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An '''emulation box''' is an unofficial term for a device built with for the specific purpose of running emulators. They generally consist of overpriced and locked-down ARM microcomputers and some are more so just "collector's items". They should While it can technically be avoided as your any small computer will generally provide better performance overall. ==Boxes==*[[wikipedia:NES_Classic_Edition|NES Classic Edition/Famicom Classic Mini]] ($59.99) - Official Nintendo product designed to only emulate the NES. Includes 30 games.*[[wikipedia:SNES_Classic_Edition|SNES Classic Edition/Super Famicom Mini]] ($79.99) - Official Nintendo product designed to only emulate the SNES. Includes 21 games. Uses the exact same hardware (motherboard, SOC and all) as the NES Classic, but with a different firmware.*[[wikipedia:PlayStation Classic|PlayStation Classic]](<strike>$99.99</strike> $40) emulation boxes we list here are primarily single- Official Sony product designed purpose embedded devices intended to only emulate the PS1. Includes 20 games. Uses [[PCSX-Reloaded#PlayStation_Classic|PCSX-ReARMed]] as its emulator.*[https://www.snk-corp.co.jp/us/neogeomini/ NEOGEO Mini] (<strike>~$110</strike> $89.99) - Offical SNK product designed to only emulate the NEOGEO. Includes 40 games. Uses capitalize on nostalgia despite a [https://github.com/xugamezhouyuhua/neogeominiemu modified version multitude of NJEMU].*[http://www.capcomhomearcade.com/home CAPCOM Home Arcade] (~$254) - Offical CAPCOM product designed to emulate CPS1 and CPS2 arcade games. Includes 16 games. Uses [[FinalBurn Alpha]] as its emulator. Scheduled to launch October 25th, 2019.*[[wikipedia:Sega_Genesis_Mini|Sega Genesis Mini]] ($79.99) - Official SEGA product designed to only emulate the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive. Includes 42 games and is scheduled to launch September 19th, 2019. Unlike the other "minis", this one may offer [https://www.polygon.com/2019/6/4/18652108/sega-genesis-mini-mega-drive-tower-price useless add-ons] that are purely for aesthetics and provide no additional features.*[[Retron5]] better alternatives being readily available ($159.99) - Emulates NES/GBC/GBA/Genesis/SNES and includes cart readers for those systems. Uses [[RetroArch]]like computers, [[Snes9x]]mobile devices, and [[Genesis Plus GX]] for its emulation.*Sega Genesis Flashback (AtGamesgame consoles) - Produced under license from Sega. Emulates the Master System and the Sega Genesis. Very disappointing and the ensuing outcry has led Sega to drop their planned further partnership with AtGames for their actual Sega Genesis Mini.There are generally two types of boxes:

===Controversies===;First-party boxesSome :Use the official branding of those products have attracted a console, with the ire of parts support of the emulator community over issues company who made it. More often than not, modern console manufacturers are not necessarily related to the product's quality, but ones related to open source emulators. In some caseswho come up with the idea, it's because negotiations with open source emulator and/are usually approached by some other company who offloads some or frontend developers fell through and all of the company used work of getting it running.;Third-party boxes:Use their own branding because they don't have a "lesser" option as a replacementlicense to use the actual companies' trademarks. In others, an arrangement was reached, contracts and money were exchanged only A legal ruling for the project maintainers emulators has allowed them to turn out not to have gathered use the complete consent name of all contributors, some parts are licensed the console in marketing (such as a strictly non-commercial license, and similar issues. Sometimes, it might have advertising the ability to do with an incomplete source code release play games from companies that have to abide by GPLv3 obligations. And of coursea specific console on the packaging), but not as the company might be acting malicious towards emulator developersname for the box itself.

Since the problem with these is primarily Emulation boxes are frowned upon because, aside from a meta problem that doesnfirst party box't have much to do with the products value as a collector's actual qualityitem, the hardware in an emulation box is often nothing more than a cheap, locked-down, ARM-based system-on-a-chip, and the price you pay for obtaining it is marked up by the designer in order to make easy money. To make matters worse, numerous boxes have been found using emulators illegally, due to a controversial subject even within prohibition in the emulator developer circles 's license (some well-known developers such as byuu did eventually agree to work with like commercial distribution or locked down hardware), resulting in many controversies unfolding over the likes of Hyperkin, after all) this section is about listing some of those casesmatter.

* Capcom Home Arcade==First-party boxes=={| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center;"! scope="col"|Product! scope="col"|Manufacturer! scope="col"|Reimplements! scope="col"|MSRP! scope="col"|Emulator used! scope="col"|Notes|-|[[wikipedia:NES_Classic_Edition|NES Classic Edition / Famicom Classic Mini]]|[[Nintendo]]|[[Nintendo Entertainment System emulators|Nintendo Entertainment System]]|$59.99|[[Kachikachi]]| Official Nintendo product designed to only emulate the NES. Includes 30 games.|-|[[wikipedia:SNES_Classic_Edition|SNES Classic Edition / Super Famicom Mini]]|[[Nintendo]]|[[Super Nintendo emulators|Nintendo SNES]]|$79.99|[[Canoe]]|Official Nintendo product designed to only emulate the SNES. Includes 21 games. Uses the ''exact same hardware'' (motherboard, SoC and all) as the NES Classic, but with a different firmware.|-|[[wikipedia: Capcom Sega_Genesis_Mini|Sega Genesis Mini]]|[[Sega]]|[[Sega Genesis emulators|Sega Genesis]]|$79.99|m2engage|Official SEGA product designed to only emulate the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive. Includes 42 games. Interestingly, it has licensed the same specs as the (S)NESC. The emulator used was developed by [[wikipedia:M2 (game_developer)|M2]], who are best known for handling emulation of various re-releases of games including several Sega ports and the Genesis Virtual Console on the Wii.|-|[https://www.konami.com/games/pcemini/gate PC Engine / TurboGrafx-16 Mini]|Konami|[[PC Engine (TurboGrafx-16) emulators|PC Engine / TurboGrafx-16]]|$99.99|?|Official Konami product. Includes 57 games (with compensation58 in Japan) FinalBurnAlpha from and has about an equal mix of American and Japanese exclusives. The casing and branding has the same regional differences as the original (Japan is the original white PC Engine, Europe is the Core Grafx revision, and the USA is the project's maintainerTurboGrafx-16). The emulator used was developed by [[wikipedia:M2 (game_developer)|M2]], however this has lead the same company that did the Sega Genesis Mini and other console ports.|-|[[wikipedia:PlayStation Classic|PlayStation Classic]]|[[Sony]]|[[PlayStation emulators|Sony PlayStation]]|<strike>$99.99</strike> $20|[[PCSX-Reloaded#PlayStation_Classic|PCSX-ReARMed]]|Official Sony product designed to some only emulate the PS1. Includes 20 games.|-|[https://www.snk-corp.co.jp/us/neogeomini/ NEOGEO Mini]|SNK|[[Neo Geo and variants|Neo Geo]]|<strike>~$110</strike> $89.99|modified version of [https://github.com/xugamezhouyuhua/neogeominiemu NJEMU]|Offical SNK product designed to only emulate the NEOGEO. Includes 40 games. |-|[http://www.googlecapcomhomearcade.com/search?q=capcom+home+CAPCOM Home Arcade]|Capcom|[[Arcade emulators|CPS1 & CPS2]]|~$254|[[FinalBurn Alpha]]|Offical CAPCOM product designed to emulate CPS1 and CPS2 arcade+illegal&oqgames. Includes 16 games.|} ==Third-party boxes=={| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center;"! scope="col"|Product! scope="col"|Manufacturer! scope="col"|Reimplements! scope="col"|MSRP! scope="col"|Emulator(s) used! scope=capcom+home+arcade+illegal controversy"col"|Notes|-|[[Polymega]]|Playmaji|Multi-system|$299.99-$499.99 <small>(Deluxe bundle)</small>|[[Mednafen]], [[Mesen]], [[Kega Fusion]], and [[MAME]] |Modular system. First emulation box with CD support and outrage by fellow FBA developers one of the few to run on a Intel processor instead of ARM. Emulates PS1, Saturn, Genesis, Sega CD, 32X, TG-16/CD, Neo Geo CD, NES, SNES (who didn't agree only disc-based systems are supported out of the box, cartridge-based systems requires a separate add-on for each system). |-|[[Retron5]]|Hyperkin|Multi-system|$159.99|[[RetroArch]], [[Snes9x]], and [[Genesis Plus GX]] |Emulates NES/GBC/GBA/Genesis/SNES and includes cart readers for those systems.|-|Sega Genesis Flashback|AtGames|[[Sega Genesis emulators|Sega Genesis]]|$79.99|?|Produced under license from Sega. Emulates the Master System and the Sega Genesis. It also has a cartridge port that can load original cartridges to some degree. Very disappointing and the ensuing outcry has led Sega to drop their planned further partnership with this moveAtGames for their actual Sega Genesis Mini.|-|Arcade1Up Home Arcade|Arcade1Up|[[Arcade emulators|Arcade]]|$200-$500 (Depends on the game)|[[MAME]], [[FinalBurn Alpha]], [[RetroArch]], and eventually made MOO <small>(their own forkcommercial emulator)</small><ref>https://www.reddit.com/r/Arcade1Up/comments/a02870/hack_original_board_not_just_replace_w_pietc/</ref>|Officially licensed recreations of selected arcade cabinets. Emulates whatever arcade cabinet they can get the license for. Many have criticized its short height (about 3/4 the size of a normal cabinet) , lack of a CRT monitor nor any filters for it, and minor inaccuracies compared to the original. Many hobbyist have even went as far as to replace the main motherboard with a Raspberry Pi just to use [[MAME developers (where ]] instead. |} ==Controversy=====Poor catalog===A first party box may prove to be lacking due to its game catalog missing some essential title. This is often the result of FBA's code comes from)messy licensing issues that continue to plague consoles today, as FB Alpha's license isnmany games are a nightmare to relicense due to some external factor. It doesn't cleared help that first-party boxes often lack the ability to load games externally. This is done to prevent the manufacturer from having to allow admit support for commercial use cartridge and disc formats that the emulation community uses, as it would by extension imply support for unofficial emulation. These limitations have caused many to [[Modding Consoles/Flashcarts#NES.2FSNES.2FPSX.2FMD_.28GEN.29_Classic|modify]] their systems just to be able to get more use out of it. ===Licensing===Some of the products have attracted the ire of those developers think parts of the emulation community over issues not necessarily related to the FBAproduct's license is an ugly mess of contradicting licenses that should not existquality, but ones related to open source emulators.* Retron5 (Hyperkin): Is using RetroArchIn some cases, Snes9xit's because negotiations with open source emulator and/or frontend developers fell through and the company used a "lesser" option as a replacement. In others, Nestopiaan arrangement was reached, VBA-M contracts and Genesis Plus GX. While they did release their source code, money were exchanged only for the latter four project maintainers to turn out not to have gathered the complete consent of all contributors, some parts are licensed as a strictly non-commercial license, and similar issues. Retroarch's Sometimes, it might have to do with an incomplete source code used release from companies that have to abide by GPLv3 obligations. And of course, the company might be acting malicious towards emulator developers. Since the problem with these is primarily meta, and is controversial within emulator developer circles, they may not affect the experience that the box itself provides. Some examples where this has happened: * Retron5: Its problems are explained at [[Retron5#Controversy|its page]].* Capcom Home Arcade: Koch Media (under license from Capcom) announced that they would use [[FinalBurn Alpha]] as the backend for games on the Capcom Home Arcade. This is despite the fact that FinalBurn Alpha was developed and released under a license that forbids commercial use (which was partialtaken from versions of [[MAME]] before they had relicensed in 2015). When other FBA developers were questioned on the issue, they were completely unaware that this happened, and resulting in the the project maintainer revealing that he had DRM going against GPLv3 obligationsgreenlit its use. The resulting fallout led to the creation of [[FinalBurn Neo]].

