The Emulator Hour draws Nigh!

Lately I’ve been feeling my retro-gaming roots.  I’m currently in a deep-dive of Zelda games, having played through Link to the Past, Zelda II and currently Link’s Awakening.  On top of that, I played about halfway through a gamed called Legend of Zelda: Shadow of Night, which is a ROM hack version of Zelda II—a Fan-made sequel to Zelda II. 

In order to play Zelda II and the ROM hack, I hacked my SNES classic, which was remarkably easy.  So I’ve added a bunch of NES and SNES games to my SNES Classic, and so far just one Game Boy Color game – Link’s Awakening DX.  I’m even considering committing a cardinal sin of a Console War Veteran, and adding some Genesis games.  I can’t help it!  I’ve got that retro-gaming fever, and the genesis has an entire library I’ve barely touched. 

I’ve hacked a number of systems to play NES games, including the Dreamcast and Nintendo DS.  I’ve been through the NES library a bunch of times, and I have some mainstays, including  Zelda II, Faxanadu and Dragon Warrior 2.  But now that I’ve been scratching that retro itch, I’m starting to expand my horizons a bit.  I’m taking aim at the Playstation 1, a system for which I have conflicted feelings, yet nonetheless plenty of pleasant memories.  Plus, I’ve heard that there are some emulators that will actually improve PS1 graphics, give them a nice hi-res treatment.  For now, I’m just thinking about trying to pick up a Playstation Classic.  Fortunately, the terrible reviews caused a dramatic drop in price, and I should be able to find one for $30.  The games I’m hoping to play are Resident Evil: 2 (another emulation mainstay) and maybe FFVIII.  But I might also pick up the FFVIII remaster for Switch, when I finally buy a switch.  Which should be any time now!  I am getting closer and closer to pulling the trigger on that one.  It’s just so hard to get into a new system, dropping $300 just to get started, and then another $59.99 if I want a game! Yikes!  Buuuut, I really love the selection of indie games on the switch, and that’s what I really hope to play. 

In the meantime, my emulation fever has got me checking thrift stores and garage sales for a PSP or a Wii or a Vita or an Android tablet, or a firestick, or maybe I’ll try to mod my Wii U after I buy the switch.  There are so many possibilities, and this is a fun obsession. 

-D