#my favorite ds emulator... GONE

[m3ssyhair]

They took DraStic out of the Google Play Store I'm not ok

[transgirl-gaming-thoughts]

My Favorite 3DS Downloads Before the eShop Closes

If you follow Nintendo news, you've most likely already heard that the 3DS and WiiU eShops will be closing by the end of March 2023, and if you're anything like me, you're making a list of games to buy before the eShop goes out of business. Sadly, a lot of great exclusive games (and a truckload of shovel-ware) will be lost forever. Here's some downloadable games I've bought before they're never available on the console again!

5: 3D Sonic the Hedgehog / 3D Sonic the Hedgehog 2 ($6 each) Sonic the Hedgehog is a classic; no one can deny this. While many people look at the original 16-bit games with love and adoration, many also look at it with a critical lens. It's true that the first three games & Knuckles haven't aged entirely gracefully, but they're still amazing games, and the Sega 3D series is here to help you relive them in all their glory! Developed by M3, these games are native 3DS ports of Sonic 1 and 2 from the Sega Mega Drive, support emulator options such as save states to save your progress, but also lots of special options like choosing between the Japanese and US releases (always always play the Japanese version btw); choosing whether the stereoscopic 3D pops out of the screen, or falls in; or, my personal favorite, turning on/off the "special" mode which features a level select and the ever-famous Spin Dash. That's right; Spin Dash natively in Sonic 1. 3D Sonic 2 features much the same, except the Spin Dash is already there, so it's basically just level select, but it also features a "Ring Keeper" mode that allows to start an act with 10 rings if you finished the last act with 10+ rings. Unfortunately, M3 never got to Sonic 3 & Knuckles, so you'll have to go elsewhere for that masterpiece. These two games are fantastic, and my favorite way to play Sonic's first adventures on the go.

4: Rhythm Heaven Megamix ($30) This is one I haven't gotten around to playing for myself, however, I've been working through Rhythm Tengoku on the GBA, and Rhythm Heaven on the DS. I absolutely love the Rhythm Heaven series! I've never been good at rhythm games, but Rhythm Heaven makes it so accessible! Megamix features returning games from past titles alongside new games. If you're a fan of rhythm games, pick up this one for your 3DS!

3: Cave Story ($10) Cave Story is a classic Metroidvania originally developed for PC. It's recieved numerous re-releases, fan ports, translations, etc. Most people will probably tell you to get Cave Story+ for Switch or PC. While that version looks amazing, I would highly recommend the eShop version of the game. It's a unique combination of the original gameplay/artwork, but also introduces some of the updates from things like Cave Story 3D and Cave Story+. It's actually listed on the Cave Story Wiki its own unique version! Cave Story is an incredible game, and the 3DS eShop version is my favorite way to play it handheld.

2: Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Spirit of Justice / Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Duel Destinies ($30 ea.) The Ace Attorney series is by far one of the most popular visual novels ever. Originally released on the Gameboy Advance in Japan, and on the DS internationally, these games have spawned a series of 6 total games in the main series. The last two games in that series are Duel Destinies and Spirit of Justice. As an Ace Attorney fan, it would have crushed me if I couldn't get these after the eShop closes. As of June 2022, these games are exclusive to the 3DS eShop, with no known plans to port/re-release them on any other platform. If you're a fan of the Ace Attorney series, you are in desperate need of purchasing these games before they're gone.

Honorable Mentions These next two items don't exactly fit the criteria of a "game recommendation", but I felt it was right to mention them here nevertheless.

First, DSiWare. The DSi was ground-breaking, as it featured Internet access for the first time on a Nintendo handheld. When the DSi released, there was also a series of software released exclusively to be downloaded from the DSi Shop called DSiWare. Some DSiWare games are still well-known, like Shantae: Risky's Revenge and Wario Ware: Snapped. Some of the games were actually ports of mobile games, like Plants vs. Zombies and Cut the Rope. Regardless, DSiWare is available on the 3DS eShop, given second life on the newer handheld. However, these are going away for the second time when the 3DS eShop closes, this time for good. If there's any DSiWare you're even remotely interested in, now's your time.

Second, Virtual Console. The Nintendo Virtual Console series started on the Wii, but continued on the 3DS. Essentially, it's individually emulated retro games. There's games from the NES, SNES, Gameboy, Gameboy Color, Sega Game Gear, even the TurboGrafx-16! There's a lot to be gained here, and for some gamers, it's the only viable way to emulate SNES on a handheld. If you're interested in retro games, then for the love of Arceus, get some Virtual Consoles!!!

Alright, enough honorable mentions. Onto the top spot on my list...

1: Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy ($30) That's right, another Ace Attorney game. Only this time, it's three! The Ace Attorney Trilogy is a compilation of the three original Ace Attorney games from the DS, this time featuring stereoscopic 3D! For the most part, you're just saving money on three individual DS cartridges, but there are some little changes, for example the writing of Case 5 in the first game was edited to make it flow better with the over-arching story of the Ace Attorney series. While yes, this same Trilogy is available on all new-generation consoles and Steam, the 3DS eShop version is the only way to experience it in the original DS format. It was a big deal for gaming at the time, and I just don't think it's the same to play it on one screen (which sounds weird reading that out loud to myself). If you get the chance, I highly recommend getting this on 3DS, even if you later buy it on a new-gen console.

