Video game console emulator
[citation needed] Emulators are also a useful tool in the development process of homebrew demos and the creation of new games for older, discontinued, or rare consoles.
Freely downloading or uploading game ROMs across various internet sites is considered to be a form of piracy,[4] and users may be sued for copyright infringement.
Few manufacturers published technical specifications for their hardware, which left programmers to deduce the exact workings of a console through reverse engineering.
[7] This rise in popularity opened the door to foreign video games, and exposed North American gamers to Nintendo's censorship policies.
[7] An emulator is created typically through reverse engineering of the hardware information as to avoid any possible conflicts with non-public intellectual property.
[16] As an alternative, specialized adapters such as the Retrode allow emulators to directly access the data on game cartridges without needing to copy it into a ROM image first.
The largest concern is nature of copyright infringement related to ROM images of games, typically distributed freely and without hardware restrictions.
[7] There are further concerns related to intellectual property of the console's branding and of games' assets that could be misused, though these are issues less with emulation itself but with how the software is subsequently used.
[17] Concerns about cost, availability, and longevity of game software and console hardware have also been cited as a reason for supporting the development of emulators.
Emulation can also be seen as a means to enhance functionality of the original game that would otherwise not be possible, such as adding in localizations via ROM patches or new features such as save states.
This led to an effort by console manufacturers to stop unofficial emulation, but consistent failures such as Sega v. Accolade 977 F.2d 1510 (9th Cir.
[23] Under United States law, obtaining a dumped copy of the original machine's BIOS is legal under the ruling Lewis Galoob Toys, Inc. v. Nintendo of America, Inc., 964 F.2d 965 (9th Cir.
Forked projects from Yuzu since appeared, taking the route of informing users what decryption items they would need but otherwise not stating how to acquire these as to stay within Nintendo's stance against emulation and copyright infringement.
[25] Some scams, such as the purported "PCSX4" emulator, have even gone so far as to setting up a fake GitHub repository, presumably for added trustworthiness especially to those unfamiliar with open-source software development.
[26] The Federal Trade Commission has since issued an advisory warning users to avoid downloading such software, in response to reports of a purported Nintendo Switch emulator released by various websites as a front for a survey scam.
[27] Due to the high demand of playing old games on modern systems, consoles have begun incorporating emulation technology.
Until the 4.0.0 firmware update, the Nintendo Switch system software contained an embedded NES emulator, referred to internally as "flog", running the game Golf (with motion controller support using Joy-Con).
[36] Commercial developers have also used emulation as a means to repackage and reissue older games on newer consoles in retail releases.
Some emulators feature an option to "quickly" boot a game, bypassing the console manufacturer's original splash screens.
This can be considered a nuisance for console gamers as some games feature seemingly inexplicable localization differences between regions, such as differences in the time requirements for driving missions and license tests on Gran Turismo 4,[38][39][better source needed] and the PAL version of Final Fantasy X which added more ingame skills, changes to some bosses, and even more bosses, Dark Aeons,[40] that weren't available in the North American NTSC release of the game.
These problems can be overcome on emulators, as they are usually designed with their own output modules, which can run both NTSC and PAL games without issue.
[citation needed] Many emulators, for example Snes9x,[42] make it far easier to load console-based cheats, without requiring potentially expensive proprietary hardware devices such as those used by GameShark and Action Replay.
