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Video game console emulator
A video game console emulator is a type of emulator that allows a computing device to emulate a video game console's hardware and play its games on the emulating platform. More often than not, emulators carry additional features that surpass limitations of the original hardware, such as broader controller compatibility, timescale control (such as fast-forwarding and rewinding), easier access to memory modifications (like GameShark), and unlocking of gameplay features.[citation needed] Emulators are also a useful tool in the development process of homebrew demos and the creation of new games for older, discontinued, or rare consoles.[citation needed]
The code and data of a game are typically supplied to the emulator by means of a ROM file (a copy of game cartridge data) or an ISO image (a copy of optical media).[citation needed] While emulation software itself is legal as long as it doesn't infringe copyright protections on the console, emulating games is only so when legitimately purchasing the game physically and ripping the contents. Freely downloading or uploading game ROMs across various internet sites is considered to be a form of piracy, and users may be sued for copyright infringement.
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, resulting in defects. Few manufacturers published technical specifications for their hardware, which left programmers 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, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, and the Game Boy. The first such recognized emulator was released around 1996, being one of the prototype projects that eventually merged into the SNES9X product. Programs like Marat Fayzullin's iNES, VirtualGameBoy, 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 Genesis, possibly marking the first instance of a software emulator running on a console. Additionally, as the Internet gained wider availability, distribution of both emulator software and ROM images became more common, helping to popularize emulators.
Legal attention was drawn to emulations with the release of UltraHLE, an emulator for the Nintendo 64 released in 1999 while the Nintendo 64 was still Nintendo's primary console – its next console, the GameCube, would not be released until 2001. UltraHLE was the first emulator to be released for a current console, and it was seen to have some effect on Nintendo 64 sales, though to what degree compared with diminishing sales on the aging consoles was not clear. Nintendo pursued legal action to stop the emulator project, and while the original authors ceased development, the project continued by others who had gotten the source code. Since then, Nintendo has generally taken the lead in actions against emulation projects or distributions of emulated games from their consoles compared to other console or arcade manufacturers.
This rise in popularity 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. The release of projects such as RPGe's English language translation of Final Fantasy V drew even more users into the emulation scene. Additionally, the development of some emulators has contributed to improved resources for homebrew software development for certain consoles, such as was the case with VisualBoyAdvance, a Game Boy Advance emulator that was noted by author Casey O'Donnell as having contributed to the development of tools for the console that were seen as superior to even those provided by Nintendo, so much so that even some licensed game developers used the tools to develop games for the console.
On April 17, 2024, Apple began allowing emulators on the App Store, lifting a ban that had lasted nearly 16 years. Following this decision, numerous emulators such as Delta, Sutāto, and RetroArch appeared on the store.
Emulators can be designed in three ways: purely operating in software which is the most common form such as MAME using ROM images; purely operating in hardware such as the ColecoVision's adapter to accept Atari VCS cartridges, and mixed.
An emulator is created typically through reverse engineering of the hardware information as to avoid any possible conflicts with non-public intellectual property. Some information may be made public for developers on the hardware's specifications which can be used to start efforts on emulation but there are often layers of information that remain as trade secrets such as encryption details. Operating code stored in the hardware's BIOS may be disassembled to be analyzed in a clean room design, with one person performing the disassembling and another person, separately, documenting the function of the code. Once enough information is obtained regarding how the hardware interprets the game software, an emulation on the target hardware can then be constructed. Emulation developers typically avoid any information that may come from untraceable sources to avoid contaminating the clean room nature of their project. For example, in 2020, a large trove of information related to Nintendo's consoles was leaked, and teams working on Nintendo console emulators such as the Dolphin emulator for GameCube and Wii stated they were staying far away from the leaked information to avoid tainting their project.
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Video game console emulator AI simulator
(@Video game console emulator_simulator)
Video game console emulator
A video game console emulator is a type of emulator that allows a computing device to emulate a video game console's hardware and play its games on the emulating platform. More often than not, emulators carry additional features that surpass limitations of the original hardware, such as broader controller compatibility, timescale control (such as fast-forwarding and rewinding), easier access to memory modifications (like GameShark), and unlocking of gameplay features.[citation needed] Emulators are also a useful tool in the development process of homebrew demos and the creation of new games for older, discontinued, or rare consoles.[citation needed]
The code and data of a game are typically supplied to the emulator by means of a ROM file (a copy of game cartridge data) or an ISO image (a copy of optical media).[citation needed] While emulation software itself is legal as long as it doesn't infringe copyright protections on the console, emulating games is only so when legitimately purchasing the game physically and ripping the contents. Freely downloading or uploading game ROMs across various internet sites is considered to be a form of piracy, and users may be sued for copyright infringement.
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, resulting in defects. Few manufacturers published technical specifications for their hardware, which left programmers 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, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, and the Game Boy. The first such recognized emulator was released around 1996, being one of the prototype projects that eventually merged into the SNES9X product. Programs like Marat Fayzullin's iNES, VirtualGameBoy, 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 Genesis, possibly marking the first instance of a software emulator running on a console. Additionally, as the Internet gained wider availability, distribution of both emulator software and ROM images became more common, helping to popularize emulators.
Legal attention was drawn to emulations with the release of UltraHLE, an emulator for the Nintendo 64 released in 1999 while the Nintendo 64 was still Nintendo's primary console – its next console, the GameCube, would not be released until 2001. UltraHLE was the first emulator to be released for a current console, and it was seen to have some effect on Nintendo 64 sales, though to what degree compared with diminishing sales on the aging consoles was not clear. Nintendo pursued legal action to stop the emulator project, and while the original authors ceased development, the project continued by others who had gotten the source code. Since then, Nintendo has generally taken the lead in actions against emulation projects or distributions of emulated games from their consoles compared to other console or arcade manufacturers.
This rise in popularity 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. The release of projects such as RPGe's English language translation of Final Fantasy V drew even more users into the emulation scene. Additionally, the development of some emulators has contributed to improved resources for homebrew software development for certain consoles, such as was the case with VisualBoyAdvance, a Game Boy Advance emulator that was noted by author Casey O'Donnell as having contributed to the development of tools for the console that were seen as superior to even those provided by Nintendo, so much so that even some licensed game developers used the tools to develop games for the console.
On April 17, 2024, Apple began allowing emulators on the App Store, lifting a ban that had lasted nearly 16 years. Following this decision, numerous emulators such as Delta, Sutāto, and RetroArch appeared on the store.
Emulators can be designed in three ways: purely operating in software which is the most common form such as MAME using ROM images; purely operating in hardware such as the ColecoVision's adapter to accept Atari VCS cartridges, and mixed.
An emulator is created typically through reverse engineering of the hardware information as to avoid any possible conflicts with non-public intellectual property. Some information may be made public for developers on the hardware's specifications which can be used to start efforts on emulation but there are often layers of information that remain as trade secrets such as encryption details. Operating code stored in the hardware's BIOS may be disassembled to be analyzed in a clean room design, with one person performing the disassembling and another person, separately, documenting the function of the code. Once enough information is obtained regarding how the hardware interprets the game software, an emulation on the target hardware can then be constructed. Emulation developers typically avoid any information that may come from untraceable sources to avoid contaminating the clean room nature of their project. For example, in 2020, a large trove of information related to Nintendo's consoles was leaked, and teams working on Nintendo console emulators such as the Dolphin emulator for GameCube and Wii stated they were staying far away from the leaked information to avoid tainting their project.