And that's it! What did you think of my picks? Do you agree or disagree? Would you have recommended anything different? Let me know in an ask on my blog!

Thanks for reading! The DS and 3DS hold some great memories for a lot of us, and I hope we can continue to hold onto that experience, even when the eShop closes. It really feels like the end of an era. I hope everyone gets a chance to pick up all the games they're after before the deadline gets here! For now, have fun, stay hydrated, do what you love, and God bless!

~Alex

[zerochanges]

2020 Favorite Video Games

I don’t know if I am an outlier or if this is the same for everyone else but I really did not play a lot of games this year. 2020 was a very harsh year for all of us, especially for me for some personal reasons. So to get to the chase, I am just gonna say it left me not doing much in what little free time I did have, and I didn’t play much either. Usually I try to keep my lists for ‘favorite of the year��� to only titles released that year but since I played so little this year, screw it. I am gonna include any game I played this year regardless of release date.

Collection of SaGa

By far a flawed rerelease. It’s bare bones: there are no advance features you would usually expect out of these kinds of emulated rereleases like save states, fast forward, or rewind, and there was no real effort made to touch up almost 30 year old localizations that had to meet Nintendo of America’s then harsh standards. This really is just 3 roms slapped into a nice looking interface with an option to increase the game speed (which by the way you better use, the characters walk very slow in these old games). 

I am bit harsh here, but only because I thought the Romancing SaGa remasters and the upcoming SaGa Frontier remaster all looked like they got a great budget and a lot of love while this is just another Collection of Mana situation (moreso specifically talking about Seiken Densetsu 1/Final Fantasy Adventure/Adventures of Mana part of that collection). I would have loved to see Square Enix do a bit more for these older games. Or at least include the remakes. Seiken Densetsu 1 had two great remakes, both unused in Collection of Mana, and all three of these original SaGa titles have remakes that have never seen the light of day outside of Japan. How great would it have been to get the Wonderswan remake of SaGa 1, as well as the Nintendo DS remakes of Saga 2 and SaGa 3? 

But my gripes aside, these games are still fun as they ever were. Replaying SaGa 1 specifically during the holiday season really helped calm me down and made me feel at ease. It’s easy to forget but even in their Gameboy roots there are a lot of funky and weird experimental choices being made in these games. They aren’t your run-of-the-mil dragon quest (or considering the gameboy, maybe pokemon would be more apt) clones. 

Raging Loop

Perhaps my favorite game of the year, Raging Loop is one of the best visual novels I have ever played hands down. The level of creativity and splitting story paths that went into it is simply mind blowing. The basic premise is both a wonderful throwback to the old days of Chunsoft sound novels while still modern and somewhat reminiscent of both Higurashi and Danganronpa. Essentially you play as Haruaki, a poor slub that got lost in the mountains with no clue where to go until you stumble upon an old rural village with a strange history and even stranger superstitions. Before you know it there has been a murder and the Feast is now afoot.

The less said about Raging Loop the better, although I do want to say a lot about it one day if I ever can write a proper review of it. This is a gripping game that will take hold of you once you get into it though and never let go. I actually 100%-ed this and I very rarely do that. I got every ending, every bonus hidden ending, played the entire game twice to hear all the hidden details it purposely hides on your first play through, played all the bonus epilogue chapters, unlocked all the hidden voice actor interviews, collected all the art work, etc, etc. I was just obsessed with this game, it’s that damn good! And the main character is maybe the best troll in all of video games, god bless Haruaki. 

Root Double

From Takumi Nakazawa, long time contributor to Kotaro Uchikoshi’s work comes a game any fan of Zero Escape or Uchikoshi in general will probably enjoy. Root Double, like its name suggests is a visual novel with two different routes, hence Root Double. The first route stars Watase Kasasagi, the leader of an elite rescue team in the midst of their greatest crisis yet that could lead to nuclear devastation as they try to evacuate a nuclear research facility that has gone awry. 

The other route stars Natsuhiko Tenkawa, an everyday high schooler whose peaceful life is thrown into turmoil when he stumbles upon a terrorist plot to destroy the nuclear facility in the city and his attempts to stop them. Together the two separate plots weave into one and creates a really crazy ride. Part Chernobyl, part science fiction, any fan of the genre will easily enjoy it. And hey it’s kind of relevant to include on this list too since it just got a Switch port this year (I played it on steam though).  

Snack World

I was shocked upon starting Snack World as it is instantly incredibly charming, witty, and downright hilarious at times yet I heard almost zero people talk about it. EVER. This game is Dragon Quest levels of quirky though, and the localization is incredible. The game has such an oddball sense of humor that works really well with its presentation right down to the anime opening video that sings about the most bizarre things. Instead of the usual pump up song about the cool adventure ahead we get stuff like wanting to go out to a restaurant and eat pork chops. 

The self aware/fourth wall breaking humor is just enough to be really funny, but doesn't overstay its welcome and always makes it work right in the context of the dialogue. And finally, just everything; with the menus, the name of side quests and missions, and the character dialogue -- are all just so witty and full of quirky humor. This is one hell of a charming and funny game and addictive to boot.

