have your purchasing habits changed due to emulation / flash cards?

[ElSeven]

Turbo/PCE emulation has been around for years now, but over the past ten years the scene has evolved into its current state where you can not only play PCE on your home computer, but on other systems such as PSP, XBox and Wii.  Portable systems such as Caanoo, GP2X, Dingoo, etc are mainly used for emulating old consoles as well.

Flash cards are not new either, as even BITD there were Game Doctor devises to backup hucards onto floppy disks.  Currently we have more sophisticated devices such as the Turbo EverDrive, which loads up roms without much effort at all.

I'm curious to find out if these modern conveniences have changed how we collectively purchase/collect/play turbo.  Any thoughts?

[PukeSter]

Before I started collecting, I bought many Virtual Console ports.

Now that I collect the real thing, I kind of regret this.

[Tatsujin]

never pirate, always originate.

[VestCunt]

No. Years ago an ebay seller gave me a bunch of "back ups"... I played twenty minutes of Kaze Kiri and forgot about them. Two years ago I bought a SNES-to-USB converter thinking I might start using emulators... haven't touched it. A friend gave me his modded Xbox chock-full of hucards... I've played the emulators once (although I do use the Xbox for Meteor Blaster and my Ys IV patch to save my Duo from CD-R stress.) That's my experience with emulation.

There do seem to be a lot of gamers like Lukester who discovered the TG on the VC. I'm curious to hear from more members.

[sonikthehedgehog]

I have tons of roms on my 360, PSP, Wii but I never play them.. I always just go and play the originals. Something feels off about playing a rom on a newer console.

[nectarsis]

The ONLY time I use emulators is on my psp for portability (primarily trips, etc)....and a vast majority I already own the legit cart/cd.

[RoyVegas]

I prefer the real deal. So no change here.

[Bernie]

I admit I use my Wii for emulation for certain Gamez.  High dollar Pce ones and translations.  Maybe even for games like MM3 that use the entire file cabinet.  But there's nothing like the real thing.  Even though I have all my games backs up, I still like the original hardware.

[SignOfZeta]

Emulation has changed my buying habits in that now I flip through that huge folder on my computer and try out games I don't recognize and then if they are cool I buy them. Before emulation I would often be too chicken to just buy random games from eBay or whatever.

Other than that significant change though, things are pretty much the same. I don't really enjoy emulated stuff. Flash carts are cool, but only recently have we actually had good ones, and the good ones are kind of expensive. I'd rather just have something real.

I can't actually afford every game in existence, but I don't have time to play every game anyway. What good are 5000 ROMs on my computer?

I'd rather play the same Ms Pac Man machine exclusively for the rest of my life than play the first 3 minutes of every Genesis game in an emulator.

I do want to get a flash HuCard though, mainly for the homebrew and translations.

[ElSeven]

I have mixed feelings about the modern options.

I purchased a caanoo to emulate consoles while traveling, and for this reason I will prob never want/need to play a turbo express (or an LT for that matter).  The fact that the screen on the caanoo is worlds better, and that it does not need batteries really makes that decision pretty easy for me.  Save states are also nice    The authentic TurboExpress experience is cool, but IMO it's just too crippled by said factors, making the emulation option a natural evolution for my gaming enjoyment.

For console gaming though, I have no desire to play turbo on anything else but my original Duo or PCE-CD setup.  The enjoyment of using the real hardware with real software just can't be replaced.  The main difference between this and the caanoo/express replacement is that console gaming has no inconveniences in my eyes.

As far as buying games, at this point I won't buy a loose HuCard now that flash cards are so easy to use.  I still buy plenty of games, but if they are easy to emulate, I may as well spend a little extra to get the manual/case  if I am going for the real thing.

[chadti99]

I prefer playing a game on it's original system any day over an emulator.  I did pick up a Turbo EverDrive for the convenience, but I still enjoy collecting the originals.  I'll say that after checking out some games via the EverDrive I may not be so quick to pick up the physical counterpart, haha.

[Nando]

I'm curious to find out if these modern conveniences have changed how we collectively purchase/collect/play turbo.  Any thoughts?

Yes, I am aware of way more games and I also end up wanting/buying more games as a result

I use emu's to play test games before I buy. For me, there's no replacing playing the game on its original console.

[reno5]

I don't have any roms. I don't have enough time to play the games i purchase so i don't see the point in having even more games on emulators !