*{{WIP|section}}If you don't want to be limited by any consumer product, but still have something you can technically call an "emulation box," you can make one yourself! These single-board computers tend to be cheaper and offer more than a first party box will: ;Nvidia Shield TV (:An Android TV box fast enough for 2D & and 3D emulation of many consoles).*;LattaPanda (:A Windows 10 computer with integrated Arduino. Fast enough for Saturn emulation.)*Odroid (Decent ;ODROID:Has decent speeds for Saturn emulation).*;Raspberry Pi (Eg:A very popular single-board computer that can run projects like Lakka off an SD card. You'll want to use a Raspberry Pi 3 or newer for decent performance. For more convenience, a [[Frontends|frontend]] is recommended with these devices. ===Distributions=== These Linux distributions offer complete emulation packages for single board computers and other systems. {| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"|-! scope="col"|Name! scope="col"|Architecture! scope="col"|Frontend! scope="col"|Latest Version! scope="col"|Active! scope="col"|[[Recommended Emulators|Recommended]]|-|[[RetroPie]]|ARM|[[EmulationStation]] fork|[https://retropie.org.uk/download/ {{RetroPieVer}}]|{{✓}} ||{{✓}}|-|[[Lakka]]|ARM, x86|[[RetroArch]]|[http://www.lakka.tv/get/ {{LakkaVer}}]|{{✓}} ||{{TBD}}|-|[https://batocera.org/ Batocera.linux]|ARM, x86|[[EmulationStation]] fork|[https://batocera.org/download {{BatoceraLinuxVer}}]|{{✓}} ||{{TBD}}|-|[https://www.)recalbox.com/ Recalbox]|ARM, x86|[[EmulationStation]]|[https://archive.recalbox.com/ {{RecalboxVer}}]|{{✓}} ||{{TBD}}|}

==References==<references /> ==External Linkslinks==