You could actually take that game and run it on your GameCube.Īs you might expect, reverse-engineering an emulator for a twenty year old game console is pretty complex.

It’s creating a software version of the GameCube inside your NVIDIA Shield TV. It works by simulating the individual hardware components.įor example, when you play Mario Kart for the GameCube on your NVIDIA Shield TV, the emulator isn’t changing the game to run on your Shield. But it acts like a piece of hardware.Īn emulator is a program or computer that imitates or ‘emulates’ another program or computer. I mentioned earlier that an emulator is a piece of software.

Over the last few years, video game emulators have become popular because they allow us to play older games on modern computers or consoles. Once you’re finished reading this article, check out my article on the best android boxes for gaming to see some of my other top choice! While the NVIDIA Shield is one of the best platforms to run emulators on, it’s far from the only one. However, there are a few, like RetroArch that will emulate several different consoles.

Most game system emulators just focus on one game system. This allows you to play classic games without having to dig it out of your closet, or find a used one on eBay.įor example, if you know someone that owns a Mac computer, but runs Windows on it, they’re actually using an emulator to do it. An emulator is software that funs on a modern system (PC, or in this case, the NVIDIA Shield) that imitates a classic console.

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