A console emulator is a program that allows a computer to emulate a video game console. Emulators are most often used to play older video games on personal computers, but they are also used to translate games into other languages, to modify (or hack) existing games, and to produce homebrewed demos. Console emulation can also be achieved between consoles (hence cross-console emulation), allowing a video game console to emulate a less powerful one. An emulator reproducing a console games playable atmosphere on a Windows computer. ... A video game console is a dedicated electronic machine designed to play video games. ... A fan translation is an unofficial translation of a computer game or video game, sometimes into a language that it was never marketed in. ... Screenshot of Zelda Challenge: Outlands, a hack of The Legend of Zelda ROM hacking is the process of modifying a video game ROM image to alter the games graphics, dialogue, levels, gameplay, or other things. ... A frame part of an animation displayed in real time. ... Cross-console emulation involves using one video game console to emulate an older or less complicated console. ...

History

Emulation was occasionally employed by console manufacturers in the early 1980s to allow games from other (and sometimes competing) hardware to be run on the manufacturer's device. During this time, the Atari 2600 was by far the most emulated system. Atari's platform was the most popular early game console, and many developers touted compatibility with the system's vast library of games to attract customers. Coleco's Colecovision and Atari's own Atari 5200 provided peripherals that allowed 2600 cartridges to be played, and the Atari 7800 provided this functionality right out of the box. Generally, the emulation was accomplished through special hardware — unlike modern console emulation, which generally reproduces the functionality of a system entirely through software. The Atari 2600, released in 1977, is the first successful video game console to use plug-in cartridges instead of having one or more games built in. ... For the concept Atari (当たり) in the board game of Go, see Atari (go term). ... Coleco was a company founded in 1932 by Maurice Greenberg as Connecticut Leather Company to sell leather supplies to shoemakers. ... The ColecoVision The ColecoVision is Colecos second generation video game console, released in August 1982. ... The Atari 5200 is a video game console introduced in 1982 by Atari. ... A peripheral is a type of computer hardware that is added to a host computer in order to expand its abilities. ... In a variety of electronic equipments, a cartridge (in video game terms, cart, game pack, or Game Pak) can be one method of programming different functionality, providing variable content, or a method by which consumables may be replenished. ... The Atari 7800 is a video game console released by Atari in 1986 (a test market occurred in June 1984). ... Computer hardware is the physical part of a computer, including the digital circuitry, as distinguished from the computer software that executes within the hardware. ... A screenshot of computer software in action. ...

By the mid-1990s personal computers had progressed to the point where it was technically feasible to replicate the behavior of some of the earliest consoles entirely through software, and the first unauthorized, non-commercial console emulators began to appear. These early programs were often incomplete, only partially emulating a given system, and often riddled with computer bugs. Because few manufacturers had ever published technical specifications for their hardware, it was left to amateur programmers and developers to deduce the exact workings of a console through reverse engineering. Nintendo's consoles tended to be the most commonly studied, and the most advanced early emulators tended to reproduce the workings of the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), and the Game Boy (GB). Programs like Marat Fayzullin's iNES (which emulated the NES) and VirtualGameBoy (GB), the Pasofami (NES) and Super Pasofami (SNES), and VSMC (SNES) were the most popular console emulators of this era. A computer bug is an error, flaw, mistake, failure, or fault in a computer program that prevents it from working as intended, or produces an incorrect result. ... Reverse engineering (RE) is the process of taking something (a device, an electrical component, a software program, etc. ... Nintendo (Japanese: 任天堂, ニンテンドー Nintendō; NASDAQ: NTDOY, TYO: 7974 ) is a multinational corporation founded on November 6,[citation needed] 1889 in Kyoto, Japan by Fusajiro Yamauchi to produce handmade hanafuda cards, for use in a Japanese playing card game of the same name. ... NES redirects here. ... The Super Nintendo Entertainment System, also known as Super Nintendo, Super NES or SNES, is a 16-bit video game console released by Nintendo in North America, Brazil, Europe, and Australia. ... The original Game Boys design set the standard for handheld gaming consoles. ...

