Retro gamers, which do you prefer?  Playing games on the hardware they were developed for or playing games via emulation?  Both have their pros:

Original Hardware:

• The games are designed to run 100% on that hardware
• On screen prompts match the controller buttons
• Works on TV you already had/have
• "authentic experience"
• Not illegal!
• No compatability issues

Emulation:

• Offers higher resolutions
• save whenever you want
• No graphical hiccups like slowdown or flickering (often improved performance)
• ROMS are pretty much free
• Able to use current controllers

Original hardware connected via optimal formats. PS2/OG Xbox/GCN via component cables, Dreamcast via VGA, Jaguar/SNES/Genesis/Master System/Neo Geo/most 90's consoles via RGB SCART all on HDTV via an X-RGB Mini upscaler. N64/3DO and NES have to be internally modified for RGB SCART sadly. A comparison of composite(yellow, white and red) against RGB SCART:






I often get glitches when I play ROMS like green skies in Goldeneye or missing textures, very strange.

Wherever the hell I can play them.

Seems like with time one of them becomes the most likely option, aside from remasters and stuff.

Emulators, now that I have a huge display for my PC and the integration with controllers is so good, I see no reason to have a slew of different consoles under the TV to clutter up my living room.

Emulators... At some point they just become so reliable, and turn out better graphics than the org. console,

that I cant think why you wouldnt use emulators if you could.

Im a big fan of save states, ability to save the game whenever you want is just such a nice feature.

the last thing is that I dont need to pull out wires and hook things up, play and then pack them away again ect.

When emulation hits the level where you dont need your org console anymore I typically just throw them out / give them away.

Emulators. Try to find some rare games in working condition (specially CDs or DVDs) and hardware in good condition to play them, and then worry about games region-locked. Once your PC is poweful enough, emulators are the go-to system for retro gaming.

I prefer original hardware with my old bigass CRT TV comes with S-Video plugs because the input lag or latency.

Emulation is just for test, concept & benchmark, that's what i use for, instead of being serious gaming, just messing around...

Take note: Emulators are still ongoing updates due to reports.

I prefer emulation even if it is not 1:1 like using the original hardware. The main reasons for this is being able to play games at a higher resolution, being able to play ROM hacks, and overall it is a lot more convenient than having to make time to connect and play an old console.

One question though, is emulation illegal? I always thought that if you had the original game it would be okay to use backups and ROMs.

I have both and really like the feeling of popping a game cartridge into a console. But emulators give me the opportunity to play with my 360 controller and have excellent resolution that gives new life to the games. So emulators are ultimately what I play most of at least.

Original hardware for sure.