Everything You Need to Know About Emulators and Roms

So you want to play old classics from the N64, NES/SNES, or other game systems? Then as long as you know a few simple terms and have the motivation, you can put those games on your computer in a matter of minutes.

Some terms you may need to know:
Emulator
Rom

What's an emulator?
Emulators, often shortened to "emus", are is a program that allows you to play a certain type of game file. There are emus for game systems and computers of all operating systems. You can even "hack" systems and put an emulator of homebrew on them, but that is a different topic.

What is a Rom?
A rom is a "game" that is a certain file type that you play on an emulator. Think of it this way. An emulator is the game console and the rom is the game.

How do I start?
First you need to pick a system you want to emulate. Then you can go to http://www.emuparadise.org/ to get the programs needed (they are all free). Then you go over to the left side of the screen and select emulators. You will then select the system you want. Download one that has the best reviews and rating. When you download it, it will most likely be in a zipped folder. Un zip it into a folder named the name of the console you are emulating. Then you will need some games to play. Go back to the site and click on the emulator section of the site. Select the console and game you want. Download the game and un-zip it into the folder you created earlier.

How to play
Go to your folder that you made and double click the .exe file. Most will stand out because of an icon. After the emu is open, go to file, open rom. Select your rom from the folder you made and click. The rom should then start and you will have to figure out the controls unless the rom came with them.

Saving and extras
Not all emus let you save. On ones that do you will need to go to options>save in the menu bar. Look in the top menu bar if it isn't there, all emus are different. On most emulators, there will be a screenshot option in the menu bar too. Fool around and experiment with the different options such as slowing down frames to help you glitch and so on.

Troubleshooting
Of course you will run into problems. Here are some of the some of the common ones

The emu starts but game wont open

Ok, now you need to make sure that the game is for the correct emu

Emu won' open

Try another emu, many have bugs and don't work well on vista

If there are other errors, google them to try and fix them

I hope you enjoy your new games and you learned a lot from this article. I will be writing more articles soon, so please check back for more.

Thanks for your time.