Play old 8bit and 16bit games on my TV?

October 11, 2009 11:21 PM

Play old 8bit and 16bit games on my TV?

I can get an emulator that will play old NES and Sega games on my Gameboy. Is there some cheap and/or easy way to play back-up ROMs on my TV? I guess I could get an old PC, a video out card, emulator and control pads, but I figure there must be a cheap Chinese device out there that already does this.

posted by bystander to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (12 answers total)

I think I remember reading you can hack a Dreamcast to do this (which should be pretty cheap used), but I'm not sure how well it performs.
posted by Ryon at 12:04 AM on October 12, 2009

Same with the original Xbox. I haven't done it myself, but I know there are very good emulators that will run games up to N64-generation perfectly.
posted by Earl the Polliwog at 12:06 AM on October 12, 2009

I've used a modded original xbox with emulators and they work great. You can probably get a used xbox for pretty cheap these days.
posted by backwards guitar at 3:11 AM on October 12, 2009

If you're willing to deal with the back-and-forth battle with Nintendo Firmware Updates, you can do this with the Wii Homebrew Channel. (I haven't been brave enough, but I've heard good things).
posted by jozxyqk at 3:21 AM on October 12, 2009

I've used the Wii and an original modded Xbox both work great.
posted by jmsta at 3:38 AM on October 12, 2009

Until recently, I'd suggest an old XBox, but I think it's way easier to patch your Wii, and use the emulators that way. For extra ease, buy a used Wii that is a year or two old. The software modifications are easier and have slightly better features on the older Wiis for technical reasons that I am too lazy to go into.
posted by Geckwoistmeinauto at 4:50 AM on October 12, 2009

I'm unfamiliar with the technical specs of the wii, but I have modded several xboxes and psp's. For your purposes, I'd still say xbox because the playability of the psp's form factor is garbage.

We've got a modified xbox that hasn't played an actual xbox game in years. We do have every atari/nes/snes/genesis game though, and I daresay that the xbox controller is better than the controllers that came with any of those systems.

The bonus is that with XBMC you can use the xbox to stream your media as well.

Softmodding an xbox isn't the easiest thing in the world, but it's also not all that difficult. The difficulty comes from getting the hacked savegame onto a memory card...from there it's super simple.
posted by TomMelee at 5:35 AM on October 12, 2009

I have a disc of ROMs that I play on the Dreamcast. No hacking involved, I just pop the CD in and I'm good to go.
posted by MaryDellamorte at 6:59 AM on October 12, 2009

Oh and you can find Dreamcasts for cheap on Ebay.
posted by MaryDellamorte at 7:00 AM on October 12, 2009

We softmodded our xbox years ago, and although we only really use it for media streaming these days it works extremely well for emulation. This guide explains pretty much exactly what we did (we used a PAL Splinter Cell; afaik you should try to get an original copy and not the budget/classic re-release). XBMC makes an excellent front-end for launching programs, so even if you don't plan on streaming music or videos it's worth slinging on there anyway.
posted by ArmyOfKittens at 7:45 AM on October 12, 2009 [1 favorite]

At first blush, the OneStation seems like what you're looking for, but the legally dubious ROMs for it are apparently out at DX, and several other places I checked, as well. Happy hunting!
posted by Orb2069 at 3:30 PM on October 12, 2009

Get a first-generation Xbox (not 360). The softmod people above are talking about is simple. Wii is also easy to softmod but the emulators for it aren't as good and don't run as well as the ones for the Xbox.
posted by globotomy at 9:42 PM on October 12, 2009