Bloodlust Software's NESticle, version x.xx

In April 1997, Bloodlust Software released version 0.2 of NESticle. An unannounced and unexpected release, NESticle shocked the nascent console emulation community with its ease of use and unrivaled compatibility with NES ROM images. NESticle arguably provided the catalyst with which console emulation took off: More and more users started experimenting with console emulation, and a new generation of emulators appeared following NESticle's lead. Bloodlust Software soon returned with Genecyst (emulating the Sega Genesis), and others released emulators like Snes9x and ZSNES (SNES). This rapid growth in the development of emulators in turn fed the growth of the ROM hacking and fan-translation community. The release of projects such as RPGe's English language translation of Final Fantasy V drew even more users into the emulation scene. This is a screenshot of a copyrighted website, video game graphic, computer program graphic, television broadcast, or film. ... This is a screenshot of a copyrighted website, video game graphic, computer program graphic, television broadcast, or film. ... NESticle was a popular NES emulator for DOS, created by Bloodlust Software (the team that also created Genecyst). ... 1997 (MCMXCVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Bloodlust Software is a developer of humorous PC computer games. ... NESticle was a popular NES emulator for DOS, created by Bloodlust Software (the team that also created Genecyst). ... A ROM image, or simply ROM, is a computer file which contains a copy of the data from a read-only memory chip, often from a video games cartridge or from an arcade machines main board. ... Genecyst was a popular Sega Genesis/Sega Megadrive emulator for DOS, by Bloodlust Software (the same team that made NESticle). ... Sega Corporation ) is an international video game software and hardware developing company, and a former home computer and console manufacturer. ... The Mega Drive/Genesis was a 16-bit video game console released by Sega in Japan (1988), Europe (1990) and most of the rest of the world as the Mega Drive. ... Snes9x is a popular cross-platform emulator for the SNES. Initially the collaborative effort of Gary Henderson of snes96 fame and Jerremy Koot of snes97 fame, Snes9x is now maintained by Matthew Kendora and Brad Jorsch. ... ZSNES is an acclaimed emulator for the Super Famicom and SNES video game systems. ... Screenshot of Zelda Challenge: Outlands, a hack of The Legend of Zelda ROM hacking is the process of modifying a video game ROM image to alter the games graphics, dialogue, levels, gameplay, or other things. ... This article is about emulation in computer science. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... Final Fantasy V (ファイナルファンタジーV Fainaru Fantajī V) is a computer role-playing game developed and published by Square Co. ...

As computers continued to advance and emulator developers grew more skilled in their work, the length of time between the commercial release of a console and its successful emulation began to shrink. Many fifth generation consoles such as the Nintendo 64, the Sony PlayStation, and the Game Boy Advance saw significant work done toward emulation while still very much in production. This has led to a more concerted effort by console manufacturers to crack down on unofficial emulation. Because the process of reverse engineering is protected in U.S. law, the brunt of this attack has been borne by websites that host ROMs and ISO images. Many such sites have been shut down under the threat of legal action. Alongside of the threat, link rot has occured at several links without update to the webpages. In the history of computer and video games, the 32-bit / 64-bit era was the fifth generation of video game consoles. ... The Nintendo 64, commonly called the N64, is Nintendos third home video game console for the international market. ... Sony Corporation ) is one of the worlds largest media conglomerates founded in Tokyo, Japan. ... For other versions of PlayStation, please see PlayStation (disambiguation) The PlayStation is a video game console of the 32/64-bit era, first produced by Sony Computer Entertainment in the mid-1990s. ... The Game Boy Advance (often shortened to GBA) is a handheld video game console developed, manufactured and marketed by Nintendo. ... Motto: (1789 to 1956) (Latin for Out of many, one) In God We Trust (1956 to present) Anthem: The Star-Spangled Banner Capital Washington, D.C. Largest city New York City Official language(s) None at federal level; English (de facto) Government Federal Republic  - President George W. Bush (R)  - Vice... This page as shown in the aol 9. ... An ISO image (.iso) is an informal term for a disk image of an ISO 9660 file system. ... Link rot is the process by which links on a website gradually become irrelevant or broken as time goes on, because websites that they link to disappear, change their content or redirect to new locations. ...

