EMULATION LINKS

Emulators | ROMs

For those who are new to Emulation :

Emulation is a type of programming that allows the PC to run console games, such as those from NES, Sega Genesis, SNES and PC Engine (to name a few). For your PC to emulate consoles, you need an Emulator (one of the many programs that allows emulation of a specific console, coded by some truly talented people) and the ROM of the game you want to play.

As a general rule, Emulation is not as good as the real thing - playing the game console itself. Usually, the frame rate is lower, resolution suffers and the music comes out weird in some cases. Also, you are playing on the keyboard, which makes the precise controlling needed in shooting and versus games a tricky business. However, a good Emulator, such as the Genecyst for Genesis and SNES9x for SNES would significantly reduce such problems, allowing for emulation close to 100% of the real thing.

Emulation has its advantages over consoles. You get to save game anywhere you please, and the save slots are limited only by your hard disk space. (This, in additional to the poor control you get for playing on the keyboard makes emulators eminently suitably for RPGs and Strategies) You also get to take screenshots and can make full use of game genie codes (depending on which emulator you are using).

I discovered Emulation about a couple of weeks ago and since then, most of my time on the PC have been spent retro-gaming (Playing ancient but outstanding classic games, inaccessible to me since my Sega and SNES consoles died on me years ago - until now) So far, I've download both emulators for Sega and SNES as well as a host of games but I am concentration on Sega for the time being. Hence, the links on this entire page is on Sega Emulation. I might start a section on the SNES but not for the moment. I am currently playing Phantasy Star 2 and 4, Master of Monsters and Sonic 2.

Before you take advantage of all the links below, please take note of this little Legal technicality : You may not keep any game ROMs you have downloaded for more then 24 hrs if you do not own the game on console. After 24 hrs, you are Legally Obliged to remove the ROMs from storage.

Emulators

These two are not all the Emulators there is for Sega Genesis, but they are the best. Genecyst, IMHO, is the better of the two (I'm using it) but KGen comes a close second. Genecyst, however, is at its final version. Future development of KGen might produce a superior emulator.

* Homesite for Genecyst is currently down.
All information correct as at 16/11/97.

ROMs

After some extensive surfing, I have identified some of the webpages which has relatively large selection of genesis ROMs. These are by no means all there is it. Sega emulation is a big thing, with its own webrings and newsgroups. This is but the tip of the iceberg. All information are correct as at 16/11/97.

Underground City - (121 genesis roms) Has sections for NES and SNES but not as large. A nice selection of roms.

The Emulation Embassy - (76 genesis roms) Has a nice selection of roms. Aggressive advertising.

Eidolon's Inn - (29 genesis roms) All roms rated and described. Helpful and has a nice layout.

The Dump - (7 genesis roms) Supposedly one of the best sites for genesis roms. Just reopened. Understand that it used to contain a huge archive of roms but due to lack of server space, it is new putting up only 7 at a time. One new rom every day. I have difficulty connecting to it from where I am but you might have better luck.

ROMulus - (25 genesis roms) All roms rated. Quality games but don't work on genecyst.

NU.EMU - (36 genesis roms) All roms rated. Nice, personal description for each rom. Maintainer obviously plays plenty.

Planet ROM - (20 genesis roms) Maintainer of this site has a large database of roms. Only puts up 20 at a time, cycled every month. Gene and size of each rom helpfully included. Includes rom sections for a host of other consoles.

PlanetRave - (more genesis roms than I can conveniently count) Great number of roms, arranged alphabetically. Under heavy constructions and looks funky at the moment. Only site I found so far which has the Master of Monsters rom!

Piccolo Emulation - (more genesis roms than I can conveniently count) Great number of roms. Funky layout with lots of Dragon Ball pics.

The Rom Database - (genesis roms database) Here is a very useful site. It contains an alphabetical listing of all roms archived in each member site. As good as searching through several sites' worth of roms for anything you need.

Updated 16/11/97

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