The history of NES emulation is key to the history of gaming. The history of NES emulation is key to the history of gaming. Let’s dive into the history of NES emulation, how it works, and its lasting impact on gaming culture.
A Brief History of the Nintendo Entertainment System
Founded in 1889, the Japanese toy company, Nintendo, originally produced handmade hanafuda playing cards. Over the years, the company tried to compete in the wider Japanese toy market with mixed success.
An emulator is a software that ’emulates’ other software. Emulators can also add features that the original games didn’t have. You can remap controller layouts or add save functions to games that didn’t have them.
NES emulators allow PCs to run the programs that cartridges would run on the NES hardware, therefore replacing the need for cartridges and the NES itself.