgic.