If you ever wanted to be a car jacker, a lead guitarist or a bowling all-star, these days modern HD graphic processors can let u do it all. With increasing frequency the latest and greatest video game consoles hit the market on the regular, but that doesn’t mean Golden Era of gaming is far from forgotten. For millions of “Generation Gamers” access to 2-button 8-bit gaming isn’t limited to retro devices. In fact, modern technology has found a way to integrate Lo-Fi gaming with Hi-Rad results. These add-ons and plug-ins are created for everyday utilities, like your browser and you don’t even need to be connected to the internet to use them.

…Creepin’ Your High School Crush on Facebook Just Got Competition.

Step One – Meet the Emulator

Emulators are the key to reviving classic video games. In a nutshell, they are software applications that run on computers or other systems like Xbox, PSP or even Wii. Their entire function is to act like a bridge between the old technology and the new. So emulators mimic the way that old school consoles work. Emulators translate the ancient language of Nintendo spoken by the game and simultaneously translate it into something your computer understands.

Step Two – Meet the ROM

ROM images are the second part to this formula. ROMs (aka – Read Only Memory) are exact copies of the software originally programmed into the chips of old video game cartridges. This technology allows software to be saved as an individual file that will be executed by the emulator software. Together, these two components work the same way as it did when an old school video game cartridge was played on a retro console – minus the freezing, blowing into the cartridge or a flashing power light.