[RoyVegas]

I don't have enough time to play the games i purchase

[NecroPhile]

I play on an emulator only if I need good screenshots for something, and I mostly use the flashcart for translated roms or out of convenience (no fuckin' around with the region converter).  I still buy games, even the pricier ones.

[Obfuscate]

Never even tried an emulation or a flash card. Thought about buying the everdrive just to play US Magical Chase and try the few expensive Hueys I'd never actually buy but still unsure, might fork the cash to get JPN version someday.

[CrackTiger]

I play on an emulator only if I need good screenshots for something, and I mostly use the flashcart for translated roms or out of convenience (no fuckin' around with the region converter).  I still buy games, even the pricier ones.

This sums up most of it for me. I buy more now and favor CDs over HuCards all the more than before, because aside from the usual boost in game quality, cdrs don't play or sound exactly the same all the time, but HuCards roms off of a flash card do. I'll still buy everything until I run out of games worth purchasing, but I expect to run out of CDs to buy before HuCards.

[Gogan]

Re: my stance, see my sig ;)

[JoshTurboTrollX]

I emulate just about everything pre-N64 on various computers, Xbox, PSP, and cell phones and tablets. 

SkummVM is amazing on Tablets or Cell phones.  I had a few of my friends' jaws drop when I showed them Loom running on a smart phone.  Pretty great stuff.  For those older PC games I really enjoy the 'emulation' of them on various systems.   For on the road or right before bed, in bed, at night I like the PSP to play a few moments of Blazing Lazers or some other nonsense that is easy to just pick up and play.  The Xbox is in our main living room and does a pretty good job of displaying games (Turbo, Genesis, SNES, NES,) in 1080i on an LCD TV (with Options) without many of the issues I've ran into with my actual un-modded hardware.

But, like most others, I prefer to just play the originals.  I've got most consoles that I enjoy playing games on and LOVE the whole experience of having the case/instructions or cartridge/CD-ROM and putting the game into the console it was designed for while playing with the actual controller.  It's the best way to experience Retro gaming.  Some of it that I don't play as often as I'd like, I have packed up, and some I have on display for everyone to see and play.  I like to pull out a traditional CRT monitor to play games on as well.  I just need more space currently to have retro stuff available at all times. 

[pc_kwajalein]

MAME; yeah, I'll go that route for my arcade needs.

But for console titles, I'm strictly goin' for the real McCoys.

[ParanoiaDragon]

Roms, Iso's.....I still buy the real thing regardless if I emulate or not.

[BigusSchmuck]

If purchasing habits changed at all due to emulation I would say more people are buying the real thing vs running it on a emulator hence the price spike we have seen in recent years. I rarely play my emulators anymore, but in the days of old I used to run almost everything pre n64 on my dreamcast without many issues.

[Sparky]

I am open to either route but prefer the real thing, but for games like dynastic hero and super air Zonk which I am not going to pay the so called going rate, the rom is perfect and will be until I get it for a price I like

[rsa2000]

I have tried and tried to enjoy emulation but I just can't get into a game.  I don't know why I guess I am too much of a purist.  It is great for trying out games but that's as far as I even get with it.  On the flashcard debate I am afraid it would change my habits and won't buy one for now.  I really enjoy having physical copies of games.

[roflmao]

For Turbo/PC Engine, I try to stick with original carts.  I really prefer the artwork on the PCE versions over most US titles, and many of them are dirt cheap. It's worth owning for the artwork alone.  And if you get the case/manual, even better!  More awesome art!  I have one of the GOY Flash Carts which I picked up to support the community (I'll likely get an EverDrive one of these days for the same reason) and to play games I know I'll never want to purchase for what they're selling for and for homebrew/translations.  It doesn't get an awful lot of use, though I feel it was a worthy purchase.

I don't emulate any other consoles, though I used to play ISOs for Dreamcast and PS1 games.  A long time ago.  Now I rarely ever want to play either of those systems and when I do, it's a game I thought was worth purchasing.

Arcade emulation is a little different for me, though.  It takes a certain amount of time, knowledge, money and space to have an arcade collection.  Someday I hope to be able to maintain one, but in the meantime I've set up MAME on an old P4 3.4Ghz machine and picked up one of these: http://www.xgaming.com/store/arcade-joysticks-and-game-controllers/product/x-arcade-dual-joystick/

It's currently connected to my 47" living room TV and looks and plays pretty badass.

[Gentlegamer]

The neckbeards on ebay are about to drive me to give up collecting real games and go all emulation.

