How to Play Old-School Games on Windows PC Using Emulators?

Can you believe that the retro games you used to play when you were a teenager are possible to play now? Yes, now you can quench your nostalgic thirst for retrogaming even if you don’t have either a physical video game console or cartridges. The special programs that let your Windows computer act as a video game console will help you in your endeavors. In today’s article, we are going to tell you how to turn your Windows PC into a retro console and where to get the retro games to play on it. So, if you’re ready to travel back in time, let’s get it started!

Required Software

First of all, let’s talk about the software you’ll need to get to embark on a retrogaming quest. We have already mentioned special tools that can turn your comps into retro consoles. These tools are called emulators. They mimic a certain retro console’s hardware and let your computing device play old-school games on the emulating platform. The second thing you will require is ROMs or ISOs. The ROM files are copies of game cartridge data, while ISOs represent copies of optical media. Which copies to obtain depends on the video console you want to emulate on your computer.

So, as you see an emulator is a program you can run on the PC, while ROMs or ISOs are the files that can be opened with the help of this program. Besides, if you need cool games for your emulator, you’re welcome to DOWNLOAD ROMS FROM ROMSMODE.

The Best Starter Programs for Windows Users

Now that you have learned more about the emulators, we can discuss the emulators that can be used by beginners on their Windows PCs. So, if you’re planning on playing NES games, you can try Nestopia. It’s reliable and easy to configure emulator, which makes it possible to play all commercial NES games using ROMs. The fans of SNES can avail themselves of ZSNES or Snes9x. These tools feature a user-friendly interface and lots of lots of useful option beginners can take advantage of. Project64 is the emulator that can suit the needs of N64 fans, while VBA-M will make it possible to successfully emulate Game Boy, Game Boy Color, and Game Boy Advanced games. The connoisseurs of PlayStation games will definitely appreciate PCSX-Reloaded and the PCSX2 emulator, which can support PlayStation 1 and PlayStation 2 classics, respectively.

How to play Old-School Games on Windows PC using Emulators?

Of course, every emulator has their own peculiarities when it comes to installing and configuring them. Nonetheless, these procedures are quite similar, since all emulators perform the same functions. You can familiarize yourself with the procedure of installing an emulator using Snes9X as an example.

In contrast to the majority of Windows programs, emulation software mostly comes without any installers. So, keep in mind that the file of the downloaded emulator should be stored in a proper folder in your Disk C, along with the ROM files you want to play. You can put the folder wherever you want. And don’t forget to decompress the obtained file after downloading it.

Old-School Games on Windows PC

You’ll need to launch your emulator by double-clicking on the .exe file. Then, the empty windows should pop up. That’s how it should look like:

Old-School Games on Windows PC

Select “File” and then, “Open” to be able to navigate through the menu. Look for the game you’d like to play. Click on it to select. It should start opening immediately.

Old-School Games on Windows PC

On most programs, pressing the combination of Alt and Enter will switch on the full-screen mode in Windows. Next, you may want to check the control keys to figure out whether you are OK with the default mapping. If not, you can always customize the control keys from the “Input” section of the menu.

Old-School Games on Windows PC

What is also great is that you can connect a gamepad to your emulator. It will create an effect of playing on a real retro console. You can also take advantage of filters and shaders to achieve the desired kind of visual effect. At this point, any beginner can start playing their favorite retro games. But if you wish to experiment with the settings a little bit more, knock yourself out!

Thank you for visiting newsbugz.com. Enjoy Playing Old-School Games on your PC!