Preserving a video game is not merely about making it work on a modern emulator. Video games are interactive media, meaning their preservation involves maintaining active behavior. This includes player interaction with the game, and in many cases, the interaction is conditioned by the original hardware. Video game consoles are made of electronic components that eventually fail and become obsolete, further complicating their conservation.
Emulation, though a powerful tool, has its limitations. Developers created games with the unique specifications of the hardware they were intended to run on in mind. For instance, the Ocarina of Time cartridge was specifically designed to maximize the performance of the Nintendo 64. Adapting that game to another system requires more than just porting the code; it’s necessary to ensure that the game’s instructions are compatible with the new hardware and can take full advantage of its capabilities.
The Lack of Access to Source Code
A key aspect of preservation is access to video game source code. The source code is like a manual that explains how a game or a console works internally. If we cannot access this code, we risk losing the ability to restore the game in the future.
Developers often do not adequately document the processes and tools they use to create a video game. Without this documentation, reconstructing a game in the future will be nearly impossible. This is one of the great challenges of preservation: documenting as detailed as possible how a game works, from its code to the hardware on which it runs.
Preservation as a Cultural Act
Today, when we talk about preservation, we refer to protecting and conserving video games and their platforms, ensuring that these cultural and artistic works are accessible and playable in the future. Preservation focuses on rescuing video game software, namely, the code and instructions that allow it to function. But it is not enough to preserve just that; it’s also necessary to preserve the hardware, the controllers, and the technical specifications of the original consoles.
Some might think that emulation is a magical solution, but in reality, it is only part of the puzzle. Emulation is imperfect, and achieving absolute fidelity to the original experience is extremely difficult. Moreover, emulators also age, eventually needing to be preserved. Thus, emulation is a temporary solution, a palliative against the inevitable deterioration of the original hardware.
The Complexity of Emulation
Emulation faces significant obstacles as a solution to the preservation of video games. To emulate a video game correctly, much more processing power is needed than the original console had. Until a few years ago, for example, emulating a console like the Super Nintendo faithfully was not possible. It required a state-of-the-art processor, and even with all this, emulation was not perfect.
This is just one of the many issues that emulation faces. A video game is software, and an emulator is also software. This means the emulator ages like the hardware it tries to emulate. Thus, we are solving a problem with the same problem. Eventually, that emulator will also need to be preserved. If we do not have the necessary documentation, both the emulator and the games it intended to preserve could be lost forever.
Community Projects: MAME and MiSTer
The preservation of video games would not be possible without the efforts of enthusiast communities. A fundamental example is the MAME project (Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator), launched in 1997. MAME unified community efforts around the conservation of arcade games, allowing them to be emulated on personal computers.
Before MAME, arcade games were scattered across different hardware platforms, meaning that they were destined to disappear once the machines went out of service. MAME changed this, becoming a collaborative and open-source project that documented and replicated the operation of various arcade machines. Thanks to this effort, an important part of the history of arcade video games was preserved.
Another relevant project is MiSTer, a sort of virtual machine that allows the emulation of not only arcade games but also old consoles and retro computers. MiSTer focuses on hardware emulation, which means it physically recreates the original consoles instead of simulating them through software. This allows for more accurate emulation but is also a complex and costly process.
The Difference Between Commercial Continuity and Preservation
It is important to differentiate between commercial continuity and preservation. The video game industry, for the most part, is not interested in preserving games as they were originally created. Its focus is on making them accessible in the quickest and most cost-effective way possible. This is not preservation.
The fact that you can play Super Mario 64 on the Nintendo Switch does not mean that Nintendo is preserving that game. What they are doing is offering temporary access through a subscription. But what will happen when Nintendo closes the online store or removes the game from the catalog? The lack of true preservation implies that these games could disappear forever.
A recent example is what happened with Rockstar Games when they removed the original versions of Grand Theft Auto from digital distribution platforms upon releasing the remastered GTA Trilogy. The original game disappeared overnight, and players could do nothing to recover it. These situations show that the industry does not commit to preservation in its quest to maximize profits.
The Dilemma of Digital Games
With the transition from physical to digital games, the preservation problem has become even more complicated. In the past, buying a physical game meant owning it permanently. Today, this is not always the case with digital games. When you buy a game in digital format, you purchase a license to access that content, which can be revoked at any time.
The dependence on online servers is also a problem. Some games, like Fortnite or Overwatch, do not have a physical copy at all. These games run on remote servers, which means that when those servers stop working, the game will disappear. Even games with a physical copy often require online updates to function properly, making them dependent on online support.
The Fragility of Modern Physical Copies
At first glance, having a physical copy of a modern video game might seem to be a solution to avoid these problems. But even today’s physical games are not exempt from the complexities of preservation. For example, Nintendo Switch cartridges contain a microcontroller that connects to the internet to verify that the game’s license is valid. This means that, theoretically, Nintendo could remotely disable a cartridge, preventing the game from functioning.
This level of control over physical copies is a reminder of how much the industry has changed in recent years. Before, buying a game meant you owned something tangible. Today, even physical cartridges or disks are connected to the digital infrastructure, making them vulnerable to the changes and decisions of the companies.
Stay tuned for Part 3, where we will explore potential solutions and hope to preserve the video game legacy.
