Best way to play SMS ROM's without original hardware?

[ninjabearhug]

How do you guys play your ROM's? I only own a handful of SMS games nowadays, explanation may or may not be coming in the off topic thread soon depending if I can be arsed or not, and I don't own an SMS console at all now. But, I do still want to play and enjoy the great games available on the system. At the minute the choices available to me are:

Nintendo Wii

I have a softmodded Wii running retroarch, and so far all the SMS games I tried on it work fine. I dislike the feel of the wii mote and also the fact that it needs batteries, but it is pretty close to an SMS pad I suppose. I have a classic controller for it but have found it hit and miss when it comes to compatability.

Retron 5

This is how I play all my original games at the minute, and while I love all the features of the system for real carts, getting ROM's to run on it seems a bit awkward and long winded to me. But using original SMS/MD pads does give it that added bonus.

Laptop

I have a very high spec laptop, and of the emulators I've tried on it they all seem to run games fine. I also have a pad convertor so I can use an original pad, but getting that to work is very hit and miss, when you set it up the button allocation presses are ultra sensitive and usually end up with me getting mad and throwing things. I laso dislike playing on the laptop screen, much prefer using the TV.

PS3

Now I'm yet to enable the playing of rom's on my PS3, but I am very much interesting in the idea. It seems like a lot of messing around, but once Retroarch is running on it I can see this being a very good option. Of all the pads available to me I would most likely be happiest using a PS3 pad, comfy, no wires, rechargable, and one I am more than experienced with using. Downside, if I jailbreak my PS3 would I still be able to use it online?

PSP

I hacked my phat PSP years ago after the disc drive broke on it, and it probably got more use than my slim after that. I played loads of ROM's on that system for a year or so, but I must say I had a lot of compatability issues with it. I was using Kega at the time and while it played MD stuff just fine the SMS was very hit and miss. On top of that, battery life was an issue, although I daresay a new battery would solve that. I did like the pad and the portability though.

DS

I played ROM's on my DS using an R4 card, but I only ever really tried one or two SMS games. I played loads of stuff for the GB on it but every time I tried playing console games they just felt wrong. The touch screen on my DS is broken too after a heavy handed rage moment, and some of the emulators I used on there used touch screen functions. I basically just found the system awkward.


So that's my current options. What would you do? Is there better ways of playing SMS games on any of the systems I'm currently running? I'm pretty much running either RetroArch or Fusion on most as at the time I was more bothered about playing Nintendo roms than sega ones, so is their better emulators around that I may enjoy the games on more?

Help me out and give me some info!!!

[Transatlantic Foe]

I have a Saturn to USB converter, so for most emulation I use a Japanese-style Saturn pad. For the SMS, that means Fusion.

I do have an SMS disc I downloaded ages ago which runs on the Dreamcast. It works fine but Fusion is easier to use.

And then there's Phantasy Star and Golden Axe Warrior on the 360 via the Mega Drive Ultimate Collection. Preferable because no leaky batteries!

99% of the time I play on the original hardware though, as I have pretty much all the games I want to play for it.

[jessie]

I enjoy my Retron 5. I have Fusion on my PC also as well as the original hardware.

[flatapex]

I've never done pc based emulation as I don't own a windows based laptop, I have a modded psp with masterboy (a master system and gameboy emulator), I run it on cpw alongside picodrive for the megadrive

I looked at some of the master system handheld systems available online, they looked ok, someone I know had the mega drive one and said it was awful so I stuck with my psp, alongside the everdrives (i own 3) it gives me plenty to play. I own quite a lot of original hardware (3 master systems, 2 mega drives, master system converter, snes, super game boy, then there are all the handhelds and more modern stuff)

[Centrale]

Like Transatlantic, I use Fusion on PC and have a Saturn to USB converter for the controller. In the past I've used Meka but in recent years I haven't been able to get that running well on my systems.

I also have a Caanoo - a Linux-based handheld system that can run a number of emulators - I use DrSMS on that.

Ninjabearhug, no matter how you play the games, I hope some day you'll resume your SMS Quest!

[Maxim]

Nintendo DS is pretty good for Master System games because there are some good emulators (ApprenticeMinusDS, S8DS), and the screen resolution (256x192) exactly matches almost all SMS games so the graphics aren't blurry at all.