Trials of Mana

Trials of Mana has gone from one of those legendary unlocalized games, to one of the first major breakthroughs in fan translation, to finally getting an official English release complete with a fully 3D remake. In a lot of ways from a western perspective this game has had an incredible journey. As for this remake itself, I really found myself having tons of fun with it. I loved the graphics, and the voice acting while a bit on the cheaper side almost kind of adds to the charm since both the graphics and acting really give it an old PS2 vibe. I know that is probably just more me being weird but yeah, I had to say it. 

I really hope Square Enix sticks to this style of remake more often, instead of just doing Final Fantasy VII Remakes that break the bank and involve extensive tweaking to both plot and game play. I’ll take smaller budget projects that play more like the original game any day personally. I wouldn’t mind if they also deliver a brand new Mana game all together in this engine either. 

Utawarerumono Trilogy

This year saw the release of the first entry in the series, Utawarerumono: Prelude to the Fallen--and thus finally after three years since the sequels Utawarerumono: Mask of Deception and Utawarerumono: Mask of Truth came out in 2017 the trilogy is now complete in English. I ended up binging through Prelude to the Fallen very fast shortly after it came out and immediately jumped on to the sequels. Perhaps the best part of 2020 was that I finally played all three of these fantastic games, and did so back-to-back-to-back. Playing the first Utawarerumono was an experience I will never forget, it was like visiting old friends again that I haven’t seen in ages, by and large thanks to the fact that I saw the anime adaption of the game when I was much younger, nearly a decade ago. Back then I would have never of dreamed that I would get to play the actual game and get the real experience. 

And it only got better from here, as all three games are such wonderful experiences from start to finish. The stories are all so deep, and by the time you get to the third entry, Mask of Truth, it’s crazy to see how they all connected over so many years and weaved together into a plot much bigger than they ever were. What carries it beyond all that though has to be the fun and addicting strategy role playing game aspect, which while a bit on the easy side, is still so much fun and helps make the game feel better paced since you get to play the conquests your characters go on and not just read about all the battles they fight. Beyond that the games are packed full of awesome characters, and I know I’ll never forget the amazing leads in all of them. Hakuowlo, Haku, and Oshtor will all go down as some of the greats to me. 

Ys: Memories of Celceta

Ys: Memories of Celceta is a full 3D remake of Ys IV, a rather infamous game in Falcom’s Ys series. Not to get bogged down too much into the history of Falcom but by this point they were facing a lot of hardship and had to outsource this entry to other developers, and thus passed it on to two particular developers they had a business relationship with, creating two unique versions of Ys IV. Tonkin House who had worked on Super Famicom port of Ys III with Falcom ended up creating their own YS IV entry, Mask of the Sun for the very same system, where Hudson soft who had produced the much beloved Ys Books I & II remakes for the Turbografix (PC Engine) CD add-on created their own Ys IV entry Dawn of Ys for that console. Both games followed guidelines and ideas outlined from Falcom themselves but both radically diverged from each other and turned into completely different games. 

Falcom finally putting an end to this debate on which version of Ys IV you should play have gone and created their own definitive Ys IV in 2012 for the Playstation Vita. I played the 2020 remastered version of this remake on my PS4. I even bought this on the Vita when it first came out but I am horrible and only horde games, never play them. So it was a lot of fun to finally play this. 

Memories of Celceta is probably one of the best starting points for anyone looking to get into Ys, especially if you only want to stay with the 3D titles as out of all the 3D entries this explains the most about the world and series protagonist Adol Christian. Beyond that it’s just another fantastic entry in a wonderful series that has a few good twists hidden behind it, especially for long time fans of the series. 

Random Video Game Console Stuff

Xbox Has Blue Dragon: I actually got an Xbox One this year for free from my brother. Because of that I started to play Blue Dragon again and there’s a lot I would love to say about this game. I don’t know if I am fully committed to replaying it all the way through however but I find myself putting in a couple hours every few days and enjoying myself again. Does anyone else remember Blue Dragon? I feel like it really missed its audience and had it come out nowadays and probably for the Switch it would have really resonated with the Dragon Quest fandom a lot more instead of being thrown out to die on Xbox and constantly compared to Final Fantasy VII and the like which it had nothing at all similar with. 

The Turbografx 16 Mini: This was probably one of the best mini consoles that have come out and I feel like thanks to the whole 2020 pandemic thing it was largely forgotten about. That’s a shame, it has a wonderful variety of great games, especially if you count the Japanese ones (god I wish I could play the Japanese version of Snatcher included), and a wonderful interface with fantastic music. One of these days I would really like to be able to play around with the console more seriously than I have already. 

Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon Never Existed: So Nintendo localized the first ever Fire Emblem game on Nintendo Switch which is awesome to see them touching Famicom games again--I haven’t seen Nintendo of America rerelease old Famicom titles since Mysterious Murasame Castle on the 3DS, but their trailer hilariously made it seem like this is the first time ever they released Fire Emblem when in fact they had already localized the remake Shadow Dragon on the Nintendo DS nearly 10 or 11 years ago. I and many other fans I talked to all found this really hilarious, probably solely because of how much they kept repeating the fact that this is the first time you will ever be able to experience Marth’s story.

