Recapturing the Youth
You wake up one day with a recurring thought on your mind: “Hey, I’ve never gotten to finish that game from my childhood!”
You immediately start your search for that forgotten cartridge among the heap of old tech from the past. You eventually find it, only to discover that your means of playing it are nonexistent. You resort to making something out of what you have in your hands. You don’t have your old CRT, your old NES, what kind of magic should you work to tie up the loose ends that bothered you for so long?
The answer becomes crystal clear: The Emulation!
Emulation is a wonderful thing, not only because it could rekindle the old flames of innocent childhood, but it could also enhance the original experience by blending modern technology with the old one.
You don’t have a CRT? No problem! Just put on a CRT filter to feel like you’re playing games at your grandma’s, with your only worry being how to jump that huge gap in Super Mario Bros. 8-2.
Does the game take too long to beat?
Or maybe you don’t like the fact that you can’t save scum your way through a particular level?
Or simply, you’re too lazy or old to develop a certain muscle memory that is required for a brutally difficult platforming section?
Just hit that rewind button to undo your mistake or save your state to load it up after meeting your doom, without having to suffer the consequences!
Let’s be real, with the artificial difficulty of the old, unforgiving platformers, such practices are almost mandatory. However, if you can’t swallow your pride, that’s fine too!
Low Poly Dreams
When games went to 3D, not only did they spawn new genres, but they also became a bit more forgiving.
Some of them were ahead of their time, and some of them had a disastrous transition.
We, on the other hand, were excited about what they had in store for us.Being unable to save without a memory card, we were once again stuck in an endless loop of playing the same section over and over again.
Sometimes we let the console run, sometimes we beat them in one sitting, and you know what? Those were the days when the games felt truly rewarding.
The time passed, graphics improved, and low polygons gradually lost their charm, but the memories were intact. Therefore, they became a style rather than an indication of outdated tech.
However, as technology advanced even further, they started looking blurry on our cutting-edge screens. That’s when emulators came to our rescue once again.
With the community-made custom textures, we were able to experience our core memories once again, with a modern twist.
Thanks to emulation, we could appreciate the gaming history.
We could feel like that exciting kid again.
We could jump that gap or defeat that boss that we once deemed impossible.
However, nostalgia is a bittersweet emotion.
Especially after realizing you can’t recapture the same feeling no matter what you do.
Thus, be grateful that you had a wonderful childhood.
And never let that inner child die!
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