There are plenty of emulators around for classic games machines at the moment, but what attractions do such things hold?
Gaming has advanced significantly over time and what was once cutting edge can now be played on a mobile phone on the go. That has not stopped a generation of gamers enjoying titles of old though, with emulators stretching back to cover machines such as the Commodore 64, Atari ST, and the Nintendo Entertainment System.
The rise of the Raspberry Pi has helped creative individuals make their own arcade machines, running some of the best titles the ’80s and ’90s had to offer, whilst some emulators for Linux focus solely on one machine and its back catalogue. The Super Nintendo brought the world the phenomenon that is Mario Kart, and it is supported by several emulators, such as higan, bsnes, and Snes9X.
What is the attraction for gamers though, who are spoiled for choice in today’s crowded gaming market? What titles can draw someone from a hundred-hour campaign on their PlayStation 4 to relive evenings hunched over a small TV playing 16-bit releases? Well, if you were in doubt as to why you need an emulator, then we have three reasons that might convince you, starting with a gaming legend.
Super Mario Kart
Mario Kart is a game that created a genre and perhaps even took the Italian plumber’s legacy away from platform romps for good. Fans had been used to throwing him down pipes and over mushrooms, but the introduction of Super Mario Kart changed all that. The four-way play meant hours of fun for groups of friends and at the time, the speed was something never seen before. By fixing the players character to the middle of the screen and rotating around it, using Mode 7 graphics. However good it looked it was the gameplay that set this title apart from the rest.
Lost Vikings
Lost Vikings was a teasing and complex puzzler in which you controlled Erik the Swift, Baleog the Fierce, and Olaf the Stout as they looked to make their way out of an alien zoo. Yup, one thing SNES games were able to do was push the realms of fantasy further and further into the unusual. By using the Viking characters though, the developers hit upon a theme that has been increasingly popular in pop culture over recent years. The TV show Vikings has fuelled that passion for the Norse era, and gaming has continued to develop themes seen in this 1992 release. The slot titles on Foxy Games draw from the same imagery, including Viking Pays and Vikings Go Berzerk, whilst newer titles such as God of War and Assassin’s Creed Valhalla can do far more graphically. However, they will be hard pushed to match the head-scratching brainteasers posed by Lost Vikings, one of the original and unique Viking games to hit the market.
Zombie Ate My Neighbours
From Vikings to zombies, here is another SNES title that has since experienced an exciting renaissance in pop culture. Zombies are everywhere, from TV shows such as The Walking Dead to expansive current generation console games such as Days Gone. The zombie phenomenon started around the time of B movies, and this 1993 release played up to that style of filmmaking perfectly. ZAMN set the standard for all zombie games which followed and if you do look to obtain a SNES emulator through Linux, then this is a genre-defining classic that is worthy of more than a few minutes of your time.