[TR0N]

Don't have a turbo everdrive still but if i did id still keep my TG16/PCE collection.Still i  like to buy one later on for convenience sake.Beside the other reason,any time i find a expensive title that i know will never be able to buy because of it's price.I also like the fact that flashcarts can play games that have a fan translation.Now i do have a everdrive flashcart for the genesis&snes but i still buy games for those.

[Keith Courage]

At one point I sold my entire US collection of games along with a boxed Turbo DUO. I then used my computer hooked up to my TV for years to play my TG16 games. Unfortunately it just wasn't as fun. Yes, the emulation was good but being able to just scroll to any game I wanted somehow took away the fun of it. Something about buying a game and actually placing that said game in your real console is part of the allure. So I had to start my collection all over again.

[ElSeven]

Also worth noting is the ease of burning ISOs for turbo.

With some systems (PS1, Saturn, etc) it can be a little more involved with mod chips & swap tricks, but with turbo it could not be any more convenient.  We never got the luxury of being able to rent turbo cds from Blockbuster, so I treat burning turbo games as a rental/"try before you buy".  No matter what game I burn a cd of, I usually only play them for a half hour to make a quick verdict on if it is worth purchasing.

I knew within 20 minutes of burning/playing dracula x, nexzr and rainbow islands that I needed them in my collection.  The opposite was true for Renny Blaster what a piece of shit that game is.

...inb4 cdr damage wank.

[chany60126]

All I play are original games. Nothing quite like playing a game with its original gamepad. Besides, most emulation is not 100% accurate. Lots of them are incompatible with certain games and many times the sound is off. I think roms are cool when people make fan translations of games and such. Other than that, owning the physical media is the way to go for me. I haven't touched roms or said devices since my days in high school when I couldn't afford to buy the games I wanted.

[JoshTurboTrollX]

At one point I sold my entire US collection of games along with a boxed Turbo DUO. I then used my computer hooked up to my TV for years to play my TG16 games. Unfortunately it just wasn't as fun. Yes, the emulation was good but being able to just scroll to any game I wanted somehow took away the fun of it. Something about buying a game and actually placing that said game in your real console is part of the allure. So I had to start my collection all over again.

^this.

I thought this same thing in 2008.  I sold off a Duo and a Duo R and roughly 125 games.  I went with JUST emulation for my OBEY cravings and it just wasn't the same.  I got a TG16 in mid 2009 and here we are again! 

[jeffhlewis]

When I was younger (HS/College) I did emulation more out of necessity and novelty than anything else. Now that I'm collecting again I don't even really touch emulation - no matter how "accurate" the emulation claims to be, it's never as good as the real thing and feels kind of sterile. A lot of emulation (especially Mega Drive/Genesis) really butchers the sound output.

The only thing I use emulation for these days is my MAME arcade cabinet, and that's only really because I had to sell off my arcade machines when I moved downtown. Once I have a house in the 'burbs I'll be firing up the arcade collecting again.

[majors]

At one point I sold my entire US collection of games along with a boxed Turbo DUO. I then used my computer hooked up to my TV for years to play my TG16 games. ...
... So I had to start my collection all over again.

I thought this same thing in 2008.  I sold off a Duo and a Duo R and roughly 125 games. ...
...  I got a TG16 in mid 2009 and here we are again! 

Truth from folks that have first hand experiance!

I never unloaded my TG collection, so I cannot say. Since I bought my games "back in the day", I never had to build a collection from scratch post emulation/virtual console. I just pick up random, cheap obey from time to time nowdays.

I will say that after playing Ninja Masters on NeoRageX, I did have to go out and hunt a MVS cart down.

Flash cards and PC emulation have not effected my buying habits, but PS and SS bootlegs prolly did lower my purchases of original games back in the 32-bit/5th gen. I was more selective of my games I bought since I had already played anything that was released, sort of like renting games. I could live with waiting for a used copy or clearance of games I wanted to pick up.

Once I have a house in the 'burbs I'll be firing up the arcade collecting again.

Yes! Majors fully supports this!

[CPTRAVE]

No Emulation for me just original Turbo Goodies ..

[tggodfrey]

I like Original equipment just as much as the next guy.  I use a Rom via Flash cart for USA MC.

