What was your first emulation experience?

[SamIAm]

I first tried emulation back before I knew anything about how much data was actually stored in cartridges. I remember downloading Chrono Trigger and one of the earliest versions of ZSNES. The ROM was zipped, and I didn't even think it was the actual game. I though there was just no way this huge RPG could packed down to the size of a two-minute MP3. Even after starting it, I think I was in denial for like 10 minutes.

[thesteve]

magic engine for me on a 486
then a Pentium 100 laptop

[esteban]

The Sidewinder controller had a problem: the direction pad was "angled", IIRC, which I never got used to and always annoyed me.

[Gentlegamer]

I first tried emulation back before I knew anything about how much data was actually stored in cartridges. I remember downloading Chrono Trigger and one of the earliest versions of ZSNES. The ROM was zipped, and I didn't even think it was the actual game. I though there was just no way this huge RPG could packed down to the size of a two-minute MP3. Even after starting it, I think I was in denial for like 10 minutes.

I was astounded that many of my favorite NES games were like 128kb

[EvilEvoIX]

For me it was and Still very much is a NES Emulator on my Dreamcast.  Looks great on my CRT Via S-video (VGA does NOT work )  Too bad the Dreamcast controller is shit.  I do have a converter that allows a PS1 controller to be used which I use a launch PS1 controller which is much better. 

[geise]

For me it was Power PC Engine in 97' on one of the first Mac Power PC's that came out in late 1994.  The emulation was decent with almost all games working with little to no frameskip.  It didn't emulate the cd games though.  The late 90's was an exciting time for console emulation.  It was basically free gaming and finding games you never would have been able to if it wasn't for emulation.  Especially when it comes to arcade stuff.

Oh, I also remember messing with MySNES on my Amiga around 98'   Didn't run very well but was funny to see it running on the Amiga.

[Opethian]

pasofami win-g and superpasofami win-g

was funny that they actually had midi emulation of the sound channels. and the roms were all split format back then. (.nes wasn't a standard yet until iNES?) the rest is history

[KingDrool]

I'm fairly positive that it was in the late 90s, but maybe as early as 97? I remember being blown away that I could pop Bonk's Adventure on a floppy and play it on my shitty PC, even though it sorta ran like shit.

[jeffhlewis]

pasofami win-g and superpasofami win-g

was funny that they actually had midi emulation of the sound channels. and the roms were all split format back then. (.nes wasn't a standard yet until iNES?) the rest is history

I remember that midi emulation - it generally sounded like ass but it was still pretty cool. I think nesticle was the first time I heard a console's sound chip emulated. Blew me away.

I remember getting my college computer for Xmas back in the day (xmas 99 I think Pentium II 450) along with Half Life 1. It was the first computer I had that was fast enough to run Callus at full speed. I logged probably 10x as many hours on SF2 and Ghouls and Ghosts on Callus vs. Half Life heh.

[geise]

Haha!  Yeah Callus!  The first cps1 stuff I ever played emulated on a computer.   It was quite awesome for the time. 

[Opethian]

haha yea I spend many hours with Callus and NeoRageX lol .

[esteban]

I remember having to use something  called "FinalBurn" (?) to play Capcom's 194X arcade game via emulation.

I had such a great time with 194X...I love that damn game.

[Opethian]

I think finalburn and kawaks came after callus

pretty much paved the way for newer games into MAME.

[jeffhlewis]

I still use Kawaks to this day - such a great piece of software.

[Gentlegamer]

I tried to use Kawaks recently for Neo Geo but it wouldn't work. Maybe I have bad ROM dumps.