Contents
● Intro
● The "ROM"
● The "ISO"
● The "ISO/MP3"
● The Typical Video Game Emulator
● Screen Renders
● No Setup File
● Different Types of Video Game Emulation
● Q: Is video game emulation legal?
● Q: Is my computer fast enough?
● Q: Are games too big?
● Q: What if I'm not a Windows user?

Intro
Yes, it's quite easily possible to play video games on your home computer. This is possible with programs called video game emulators. Every video game emulator is made by fans for fans. Creating a video game emulator is not an easy task. You can't just plug a video game console into your computer and copy over its data (although that's how video games are transferred). Video game emulators are created from scratch with computer programming and fine-tuned for years until the output quality is as close to the real thing as possible. Pretty much everything in the video game emulation realm is free. Although a couple of the better video game emulators require a fee (such as MagicEngine, the best TurboGrafx16/CD emulator).
 
Currently, emulators of all the classic 8-bit and 16-bit video game systems emulate with near-perfect accuracy. The rage with video game emulators started in the late 90's! It's been over 10 years now, so naturally all the 8-bit/16-bit game emulators have been fine-tuned so much that they run perfectly. Emulators of later systems, such as PSX, N64, Saturn, PS2, X-box, GameCube, etc., are still going through the delicate fine-tuning process of perfection. PSX and N64 are getting close to running perfectly.

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The "ROM"
The dictionary definition of ROM is 'memory hardware that allows fast access to permanently stored data but prevents addition to or modification of the data'. But within the realm of video game emulation, the ROM has a different definition. It is a file that contains all the data from a single video game cartridge. It can be played on your computer by using a video game emulator. You cannot play a ROM just by double-clicking on it. You must use the proper video game emulator in order to play a ROM. For example, a NES emulator for NES ROMs and a Genesis emulator for Genesis ROMs.
 
Video game ROMs are relatively small and are easy to find on the Internet. The video game systems that apply to ROMs are any system that uses carts - such a NES, SNES, Gameboy/Color, Gameboy Advance, Genesis, N64, Atari... basically every 8-bit and 16-bit system, and portable systems. I have some good ROM download websites in my main links.

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The "ISO"
When people are talking about ISOs, they're talking about CD video games. These games include PSX, PS2, Saturn, Dreamcast, XBox, GameCube, etc.. An ISO is a file or archive of files that build up a single CD video game. Some emulators allow you to play an ISO as if it were a ROM (by going to File > Load Game), but others require you to use certain burning software to burn the ISO onto a CD, then play it with the emulator via your CD-ROM. Video game ISOs are very large and are not so easy to obtain on the internet. You'll even come across websites that ask for a fee in order to gain access to their ISOs downloads - but don't do it! Keep on looking for free places. I have some good ISO download websites in my main links.

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The "ISO/MP3"
This only applies to Sega CD and TurboGrafx16-CD games, which are both classified as classic CD video games. Classic CD video games are audio CDs, the only exception is that the first or second audio track is actually a data track. This data track is where the game's data is stored. The audio tracks of the rest of the CD are all the songs of the game. ISO/MP3 is how emulation websites distribute Sega CD and TurboGrafx16-CD games. An ISO/MP3 archive includes 1 ISO file and a whole bunch of MP3s. The ISO file is the data track of the game and the MP3s are all of the audio tracks. Like regular ISOs, ISO/MP3 archives are large and difficult to find on the internet.

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The Typical Video Game Emulator
The average emulator opens up as a small window. Some open up at full screen. The main menus are located in the upper-left like any regular program. Pretty much all emulators allow you to choose how big you want the screen to be and allow you to customize the buttons on your keyboard or a gamepad. Most emulators have tons of features like to alter the quality of the sound, capture the screen into an image file, save/load your position in a game at any point you want, use cheat utilities such as Pro Action Replay/Game Genie/Game Shark, and...

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Screen Renders
My favorite! ^_^ Most emulators have several types of screen renders (also called Output Processing or blitters), which make video games look so pretty and (in my opinion) the emulation experience better than playing the real thing. You see, the original screen generated by video game systems is really tiny, this tiny. That's why video game systems are much cheaper than computers. On your computer monitor, enlarging that tiny image would make the game look highly pixil-ish. However, applying a screen render such as Kreed or 2xSai (the two most widely used) would result in a screen looking like the before & after picture to the right of this paragraph (it's a thumbnail, click on it). Emulators of 3D video games such as Playstation offer more advanced renders, such as one that renders the 3D graphics to fit a specified resolution, like this.

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No Setup File
Pretty much every video game emulator out there doesn't have a setup file. You need to set up a place for it manually in your computer (I explain how to do that in Chapter 3). The emulator installs itself the first time you open it up. And since there's no setup file, emulators don't have an uninstall, but all you need to do to uninstall it is delete it.

