Emulators for dummies: The ZSnes

Everything you need to get started with a Super Nintendo Emulator and play Snes games on your PC.

This blog post is for old-school gamers. I've recently reinstalled the ZSnes emulator on my PC. This emulator is a completely legal, completely free way to play old super Nintendo games on your PC.

Here's how it works, for those who have never heard of, or never used an emulator before.

ZSnes, which you can download here, turns your computer into a super Nintendo and runs ROM (Read Only Memory) files, which represent the game cartridges from your childhood. Its a simple program, I have it on my own PC, and it should run on your computer with very little difficulty. Even old computers far exceed the processing power needed to run such a basic emulator, this isn't true of some later emulators, such as the Play Station or N64 emulator, but this post isn't about those emulators, is it?

After downloading the ZSnes, you have essentially pulled the old super Nintendo out of its box and plugged it into the T.V., but you still need games. The problem with the ZSnes is finding ROMs that are virus free: I'm very comfortable doing that sort of thing, but I know that some people worry about viruses destroying their computer. Well, for you, I suggest this torrent: Kickass Torrents.

Now, assuming, (this is for those who have never done anything like this before) you do not have a torrent unpacking program, I suggest BitTorrent, or Utorrent. Both of these programs are also free, I have BitTorrent on my computer, and dozens of friends who can vouch for the virus-safety of UTorrent.

Once you have the torrent downloaded, and once you have unzipped the ZSnes file, drag the files from the torrent into the folder 'docs' within your ZSnes folder. This is the folder from which ZSnes will read ROMs. Finally, go into ZSnes and play all the old games you used to love.

Finally some legal jargon and basic moral codes. These games may be in some instances, within the public domain - for the ROMs which are not in the public domain, it is illegal to play the game if you do not own the cartridge. So, y'know, don't steal anything. (I mean, if you were to theoretically download a bunch of ROMs which you don't own, no one would know, but you would know, and deep down, you'd be as guilty about these ROMs as you are about your illegal music collection.)

*While I cannot guarantee that you won't get viruses, I can guarantee that I have used all of the above links and downloads on my personal computer and have seen no harm done. The point is, I put this up to streamline your emulator experience, not to promise you there isn't a risk of viruses, so while you won't get a virus, you can't sue me if you do get a virus.

That's all for today: On Friday, more writing tips? Something English-y.