All that aside though I have to say the collector edition for this newly localized Famicom game is probably the most gorgeous retro reproduction I have seen in a long time, and I really spent many many hours just staring at the all clear glass mock cartridge. I have found myself really obsessing over retro reproductions during 2020, and obtained quite a few this year. I really hope this trend continues to go on in 2021 as recreating classic console packaging and cartridges is a lot of fun. 

[spooky-jumpropes]

//Happy new decade, y’all. Honestly, I’m gonna miss all the fun and struggle I went through these past 10 years…

Pre-2010 was my last 2000s Christmas, when I got a DSi, New Super Mario Bros. Wii for the Wii, among a few other things.… Then during 2010, around Easter I got WarioWare D.I.Y. for the DS, WarioWare D.I.Y. Showcase for the WiiWare, and Super Mario Galaxy 2. ’Twas also the year my parents got a divorce, and unluckily, my mother took custody of my likeness, and spent 8 years discriminating me 24/7 for not being jewish. Also got Sonic Gems Collection for the Gamecube that year ‘round Christmas time (when I also got a recently released Bugs Bunny DVD), and was when I exposed myself to Sonic CD’s US soundtrack for the first time.

2011, I accidentally approved of the idea of moving, but beforehand I caught an episode of American Dad where Stan battles against a Terminator-esque doppelgänger. That episode was pretty good. That, the shameful moving day, and me familiarizing myself with emulation all happened in February of that year. I remember the first thing I played via emulation; Sonic 2 Long Version. So y’all know, my library only consists of games I own officially, unreleased titles, prototypes, and a couple hacks… Mostly Sonic hacks, and also a few improvement/translation patches) It was my 11th birthday when I got a 3DS and Super Street Fighter IV: 3D Edition (I picked up the Ultra version later in 2014 on the Xbox 360) Of course I got a couple other games on there like Super Mario 3D Land, but more on that some other time.

2012… That was when I first watched The Amazing World of Gumball on Teletoon. Even going into Season 2, the channel only had the first season to rerun, 2 episodes paired to fit a 30-minute timeframe, back then. I also got a Wii U with New Super Mario Bros. U and Nintendo Land on that Christmas.

2013, an early build of Diddy Kong Pilot got dumped in January, and then I got a nostalgic pastime to get me past my short lived times of being homeschooled. I played that on a bulky Dell PC that ran Windows XP, via VisualBoy Advance. I also then moved again, across the street. Christmas, I got an hp Windows 8 laptop that would come in play later.

2014, my final pre-social media year. Back when MLG was the big meme that helped shape how future memes would be, having gone past the classic Impact top text/bottom text format. SSB4 came out that year, and I have both For Nintendo 3DS and For Wii U.

2015, I got Movie Studio 12, and started my YouTube stuff. Not a lot else interesting stuff happened for me around this time, other than my slow growing realization that my mother was nothing more than a filthy lying discriminist grinch sack.

2016, the end of the SSB4 DLC, and I swapped Movie Studio 12 out with Sony Vegas Pro 13. I was then able to mask, and honestly? Basically the rest of my Vegas experience was the same as this, save for a few extra video effects and the sorts. Ended up also becoming a multifunctional program of sorts, as I also ended up using it, and later, Vegas Pro 14, for what most would use Photoshop, Audacity, and Mixcraft for.

2017, the Nintendo Switch came out and my library for that console continues to grow. I find my videos at this point started to get of a better quality.

2018, a 26-hour black out, and my laptop boot looping, which somehow ties into this blog’s creation. Technically this blog has been here since 2013, but it wasn’t until this year that it became the multimuse it is now. SSBU released that year and is still my favorite Nintendo Switch title to date, and entire year later. Like, when’ll see Banjo on a Nintendo console again after that (that’s not the N64 and GBA)? It was also the year that my mother abandoned me, and heavily/rudely forced her discriminations at me, going so far as to accuse me of “satanism”.

2019, I have a new workspace, with a Windows 7 computer on a drive, a 1TB USB storage, and Vegas Pro 14 to edit my stuff with. It’s alright, nothing different from 13. It was also when I opened up my Vinebooru account. I mostly draw stuff for Joel since he’s my favorite streamer out of all the Vinesauce streamers. I’m one of those individuals that got helped from watching his streams, after going through some tough times (specifically his then-recent Donkey Kong Country streams when my old laptop had boot looped).

All this, of course, is the 2010s from my perspective. If you wanna write about how the past decade was for you, you can go right ahead. :)

[wolfsteax]

how did you get into pokemon?

Hoooo boy.

You guys would think it’d be Sun and Moon, but my pokemon love goes back to Kindergarten. 

When I was a lil tot of 6 Indigo League was huge. Every Saturday morning I’d watch it and of course because of it I began collecting the cards. It was all the rage at my school and at recess we’d all show each other our cards. I remember always getting excited over the sparkly cards.My favorite pokemon at the time were eevee, pikachu, skitty, and meowth. I still have a lot of my OG pokemon merch too (including a life sized meowth plush from ‘99). I never had the money for the actual game systems so the cards were really how I stayed into pokemon. Later on I did eventually get a DS where I got PKM Black. Then I was sent emulators and things to play the older games.Of course when I got my snazzy 3DS I got Sun and Moon and fell in love with it because they had really gone back to what made me fall in love with pokemon. Unique characters, a neat plot, fun environments, and that just slightly overkill pokemon vibe. So, I got into Pokemon cuz of Indigo League. There’s the quick answer. Pokemon has been a huge part of my life, to say the least.

