Project 64, an N64 emulator,
playing Super Smash Brothers.

  Emulation began on the PC, where we first saw several emulators that ran in DOS that could play NES and SNES games. At first compatibility was low, and most of the graphics effects and special tricks that games used were not supported. Over time the emulators got better and more accurate to the console hardware, and as computers got faster, the speed of emulation got closer to the real thing. At about the 333MHz point, emulators of 16-bit and older consoles like SNES, Genesis, NES, and Game Boy had reached very good compatibility (about 90%) and very good speed (also about 90%).

PSP running a SNES emulator
and Mario Kart.

  Most emulators use low-level emulation, meaning they write code that simulates the behavior of the system's processor with the system's machine instructions. This is how the older emulators work, since the systems have very basic processors that are simple to replicate. However, many new systems, like the PlayStation, have a BIOS that acts as a middleman between instructions and hardware. This BIOS contains binary data that can be copyrighted, so emulators tend to require, but not include, the BIOS needed to run. Then the emulator just handles the machine end of the instructions after the BIOS has handled them. By contrast, some emulators work on a high-level emulation principle, which means they do not require any BIOS, and read instructions the way the BIOS does and interpret them for the machine code of the computer the emulator is running on. This approach can often lead to faster emulation, although its complexity can hurt compatibility.

  A great example of the above is the Bleem! emulator. Bleem was a PSX emulator that contained no copyrighted BIOS code and did not require any BIOS. Virtual Game Station did something similar, although their approach was to reverse-engineer a dump of the Sony BIOS and create their own version of it that was similar, but not identical. In a way, they wrote a low-level emulator that emulated the PSX processor but included the BIOS to relieve users of the need to provide their own dump. Both for-pay emulators ran out of money fighting court battles with Sony (Virtual Game Station, despite winning their appeals, ran low on money and was bought out by Sony).

  Today's free emulators work on the bring-your-own-BIOS principle, and you need your own dump. The free emulators are a tad slower, but their compatibility is very good. Bleem had several compatibility problems, one major one being that since it ran as a high-level emulator on a computer that might be much faster than a PSX, many games would get out of sync between sound and picture. Bleem briefly developed a one-game version of the emulator called Bleemcast for the Dreamcast before they went out of business.

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  The problem with this is that some people will download a ROM image for a game they do not own. For old systems, whether this is a problem or not is debateable. Nintendo does not sell NES cartridges anymore, so what option does one have to get an old Nintendo game, especially if you are just emulating it? However, Nintendo has taken the stance that they do not want people to have ROM images of games they do not own, even though Nintendo does not sell the games, making it impossible to play these classic games. Fortunately Nintendo cannot shut ROM sites as quickly as people can put up new ones.

  This site will take the "high road" and not link to any ROM sites. However, it is simple to find a ROM for a game you like. Search the internet using a search engine like Google or search your favorite P2P app or Bittorrent database for the ROM in a manner like this: SNES [game name] ROM. There will probably be several hundred results. The problem is that this is how Nintendo finds these sites, as well, so you will probably have to go through several sites before you find one with a working download. There is a tool called "Good" that verifies that a ROM dump is valid and working, since there are some bad dumps out there. You should be prepared to see pornographic pop-up ads, sites that try to force you to vote for them (don't do it, those sites never have the ROMs even after you vote), and sites that try to install spyware and malware ActiveX controls. I have found that the most reliable ROM sites are the ones that are hosted in countries that have no, or weak, copyright laws such as Russia and China. Nintendo has a hard time shutting them down. If all else fails, find someone else who is into emulators and ask them for the ROM, they probably have it or know where to get it. (But please, don't write me asking for a ROM. I won't reply.)

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  Nintendo has done similar emulation tricks. Their Pokémon Stadium game for N64 emulates the Game Boy to allow play of the Game Boy game on N64. Later, they released a GameCube version of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and Zelda Master Quest (an unreleased 64 Disk Drive remake of Ocarina of Time) as a bonus disc. That was emulation of the N64 on the GameCube, with higher resolution, and it too worked nicely.

  The Nintendo Revolution is scheduled to be able to play GameCube games, and also offer for-pay downloads of N64, SNES, and NES games for emulation. It is unknown whether the GameCube hardware will be contained in the Revolution or emulated, but the other systems will certainly be emulated. Nintendo is clearly recognizing the popularity of emulators and trying to capitalize on that market, however their emulator will need to offer significant features for them to be able to compete with the free emulators that currently exist. This is especially true given that the PSP and the Xbox do such a good job of emulating these classic games (although they are a tad more complicated to set up).

  Finally, Lik-Sang sells some neat devices that allow play of old games on new hardware. Two products focused on the NES, the Generation NEX and the Pocket Famicom, are new products designed to play NES cartridges (well, the latter, as its name suggests, is a Famicom and requires an adapter for NES cartridges). There is also the Time Machine, a device that emulates Famicom/NES games on the Game Boy Advance. The first two probably aren't technically emulators, because the hardware is actually a NES-on-a-chip device that was reverse engineered from the real thing. They do let you relive old classics, though, and using real cartridges instead of roms. One device, which I won't link to for lack of a convincingly reputable place to buy them, called the Power Player Super Joy III, is basically a N64 controller containing a chip with the NES and nearly 100 unauthorized roms with title screens removed. However, nothing compares with the "cool factor" of playing NES games on an emulator for the PSP.

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