When was the last time you were able to sit and enjoy a good old fashioned game of scrolling Super Mario or Dig Dug? Probably not for years unless you have been able to keep your old game system and cartridges in good working condition. For everyone else there is a little known gem called emulation.
Emulation refers to the ability of a program or device to imitate another program or device, thus tricking the software into believing the correct device has been found. It sounds strange but it will enable you to play some of your favorite games that were originally made for systems such as Commodore, Atari, and Nintendo. It is also possible for one computer, such as an Apple Macintosh, to emulate another computer, such as a PC.
None of that means much, however, until you discover the right emulator for playing all those old favorites on your new computer. The good news is that you can download these emulators directly off the internet for free! Some of the downloads available are for Amiga, Commodore, Game Boy, PlayStation 1, and Nintendo along with all the games (ROMS) these machines play.
One of the most popular emulators recreates the old Super Nintendo console and is called the ZSNES Emulator found at http://www.zsnes.com. The ZSNES program has an extensive help file that walks you through the set up process of saving a copy to your Personal Computer. System requirements are: a 486/100 processor, 14.5MB of RAM, a VGA card, and a Sound Blaster or 100% compatible sound card. However a system with a fast P200 or higher Pentium processor, 32MB of RAM, VGA card, and Sound Blaster 16 or 100% compatible sound card yields the most realistic results.
The ZSNES Emulator also allows you to maneuver around the games using either a keyboard or joystick, allowing you to really get the old feelings for the game. But enough about the emulator and let’s look at the real reason we are here – the games! These games, called ROMS, are all the ones you used to be able to play on the Super Nintendo System including:
Bomberman 5 Super Battleship
Beavis n' Butthead Bustamove
Clue Dragonballz
DreamTV Final Fantasy 4
Frogger The Great Waldo Search
Inspector Gadget Jeopardy Deluxe
John Madden Football Mariokart
Marvel Superheroes Megamans Soccer
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Monopoly
Mortal Kombat 2 Pinocchio
Power Rangers Race Driving
Carmen San Diego SimAnt
SimCity SimCity 2000
Super Mario RPG Sonic
Space Football Starfox
Streetfighter 2 Super Black Bass
Super Ninja Boy Super Punch-Out!!
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Themepark
Troddlers Utopia
Vortex Wacky Race
Wheel of Fortune Wings 2
Wordtris World Soccer 94
Yoshis Island Zelda 3
And tons more!
Please be aware of a legal issue when downloading these games. Basically, you are not allowed to download and play any game if you don’t already own that cartridge. If can abide by this law, you can revisit the past, in the present, on your brand new PC.