Terry

[fraggore]

over that last 20 odd years i collected consoles when they were new, played them sold them on when newer consoles came out as cash being the main issue but i regret it now, hindsight is a fabulous thing think how much it would all be worth now. then i got into to emulating everything for years having full collections of games for all consoles at you finger tips all ready to go after a few clicks of a mouse is a amazing thing and i still love emulation to this day mame being my fav.

but i have to say having roms and chipped consoles and copy's have ruined games for me, you just have a little go get a bit stuck or a new game comes around and move on to something else never really playing games fully and appreciating them.

but there is a light at the end of the tunnel for the last few years i've been buying and collecting all my old consoles and games again, playing them properly, as i am paying for them i am enjoying games a lot more now, have to be honest i have had more fun playing retro games than games on my ps3 and 360 dont get me wrong i love cod and street fighter 4 and all the other modern games out there but there is some thing about retro games played on the original consoles on a old crt tv that just does it for me, it could be reminiscing of old times or just old 2d games are still class.

so i would say still play your new games buy some old consoles and try and stick to originals i am putting off getting a everdrive for my pc engine and megadrive as i might start browsing through games again and not playing them having fun finding and buying them.

but its well handy to have a emulator to see what games to get. and when it comes to arcade unless you have a silly amount of money and some serious space use mame even tho i would love to have candy cab.

P.S i still need to consolize myself a neogeo man i a neo geo back again.

[seieienbu]

When I was in high school and didn't have as much expendable income I recall playing a bunch of SNES games that I hadn't been able to afford.  I would start a game, play it, win, and then go on to another.  Today I have tons of roms that I've never touched that have been sitting on my hard drive for years.  I just don't get the same enjoyment out of playing an old game on an emulator as I do from playing a physical copy of the game.

[esteban]

In 1999/2000, I was in grad school, across the country, and I was grateful for emulation: magicengine, MAME, NES, etc.

I had only purchased a handful of imports (that is, PCE CD games) in the 90's. I couldn't believe all the JP HuCARDS I had missing out on. I spent at least 2-3 years exporing MAME, PCE, NES titles. Emulation prompted me to purchase more hardware (in California) even though I owned US DUO and TG-CD back in NJ. I even bought a second SMS because I was lusting for Shinobi and Wonderboy and Golvelius and 3DO! My wife thought I was crazy (she still does).

STATUS: I am grateful that emulation got me back into games. I had stopped playing for many, many years (I would play a little during my hiatus, but it wasn't part of my daily/weekly routine).

BOTTOM LINE: If I have the option, I opt for real hardware and CRT. NO SAVE STATES. No mods. There is a bit of a "purist" in me that embraces all the flaws and hardships of aging electronics. I'm not an idealogue (at least I don't think so), but I have argued for an appreciation of imperfection when it comes to sound signals/video output/etc. Again, I'm not completely barmy (I had composite in 1987 for NES, ran the mono audio to a nice receiver). RF sucked in 1987. BUT, I'm OK with composite in 2013 (I know, I'm insane).

FLASH CARTS: I have two but haven't tried them yet (my windows desktop died). I think they will make me very happy because I simply don't have $$$ for Terra Cresta II and kin (I only tried it on emulation; can't wait to play it on real hardware).

[jeffhlewis]

I do use flash carts for fan translations on original hardware - playing through the Phantasy Star1 re-translation WITH fm audio was awesome.

[Damon Plus]

I prefer to play games with the original system, and that's why I've been collecting games until now. I considered getting a flashcart sometimes (for the Snes, Genesis and Turbografx), but I don't know if it would lose its magic when I did.

What really worries me, and why I have slowed down almost to a halt collecting classic gaming, is that someday, my original systems will stop working (as it happened to my Dreamcast last Christmas

But now, just a little find, a game I didn't really expect sparks the flame again and I start searching Ebay, forums, looking at games I still need. I really can't decide if I want to keep collecting or not.

[-D-]

If anything, emulation(in particular: the Virtual Console) was a strong reminder that I needed to act on that 20+ year old desire to buy a TurboGrafx-16 and start getting into the platform.  I think the biggest reason I kept putting it off was the confusion over the various platform configurations, regional issues, and the cost of an all-in-one solution.  

So I probably spent at least $100 on TG-16 games on the Virtual Console starting from right after Wii launch, but after about 2 years realized I'd be better off saving up and spending my money on the real deal.  Finally jumped in just over a year ago now, still only own about 30 games, but I plan to eventually have well over 100.  Never looking back, I've always been a big fan of shmups, and even though SNES was the first console I ever personally owned and all I owned during that generation, I already know this platform is more up my alley in terms of genres.  

I've been playing Raiden lately and I put Raiden Trad into the SNES to compare, and holy hell, it amazes me how astronomically better the TG-16 version is!  Don't get me wrong, Super Aleste is amazing; but SNES is pretty piss poor overall for shmups.

