ROM dumps

What do you think about ROM dumps of NG and arcade games, apart from the fact that no emulator can offer the -real thing-?

With the exception of a couple of C=64 games I bought all my software, so I never digged into the emulation/ROM dumper scene too deeply, but after visiting sites like http://www.classicgaming.com a year ago I was overwhelmed by the mass of ROMs and emulators flying around. A friend told me that he got into NG by playing AOF using mame, now he owns a homecart system and eight games. Sounds not too bad, does it.

I generally play-test a NG game on emu before I buy the cart.. saves me lots of money sometimes :P
I did or am buying the games I liked on emu, for NeoGeo as well as Sega Genesis.

Neo geo emulation set me on the road to madness that I am on today. I had always wanted a Neo Geo, but never had the opportunity to play many of the games out there due to few arcades and prohibitive costs. After exploring games through emulation i took the plunge, and now own two MVS cabs and 70 carts....with more coming all the time.

Damn you emulation!

Emulation for me is like renting a game to see if I'll like it before I buy, since you def. cannot rent a neo cart, roms are a good way to test games.

The problem is some freeloaders just play the roms, but then again their not playing the true game.

It's what led me to buy the Taito F3 system.

When F3 games showed up in RAINE, I tried some (Bubble Memories, Kaiser Knuckle, etc.) . That sent me into a Chase HQ style hot pursuit of an F3 motherboard and game carts.

Now the thing's in an SNK Kural 25 cabinet (currently, Darius Gaiden is loaded into it). Here are the carts I've got on it ATM:

Cleopatra Fortune
Bubble Memories (I plonked down $220 for that one, and I do not regret it)
Bubble Symphony
Darius Gaiden (USA)
Kaiser Knuckle (Japan)
Global Champion (USA)
Puchi Carat
Arkanoid Returns
Akkanbader
Gekirindan
Land Maker
Puzzle Bobble 2
Puzzle Bobble 2X
Pop'N Pop

There's NOTHING like the real arcade board. People who use emulators to just play the games for free are missing out big time.

EDIT- Added Pop'N Pop to my F3 cart list.

[ August 04, 2001: Message edited by: Jackal ]

Jackal, you need to get Twin Cobra 2 for the F3 system. A great shooter, and the only F3 game I own!! (I may get Gekirindan later).

TC2 is a great game indeed (I have the Saturn port which was well done- Takumi ported it and Naxat Soft distributed.).

I'll be sure to look for the F3 cart of TC2- and hopefully I'll find an Elevator Action II sometime as well.

As for F3 Gekirindan- it is a thousand times better than Virgin's butchered Saturn port. If you saw slowdown in the Saturn one- that slowdown will not be there in the F3 game.

Originally posted by chimpmeister:
<STRONG>Jackal, you need to get Twin Cobra 2 for the F3 system. A great shooter, and the only F3 game I own!! (I may get Gekirindan later).</STRONG>

Click to expand...

Originally posted by chimpmeister:
<STRONG>Jackal, you need to get Twin Cobra 2 for the F3 system. A great shooter, and the only F3 game I own!! (I may get Gekirindan later).</STRONG>

Click to expand...

Twin Cobra 2? What if F3, I have to get one to play TC2.

an F3 board WITHOUT elevator action 2?!?!?!!?!?!!?


BLASPHEMY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

get it!

now!

I actually bought the games/systems first, and then later on got into emulation, one advantage of emulation is, I can play the games w/o touching my precious home carts, IMO, the best site for Neo-Geo roms is
http://www.mame.dk