To the point where I wanted to work for the company as an artist.

[hellosaltysaladcollectionstuff]

Video game hardware often serves as a hurdle for developers to overcome. Whether it's running out of memory or figuring out how to translate a player's interactions with a controller into a dynamic 3D world meant to emulate real life, just getting things to work smoothly is an accomplishment in and of itself. But with some games, developers take things further, and the end result can be better off for it.

There have been countless memorable moments in games, whether it's a well-designed boss fight, an unexpected character death, or an awe-inspiring view. But many of the best moments stem from the way games use hardware in unique ways to deliver something unforgettable. In other cases, special hardware or accessories are used to deliver an experience that otherwise wouldn't be possible with a typical controller or keyboard and mouse.

We've rounded up some of our favorite examples of the best uses of gaming hardware, one that saw fans use technology to turn an existing game into something very different, and a few others that were certainly original, if not very good. Be sure to share those that stick out in your memory with us in the comments below.

Metal Gear Solid

For a series chock-full of noteworthy bosses, it's a testament to the creativity of the original Metal Gear Solid that Psycho Mantis remains so memorable. That comes down in large part to the way the sequence utilized the PS1 in ways I had never seen before. The psychic FOXHOUND villain screws with Solid Snake--and the player--by manipulating the PS1. For instance, the screen goes black, which caused me a brief moment of panic where I thought something had gone wrong with my system.

In an even more brilliant moment, Psycho Mantis looks at the save files stored on your memory card and comments on them. He remarks on the number of times progress has been saved in MGS and points out certain games that you have save progress in. (Years later, this led to one of my favorite parts of Metal Gear Solid 4, where Mantis can't pull off the same tricks due to the PS3's hard drive and vibration-less Sixaxis controller.) At one point, you deal with with his powers by switching the port that your controller is plugged into, which I still find an astoundingly bold choice for a game.

Sadly, some of these things were specifically tailored to the PS1 and GameCube versions, and have thus been lost to time if you don't play them on the original hardware. Still, there was nothing quite like getting to experience all of this in the moment without any warning about what to expect. | Chris Pereira

Boktai

Famed designer Hideo Kojima could do no wrong during the late '90s and early 2000s. He won my young heart with the cinematic stylings of Metal Gear Solid and the fast-paced robot action of Z.O.E: Zone of the Enders. So when I found out that his next non-Metal Gear game would be a GBA game that utilized a solar sensor on its cartridge to fuel an in-game mechanic, I was instantly intrigued.

Titled Boktai, the game stars Django, a young vampire hunter on a quest to avenge his father's death. Equipped with his trusty solar powered gun, the Gun Del Sol, Django takes on all sorts of undead foes. This is where the game cartridge's solar sensor comes in; your gun only holds a limited amount of energy, and once depleted, you need to charge it by holding the gun up to the sun. But in order to do this, you literally need to hold the game up towards the actual sun, so the solar sensor can detect its warming rays. Of course, this means you actually have to play the game outside.

Boktai is a strange yet entertaining action-RPG made all the stranger by its solar sensor functionality. I recall spending hours playing the game outside--or occasionally cheating by opening my window to briefly charge Django's gun before retreating indoors to play until I needed another charge. In my experience, the only real drawback to the game is that you couldn't effectively play the game during the colder seasons--for obvious reasons.

I thoroughly enjoyed Boktai's sunlight mechanic as a kid, and it remains a joy to play even now thanks to compelling dungeon crawling and a slew of clever puzzles that took advantage of the game's real-time clock and day-night cycle. To this day, the game remains one of the most memorable and innovative uses of GBA hardware. If you can track down a copy, I highly recommend it--if only to experience one of Kojima's quirkier and more adventurous game concepts. | Matt Espineli

Image credit: donpepe

Sega Activator

Anyone who played console games in the early '90s is well aware of how many gimmicky controllers made it to market. Of the wacky lot of plastic trinkets that cluttered our basements, you'd be hard-pressed to find one as over-the-top as Sega's Activator for the Genesis. The octagonal ring promised to let you punch and kick in the real world and have it translate to fighting games like Mortal Kombat or Street Fighter II.

Sounds amazing, right? Well, while not an outright lie, the advertisements for the Activator may have been stretching the truth a bit. In practice, you couldn't simply punch and kick as you would hope; to execute a specific action, you would have to send your hand or foot over a specific part of the octagon. Each section of the ring corresponded to a button on the Genesis controller and contained a light sensor that detected when you crossed its invisible threshold. Imagine waving your palms frantically around your body trying to move your on-screen character, throw a punch or two, or god forbid execute a complicated combo attack, and you can easily understand why the Activator was derided by early adopters (read: suckers) who fell for Sega's brief marketing blitz. It is, at best, an interesting footnote. | Peter Brown

Image credit: SegaRetro

Pokemon Go

People still debate Pokemon Go's quality as a video game, but there's no doubt that it uses smartphone technology in an inventive and powerful way. By utilizing your location and some fiddly but capable AR, the mobile game turns your local area into your very own Pokemon adventure. It means you can explore your own neighbourhood in the same way you explored Kanto all those years ago. It's immediately nostalgic and emotional for anyone who played the mainline games and wants to be the one catching Pokemon and venturing across the land.

