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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 While it can technically be any small computer, the emulation boxes we list here are primarily single-purpose embedded devices intended to capitalize on nostalgia despite a multitude of overpriced better alternatives being readily available (like computers, mobile devices, and locked-down ARM microcomputers and some game consoles). There are more so just "collector's items". They should be avoided as your computer will generally provide better performance overall.two types of boxes:

==Cartridge Emulation boxes are frowned upon because, aside from a first party box's value as a collector's item, the hardware in an emulation box is often nothing more than a cheap, locked-down, ARM-based==These emulation 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 uses orginal game cartridges have been found using emulators illegally, due to a prohibition in the emulator's license (like commercial distribution or CDs and cannot (without hackinglocked down hardware) load ROMs directly, resulting in many controversies unfolding over the matter.

===First Party Boxes=-party boxes==

|Official Nintendo product designed to only emulate the SNES. Includes 21 games. Uses the ''exact same hardware '' (motherboard, SOC SoC and all) as the NES Classic, but with a different firmware.

|m2engage (the same emulator used for some Virtual Console games on the Wii U)|Official SEGA product designed to only emulate the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive. Includes 42 games. Interestingly, it has 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]

|TBA$99.99

|Official Konami product. Includes 57 games (58 in Japan) and has about an equal mix of American and Japanese exclusives. The Japanese market will get casing and branding has the same regional differences as the original (Japan is the original white PC Engine, while Europe will get is the Core Grafx revision. In , and the US, players will get USA is the TurboGrafx-16 case design). Price The emulator used was developed by [[wikipedia:M2 (game_developer)|M2]], release date the same company that did the Sega Genesis Mini and full games list to be revealedother console ports.

|Offical CAPCOM product designed to emulate CPS1 and CPS2 arcade games. Includes 16 games. Scheduled to launch October 25th, 2019.

===Third Party Boxes=-party boxes==

|$299.99-$499.99 <small>(Deluxe bundle)</small>

|Modular system. First emulation box with CD supportand one of the few to run on an Intel processor instead of ARM. Emulates PS1, Saturn, Genesis, Sega CD, 32X, TG-16/CD, Neo Geo CD, NES, SNES(only disc-based systems are supported out of the box, cartridge-based systems requires a separate add-on for each system).

|?<br/>(Genesis-on-a-Chip ?)

==ControversiesControversy=====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 messy licensing issues that continue to plague consoles today, as many games are a nightmare to relicense due to some external factor. It doesn't help that first-party boxes often lack the ability to load games externally. This is done to prevent the manufacturer from having to admit support for 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 those the products have attracted the ire of parts of the emulator emulation community over issues not necessarily related to the product's quality, but ones related to open source emulators. In some cases, it'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, an arrangement was reached, contracts and money were exchanged only for the 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. Sometimes, it might have to do with an incomplete source code 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 taken 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, resulting in the the project maintainer revealing that he had greenlit its use. The resulting fallout led to the creation of [[FinalBurn Neo]].

Since the problem with these is primarily a meta problem that doesn==DIY solutions=={{WIP|section}}If you don't have much want to do with the be limited by any consumer product's actual quality, 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 is offer more than a controversial subject even within emulator developer circles (some well-known developers such as byuu did eventually agree to work with the likes of Hyperkin, after all) this section is about listing some of those cases.first party box will:

* Capcom Home Arcade;Nvidia Shield TV:An Android TV box fast enough for 2D and 3D emulation of many consoles.;LattePanda: Capcom has licensed (A Windows 10 computer with compensation) FinalBurnAlpha from the project's maintainer, however this has lead to some [https://wwwintegrated Arduino.googleFast enough for Saturn emulation.com/search?q=capcom+home+arcade+illegal&oq=capcom+home+arcade+illegal controversy] and outrage by fellow FBA developers (who didn't agree with this move, and eventually made their own fork) and MAME developers (where some of FBA's code comes from), as FB Alpha's license isn't cleared to allow ;ODROID:Has decent speeds for commercial use and many of those developers think the FBA's license is an ugly mess of contradicting licenses that should not existSaturn emulation.* Retron5 (Hyperkin);Raspberry Pi: Is using RetroArch, Snes9x, Nestopia, VBAA very popular single-M and Genesis Plus GXboard computer that can run projects like Lakka off an SD card. While they did release their source code, the latter four have You'll want to use a non-commercial license. Retroarch's source code used was partial, and had DRM going against GPLv3 obligationsRaspberry Pi 3 or newer for decent performance.

Outside of the ===Distributions===These Linux distributions offer complete emulation community, people have complained that some of these products are lacking or disappointing. This is mainly due to the selection of games determined to be "worthy" of being preloaded to the system. The issue of not having certain games have caused many to [[Modding Consoles/Flashcarts#NES.2FSNES.2FPSX_Classic| modify]] their packages for single board computers and other systems just to be able to play the games they want.

{| class="wikitable" style=DIY Solutions"text-align:center;"! scope="col"|Name! scope="col"|ArchitectureIf you still want some kind of ! scope="emulation boxcol", but don't want to be limited by any consumer product, you can make one yourself|Frontend! scope="col"|Latest Version! scope="col"|Active! These other SoCs are relatively cheaper and offers more than firstscope="col"|[[Recommended Emulators|Recommended]]|-party boxes|[[RetroPie]]|ARM|[[EmulationStation]] fork|[https://retropie.org.uk/download/ {{RetroPieVer}}]*Nvidia Shield TV (Android TV box fast enough for 2D & 3D emulation of many consoles)|{{✓}} ||{{✓}}*LattaPanda (Windows 10 computer with integrated Arduino|-|[[Lakka]]|ARM, x86|[[RetroArch]]|[http://www. Fast enough for Saturn emulationlakka.)tv/get/ {{LakkaVer}}]|{{✓}} ||{{TBD}}|-|[https://batocera.org/ Batocera.linux]*ODROID (Decent speeds for Saturn emulation)|ARM, x86*Raspberry Pi (Eg|[[EmulationStation]] fork|[https://batocera. Lakkaorg/download {{BatoceraLinuxVer}}]|{{✓}} ||{{TBD}}|-|[https://www. It recommended to use the Raspberry Pi 3 or higher for decent performancerecalbox.)com/ Recalbox]It is best if you use some kind of |ARM, x86|[[FrontendsEmulationStation]]|frontend[https://archive.recalbox.com/ {{RecalboxVer}}]|{{✓}} ||{{TBD}}|-|[https://chimeraos.org/ ChimeraOS] to run the emulators as it will provide more convenience|x86|Steam Big Picture|[https://chimeraos.org/download 28]|{{✓}} ||{{TBD}}|}

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