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Different Types of Video Game Emulation
There are four different types of video game emulation:
1. Basic Emulation: NES, SNES, Game Boy/Color, Genesis, Game Gear, Sega Master System, TurboGrafx16 (any system that uses a cartridge basically) ... This is the normal type of emulation. All you do is open up the emulator, look for the game in your computer, click on it, then play it.
2. Archive-based Emulation: Arcade, NeoGeo ... Since there are like a gazillion arcade games out there, arcade emulators are based on an archive system. Each emulator contains a full list of arcade games. If you download the game and put it in the proper folder, the arcade emulator will recognize it and activate the game's name in the list. This allows you to sort all your downloaded arcade games in all sorts of ways.
3. CD-based Emulation: Sega CD, TurboGrafx16-CD ... The emulators require you to manage the CD video game as you would on the real thing. It also requires you to own an actual copy of the game(s) and use it through your CD-ROM (though "Gens" can emulate directly from the ISO).
4. Plug-in-based Emulation: Playstation, N64 ... The emulator is nothing but a shell. You need to manually download all of its components such as its CD-ROM capabilities, its video capabilities, its sound capabilities, etc. There are several different types which make the emulation experience heavily customizable.

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Q: Is video game emulation legal?
When talking about the legality of video games there are two categories: out-of-production games and games still being produced. Getting involved in emulation of out-of-production video games is just as illegal as jaywalking or copying an audio CD for someone. Everyone does it, but law enforcement has better things to do than to crack down on it. On the other hand, emulation of games still being produced is quite illegal and considerably hurts the profit of video game companies (or so they say). Even then, the only people who actually get in trouble are the webmasters of the websites that distribute these illegal, recent games. Even then, the accused webmaster first gets warnings before the opposing party takes action.

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Q: Is my computer fast enough?
Yes! There's no question about that. Up to around 2005 this question mattered, but today's computers are more than capable of handling video game emulation of any classic system. Heck, even today's netbooks are fast enough to handle emulation.

But if by chance you're using an older computer and you insist I expand on the subject...
Each emulator does tell you their minimum requirements in the Read Me file. Personally, I think you need at least a 300 Mhz or 500 Mhz processor for decent emulation of 8-bit video games, at least a 700 Mhz processor for decent emulation of 16-bit video games, and at least a 1 GHz processor for decent emulation of 32-bit/64-bit video games.

● Are you not sure how fast your computer is? Here's how you can see:

If you have Windows XP ...
1. Left-click on Start then right-click on My Computer.
2. Look under "Computer" and you'll see your computer's processor speed. It'll display in either MHz or GHz.

If you have Windows 98/ME...
1. Click on Start then Run and type "dxdiag" then click OK. If a window comes up saying something about drivers, just click No. You should get the "DirectX Diagnostic Tool" window.
2. ook in the "System Information" box for "Processor". Right next to that is your computer's processor speed. It'll display in either MHz or GHz.

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Q: Are games too big? Will they fill up my computer?
Not at all! Heck, with the 160+ GB harddrives we have these days, video game files will barely leave a mark on your computer. The following are some estimates on how large video game ROMs can be:

     NES, Gameboy/Color, SMS/Game Gear ROMs (zipped) = 50 KB - 300 KB
     SNES ROMs (zipped) = 500 KB - 2.5 MB
     Genesis ROMs (zipped) = 500 KB - 1.5 MB
     TurboGrafx16 ROMs (zipped) = 100 KB - 300 KB
     Arcade ROMs (zipped) = 20 KB - 80 MB
     Sega CD and TurboGrafx16-CD ISO/MP3s (unzipped) = 80 MB - 150 MB
     N64 ROMs (zipped) = 7 MB - 20 MB
     Playstation ISOs (unzipped) = 500 MB - 700 MB

● Are you not familiar with file sizes? Here's how much each size takes up:

     1 KB = 1,024 bits
     1 MB = 1,024 KB
     1 GB = 1,024 MB

To give you an idea of file sizes: the average MP3 music file is around 5 MB, the average JPG photo on the internet is around 20 KB, a small program takes up around 5 MB, a large program takes up around 100 MB, Microsoft Office takes up around 400 MB. Computer hard drives these days are several hundred GB, so video game ROMs take up almost nothing.

● Want to know how much space your hard drive has?

If you have Windows XP...
1. Click on Start then My Computer.
2. Click on Local Disk (C:). Look towards the lower-left for the "Details" box. This box will tell you how much space your hard drive is currently taking up and its total space.
* If you wish to see your total and used space in a pie chart, then right-click on Local Disk (C:) and left-click on Properties.

If you have Windows 98/ME...
1. On your desktop, double-click on the My Computer icon.
2. Right-click on Local Disk (C:) then left-click on Properties. This window will tell you how much space your hard drive is currently taking up and its total space, along with a pie chart.

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Q: What if I'm not a Windows user?
The help and tutorials in "Video Game Emulation for Newbies" are mainly for those who use Windows, but don't get the impression that video game emulation is exclusive only to Windows. There's also a wide variety of video game emulators available for other operating systems, such as Mac and Unix. For Mac video game emulators and assistance with them, go to EmuScene. For emulators for every other OS and assistance with them, go to Zophar's Domain.

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