To some people, Pokemon Go might just be a throwaway mobile fad, something that went viral overnight because The Internet and that's that. But to others, including myself, it allows us to finally achieve what we'd always wanted: To transport ourselves inside a Pokemon game and be the very best, like no one ever was. | Oscar Dayus

Let's Tap

Let's Tap is a game, but it deserves an entry here for the interesting way it made use of Nintendo's Wii Remote. At a time when every studio under the sun was working on the next great motion-controlled game (bless their naive hearts), former Sonic Team head Yuji Naka conceived a game that utilized the Wii Remote's accelerometer, but without the user having to hold the controller in their hand. Instead, you would lay your Wii Remote face down on a cardboard box, and tap the box with your fingers to interact with Let's Tap's collection of mini-games. These included a Jenga-like deconstruction game, a multiplayer sprint race, and a basic rhythm game, among a few other simple applications.

Let's Tap and Naka get bonus points for originality, but the game failed to make a splash despite its inventive spirit. As former GameSpot reviewer Luke Anderson pointed out, "Let's Tap certainly offers a different way to play, but the games don't completely mesh with the control scheme and, with the exception of Rhythm Tap, could have worked every bit as well with a more conventional control setup." | Peter Brown

Looney Tunes: Duck Amuck

As someone who likes to tease and bug my friends, it makes a lot of sense in retrospect that I had such a great time with Looney Tunes: Duck Amuck, a game all about annoying Daffy Duck. Based on the classic cartoon of the same name (pictured above), which sees an off-screen animator mess around with Daffy, Duck Amuck tasks you with generally tormenting the character. It's a creative idea for a game, but what makes it special is the way in which it leverages the DS hardware.

Some of the ways of interacting with Daffy are pretty straightforward--you use the touchscreen to poke and prod him or to pick him up and launch him off the screen. Where it really blows my mind is in the way that it allows you to physically close the system, something which would normally suspend what you're playing and put the handheld in sleep mode. Instead, the game keeps going, and Daffy shouts out at you, allowing you to continue playing a mini-game using the shoulder buttons. It's a feature that I'm still glad that Nintendo allowed, and it made for an experience I still remember vividly more than a decade later. | Chris Pereira

NeGcon

Namco's legacy took root in the arcade, a place where games and hardware often combined in surprising and unexpected ways. This innovative spirit stuck with Namco; in 1995, it fundamentally reinvented the standard PlayStation controller in hopes of improving the experience of playing racing games at home. The result was the unusual NeGcon controller, which was split down the middle from top to bottom, allowing users to twist the controller's two halves. Compared to the digital inputs of a d-pad or the short throw of an analog stick, this wide range of motion allowed for more finesse when turning the wheel of a virtual car. Despite its odd appearance, the NeGcon found wide support from other publishers and could be used with games like Gran Turismo, Rally Cross, and Wipeout (including Wipeout Fusion on PS2). It's an odd-looking controller to be sure, but it fulfilled Namco's promises. It was such a success, that Namco would follow-up with another racing-centric controller only a few short years later... | Peter Brown

Image credit: Wikipedia

Jogcon

Rather than iterate on the NeGcon, Namco went back to the drawing board for the development of the Jogcon, a controller with a force-feedback-enabled wheel crammed into the middle. It was marketed alongside Ridge Racer Type-4--the final entry in the series on the original PlayStation--but would also be compatible with PlayStation 2 games like Ridge Racer V. Not one to forget its past, Namco allowed you to trick the controller into a NeGcon mode, which allowed for wider support, albeit without the force-feedback feature. While it didn't enjoy widespread success like the NeGcon, the Jogcon still deserves respect for packing force-feedback into a standard controller, allowing players to experience the push and pull of the road without having to invest in expensive and bulky racing wheel setups. | Peter Brown

Image credit: videogameclipcollect

Twitch Plays Pokemon

Okay, Twitch Plays Pokemon wasn't technically a unique use of video game hardware, but it was still one of the most creative moments in recent video game history. It allowed those watching the stream to control the protagonist of a number of Pokemon games, starting with Pokemon Red and continuing with sequels such as Pokemon Crystal, Emerald, and Platinum, among many more. Viewers achieved this by typing in commands--"up," "down," "B"--to make the main character move and perform actions.

As you can imagine, that made actually playing the game very difficult. Trying to beat a Gym Leader, catch an elusive Legendary, or even walk in the right direction is tricky when dozens of thousands of people each have a controller.

