An emulator is a program that mimics the functions of a system using another one. In this case we're talking about a console (like a Xbox) or hand-held (like a GBA) to a computer. Game emulators run on these things on ROMs (Read Only Memory image). While emulators themselves are squeaky clean, a commercial ROM is illegal. Home-brew ROMs are clean.
Lots of people use emulators for an equal (or greater) amount of reasons. Most people will play emulators for a few basic reasons; it's free, the game isn't sold any more or you can take that PS3 game around in a laptop. Of course there are the basic downsides as well. For one thing, you can't really lug your desktop around (sure you could a laptop but it's not the same) for hand-held games. Also, many of the games you might be itching to play are, as I said before, illegal.
Seeing as most people disregard the "illegal" part, emulators are thriving. A few have become well known on the net.
Some good emulators:
No$gba - Nintendo DS and GBA. Setup may confuse some.
VisualBoyAdvance - GBA, GB and GBC. Keys can jam on action games.
BoycottAdvance - GBA. Can't play as many games as VisualBoy. No speed multiplier.
Project64 - Nintendo 64.
DeSuME - Nintendo DS. No speed multiplyer.
There are a lot more. I just don't know them. C:
Check out:
The Emulator Zone
Cool ROM
Dope ROMs
Anyone have anything to share?
