Nowadays Game Boys, Game Boy Colors and Game Boy Advances (SDs) seem out of reach. Impossible to get now. Then great minds decided to dump the files of their GBA cartridges and make ROMs. Then further sciences on the internet made a practical way to play these ROMs or “Read Only Memory” files. Now we have Gameboys on our computers with an endless supply of games at our disposal. We can play Mario, Zelda, Pokemon and everything in between. The emulators offer much more then just being able to play classic games from our childhood; they make things convenient. Some of the features of the emulators include being able to increase the frames per-second with a push of button, effectively speeding through cut-scenes and other long and boring things. They allow easy input for Gameshark and Action Replay codes, when normally these things would have to be purchased. Yes these emulators provide much more ease while playing through old games. So, how does this relate to Wynaut and Pokemon?<\/p>\n
Now someone can easily put in a GameShark code and acquire 999,999 worth of Pokemon money, someone can press the space-bar to speed up strenuous grinding, while we work twice, if not, three times as hard milking a patch of grass until we find what we want or need on an actual Nintendo DS. But what happened to patience? A friend of mine explains to me that hacked Pokemon are the way, the truth and the life of competitive battling and to that I call bull crap. If you train a Pokemon, you poured sweat and time into. That is a true user in the ranks of competitive battling, not someone who changes Snorlax’s Base Speed Stat into 999. I play my DS and I embrace the rather slow speed of the game when I grind, hunt and train; it means you actually put hard work and patience into it, into something! Same thing with Shiny Hunting and Egg Hatching.<\/p>\n
My biggest beef with emulators deals with acquisition of shinies in any game that allows them to be found. I feel that it is more legitimate to have caught a shiny on a DS (or any of its variations) then to have found in the same manner on an emulator. They are in your hand, the cartridge and the DS itself. Granted a desktop and laptop are also in your hand, but a real Pokemon game is something you spent real money on and then poured real time into.<\/p>\n
I’m not entirely sure why I feel this way, but I do. Having a horde of shiny Pokemon on your Emerald ROM is meaningless to me. If you had a mass amount on your DS or GBA game, I’d be far more impressed, because at least I know you stayed in a patch of grass for more than one hour looking for one. I don’t know if anyone feels this way but I hope people understand my point and understand that hard work is far more respectable then hacking a ROM into success.<\/p>\n
When I got my DSiXL and SoulSilver I refused to play any ROMs until I caught my first shiny on an actual DS cartridge. And when I did, I found it fair enough to return to the emulators as a pastime while I worked valiantly on my SoulSilver file. Drastic yes, but it was something I had to do. I had to own a real shiny if you will. Not one sped through with an emulator feature. Just think about it, how much more rewarding is it to shuffle through grass, whether it be EV Training or you’re actually looking for a shiny Pokemon, how much more rewarding is it to see that shiny you’ve so desperately been hunting for?<\/p>\n
That’s enough about shinies. What about other features emulators offer that an actual DS console cannot? Save states. Before I re-purchased my DS, I was playing an emulator and Pokemon ROMs to fill the gap. I was once someone who had little to no patience when I was looking for something. So mapping out how many steps it would take until my next encounter in a grass patch, I would “Save State” right before the encounter and then load state (Directly before the random encounter) if I did not find the Pokemon I desired. Yes. Stuff like that can be done on an emulator… Tragic I know. It can be done the same whilst catching a Pokemon. Directly before the Pokeball hits the target Pokemon, save state then load state if it doesn’t come to rest on the third wobble.<\/p>\n
But you look at the above and you ask yourself, was it … worth it? Is this Pokemon I saved and load stated for 5 minutes truly “earned”? I believe not. I would rather struggle endlessly to find that Pikachu in Viridian Forest instead of save stating and waiting until I got it, then save stating before I threw my Pokeball.<\/p>\n
Things like this dampen the difficulty of Pokemon. And why do that, between the Gyms, Rival encounters and the Elite Four; Pokemon, as a whole, isn’t that difficult. Why dispose of the last thing that brings challenge to Pokemon? Why? You tell me.<\/p>\n
On one final note, what about the Pokemon Company and Gamefreak, people who literally make money off of this franchise. When we take ROMs we’re taking the profit from Pokemon. What if, theoretically speaking, Pokemon goes bankrupt, and we don’t have another sequel, prequel or remake? Whose fault is that but our own? Lastly, you’re probably assuming I’m some person who is against pirating, but I’m not. But what do you believe? Is there more joy in saving up your currency and buying a game? Or simply taking it from the internet? Although I enjoy both, the satisfaction of working for what I want, both in life and in Pokemon is so much more pleasing.<\/p>\n
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