Otherwise, whatever connects to your TV and has a controller you can use is the way to go. You may still find the lag on modern TVs is an issue, plus emulators can add some lag (~1/60s), compared to playing a real system on a CRT. Also, you won't have much luck with light guns, 3D glasses, handle controllers and pedals, etc most of the time.

[englishinvader]

Kega Fusion all the way for Mega Drive, Master System and Game Gear. The XBox 360 pad is useless as far as KF is concerned but I've been happy with a generic PC controller from my local Game store.

My hardware of preference is a home-built Linux desktop. Windows XP is still the best OS for emulators but Ubuntu isn't far behind and a lot of Windows emulators run flawlessly through Wine. Mint is good for most of the popular emulators but Wine isn't as reliable and a lot of emulators have issues upon entering/exiting full screen mode like system crashes or screwed up resolution (based on my experience with a Radeon HD5450 graphics card with an open source driver).

[lambrettadave]

I sometimes use master gear on a Amiga 1200 which most games work well but some can be glitchy as well.

On a laptop with XP kega fusion is good.

I want to try dreamcast emulation in the near future, any idea where I can get a disc or ISO with games on it?

[evo4123]

for emulators i use my modded xbox. its got most of the games on there and 99% play fine. its not the same as using the sms controller but its the only way il ever play buggy run etc lol

[englishinvader]

Oct 20, 2015 0:44:49 GMT lambrettadave said:

I sometimes use master gear on a Amiga 1200 which most games work well but some can be glitchy as well.

On a laptop with XP kega fusion is good.

I want to try dreamcast emulation in the near future, any idea where I can get a disc or ISO with games on it?

Dreamcast emulation is good for Master System/Game Gear, NES, Atari 2600 (pretty much anything 8-bit although 7800 is a bit patchy) but it sucks for Mega Drive/SNES. It can also handle old school arcade fare (Galaga, Frogger) through MAME but don't expect Metal Slug or Chase HQ.

The main drawback for Dreamcast emulation is that there is no hard drive storage which means you have to use bootleg discs that greatly reduce the lifespan of the GD-ROM drive. The original XBox is a much better alternative as an emulator console.

On the subject of laptops, I have an 11 year old HP machine with a great screen and sound. I use it for home theatre/emulators on my coffee table when I want to relax on the sofa instead of sitting at my desktop. Here's a review of the machine from back in the day:
www.cnet.com/products/hp-pavilion-zv5000z/

I paid £900 for that beauty back in 2004 and I wouldn't trade it for anything on the market today.

[db]

Well, since no one's mentioned it yet I'll just say again that, if you have a Mac, Openemu is a retro video game fan's wet dream. It's a gui front end that runs many emulators. It still needs a bit of refining here or there but they're working on that and adding new emulators to it all the time and it already has a lot. Even more if you're willing to install the experimental version. I can't believe that I can finally play Saturn games on my computer that run just fine. SMS games also work fine. I play them with a PS3 controller and don't notice any lag. Of course, like maxim said, you need an actual SMS for the gun and 3D games and games that use a special controller. I think a new release is due soon and I can't wait to see what they've added. Beyond that I recently got a PSP 2000 and, of course, I loaded it up with emus. Pico allows you to play Sega CD games and it'll be neat to finally play Snatcher on a handheld

P.S. I also got a cheap HP PC awhile back with the intent of using it exclusively for game emulation. However, I just can't stand how quickly cluttered with malware or other weirdness a windows machine becomes and I'm not willing to a bunch of work to prevent it so now it just sits there, collecting dust.

[englishinvader]

Oct 25, 2015 4:34:15 GMT db said:

P.S. I also got a cheap HP PC awhile back with the intent of using it exclusively for game emulation. However, I just can't stand how quickly cluttered with malware or other weirdness a windows machine becomes and I'm not willing to a bunch of work to prevent it so now it just sits there, collecting dust.

I found that my XP laptops ran about 60% faster when I removed the AVG anti-virus. Since then, I've come to believe that all anti-virus is a con and that as long as you use a bit of common sense and don't click on any dodgy links you're good to go. And if you click on a dodgy link no amount of anti-virus will help you anyway.

Plus, the HP laptop in question doesn't need to go online much anyway. I can install all the emulators and game files I need from an external hard drive and various discs which means I can carry on using the machine when XP is as internet ready as Windows 95.