eli5: Why do we need emulators to play old games? why can’t we just make the games work without the emulator?
In: 409
We do not necessarily need emulators to play old games it is just a lot easier that way most of the time. Most of the time the only thing we have to work with from old games is the ROM file which we would view as assembly instructions. Converting these instructions game per game would be quite involved compared to simply making an emulator.
If the source code to these games was release that might make it easier. You also have the issue of the company that owns the rights of these games going after people for doing things like this. Nintendo is pretty infamous for doing this. If you look at the game Doom the source code is well written and it has been ported to basically everything due to that.
The emulator itself is also typically legal where a unauthorized port would not be.
Latest Answers