Topic: Unpopular Gaming Opinions

May as well through my hat onto the ensuing fire that is brewing here by stating my opinion on emulation: I will (try to at least) only emulate games that have either never been re-released or are very unlikely to get re-released on modern platforms any time soon.

I think examples that show off the two sides of this very well are Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door and Apollo Justice. Paper Mario 64 is one of my absolute favourite N64 games that I've played alongside titles like WinBack, Kirby 64, etc. and TTYD is basically that....but better from what I've heard. However, for whatever reason, one of the most influential RPG's ever made has never (and I mean NEVER) seen a re-release (with the closest thing being backwards-compatability with the Wii) and even now is very unlikely to see one what with the direction PM has taken in the years since and Nintendo's sheer denial to port anything Gamecube to Switch (unless it's Mario Sunshine and maaaaaaybe Zelda TP/WW if we ask nicely). In that case, I'd gladly fire up Dolphin if it was the only way to experience the sequel to one of my favourite games on a modern platform.

In contrast then is Apollo Justice (and by extension the sequel trilogy). Anyone who has seen me on this site knows that I am an absolute AA nutcase (so much so that I'll try and sneak in references whenever I can on comments and such) and I would absolutely kill to play these 3 games. However: I will probably never resort to emulating them. Why? Simple: they've got a modern re-release on phones. I won't be playing the phone versions myself since I think that's an incredibly sub-optimal way to experience them for the first time but it gives me hope that we'll EVENTUALLY see console ports and be able to experience the way that I want to experience them (I've heard AJ described as both the best and worst entry in the series and that makes me really damn excited to play it and see why that is ).

There's plenty more examples I could give for both sides but I think you get my point. TLDR; I'll only consider emulating something if there is literally no other option.

I go to the library every so often and they have a huge game section with PS2/3/4, Wii U and Switch games, along with a large anime/manga selection, and when I see it I always think "damn, wish I had all this when I was in middle school". This isn't even a big city library.

Anyway, more to the point, it would be cool if game preservationists teamed up to make an interactive museum. Give a chance for people to experience super rare games like Gimmick!, prototypes and early builds, unrelease stuff, games on old home computers like the X6800, hosting exhibitions for different devs, etc. (Games & monitors behind glass to prevent theft of course).

Also, there is absolutely no moral conundrum in emulating games that are no longer available to purchase. That's absurd. Is legally buying overpriced crap from retro resellers any different?

@moomin The thing about making a museum that's interactive is even then, I'd imagine most people would want to play older games in the comfort of their own home, on their own time, instead of going to another place where tons of other people gather, having to wait in lines just to play a game, only for the place to close down for the day soon after.

Also, with checking games out at libraries, some people might not have the console for said games, which would hinder the point greatly. Not to mention for people who want to get a game in pristine condition, they'll have to worry about what the last person who borrowed the game did to it.

Maybe an interactive gaming museum is niche but I'd argue they could survive in a major population center/tourism hotspot like Tokyo or NYC or such. A sort of mecca for hardcore gaming dweebs (I use that term endearingly) as well as tourists who are just in it for the novelty. Those who are interested can play the games, and those who aren't can just check out the cool exhibits.

And I agree that a gaming library probably wouldn't be logistically viable; I was just pointing out that the local library here has a surprising variety.

@Fizza Pretty much how I feel. I was emulating banjo and kazooie, but then learned they had it on Xbox, and Microsoft store, meaning I could buy those games on a pc if I wanted to, so I stop emulating it, Mario 64 in on there service now, so ai stop emulating it. Me, you, and a lot of people just emulating if there is no other way to play it, if there is no option other then dropping cash for a old overprice console and game.

