Video game console emulator
Encyclopedia
A video game console emulator is a program that allows a computer or modern console (cross-console emulation) to emulate
a different video game console
's behavior. Emulators are most often used to play older video games on personal computers and modern video game consoles, but they are also used to play games translated
into other languages or to modify (or hack
) existing games. Emulators are also a useful tool in the development process of homebrewed demos
and new games for older systems.
s. Few manufacturers published technical specifications for their hardware, leaving it 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, for example the most advanced early emulators reproduced 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), VirtualGameBoy (GB), Pasofami (NES), Super Pasofami (SNES), and VSMC (SNES) were the most popular console emulators of this era. A curiosity was also Yuji Naka
's unreleased NES emulator for the Mega Drive
, possible marking the first instance of a software emulator running on a console.
The rise in popularity of console emulation opened the door to foreign video games and exposed North American gamers to Nintendo's censorship policies
. 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 RPG
e's English language
translation of Final Fantasy V
drew even more users into the emulation scene.
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. Fifth generation
consoles such as the Nintendo 64
, the Sony
PlayStation
and sixth generation
handhelds, such as the Game Boy Advance
, saw significant progress toward emulation during their production. This has led to a more concerted effort by console manufacturers to crack down on unofficial emulation. Both country specific copyright
and patent law and international copyright law under the Berne Convention
protect copying and reproducing of subject matter with copyright protection.
Under United States law, obtaining a dumped
copy of the original machine's BIOS
is legal under the ruling Lewis Galoob Toys, Inc. v. Nintendo of America, Inc.
, 964 F.2d 965 (9th Cir. 1992) as fair use
as long as the user obtained a legally purchased copy of the machine. However, several emulators for platforms such as Game Boy Advance are capable of running without a BIOS file, using high-level emulation
to simulate BIOS subroutines at a slight cost in emulation accuracy.
Due to differences in hardware, the Xbox 360
is not natively backwards compatible with original Xbox games. However, Microsoft achieved backwards compatibility with popular titles through an emulator. The PlayStation 3
uses physical PlayStation hardware to play original PlayStation titles. In US 60GB models original PS2 graphics and CPU hardware are present to run PS2 titles, however the PAL and later US models removed the PS2 CPU, replacing it with software emulation working alongside the video hardware to achieve partial hardware/software emulation. In later releases backwards compatibility with PS2 titles was completely removed along with the PS2 graphics chip, which could not be emulated through software alone.
Commercial developers have used emulation as a means to repackage and reissue older games on newer consoles. Square Enix
has re-released several Final Fantasy
titles on the PlayStation, Game Boy Advance, and Nintendo DS while Sega has created collections of Sonic the Hedgehog
games. Likely the most notable example of commercial emulation is Nintendo's Virtual Console
, which comes packaged with their seventh-generation system, the Wii
. Virtual Console emulates various titles for the NES, SNES, Nintendo 64, Sega Master System, Sega Mega Drive (Genesis in the US), NEC's TurboGrafx-16 (PC Engine in Japan) and Turbo CD, SNK's Neo Geo, the Commodore 64 (In Europe and America), the MSX (In Japan), and select arcade games.
The Game Boy Advance
re-releases of NES
titles in the Classic NES Series
line were emulated.
. Amateur programmer
s and gaming enthusiasts have produced translations of foreign games, rewritten dialogue within a game, applied fixes to bugs that were present in the original game, as well as updating old sports games with modern rosters. Software that emulates a console can be improved with additional capabilities that the original system did not have, such as Spatial anti-aliasing, running in High Definition video resolutions, anisotropic filtering
(texture sharpening), audio interpolation, save states, online multiplayer options or the incorporation of cheat cartridge
functionality.
Emulator
In computing, an emulator is hardware or software or both that duplicates the functions of a first computer system in a different second computer system, so that the behavior of the second system closely resembles the behavior of the first system...
a different video game console
Video game console
A video game console is an interactive entertainment computer or customized computer system that produces a video display signal which can be used with a display device to display a video game...
