in the early years of video game emulation, how did they rip cartridge roms like NES ,SNES etc.. onto PC?
In: Technology
There were 2 main options:
– get a ROM dumper (like the n64, just an example, not sure if its viable though)
– or you can build a ROM dumper (many, many videos of people hacking together ROM dumpers for game cartridges)
A ROM dumper, practically, was just a device used to copy the data from the gaming cartridge, onto the PC.
Most likely, there was a software on the PC paired with the ROM dumper, to read the memory chips inside the cartridge and make a digital copy on the PC.
depending on what on what type of game you have, (NES or SNES etc.) you would get a specific file format.
eg: NES = .nes, SNES = .smc or .sfc
once thats done, you check if everythings there, run it through any emulator you like, and run the games on your PC as if it were any other gaming console
I’m not an emulator enthusiast, however this is what I was able to relate with the data I’ve seen around.
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