@Snatcher There's an odd thing in regards to companies' official services when it comes to retro emulation for me where, even though I'm fully aware there are probably much better alternatives, I still really like them. This is probably being heavily carried by being able to play such games on the go in regards to the Switch retro collection (Mega Drive games on long car journeys just feel so damn good man) but I guarantee you: I wouldn't have given games like Spanky's Quest, Wild Guns and especially WinBack a ghost of a chance had they not been added to NSO services and now they're some of my all time favourites on each of their respective systems. I'll always rally for them to be better don't get me wrong, but they've done a lot for me on the retro end of things and I really enjoy them because of it

This is why I wish Nintendo just made more emulators for switch online, because you never know what game you might be introduced to just because of it, I had never played Metroid, but I played it because it was on there, And man was I missing out, and I wouldn’t had played hadn’t been for it being on NSO.

Hot take: The NSO is absolute garbage in terms of offered content compared to what the Virtual Console offered.

You're not wrong, the drip feed and lack of "good" games is painful. I can't defend NSO or say it's good but hey at least we're getting Golden Eye...

As much as I have been enjoying just taking in this conversation, I felt like someone had to step in and say that @Euler is 100% correct. You can justify the emulation all you want just like you can justify stealing a loaf of bread if you are starving to death, but in the end that's all it is: a justification. It doesn't make it right. Like @VoidofLight said, maybe it would be okay if there is no other way to purchase the game, but what game is that true for? One of my favorite games ever is Goonies 2. That is never getting rereleased due to licensing issues and such. Know what I did? I bought an NES copy to play on my NES. Not that hard. Don't have an NES. Not that hard to find one. Too expensive to do it that way? Too bad, that's just another justification to steal. Afraid the old hardware and software will wear down eventually and be unplayable. Again, another justification. It's been 40 years and it hasn't happened yet, and it's been much less time for newer games. Countless works of art and literature and the like are gone forever due to the passage of time. That's the way the world works. It sucks, but it doesn't justify breaking the law. And this is coming from someone who has done this for certain games like Ace Attorney Investigations 2 and Radical Dreamers (before it recently got released with Chrono Cross).

well then if you believe anything at all, then you should turn yourself over to the police then, mr. legality appreciator

anyway, i will emulate when i want to and then won't when i don't, will never go to jail, will never pretend morality plays a part in it one way or the other, discussions of the morality of emulation is proof that horseshoe theory might be real, indifference is based, y'all get Ls, ratio

also star fox zero is better than assault

@kkslider5552000 speak the truth!

I was never brave enough to tackle Zero, but I emulated (ha!) Assault and I still cannot believe how miserable it is.

Yup.
I agree.

@mikegamer I don't think that's unpopular, I agree, I do wish the classic library could be better. This is coming from someone who enjoyed some of the lesser known SNES games on the service (actually liked Fighter's History, Magical Drop II, and Psycho Dream).

I think I was the most excited for a game drop when they added Super Mario All-Stars and Earthbound.

Is me thinking Disney dream light valley is bad an unpopular opinion? Because I HATE that game it’s paying 30$ (more if you want “extra content”) for a buggy phone game that asks for more money right out the gate. I have played the game to make an honest opinion (just like I did with sword and shield) because I hear so much conflicting things online.

@WaffleBoat
I agree, from what I have seen the game looks like a cheap phone game. Maybe for free it would be worth it.

@blindsquarel
Seriously I know. I get that it might be a good game (just not for me) but the fact that it’s outselling splatoon 3 (and everything on the e shop currently)!? That just shows how much Disney can trick people. Brand loyalty am I right?

@WaffleBoat Not really unpopular, opinions about it are really mixed, because some people just played it on game pass, I haven’t tried it yet, so can’t give an opinion.

@Xyphon22 Ah, so from what I'm getting from this, is that if you don't have the system to play a game, and can't find the game for a cheap price, with the devs refusing to re-release it, then you just can no longer experience the game? I guess that means most people won't get to experience most great games that came out years ago then, since not everyone can afford to pay hundreds for a copy of a singular game, or tons for a console that is no longer in print.

Guess that also means that if my 3DS fails, I just can't experience any of the games again that I bought for it, since there's no way to get a new 3DS anymore.

Yes, many pieces of art and literature have been lost to time, but people have been making an effort to preserve what we have left. I see no difference in preserving games that are no longer being sold commercially.