's behavior. Emulators are most often used to play older video games on personal computers and modern video game consoles, but they are also used to play games translated
Fan translation
A fan translation, in video gaming, refers to an unofficial translation of a computer game or video game.The fan translation practice grew with the rise of video game console emulation in the late 1990s. A community of people developed that were interested in replaying and modifying the games they...
into other languages or to modify (or hack
ROM hacking
ROM hacking is the process of modifying a video game ROM image to alter the game's graphics, dialogue, levels, gameplay, or other elements. This is usually done by technically inclined video game fans to breathe new life into a cherished old game, as a creative outlet, or to make essentially new...
) existing games. Emulators are also a useful tool in the development process of homebrewed demos
Demo (computer programming)
A demo is a non-interactive multimedia presentation made within the computer subculture known as the demoscene. Demogroups create demos to demonstrate their abilities in programming, music, drawing, and 3D modeling...
and new games for older systems.
History
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 defectSoftware bug
A software bug is the common term used to describe an error, flaw, mistake, failure, or fault in a computer program or system that produces an incorrect or unexpected result, or causes it to behave in unintended ways. Most bugs arise from mistakes and errors made by people in either a program's...
s. Few manufacturers published technical specifications for their hardware, leaving it to amateur programmers and developers to deduce the exact workings of a console through reverse engineering
Reverse engineering
Reverse engineering is the process of discovering the technological principles of a device, object, or system through analysis of its structure, function, and operation...
. Nintendo
Nintendo
is a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....
's consoles tended to be the most commonly studied, for example the most advanced early emulators reproduced the workings of the Nintendo Entertainment System
Nintendo Entertainment System
The Nintendo Entertainment System is an 8-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America during 1985, in Europe during 1986 and Australia in 1987...
(NES), the Super Nintendo Entertainment System
Super Nintendo Entertainment System
The Super Nintendo Entertainment System is a 16-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America, Europe, Australasia , and South America between 1990 and 1993. In Japan and Southeast Asia, the system is called the , or SFC for short...
(SNES), and the Game Boy
Game Boy
The , is an 8-bit handheld video game device developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on , in North America in , and in Europe on...
(GB). Programs like Marat Fayzullin's iNES (which emulated the NES), VirtualGameBoy (GB), Pasofami (NES), Super Pasofami (SNES), and VSMC (SNES) were the most popular console emulators of this era. A curiosity was also Yuji Naka
Yuji Naka
, is a video game designer and programmer, best known as the former head of Sonic Team, a group of Sega programmers/designers, where he was the lead programmer of the original Sonic the Hedgehog....
's unreleased NES emulator for the Mega Drive
Sega Mega Drive
The Sega Genesis is a fourth-generation video game console developed and produced by Sega. It was originally released in Japan in 1988 as , then in North America in 1989 as Sega Genesis, and in Europe, Australia and other PAL regions in 1990 as Mega Drive. The reason for the two names is that...
, possible marking the first instance of a software emulator running on a console.
The rise in popularity of console emulation opened the door to foreign video games and exposed North American gamers to Nintendo's censorship policies
Video games censored by Nintendo of America
Nintendo of America has gained notoriety for its formerly strict ban policy, particularly with regard to video games bearing religious symbols , references to widely practiced religions, violence, profanity, death references, political propaganda, copyright issues and so forth...
. This rapid growth in the development of emulators in turn fed the growth of the ROM hacking
ROM hacking
ROM hacking is the process of modifying a video game ROM image to alter the game's graphics, dialogue, levels, gameplay, or other elements. This is usually done by technically inclined video game fans to breathe new life into a cherished old game, as a creative outlet, or to make essentially new...
and fan-translation community. The release of projects such as RPG
Role-playing video game
Role-playing video games are a video game genre with origins in pen-and-paper role-playing games such as Dungeons & Dragons, using much of the same terminology, settings and game mechanics. The player in RPGs controls one character, or several adventuring party members, fulfilling one or many quests...
e's English language
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
translation of Final Fantasy V
Final Fantasy V
is a medieval-fantasy role-playing video game developed and published by Square in 1992 as a part of the Final Fantasy series. The game first appeared only in Japan on Nintendo's Super Famicom . It has been ported with minor differences to Sony's PlayStation and Nintendo's Game Boy Advance...
drew even more users into the emulation scene.