However, as we all know, give enough typewriters to enough monkeys and they'll eventually beat the Elite Four, and that we did. And when the moment came that this cacophony of monkeys finally beat the first game, pure joy ensued. We'd done it! Twitch Plays Pokemon had made us the controller and we didn't mess it up. It merely took us a brief 16 days, 9 hours, 55 minutes, and 4 seconds. | Oscar Dayus

Plastic Instruments for Guitar Hero and Rock Band

The plastic instrument revolution led by the Guitar Hero and Rock Band franchises came and went, but its impact on rhythm games (and games in general) is unforgettable. GuitarFreaks in Japan preceded other instrument-based music games, but it never matched the reach and influence of Guitar Hero. In 2005, developer Harmonix nailed the feeling of shredding in Guitar Hero by simply pairing five notes as frets on the guitar neck with a small lever that acts as the strings in the packaged instrument. The other key ingredient was obtaining hit songs that captured a Western audience regardless of the diverse tastes in rock music, whether it be classic, punk, metal, or indie rock.

Seeing Guitar Hero in action for the first time with the plastic guitar immediately makes perfect sense: follow the pattern on screen and pluck the lever while holding down the correct note(s). In this regard, the game is accessible to those who have never picked up the instrument before but also challenges those actually knew how to play a guitar. The series provided an avenue to not just discover new songs but build a rhythmic connection with the melodies and harmonies of songs you already loved.

In 2007, Harmonix topped themselves with Rock Band, which cranked the concept up to 11. Not only did it retain the intuitive guitar gameplay, but the game included a microphone for vocals, a full drum set, and the option for a second guitar to cover basslines. The game really lived up to its name. It was the perfect blend of karaoke, Taiko Master, and Guitar Hero with the continued tracklist of diverse rock songs that satisfied nearly all tastes in music.

Unfortunately, the genre lost its appeal over time and the accumulation of plastic instruments became a burden for both retailers and consumers. The concept is still more than a novelty; dusting off those old guitars and drums can make a good party great. | Michael Higham

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Older consoles are an endearing and memorable part of a lot of childhoods. From the SNES to the PlayStation, there were a ton of amazing, iconic games. Some of them are still good by today’s standards. Many of those games have mobile releases, like older Final Fantasy games. However, many only exist on those older consoles. There isn’t any other way to play them. With emulators, you can play the originals whenever you want on your devices. Let’s check out the best emulators for Android. Keep in mind that emulators are finicky by nature and will sometimes work flawlessly and other times will not.

Here are more emulators to check out!

15 best Android emulators for PC and Mac of 2018

There are a lot of valid reasons why someone would want to run Android emulators on their PC. App developers may be trying to test their application before shipping it out. Gamers may want to …

5 best SNES emulators for Android

Emulators are a valuable part of Android’s past. Emulators allowed gamers to play their favorite retro titles on mobile. It provided hours of entertainment for not that much money. Thankfully, there are a decent number …

ClassicBoy

Price: Free / $3.99

ClassicBoy is one of the more robust emulators for Android. It supports multiple consoles, including PlayStation, N64, Game Boy Advanced, Game Boy Classic and Color, and a few others. Most of them work adequately well. It also supports save states, load states, hardware controller support, and gesture support. The lite version has a few features missing. The pro version packs all the goods.

DraStic DS Emulator

Price: $4.99

DraStic DS Emulator is among the best Nintendo DS emulators. It features the basic stuff like save and load states along with virtual controls. It also includes the ability to customize the top and bottom screens of the DS. The emulator also has support for hardware keyboards. The best part of this is the stability. Most game ROMs work perfectly fine with very few flaws. The price has gone down over the years as well. There is no free version to try, though. Make sure you test it out inside of the refund period!

ePSXe is one of two popular PlayStation emulators. This one focuses a bit more on simplicity. The emulator just works most of the time. Simply load your ROM and you are ready to go. It also features very good virtual keyboard customization, hardware controller support, and the usual stuff like save and load states. Those who don’t want to tinker with their settings very should definitely grab this one. It’s $3.75 with no in-app purchases, but no free version to demo.

FPse is the second of the two popular PlayStation emulators. This one focuses more on deep customization. There are a ton of settings, plug-ins, and other stuff. They can make the graphics look better, adjust the framerates, and improve various other things. It does have the usual stuff as well, including hardware controller support. This is the option you want if you like to tinker with stuff. Much like ePSXe, it’s relatively cheap with no additional in-app purchases. However, there is also no free version, so test it out as soon as possible in case you need a refund!

Frodo 64 is one of only a few Commodore 64 emulators. It seems to work rather well. However, it takes a bit of tinkering to get it work right. The emulator is open source. It is also a port of the PC version. We can’t stress enough that you’re going to have a bad time with this one at first. Keep at it, though, because it’s an excellent Commodore 64 emulator when you figure out how it works.

We have even more emulator lists to check out!

10 best Game Boy Advanced, Game Boy Color, and Game Boy emulators for Android

Game Boy and Game Boy Color were the handheld consoles that started it all. Their release showed that you could have well made games that fit in your pocket. Handheld game consoles have evolved a …

5 best Nintendo DS emulators for Android

The Nintendo DS is among the most popular handheld consoles of all time. Its iconic value is right up there with that of the Game Boy and the PSP. There were some amazing games for …

John emulators

Price: Free / $2.99 each

John emulators is a developer on Google Play. He does a few really good emulators. They include apps for SNES, NES, Game Boy Advance, and Game Boy Color. Each one is considered among the best in its console categories. They’re rock solid with good ROM support, the basic features, and some extra fun stuff like cheat codes and fast forward mode. All of them have free versions with pro version that cost $2.99 each.

