Emulation Lair

Congrats! You've discovered a secret page. Natural curiosity is a great skill that deserves to be rewarded. Allow me to share all of my emulation resources with you in the name of data preservation.

We are headed towards a world where physical media will no longer exist. All content will be digitally leased to you. The signs are there. Everything is turning into a subscription service. Best Buy will stop carrying physical media. And Sony is cutting blu-ray production, while the prevailing winds point towards their eventual ceasing of disc production all together. Buy yourself a big ol hard drive and start owning the things you like.

An adblocker is generally recommended as you delve into the world of emulation and roms.

Consider playing on original hardware plugged into a CRT TV for maximum nostalgia!

Legal disclaimer: Emulation is legal. Downloading roms of games you don't own could be considered illegal unless you own a physical copy of the game. In reality, no regular person has been sued for downloading roms. Now, if you distribute roms or emulators, and you get paid for it, you're treading a little closer to danger. The Nintendo switch emulator, Yuzu, was doing just fine until they started raking in cash and telling people how to pirate Switch games. Stick to the retro era of games and you'll be hunky dory. If there's no legal way to purchase new copies of a game, then there are no moral issues either.

Emulators
All in One

Retroarch is the gold standard. You can download different cores which is just a fancy word for different consoles that can be emulated within Retroarch. If you want to emulate a ton of different consoles, this is probably the right move. If you just want 1 or 2 consoles, then you're probably better off with the standalone emulators listed below. Retroarch does have a learning curve but it's very popular so there's plenty of resources out there.

You can check out the r/emulators megathread as well.

Sony

PS3

RPCS3 is the best one I think, though I recommend modding original hardware for PS3.

Soft-mod with CFW, or you can soft-mod with HEN. I haven't done this myself, but if you have the right PS3 it can also play PS2 and PS1 games. I think if you have a PS3 console and a modern TV, this is a great option. I specifically did not go this route for PS1 games because the PS3 doesn't output 240P.

PS2

If you're emulating PS2, you'll probably need some Bios files. I won't share those on the page, but with a little research you can find them. Or, contact me.

PS1

Duckstation is the best PS1 emulator I believe. Available on both PC and Android. You'll need Bios for this one as well.

Do the retro thing and soft-mod your PS1! You will also need a method to burn games to disc.

I've found that sometimes ImgBurn did not work, Alcohol 120% works better for me.

You also want to download CDMage if you have multiple track files. CDMage combines them into a single bin/cue which will let you burn it successfully.

PSP

PPSSPP

PS Vita

Vita3k is the new kid on the block. I don't think it's super stable or has a lot of compatible titles yet, but here it is.

Nintendo

Gamecube/Wii

  • Dolphin is the only emulator you need! There are various versions depending on whether you're on PC or Android. Just look around and you'll find them.
  • Wii Hacks Guide if you prefer to play on original hardware. Here's a video guide if words are hard. If you aren't aware, the Wii is an emulation BEAST. You can play Wii, Gamecube, SNES, NES, GBA, and more on a soft-modded Wii! It outputs native 240P, so a Wii is absolutely perfect if you're trying to play on a CRT TV.

    N64

    I haven't emulated N64 on PC in a looong time, but looking around people seem to be pretty happy with Ares.

    DS

    Desmume

    3DS

    Nintendo shut down Citra when they shut down Yuzu, but someone archived one of the last releases. Specifically you want to launch citra-qt.exe, which is the GUI.