Emulators and roms? Help guys!

[RockthePlank]

Alright, so Ive been doing some home renovations, completely redid my living, torn out the carpet, put down wood flooring, repainted everything, replaced the outlets, the whole nine yards. So I am now putting my surround sound system and big screen TV to the new living room, and setting all the equipment up (my favorite part! seriously I love doing that stuff) So Ive been wanting to have the ability to play N64 games, NES, SNES, Genesis, all those on my TV out there since I am leaving my wii in the guest room. Problem is I don't have any of those systems anymore! So instead of going that route, I thought it would be simpler to use an old junk PC, set it up in the living room with the tv as the monitor and go and download a ton of roms and an emulator.

 

Does anyone know of any good emulators? How about roms? I found www.virtualnes.com, and that is nice since its all java based, but I cant make it full screen, so that would kind of take away from what I am trying to do.

 

Does anyone have any suggestions? Maybe a different idea?

[hamsterboy]

Not an emulator but try this:

 

Retro game system

[Eric]

I use VirtuaNES, Snes9x, Project64, and Gens. They're all good emulators if you ask me. They do all that I want them to.

[Capt.S.G.Wiseman]

Alright, so Ive been doing some home renovations, completely redid my living, torn out the carpet, put down wood flooring, repainted everything, replaced the outlets, the whole nine yards. So I am now putting my surround sound system and big screen TV to the new living room, and setting all the equipment up (my favorite part! seriously I love doing that stuff) So Ive been wanting to have the ability to play N64 games, NES, SNES, Genesis, all those on my TV out there since I am leaving my wii in the guest room. Problem is I don't have any of those systems anymore! So instead of going that route, I thought it would be simpler to use an old junk PC, set it up in the living room with the tv as the monitor and go and download a ton of roms and an emulator.

 

Does anyone know of any good emulators? How about roms? I found www.virtualnes.com, and that is nice since its all java based, but I cant make it full screen, so that would kind of take away from what I am trying to do.

 

Does anyone have any suggestions? Maybe a different idea?

 

It really depends on what you are willing to settle for. Having refurbished originals makes for a truly awesome entertainment pad.

"Problem is I don't have any of those systems anymore! So instead of going that route, I thought it would be simpler to use an old junk PC,....ect.."

If the Emulators work out for you, then COOL. If not, try having just a few select classics on hand.

[RockthePlank]

Thanks for the input guys! I really do want to go the refurbished originals in the long run, but I think that will have to be a slow, and long going trail. I really want to originals for the whole throw back feel. I want to be able to just turn the Nintendo on and play it.

 

I will probably end up doing both. Short term plan with the CPU in the living room, and long term systems. Space will probably be an issue, but if I get that thing Hamsterboy posted, I would probably be ok without having the offical systems (well, I will get a regular NES at some point, I just have to)

 

Hamsterboy, that is pretty awesome! Ive never seen one that does Genesis games too, I think I will probably snag one to see how it works.

 

Eric thanks for letting me know about those emulators, as soon as I scrap back together my old PC I will have to download those.

 

BTW for the whole PC thing I will probably end up getting these

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002YVD3KM/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?ie=UTF8&smid=A2I76042RZDHYY

 

http://www.amazon.com/Classic-USB-Super-Nintendo-Controller-PC/dp/B002JAU20W/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1350785364&sr=8-1&keywords=usb+snes

[EvilHayato]

I use alot of emulators and roms for my set up. I have a homemade arcade cabinet that runs MAME but i d like to eventually upgrade my system and run more stuff like N64 and super nes stuff. I have all that stuff already on my comp ready to be loaded to it. I would recommend romnation.net for your roms. some nintendo roms are harder to find so i would recommend looking at torrents for those. As for emulators i use MAME, genecyst, nesticle, project64, satourne, snes9x, and visual boy advance for most of my emulated needs.

[SnTrooper]

I use Nestopia, ZSNES, Project64 and Gens.

[RockthePlank]

cool and thanks for all your input guys! I ended up downloading Project64 and a bunch of titles I used to own. Honestly I don't really have any desire to play anything I didn't already have and play. Like I dont wanna play a random title. Anyhow, I went ahead and bought a USB adapter for the 64, so should have that any day now. My work is throwing out a bunch of windows XP computers I am going to try and snag.

 

Evilhayato, lets see some pics of that arcade cabinet! I really want to build one myself, but I have other household projects I am already commited too already (I just finished the living room now I am redoing the bathrooms).

[EvilHayato]

Evilhayato, lets see some pics of that arcade cabinet! I really want to build one myself, but I have other household projects I am already commited too already (I just finished the living room now I am redoing the bathrooms).

 

These are older pics but i have still not added any art to it yet. Its been an ongoing project of mine for a while but havent liked the art ive created for it so far. Ive been on and off with it for years now and eventually will finish it. Ive been gathering resources up to update its internals to add 3d games and potential upgrades and such. At some point i may try to incorporate it playing all non emulated and non HD systems as well. Right now it only plays MAME.

 

[RockthePlank]

Very nice man! Did you make it all from scratch? Ive been watching a lot of youtube videos on it lately, its looks pretty much as easy as I thought. What MAME do you use?

[EvilHayato]

Very nice man! Did you make it all from scratch? Ive been watching a lot of youtube videos on it lately, its looks pretty much as easy as I thought. What MAME do you use?

 

Thank you good sir. Yeah mean and a budy of mine made it all from an idea. This was back '02. It wasnt as big a thing as it is now where all these sites are profiting off of making them for anyone. It was pretty time consuming not going to lie. My friend looked up common specs of the cabinet and we bought some wood and cut them all to spec, painted them and trimmed them and put it together. We originally took out the tube of an S Video tv and attached it to the inside but it was alittle unstable and a bit unorthodox. My friend found out about this arcade manufacturer where we bought a legit tube that was encased and had all the right specs to fit. It looks really awesome in it. The mame im running on it is fairly old but plays all my favorite 2d Fighters and fav arcade games. I think its .86 but i cant remember exactly.