In general, I thought downloads would completely devalue original retro stuff, but that hasn't happened at all; and I only spent a lot of money on download games for about 2 years then stopped, and mostly just buy retro games now.  Original games on original hardware is the way to go.

[GohanX]

I hate piracy in general, but I'm getting to the point where having dozens of game systems with dozens of games on each is just way too much clutter. I also prefer playing things on original hardware, so I have been kicking around the idea of getting rid of most of my collection and only keeping my most favorite games, then playing the rest on flash cart. For CD based systems that support CDrs, I would ditch the physical media and keep images on my hard drive, and just burn a disc when I wanted to play.

The thought makes me feel a little slimey though.

[td741]

I hate piracy in general, but I'm getting to the point where having dozens of game systems with dozens of games on each is just way too much clutter.

I've gotten to the point where I put all of the cases in storage and just leave the bare carts + instructions around.  I'm debating storing all of my CD and DVD games into cd/dvd travel pouches and just catalogue the games on the spines.  But I have been looking at flashcarts and disk images as a way to reduce clutter as well.

I've moved some of my smaller collection of CD games (i.e. 3D0, Sega CD and Saturn) into thin CD jewel cases (putting the original gargantuan cases in storage) and it saved lots of room.  I'm debating doing that for all of my disk media.

[shabba]

Emulation is like the blow up doll to a console's real vagina. They both get the job done, and the end result is more or less the same, but that part in the middle is sorely lacking with emulation. I can play MM3 all day long on my PC with Dosbox, but there is so much more to playing it on a Duo with the actual disc and controllers.

I'm not knocking emulation. I think it has its place and a lot of folks have touched in it as a way to see what you like before you shell out a buttload of money. In most cases, it looks as good as the original. However, I'm a purist in the sense that a game should be played as it was intended. ActRaiser is not the same on my computer as it is on my SNES.

[ElSeven]

Emulation is like the blow up doll to a console's real vagina.

[SamIAm]

Playing on a computer screen with a keyboard isn't anywhere near as much fun as using real hardware, but I think some of you would be surprised at just how much of the emulation experience can be changed for the better by running the video through a TV and sitting on a couch with a proper controller. If the controller is identical in shape and response to the original system's (and there do exist decent USB versions of certain controllers), it's quite uncanny. I believe that one day, when the original hardware has virtually all died out, people will play old games via emulation and reproduction controllers.

I owned an SNES copier in America (still want to get it shipped out to me someday), and the lines between real hardware and carts vs. real hardware and flashcarts/copiers/CD-Rs vs. emulation with a proper setup get very blurry for me. I've got an old laptop with S-video output that I've dedicated to emulation, and when I'm running one of the really accurate emulators with full speed and the best possible configuration, I tend to think "I have no problem with this."

So many of the problems that people have with emulation isn't really emulation's fault, per se. Don't get me wrong, I've abused savestates, quit games after losing one life, and felt overwhelmed looking at a massive list of roms just like everyone else, but it's possible to get beyond that. It's like alcohol; you just have to know how to moderate yourself.

Taking games out of cases and touching the real system to turn it on, and even hearing the disc drive access something is pleasurable, but the real issues to me are the controller, the accuracy of the game on a functional level, and the accuracy of the video and audio. If they perfect those things in emulation, I could see one day being convinced to stop fussing with my old original hardware that by then is freezing half the time and just emulate.

[Keith Courage]

Magic Engine truthfully seems flawless to me but I still prefer the real thing over it. I have a PC hooked up via the VGA port to the TV in my living room for magic engine and it works great. I only take out my real games in my work/game room.

[Bernie]

Lots of games play good in ME.  But there are some that have issues, Strider comes to mind, and sometimes Dragon Slayer will freeze during the intro.  Mostly is timing issues with ME.  You'll notice it in certain audio sequences.  For example, in Dracula X after the intro and the door closing sound is playing.  It drags somewhat.

[KnightWarrior]

Original hardware for me

I had plans selling of Bonk on the NES to buy the Famicom EverDrive N8, I'm not going to do it at all

Flash Carts is all nice and all, But it doesn't feel like just putting a game in play..Flash Carts are  nice when you make a game you could run it on the original hardware, 

I know people won't care anyways, these fash carts/card going to be sold out

[Carparama]

Emulation is great if you cannot get access to the real thing.  Which is better?  Let's just say I am thrilled to be getting my real TG16 back so I can start playing, and I really want to find a TurboDuo someday.