Original hardware vs emulation

[Calavera]

A 4TB SSD can be had for $150. On that tiny drive that is about the size and thickness of a stack of 3-5 credit cards you can have every game you'd ever want to play ready to be played with just a couple of clicks. NES,SNES,Genesis,Sega CD,32X,3DO,N64,Saturn,PS1,PS2,PS3,Dreamcast,Gamecube,Wii, Switch,Xbox 360 and more! Every game you could ever want to play for those systems plus the emulators to run them all on a drive that is smaller in size than a single Super Nintendo cartridge!

Why have an entire room filled with cartridges and CDs and tons of consoles that each need their own power supply and video cables when all of it can be run from a single device. And for the most part they will look much better than the original consoles ever could. No more Dreamcast,Gamecube,Wii,PS2 running in blurry 480i. Crank those babies up to 1080p or even 4K and be amazed at how crystal clear they now look!

[Hawq]

Best solution, collect the hardware & physical games if you want to, store them safely & emualte the stuff that can be. You dont need to dig out the system every time & since you do own it at most you're just shifting the format your playing it on (keeps an eye out for low ftying niontendo lawyers after saying that)

[ian]

You bring this up all the time, I refer you to this answer:

Here is at least 3 reasons:

1. Input lag. No emulator out there is immune from it, typical costing between 2-4 frames of lag. That’s perfectly acceptable for RPG’s and such, but speedrunners and fighting game experts are wrecked by it. Not to mention a digital signal (HDMI) can add 1-2 more frames of lag. It’s the sole reason I keep around a CRT TV. Don’t get me wrong, I like my RetroPie, but there are some games I just can’t play on it due to too much lag (Yoshi’s Island immediately springs to mind).

3. Inaccuracies. Emulators are great, but they are FAR from perfect. Mario RPG for years had sound effect glitches that were irritating. Quest 64 has near unreadable text on every emulator. Final Fantasy 8 has graphic glitches all over the place on every single plugin except software rendering. If you played a game a lot in the past, these errors will grate on you.

2. Nostalgia. People just love collecting retro things. Wether it’s for a desire to possess stuff from their childhood or just an affinity to tangible things. This is true for a lot of things that don’t make sense, like the fact that Best Buy will stop carrying CD’s in July but will continue to carry vinyl. It’s here where I should probably point out the obvious contradiction of the guy who collects 80’s technology saying he doesn’t understand why people would want old gaming hardware.

My personal rule of thumb for emulation is if it can upscale 3D without glitching, I’ll use the emulator. If it’s 2D or has noticeable emulating issues, I’ll go with the original.