United States
As computers and global computer networksInternet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
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. Fifth generation
History of video game consoles (fifth generation)
The fifth-generation era refers to the computer and video games, video game consoles, and video game handhelds available at stores...
consoles such as the Nintendo 64
Nintendo 64
The , often referred to as N64, was Nintendo′s third home video game console for the international market. Named for its 64-bit CPU, it was released in June 1996 in Japan, September 1996 in North America, March 1997 in Europe and Australia, September 1997 in France and December 1997 in Brazil...
, the Sony
Sony
, commonly referred to as Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan and the world's fifth largest media conglomerate measured by revenues....
PlayStation
PlayStation
The is a 32-bit fifth-generation video game console first released by Sony Computer Entertainment in Japan on December 3, .The PlayStation was the first of the PlayStation series of consoles and handheld game devices. The PlayStation 2 was the console's successor in 2000...
and sixth generation
History of video game consoles (sixth generation)
The sixth-generation era refers to the computer and video games, video game consoles, and video game handhelds available at the turn of the 21st century. Platforms of the sixth generation include the Sega Dreamcast, Sony PlayStation 2, Nintendo GameCube, and Microsoft Xbox...
handhelds, such as the Game Boy Advance
Game Boy Advance
The is a 32-bit handheld video game console developed, manufactured, and marketed by Nintendo. It is the successor to the Game Boy Color. It was released in Japan on March 21, 2001; in North America on June 11, 2001; in Australia and Europe on June 22, 2001; and in the People's Republic of China...
, saw significant progress toward emulation during their production. This has led to a more concerted effort by console manufacturers to crack down on unofficial emulation. Both country specific copyright
Copyright
Copyright is a legal concept, enacted by most governments, giving the creator of an original work exclusive rights to it, usually for a limited time...
and patent law and international copyright law under the Berne Convention
Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works
The Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, usually known as the Berne Convention, is an international agreement governing copyright, which was first accepted in Berne, Switzerland in 1886.- Content :...
protect copying and reproducing of subject matter with copyright protection.
Under United States law, obtaining a dumped
Core dump
In computing, a core dump consists of the recorded state of the working memory of a computer program at a specific time, generally when the program has terminated abnormally...
copy of the original machine's BIOS
BIOS
In IBM PC compatible computers, the basic input/output system , also known as the System BIOS or ROM BIOS , is a de facto standard defining a firmware interface....
is legal under the ruling Lewis Galoob Toys, Inc. v. Nintendo of America, Inc.
Lewis Galoob Toys, Inc. v. Nintendo of America, Inc.
Lewis Galoob Toys, Inc. v. Nintendo of America, Inc. was a court case which established the rights of users to modify copyrighted works for their own use....
, 964 F.2d 965 (9th Cir. 1992) as fair use
Fair use
Fair use is a limitation and exception to the exclusive right granted by copyright law to the author of a creative work. In United States copyright law, fair use is a doctrine that permits limited use of copyrighted material without acquiring permission from the rights holders...
as long as the user obtained a legally purchased copy of the machine. However, several emulators for platforms such as Game Boy Advance are capable of running without a BIOS file, using high-level emulation
High-level emulation
High-level emulation is an approach for construction of emulators, especially for video game consoles, which attempts to simulate the response of the system rather than accurately recreating its internal design....
to simulate BIOS subroutines at a slight cost in emulation accuracy.
Legal Use of Emulation
Not all emulation is of a questionable nature – consoles have legally used the technology to allow the playing of previous generation games.Due to differences in hardware, the Xbox 360
Xbox 360
The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
is not natively backwards compatible with original Xbox games. However, Microsoft achieved backwards compatibility with popular titles through an emulator. The PlayStation 3
PlayStation 3
The is the third home video game console produced by Sony Computer Entertainment and the successor to the PlayStation 2 as part of the PlayStation series. The PlayStation 3 competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
uses physical PlayStation hardware to play original PlayStation titles. In US 60GB models original PS2 graphics and CPU hardware are present to run PS2 titles, however the PAL and later US models removed the PS2 CPU, replacing it with software emulation working alongside the video hardware to achieve partial hardware/software emulation. In later releases backwards compatibility with PS2 titles was completely removed along with the PS2 graphics chip, which could not be emulated through software alone.