[RockthePlank]

Thank you good sir. Yeah mean and a budy of mine made it all from an idea. This was back '02. It wasnt as big a thing as it is now where all these sites are profiting off of making them for anyone. It was pretty time consuming not going to lie. My friend looked up common specs of the cabinet and we bought some wood and cut them all to spec, painted them and trimmed them and put it together. We originally took out the tube of an S Video tv and attached it to the inside but it was alittle unstable and a bit unorthodox. My friend found out about this arcade manufacturer where we bought a legit tube that was encased and had all the right specs to fit. It looks really awesome in it. The mame im running on it is fairly old but plays all my favorite 2d Fighters and fav arcade games. I think its .86 but i cant remember exactly.

 

Well I tip my hat sir! Very nice, cool to hear you got an authentic screen. Ive seen some people use the fancy LCD's and such, but it just doesnt quite look right. I saw some pretty sweet setups, really makes me want to call my dad and ask him to help me since I know he'd have a lot of fun with it. My wife is all for it, but need to finish up some other stuff first. Does it just play mames or do you run other emulators with it too?

 

 

 

[EvilHayato]

Well I tip my hat sir! Very nice, cool to hear you got an authentic screen. Ive seen some people use the fancy LCD's and such, but it just doesnt quite look right. I saw some pretty sweet setups, really makes me want to call my dad and ask him to help me since I know he'd have a lot of fun with it. My wife is all for it, but need to finish up some other stuff first. Does it just play mames or do you run other emulators with it too?

 

Man you cant go HD with technology that is made for SD.. it doesnt look right. I have a friend who made an arcade "cabinet" and why i have it in quotes its his way of feeling adequate to what ive made. Its not a cabinet at all. Its a Flat screen hooked up to an old ass computer that that has a 4 player panel that he ordered from one of those online shops. That is the cheap way and the less authentic way to do it. The HD looks HORRIBLE and the color is way off (but that could be his color settings) either way it looks like #$## and ive told him to not use HD but whatever. Actually my friend that helped me put it together mostly did the internal parts and the actual construction I made with the help of my mother. It was a nice little project for us to do so if your dad is handy with tools, id recommend it, its a good fun project to do together. Currently my cabbie only plays mame, but its not entirely impossible to play other emulators. Im actually working on upgrading my mame and my cabbie to incorporate other emulators as well. The only thing that is rough is I only have joysticks built in. Its not impossibly hard to add other peripherals but its additional work. I do plan to add said emulators and update my mame to add more hardware intensive games especially the older 3d fighters. It just means i have to add a decent 3d card and new OS... currently its running WIN95!!! HAHAHA... but yeah once i add that stuff it will be extreme!

[RockthePlank]

Lol, win95? Wow! I thought I was reaching back with planning on using XP. Ive been thinking about it, and I know I would want to do the pinball buttons on the sides, and I've been thinking about how it would be possible to add so sort of light gun or something, like area 51 or something.

 

Listen to me, like I am anywhere near ready to do a project of this level. Ive never done anything as complicated as setting up the control panel, but there seems to be cheats and short cuts you can take with those. Im trying to work on a lean budget too, its the only way I can rationalize.

[EvilHayato]

Lol, win95? Wow! I thought I was reaching back with planning on using XP. Ive been thinking about it, and I know I would want to do the pinball buttons on the sides, and I've been thinking about how it would be possible to add so sort of light gun or something, like area 51 or something.

 

Listen to me, like I am anywhere near ready to do a project of this level. Ive never done anything as complicated as setting up the control panel, but there seems to be cheats and short cuts you can take with those. Im trying to work on a lean budget too, its the only way I can rationalize.

 

Hahah I forgot its actually Win98... but that still effing old. When I update I plan to use XP... last stable Windows besides Win7. Not really sure how the Light gun mechanics would work with MAME. I dont even know if thats been fully emulated yet or not. You probably should look into that if you havent already. Alot of those games ARE emulated so it makes me think that they would work but I have no idea.

 

Its good you are thinking about it tho and how to approach it. Its a hefty project to do so its good to have a good mindset and idea to get you pumped for it. There is alot of helpful things on the internet as to what to include, how to do it, and other interesting and informative things to help you figure out what to do. Budget is a big thing. I know i spent well over 500 bucks on mine in total. So keep that in mind. Your major areas that are costly are the screen and the wood.

[Rockzilla]

Bsnes is a highly accurate emulator for snes. I'm not sure if they updated for widescreen support yet. I may have to download it on my new pc. Old games look really good in HD on my new 42 inch plasma. Plasmas are better at displaying sd content though. I tried running old games on an lcd tv and the results were horrid.

[RockthePlank]

I had downloaded and was using SNEX, but I was having trouble with the widescreen, it just wasn't popping for me. I changed to ZSNES and I like it a lot more. I also had GENS but it wouldn't save my joystick setting correctly, so I changed over to Fusion and I like it a lot more. Fusion also has support for all the sega consoles up till Dreamcast. Pretty sweet bonus!

 

I do have one minor issue with Project64, it lags, just a tiny bit, about every 15 seconds. I don't think it is a video issue, because nothing happens to the character for the second or so lag, I am thinking the issue is somewhere in the program it self, maybe I'll try tweaking some of the settings to get it to stop. I was able to run

 

I bought this last week from ebay

 

 

Can't wait till it gets here and I can play n64 the correct way! I'll let yall know how it works out.