Once the process is complete, you’ll want to check to make sure each game shows up in the list. Head into Settings, choose Load Content, and select the console game folder to add your titles. You will want to direct each emulator to a location to look for games-why we created the specific folders earlier. Once you download and run the program installation for any of these systems, you will end up in their main menu. It’s a lot easier than it sounds and is similar to how you may have ripped songs from CDs to digital MP3 files using iTunes back in the early aughts. If you have the disc or cartridge of an old favorite laying around, you’ll need access to a computer to convert it into a file format that can be played by emulators across your devices. On the other hand, it’s your right to back up (also called dumping) physical games that you own to digital files that can be played by an emulator. First, Know That Backing Up Your Games for Personal Use is LegalĮmulation often gets a bad rap because of its association with pirates illegally downloading ROMs from the internet and playing them using an emulator. Read on to see just how easy it is to get started.

This means I also get modern conveniences like graphics upscaling, cheats, and even online play that original hardware can’t match. For example, I run my ROM collection of PlayStation 2 games from a compact Google Pixel 6a smartphone without having to bust out the discs or the bulky original console. Today there’s an emulator for every major video game console, ranging from the first ever Atari 2600 to current-generation systems like the Nintendo Switch.īut since you can’t throw a cartridge or disc into most modern hardware, you’ll need to back up your physical collection of games to digital files called ROMs (named after Read Only Memory chips, which have traditionally stored video game data). This means the gadget running an emulator acts as the console it’s mimicking, complete with its operating system and virtual storage device for game saves.

Emulators are free applications that simulate the hardware of a video game system on a different computer architecture. Video game emulation is the process of digitizing and playing your old video games on modern devices like a phone, laptop, or even a $30 unlocked Fire TV Stick.

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