Commercial developers have used emulation as a means to repackage and reissue older games on newer consoles. Square Enix
Square Enix
is a Japanese video game and publishing company best known for its console role-playing game franchises, which include the Final Fantasy series, the Dragon Quest series, and the action-RPG Kingdom Hearts series...
has re-released several Final Fantasy
Final Fantasy
is a media franchise created by Hironobu Sakaguchi, and is developed and owned by Square Enix . The franchise centers on a series of fantasy and science-fantasy role-playing video games , but includes motion pictures, anime, printed media, and other merchandise...
titles on the PlayStation, Game Boy Advance, and Nintendo DS while Sega has created collections of Sonic the Hedgehog
Sonic the Hedgehog series
Sonic the Hedgehog is the best selling video game series released by Sega starring and named after its mascot character, Sonic the Hedgehog...
games. Likely the most notable example of commercial emulation is Nintendo's Virtual Console
Virtual console
A virtual console – also known as a virtual terminal – is a conceptual combination of the keyboard and display for a computer user interface. It is a feature of some operating systems such as UnixWare, Linux, and BSD, in which the system console of the computer can be used to switch between...
, which comes packaged with their seventh-generation system, the Wii
Wii
The Wii is a home video game console released by Nintendo on November 19, 2006. As a seventh-generation console, the Wii primarily competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3. Nintendo states that its console targets a broader demographic than that of the two others...
. Virtual Console emulates various titles for the NES, SNES, Nintendo 64, Sega Master System, Sega Mega Drive (Genesis in the US), NEC's TurboGrafx-16 (PC Engine in Japan) and Turbo CD, SNK's Neo Geo, the Commodore 64 (In Europe and America), the MSX (In Japan), and select arcade games.
The Game Boy Advance
Game Boy Advance
The is a 32-bit handheld video game console developed, manufactured, and marketed by Nintendo. It is the successor to the Game Boy Color. It was released in Japan on March 21, 2001; in North America on June 11, 2001; in Australia and Europe on June 22, 2001; and in the People's Republic of China...
re-releases of NES
Nintendo Entertainment System
The Nintendo Entertainment System is an 8-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America during 1985, in Europe during 1986 and Australia in 1987...
titles in the Classic NES Series
Classic NES Series
The Classic NES Series in North America are a series of Game Boy Advance games that were originally released on the Nintendo Entertainment System emulated on the Game Boy Advance...
line were emulated.
Other uses
One advantage to ROM images is the potential for ROM hackingROM hacking
ROM hacking is the process of modifying a video game ROM image to alter the game's graphics, dialogue, levels, gameplay, or other elements. This is usually done by technically inclined video game fans to breathe new life into a cherished old game, as a creative outlet, or to make essentially new...
. Amateur programmer
Programmer
A programmer, computer programmer or coder is someone who writes computer software. The term computer programmer can refer to a specialist in one area of computer programming or to a generalist who writes code for many kinds of software. One who practices or professes a formal approach to...
s and gaming enthusiasts have produced translations of foreign games, rewritten dialogue within a game, applied fixes to bugs that were present in the original game, as well as updating old sports games with modern rosters. Software that emulates a console can be improved with additional capabilities that the original system did not have, such as Spatial anti-aliasing, running in High Definition video resolutions, anisotropic filtering
Anisotropic filtering
In 3D computer graphics, anisotropic filtering is a method of enhancing the image quality of textures on surfaces that are at oblique viewing angles with respect to the camera where the projection of the texture appears to be non-orthogonal In 3D computer graphics, anisotropic filtering...
(texture sharpening), audio interpolation, save states, online multiplayer options or the incorporation of cheat cartridge
Cheat cartridge
A cheat cartridge is a device that connects to any sort of cartridge-based video game system. It allows a user to input special cheat codes to manipulate a game in a way not permitted by its original programming. Usually the effect is to gain infinite lives, ammunition, unlock secrets, or do things...
functionality.
See also
- EmulatorEmulatorIn computing, an emulator is hardware or software or both that duplicates the functions of a first computer system in a different second computer system, so that the behavior of the second system closely resembles the behavior of the first system...
- List of video game console emulators