Matsu PSX Emulator

Price: Free / $9.99

Matsu is one of the more powerful emulators for Android. It features several emulators in one, including PlayStation 1, SNES, NES, GBA, GBC, WSC, PCE, Game Gear, and Mega Drive. It’s one of the few with that many popular game systems. The emulator also features cheat code support, various customization preferences, fast forward functionality, and external controller support. In our testing, it ran everything we threw at it. However, as with most emulators, your results will vary. The free version contains advertising. The full version is a tad expensive at $9.99.

MegaN64 is one of the more stable N64 emulators. It uses the open source code from Mupen64. Considering that Mupen64 is basically the only open source N64 emulator, the experience doesn’t get much better than it. MegaN64 takes the base and adds a bit of optimization for performance and certain devices. We recommend Mupen64 over this one unless it doesn’t work on your device. Then you should totally try this one instead. It’s free, but it also has ads. We would’ve liked a pro version without advertising, though.

Mupen64

Price: Free / $0.99

Mupen64 is the N64 emulator that all other N64 emulators come from. When it gets more stable, the others do as well. It features the basic stuff, like save states and load states. It also has cursory support for hardware controllers. The emulator does still need some work, but many ROMs play perfectly fine. The emulator is completely free to download and use. The pro version is an optional purchase to support the developer.

MyBoy and My OldBoy

Price: Free / $3.99-$4.99

MyBoy and My OldBoy are emulators for Game Boy Advance and Game Boy, respectively. They are among the best in their respective categories with tons of features. Some of the features include save/load states, fast forward mode, cheat codes, syncing save files with Google Drive, and more. They also do a really good job at emulating games. The free versions come with some features stripped out. The paid versions have all of the features.

And here is even more retro gaming goodness!

5 best SEGA Genesis emulators, SEGA Mega Drive emulators, and SEGA CD emulators for Android

One of gaming’s first big rivalries was between the SEGA Genesis and the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES). We know that Nintendo ultimately won the rivalry, but plenty of people still enjoyed the Genesis and …

15 best retro games for Android

Retro games have always had a certain charm. They invoke nostalgia and make us think of the old days when graphics didn’t matter as much as they do now. Retro games are generally simpler than …

Nostalgia emulators

Price: Free / $1.49-$3.99

Nostalgia emulators is a developer on Google Play. They do three popular emulators for Game Boy Color, NES, and Game Gear. All of them feature customizable virtual controllers, save/load states, hardware gamepad support, and various features specific to the various game consoles. There is even a WiFi controller mode if you have an extra phone. They’re also fairly inexpensive. The most expensive is $3.99 for the NES emulator. The others are less than $2 each.

PPSSPP

Price: Free / $4.49

PPSSPP is, without question, the best PSP emulator on the market. It features the best stability, best ROM support, and best features of any of the other PSP emulators. Additionally, the emulator includes the usual array of features for an emulator. It is still a work in progress. Some games may not play at full speed, even on the latest devices. However, it’s definitely good enough for most things. You can try it free before buying the pro version.

RetroArch is one of the most unique emulators. It has the capacity to emulate a bunch of different consoles. The app itself is the emulator. People download cores that run inside of the app. Each core is a different console. It’s a bit difficult to learn at first. However, most of the emulator cores work extremely well. This is a great option for those who like to emulate multiple consoles without wanting to download a bunch of apps. It’s also completely free, packed with features, and more.

Robert Broglia emulators

Price: Free / $2.99-$7.99 each

Robert Broglia is a developer on Google Play. He has some of the most popular and stable emulators on mobile. The consoles supported are SNES, Game Boy Advance, Game Boy Color, NES, Commodore 64, Sega CD, Master Drive, Neogeo, Atari 2600, MSX, NeoGeo Pocket, TG16, and others. Yes, that’s quite a long list. The Commodore 64 emulator is probably the best in its class and the rest are definitely right up there. Each one has a free version to try with a pro version that unlocks all of the features. They all also have all of the basic features you’d expect in an emulator with some console-specific features as well.

SuperRetro16

Price: Free / $3.99

SuperRetro16 is one of the most popular SNES emulators. It underwent a number of name changes over the years. However, it’s remained reliable. It works for virtually every SNES ROM that we know about. There are also a ton of features, including variable speed fast forward, cloud saving, cloud game storage, and a bunch of graphics and audio settings. This is as feature packed as emulators get. You can try it out for free before buying it.

Thank you for reading! Here are some final emulator lists to check out!

5 best N64 emulators for Android

The Nintendo 64 was in a class all on its own. It was one of the last consoles ever to use cartridges and featured some legendary games such as Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, …

5 best PlayStation emulators for Android

The PlayStation was one of the most iconic gaming systems ever released and with it came a slew of legendary games. It dominated the fifth generation of game consoles by a fairly hefty margin when …

If we missed any of the best emulators for Android, tell us about them in the comments! You can also click here to check out our latest Android app and game lists!

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