Thirith on 16/7/2010 at 06:59
I'll be going to Rio for two weeks for work, and my laptop is okay but not great. Since playing helps me unwind when there's lots of stress, I was thinking of getting an emulator or two and a couple of games so I could play if I wanted - that is, if my unwinding won't consist of caipirinhas on the beach. :cheeky:
Any tips for emulators and games? I was thinking of the SNES era and games like Super Mario World, mainly because I've heard good things about them. Ideally it should be games that I can play on and off for half an hour, not the long and long-winded RPG-type games.
Sulphur on 16/7/2010 at 07:08
That's almost like every other SNES non-RPG game.
I'd recommend (
http://www.zsnes.com/) zSNES, because that's what I've been using since... oh, my university days. It's great. You also do get the insta-quicksave option now thanks to save states, you know, so even if it's a long-winded game you can save it, shut it off, and come back later.
And to start you off, definitely Super Metroid and the Mario games. And Castlevania IV. Oh, and Flashback.
N'Al on 16/7/2010 at 08:25
CHRONO TRIGGER
june gloom on 16/7/2010 at 08:49
FINAL FANTASY VI
While we're at it, go get Visual Boy Advance. Get yourself Metroid Fusion and the Megaman Zero games (warning: HARD, esp. the first one.) Get the B&W Gameboy version of Bionic Commando, too, it's a fucking blast.
Thirith on 16/7/2010 at 10:49
Thanks for the suggestions so far. Hoping for more!
I might also get a Sega Mega Drive emulator, since I've always wanted to play the Shinobi games. They were mainly on Sega, right?
Are these games generally well playable on the keyboard, or would it make sense for me to pack a gamepad?
Brian The Dog on 16/7/2010 at 11:43
If you want to go really old-school games, then (
http://www.mkw.me.uk/beebem/) BeebEm is a great emulator for the different types of BBC Micro computers.
Volitions Advocate on 16/7/2010 at 13:37
Get a Gamepad. I can't seem to do anything in a platformer without one.
If you're going to try sega make sure you play Sonic. Fast paced, multiple paths. plenty of hidden secrets. Especially the later games like Sonic 3 and Sonic and Knuckles. As far as Shinobi goes the 2nd game was the best. Revenge of Shinobi. The first one is for the Master System so you would need another emulator for that.
Also, highly recommended for laptop gaming: Descent Rebirth, GZDoom, or any GoG title from the era. Fallout works great on my netbook.
demagogue on 16/7/2010 at 14:12
Project64 for Nintendo64 is my favorite emulator, and for that there's 1080 (snowboarding), Super Mario 64, Lego Cart and Mario Cart, Castlevania, and the Zelda games. And zSNES for the SNES is great, as mentioned.
For Sega Genesis there is Fusion, or Gens if you want Genesis & Sega CD games. Sonic is good but my favorite is Gargoyles, a game I found out of obscurity.
The Playstation emulator, ePSXe, always had wonky performance on my laptop, and the games didn't age as well as other systems IMO (but since I never had it, it loses the nostalgia factor maybe.)
There's also MAME for old coin-op games.
For the record, there are also a ton of homemade games with an old school vibe but some polish ... If they're good they're probably listed in the Freebies thread.
Edit: For the record, I've always played with keyboard and it's become so ingrained that I can play as naturally as a gamepad. I never felt there was an intrinsic difference. But it's all about what your fingers are used to. If you aren't already used to keyboard, then it might be a strange switch at first.
Thirith on 16/7/2010 at 14:20
Out of interest: does anyone know whether there are good emu versions of Toki and The New Zealand Story? I remember liking those two a lot way back on the Amiga...
