The NES is my favorite console after all, and PC Engine games often have a sort of NES+ vibe to them. If you bolted on some light 16-bit graphics capabilities on top of the NES’s 8-bit CPU, well, that’s a vague approximation of what the PC Engine pretty much is. These things, combined with the distinctive tone of the platform’s PSG audio, are all part of the character that the Analogue Duo needs to replicate through FPGA-based hardware emulation - and yes, it functions differently from software emulation, but let’s call it what it is…it’s still emulation—different sort of emulation that has perks that appeal to some people and not to others, and that’s OK. The existence of a method of play that isn’t for you doesn’t hurt you.

Someone who spent more money or less money or no money to play old video games than you did isn’t less smart than you. They just have different priorities and technical interests. We all benefit from the varied ways there are to replicate game hardware behavior. It means that more people are looking at unresolved and overlooked problems in both software emulation and hardware emulation, and that more people are motivated to make better scaling techniques, better post-processing effects, create fan translations, accessories, and mods for original hardware. New technologies to review mean people like us test, research, and learn things that we can then pass on to you. So whether it’s for you or not, I think the release of a system like the Analogue Duo is nonetheless cause for celebration.

Never thought I'd be writing about the Analogue Duo before the Analogue 3D.1

The above quote is from Try at My Life in Gaming in their Analogue Duo video. It's classic Try; speaking sense and peace over the retro gaming community. I felt this was worthy of sharing outright.

I feel like I've seen a lot of disdain and disgust crop up over the past couple years in the retro scene. Almost like it is good and right to hate on the popular hardware/company/tool/approach. For example, Analogue gets a load of hate because of their "very limited" releases, lack of communication, and their marketing that claims "no emulation."

That final claim is factually false, as Try points out. What that "no emulation" claim is being used for is A) marketing and B) targeting an audience with a perception of emulation. For the longest time, emulation meant booting up a rom on you PC and playing Ocarina of Time with a mouse and keyboard at 3x speed. What Analogue is pitching here is using your original games, controllers, and an accurate level of emulation at modern resolutions. Instead of listing all of what I just said, they say "No Emulation." Is it true? No. Does it feel right? Yes. It's marketing and I'd argue that Analogue does it well.

Now is it right to call out inaccurate claims or shortcomings? Absolutely. But do people need to sharpen pitchforks and shout at people that enjoy a company or prefer a specific product? No. We have to separate the wheat from the chaff here people.

For playing retro games, there has never been a wider range of accessibility—both in price and tangible access. Folks can buy little analog to HDMI dongles for their Wii or mod a Wii for crisp HDMI. You can play Game Boy games on a Retron Sq or on an Analogue Pocket. What matter is playing the game and being happy with the result. That is different for everyone. Budget, satisfaction, and desire all vary.

I'll leave this post off with what Try said...

Someone who spent more money or less money or no money to play old video games than you did isn’t less smart than you. They just have different priorities and technical interests. We all benefit from the varied ways there are to replicate game hardware behavior...

...The existence of a method of play that isn’t for you doesn’t hurt you....

231212_Try Stop Fighting Kids

Footnotes

  1. I promise I have started working on a dive into the Analogue 3D. ↩