Emulators: How your PC becomes a retro game console

What were those times when the legendary Sega Dreamcast or the Nintendo 64 were dadded in front of a chunky tube TV. If you want, you can easily get the game feeling back. We'll show you how your PC becomes a retro game console.

Today's PC and console games, such as the current representatives of the Call of Duty series, feature bombastic graphics, a cinematic sound and a stylish gaming experience. As impressive as the titles may be, some people miss the charm of old console satdays.

Times when Super Mario discovered the light of day, Sonic spouted through the landscape for the first time, and Crash Bandicoot had to record it with villains. Instead of Playstation 4 and Xbox One, the game consoles were called Sega Dreamcast and Nintendo 64 at the turn of the millennium. The two console veterans fought with Sony for dominance in the market. Sony had landed a surprise success with the first Playstation version, which was sold from 1994, and turned the video game world upside down.

For Sega, the Dreamcast was the last console to see the light of day. The Japanese gave up the fight against the overpowering competition when Microsoft also pushed into the market with the Xbox in 2001. Nintendo, on the other hand, did not want to be defeated and competed with the Gamecube against Sony and Microsoft. The console, despite some attractive game titles, became a big flop for Nintendo. The Japanese made a comeback in 2006 with the introduction of the Wii console, which prevailed against the much more powerful competition from Sony and Microsoft and became the first "family console". Over the years, many more or less successful consoles and handhelds have emerged and disappeared from the scene. Who remembers the Sega Gamegear, which was considered technically much better than the Nintendo Gameboy - but never managed to prevail.

The same was true many years later for the Playstation Portable , which became a disaster, that due to the spread of smartphones and countless game apps hardly anyone wanted to buy an additional handheld console.

Emulators are offered for each console

Whether it's a hit or a mega-flop, each console has shaped its time and allowed millions of users a lot of fun. If you want to revive this fun with your favorite console at the time, you don't need more than a PC or notebook - and suitable emulator software. Emulators simulate the operation of another hardware on a PC, such as a Dreamcast or an Xbox. The technology of that time is not a big problem for modern PCs. It is a greater effort for the programmers to establish compatibility with games. The emulators are developed by teams of programmers who are constantly developing the software. The emulators can be used free of charge and legally. It's not that simple with the games - more on that later - but unfortunately, it's not. In the box below we have put together a collection with many interesting emulators for you. From Xbox to Dreamcast to an émulateur ps3, all console classics are represented.

Clear selection

In addition to the collection we provide to you, you will find many more emulators on the Internet for all imaginable systems. A selection can be found on the www.emulator-zone.com page. Here, the emulators are sorted by consoles. There you can also download the software. However, the site does not provide installation instructions. How easy or complicated it is to get an emulator up and running depends on which system to emulate. For example, you can easily install and start the German-language Playstation portable software "PPSSPP". It gets much more complicated if you want to make Dreamcast titles work on your PC. This way, you need not only an emulator but also the Dreamcast bios for operation. However, while the emulator software is freely accessible and can be used legally, the Bios files are protected by copyright. Nevertheless, the files can be tracked with a Google search. However, we may not provide you with any installation instructions.