On the other hand, commercial developers have once again began to turn to emulation as a means to repackage and reissue their older games on new consoles. Notable examples of this behavior include Square Co., Ltd.'s rerelease of several older Final Fantasy titles on the PlayStation, Sega's collections of Sonic the Hedgehog games, and Capcom's collection of Mega Man games for the Nintendo GameCube, PlayStation 2 and Xbox. Square Co. ... Final Fantasy ) is a series of computer and console role-playing games produced by Square Enix (originally Square Co. ... Sonic the Hedgehog for Sega Genesis The Sonic the Hedgehog series is a franchise of video games released by Sega (usually developed by their Sonic Team division) and starring their mascot character Sonic the Hedgehog. ... Capcom (カプコン in Japanese) TYO: 9697 is a leading Japanese developer and publisher of computer and video games. ... An illustration featuring several Mega Man characters from the various incarnations of the series. ... The Nintendo GameCube (Japanese: ゲームキューブ; originally code-named Dolphin during development; officially abbreviated as GCN by Nintendo of America) is Nintendos fourth home video game console, belonging to the sixth generation era—the same generation as Segas Dreamcast, Sonys PlayStation 2, and Microsofts Xbox. ... The PlayStation 2 (PS2) (Japanese: プレイステーション2) is Sonys second video game console, the successor to the PlayStation and the predecessor to the PlayStation 3 (which is not to be released until November 2006). ... The Microsoft Xbox is a sixth generation era video game console first released on November 15, 2001 in North America, then released on February 22, 2002 in Japan, and on March 14, 2002 in Europe. ...

Other uses

One advantage to ROM images is the potential for ROM hacking: amateur programmers and gaming enthusiasts have produced translations of foreign games, rewritten dialogue within a game, and applied fixes to bugs that were present in the original game. Software that emulates a console may be improved with additional capabilities that the original system did not have, such as anti-aliasing, audio interpolation, save states, online multiplayer options, or the incorporation of cheat cartridge functionality. A programmer or software developer is someone who programs computers, i. ... A computer bug is an error, flaw, mistake, failure, or fault in a computer program that prevents it from working as intended, or produces an incorrect result. ... In digital signal processing, anti-aliasing is the technique of minimizing aliasing (jagged or blocky patterns) when representing a high-resolution signal at a lower resolution. ... A saved game is a piece of digitally stored information about the progress of a player in a computer or video game. ... Online gaming redirects here. ... The Game Genie was one of the most popular cheat cartridges during the 8-bit era and the 16-bit era of video gaming. ...

Some popular console emulators include gnuboy, VisualBoyAdvance, jNES, FCE Ultra, nester, Snes9x, ZSNES, Nessie, Project64, Stella (emulator), Power Player Super Joy III, and TuxNES. gnuboy (all lowercase, but sometimes unofficially spelled GNU Boy) is a Free Software emulator released under the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL). It is 99% execution-compatible with software targeted for the Game Boy (DMG) and Game Boy Color (CGB) handheld game consoles sold by Nintendo. ... VisualBoyAdvance (VBA) is a Free Software emulator distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License. ... FCE Ultra is an Open Source Nintendo Entertainment System emulator that also supports emulation of the Famicom Disk System and network play via TCP/IP. It is based on the FCE source code, but has become far more advanced than its predecessor. ... Snes9x is a popular cross-platform emulator for the SNES. Initially the collaborative effort of Gary Henderson of snes96 fame and Jerremy Koot of snes97 fame, Snes9x is now maintained by Matthew Kendora and Brad Jorsch. ... ZSNES is an acclaimed emulator for the Super Famicom and SNES video game systems. ... Project64, commonly referred to as PJ64, is a Nintendo64 emulator that was created in 2001. ... Stella is an emulator for the 1977 Atari 2600 game console. ... The Power Player Super Joy III consoles (now known as Power Games) are a line of unauthorized handheld Nintendo Entertainment System/Famicom clones manufactured by NRTRADE that are sold in North America, Brazil, Europe, Asia, and Australia. ...

Sega Smash Pack 1 and 2 for PC used a Windows port of the emulator KGen. Sega Smash Pack is a series of Sega Genesis compilations. ... ‹ The template below has been proposed for deletion. ... Kega Fusion (also known simply as Fusion) is an emulator for the Sega Genesis (also known as the Sega Megadrive). ...

See also

• List of emulators

This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ...

External links

Websites examining legal issues

• Nintendo's Intellectual Property FAQ
• Abandonwarez: the pros and the cons, Adventure Classic Gaming.
• Copyright FAQ: 25 Common Myths and Misconceptions, Kevin S. Brady, Esq.
• 10 Big Myths about copyright explained

Esquire (abbreviated Esq. ...

Emulation links

• Emu-Russia
• NESDev
• ROMhacking.net
• The EmuFAQ
• ConsoleClassix
• Edge Emulation
• EmuAsylum
• emulinks.de - Emulation web directory
• Field Programmable Gate Array Arcade - Emulation using Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA)
• NGEMU
• GBADev
• SMSPower.org
• VBALink GBA emu
• Zophar's Domain
• PCSX2
• RetroGames
• The Vintage Gaming Network