Homebrew Whats better emulators or virtual console?

[TyDye]

so ive been wanting to play old games on my 3ds and I dont know if virtual console (injects) or emulators are better

 

[ItsMetaKnight]

Virtual Console is also an emulator

 

[TyDye]

Virtual Console is also an emulator

i was hoping you wouldn't say that

 

[ov3rkill]

I think VC has better compatibility.
I haven't played that many games though but the emulators get updated plus more features like cheats, filters, etc.
You might wanna check both on a specific game you want to play.

 

[dAVID_]

Virtual console in the 3DS uses real GBA hardware to run GBA, GB, and GBC games, as well as DS games with the ARM9 processor.

 

[8BitWonder]

Injects to my knowledge are more accurate than emulators.
Though the trade-off is that you don't get a plethora of options to choose from that retroarch and other emulators provide.

 

[TyDye]

Injects to my knowledge are more accurate than emulators.
Though trade-off is that you don't get a plethora of options to choose from that retroarch and other emulators provide.

Thanks, the main thing i want in the emulator is stability

 

[Craftyawesome]

I know a lot of emulated glitches behave differently in nintendo's emulators. Ex SMW brown platform spit glitch gives you wings in nintendo emulators but nothing else.

 

[Rahkeesh]

One more factor to consider is support for cartridge chips, like the super FX. VCs typically don't bother supporting chips for games that aren't on the eshop.

Virtual console in the 3DS uses real GBA hardware to run GBA, GB, and GBC games, as well as DS games with the ARM9 processor.

Uh, can you inject GB/GBC roms into a GBA VC shell? Because the GB/C VCs are certainly emulators running in the standard 3DS mode.

 

[osaka35]

Virtual console in the 3DS uses real GBA hardware to run GBA, GB, and GBC games, as well as DS games with the ARM9 processor.

you mean they use partial emulation rather than full emulation? I didn't know that. I probably should have, though. While they can downclock the ARM9, I'd imagine there still needs to be a lot of emulation of hardware and calls in order for it to work (game emulator=emulation/imitation/translation of one hardware into compatibility with another type of hardware). Unless I'm mistaken and they added bits of GBA compatible hardware into the 3ds...I mean, even the ds had to put actual, extra gba hardware in it for it to maintain hardware compatibility, yes?

 

[Ryccardo]

you mean they use partial emulation rather than full emulation? I didn't know that. I probably should have, though. While they can downclock the ARM9, I'd imagine there still needs to be a lot of emulation of hardware and calls in order for it to work (game emulator=emulation/imitation/translation of one hardware into compatibility with another type of hardware). Unless I'm mistaken and they added bits of GBA compatible hardware into the 3ds...I mean, even the ds had to put actual, extra gba hardware in it for it to maintain hardware compatibility, yes?

GB/Pocket use a (somewhat modified) Z80, Color added a 2x speed mode to it
GBA/SP have an ARM7, plus that same not-really-Z80 for GBC mode

DS/Lite have that very same ARM7, plus an ARM9 - BOTH are used for DS games (although on Nintendo-licensed DS software, ARM7 is not programmed directly by the developer)
DSi again added a high speed mode to ARM7 and ARM9

3DS, in the interest of being DS/i compatible, has an ARM7, an ARM9, and a dual core ARM11: in 3DS mode ARM7 is unused and ARM9 is strictly for (parts of) the kernel, in TWL/AGB mode the processors unused in the real consoles run background software for virtualization (home>exit, encrypted file on SD to GBA rom remapping, simulating GBA save chip, ...)

N3DS added 2 more cores to the ARM11 and, wait for it, not 2x but 4x speed mode!! Only for the ARM11 this time...

 

[osaka35]

GB/Pocket use a (somewhat modified) Z80, Color added a 2x speed mode to it
GBA/SP have an ARM7, plus that same not-really-Z80 for GBC mode

DS/Lite have that very same ARM7, plus an ARM9 - BOTH are used for DS games (although on Nintendo-licensed DS software, ARM7 is not programmed directly by the developer)
DSi again added a high speed mode to ARM7 and ARM9

3DS, in the interest of being DS/i compatible, has an ARM7, an ARM9, and a dual core ARM11: in 3DS mode ARM7 is unused and ARM9 is strictly for (parts of) the kernel, in TWL/AGB mode the processors unused in the real consoles run background software for virtualization (home>exit, encrypted file on SD to GBA rom remapping, simulating GBA save chip, ...)

N3DS added 2 more cores to the ARM11 and, wait for it, not 2x but 4x speed mode!! Only for the ARM11 this time...

Is the rest of the hardware compatible as well? are the GBA games on 3ds being run solely off native hardware? that's pretty nifty. Thanks for the info! now I wish there was a port for gba games on the bottom of my 3dsxl X'D

 

[Ryccardo]

Is the rest of the hardware compatible as well? are the GBA games on 3ds being run solely off native hardware? that's pretty nifty. Thanks for the info! now I wish there was a port for gba games on the bottom of my 3dsxl X'D

The processor is 100% hardware, other accessories (game's rom and save, real time clock) are emulated (depending on settings picked when packaging the GBA game for 3DS)

 

[SirNapkin1334]

Technically, VC is better. 100% Speed. It also uses actual hardware rather than emulation (though it still is an emulator!), though many emulators give a ton of options and settings and tweaks that VC will never have. Ultimately, it’s your choice. If you want the most faithful and best emulation possible, go VC injects. Otherwise, emulators.

 

[Rahkeesh]

It also uses actual hardware rather than emulation (though it still is an emulator!),

You might have meant this, but just to reiterate for everyone else: this is ONLY true for GBA VCs. All other VCs use software to emulate all console chips, and therefore support save states, run within the standard 3DS OS, etc.

DS games of course run directly on the processor, but that isn't really through VC.