Retro Magazine 1

| ❙❋❯❙✄❍❇◆❋❙* | issue one | emulation nation |
16-bit models
Atari enjoyed greater success with its 16-bit ST machine. WinSTon is branded as
the definitive Atari ST emulator for Windows as it’s very stable, offers excellent
software compatibility (especially with games) and features full sound support. It’s
ideal for beginners too because it’s very easy to set up and yet packs in enough
features to satisfy experienced ST users. You can use it to emulate an ST hard
drive with up to four partitions and it is possible to read original ST disks using
you PC’s floppy disk drive. Earlier versions required you to locate the TOS (Tramiel
Operating System) ROM but the latest release includes the file, so you can revisit
the familiar green desktop without searching the Internet beforehand. WinSTon
only emulates the standard ST machine. If you’re looking to emulate the expanded
model, the Atari STE, you will need to use Steem. This new emulator runs all of
the standard ST software as well as the rarer STE releases. You do need to obtain
a TOS ROM though.
Relive the delights of Robocod using
the excellent WinUAE Amiga emulator
Let WinSTon and Steem take you back
to the ST's lovely green desktop!
The ST was eventually overshadowed by the very popular Commodore Amiga.
Despite it’s prevalence, there are very few Amiga emulators available. By far the
most popular is WinUAE (Universal Amiga Emulator) which, as the title suggests,
emulates every home model from the A500 to the A1200. It can be quite confusing
to use it first – you have to configure the program correctly and point it to both the
Amiga Kikstart ROM and program ROM before emulation – but it does offer
authentic emulation and runs all programs tested. At the very least WinUAE requires
a P200 to run. If your machine can’t cut the mustard, we recommend WinFellow –
an excellent, if slightly simplistic alternative for users with less-powerful PCs.
I couldn’t move on to consoles without briefly mentioning the Acorn range of
computers. A number of emulators cater for the BBC Micro, although we
recommend BeebEm (Windows) and B-EM (DOS) above the others as they are the
most advanced. Electron emulation is taken care of with ElectrEm (which is great
despite a dodgy GUI), while for the Archimedes you can choose from either Archie
or Red Squirrel. The latter is classed as alpha software and we experienced
problems running some games. Archie, on the other hand, ran all software tested.
However, the RISC OS ROMs are required to run both emulators.
GBA emulation
When a new console is released, programmers fall over themselves to be
the first to emulate it. In the case of the GameBoy Advance, emulators
began to surface before the handheld was even released! Much to
Nintendo’s chagrin, it seems that resourceful writers got their hands on
development kits and began to see what was making the machine tick.
While the some of these emulators only run home-made demos, several
will actually run the latest commercial games. Boycott Advance is one
example that originally had problems emulating some 3D games but with
the latest release runs all games without a hitch or a graphical glitch. Better
still is the excellent VisualBoyAdvance which allows you to use cheats and
save your progress. It also emulates the Pocket, Super and Color GameBoys,
making it the definite GameBoy emulator.
Emulating handheld games may seem nonsensical, especially as the
whole point of the GBA is that you can play it while one the move (or,
more appropriately, while sitting on the toilet). But at least you can
preview games before you go out and buy them.
Squint at a small screen no longer -
run GBA games on your PC!
**88**