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Emulators vs the real deal

Caide

New member
Hi, I'm kind of torn on what I should do.

I recently downloaded the Project64 emulator (with high resolution packs) to mainly play Zelda: OoT and Majora's Mask, as I no longer have an N64, and maybe play some others like Super Mario 64 or something if I feel like it. I realized that I should also buy an N64 controller and adapter to get the full experience of the N64, but after searching I see that the most commonly used one might not work on vista (which I have) and is very buggy, and the 'Adaptoid' which support rumble, is no longer in production, and costs upwards of $100+ used.

I found a couple other kinds of adapters:

http://tinyurl.com/lx34uv

and

http://www.4triangles.com/catalog/dual-usb-adapter-for-n64-controller-nintendo-64-to-pc-p-28.html

However, I'm not sure how good these are or if they support rumble (probably not).

Another option I could do is to simply buy an N64 system+one controller for like $25-30, and buy the two Zelda games for approx $15-20 each, but it gets kind of expensive if I want to play other games (I'd probably just use the emulator to play any other games). With this route, I would hook my N64 up to my television, which is obviously a lot bigger than my computer monitor, and I would have rumble in this case.

Summing the two options up:

If I go with the emulator, it's approx $45 (one controller+adapter), and isn't as reliable as the real deal (could stop working mid-game or something and not be able to finish it, and I won't have rumble which I'm worried is important to feel immersed.

If I go with the actual N64, it's approx $70 (one controller, N64, 2 games, rumble pak), and is very reliable. I would be playing it on a big screen (TV) and the rumble pak for further immersion, but the quality wouldn't be as good without the high resolution packs (that I have with the emulator).


So, this leads me to ask two questions:

1. How important do you feel the rumble pak is to The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask?

2. What would you do (emulator vs N64)?


Thanks!
 
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Agozer

16-bit Corpse | Moderator
1. I'd say pretty important, considering how in Ocarina of Time for example, you need to rely on the Rumble Pak to find certain hidden items. However, at least the N-rage Input plugin has the Visual Rumble that flashes the window whenever a Rumble Pak event is triggered (works only in windowed mode for fairly obvious reasons).

2. The real deal is always better if you ask me, no high resolution textures or all that jazz notwithstanding. Since I don't have an N64 anywhere near me, I'll gladly take the emulator and simply deal with the problems it brings. I'm not even interested in any texture projects to begin with.
 
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LazerTag

Leap of Faith
I fully agree with Agozer on this, at least #2 as #1 doesn't apply to me since I don't play that game (no I don't dislike Zelda games I simply don't have the time for long drawn out games anymore, I wish I did though ::sigh:: ).

Anyway for me emulation is very fun and takes up much of my free time goofing around in general (aside from family, friends, and band obligations) nothing beats the real deal when doing serious gaming on whatever console. I want the real thing without any hassle or issues and emulation simply does not cut it in that department for me. Not that slight visual issues or sound issues bother me much. My biggest issue I would say is not that many title are perfect (or almost perfect, at least where I can't tell) but the controller itself is just not there. If I'm playing N64, NES, SNES, Genesis, arcade, whatever, I want the real controller for each to get the feel I am expecting otherwise it's just not the same for me. Instead of buying a controller for each platform I would rather have the real thing hooked up and running and keep in stock my favorite titles.

And as far as the hi-res textures or even settings to higher resolutions or various extras, again I'm with Agozer here. Those things simply don't mean much to me other then to see them initially and say "that's cool!". After that I once again would rather have the true feel of what I came to know of these games in front of me. I guess that makes me old skool or just old, take your pick. ;)
 

Alunalun

New member
I side with the emulator.

So far as I know, for the popular games, particularly Zelda, emulators work fine for most people. But yeah, high res. and texture packs aren't so exciting. In fact, when I tried a Zelda OoT texture pack I didn't like it. Each texture had been two-dimensionally greatly improved, but when you assembled the 3-D world with the new textures they didn't really match together (and to my eye it also tended to highlight the fact that things like 'cylindrical' buildings are in fact octagons...)

But what I'm trying to say is that the emulator is actually pretty good. My problem always was that the N64 controllers' analogue sticks wore out. They're only available second hand now, with worn sticks. One of my controllers was used so much that I could no longer navigate menus because the stick's netural zone had become too large. So I'm much happier now I have a platform with an unlimited supply of new controllers.
Also, my N64 is a bit unreliable. If you jogged it (which I did fairly frequently because the controller lead is short) or touched the cartridge it would crash.

By the way:
I have a Saitek P2600 and it supports full rumble (I'm using the N-Rage plugin), and also has the uncommon layout of six buttons under the right thumb, which are obiviously perfect for mapping the N64 controller to. Only thing that doesn't match the N64 right-handed grip is that 'Start' has to be on one of the shoulder buttons.
 
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Caide

New member
I feel like I'm going to be too tempted to cheat if I have the option (with the emulator), and that just defeats the purpose and makes me not want to play.
 

Alunalun

New member
Sounds like, deep down, you already know what you want.
But - maybe there's some way to have it automatically make a note of when you cheat? Have some other program count the number of times you press F7? (or do it yourself on paper). Then you can shoot for keeping that at zero.
 

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