GENUINELY BRILLIANT!!!!! (GENS)

Member Name: Del_Boy

Product:	GENS
Date:	04/02/02 (1325 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Brilliant speed, Compatability unsurpassed, You can make games look and sound better

Disadvantages: None that are important

Gens Win

So what is an Emulator?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Emulators are pieces of software written by very talented people that harness the power of the PC to simulate the actions of hardware that other systems use.

As a small note, emulators are available for a whole plethora of systems, basically any system over 3 years old has been emulated, including PS1 and the N64. The latest machine to have been emulated is the GameBoyAdvance.

Due to the nature of how emulators' work they often require much a PC that is of a much higher specification than the original machine was. The chances are though that you are using a PC at the moment that can utilize Megadrive emulation.

What is Gens?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Gens is a Sega Megadrive (known as Sega Genesis in the US) emulator for the PC. With this little program you can play 92% of Megadrive games perfectly, 5% with minor glitches and the remaining 3% are un-emulated as of yet.

It can also emulate the Sega Mega-CD, at the moment the emulation of this device isn't perfected, though it is pretty close, and in a few months time no doubt it will be. At the moment though it will play most commercial games 70%, for this though you will need the actual CD or a CD image such as an ISO file.

Having used the Mega-CD emulation with both a CD and an ISO I can vouch that it is very accurate indeed, and as a bonus it doesn't require a hefty PC to run.


Options, options and more options
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The main advantage of Gens over other emulators besides its compatibility is the fact that there are so many options that you can change. An example of this I will explain further before going onto describe the rest of the features:


Hey good-looking AKA graphical settings section
****************************************

By default the graphics are set to normal perfect Megadrive emulation.
However there are several other graphics modes that can be set to enhance the image, there are:

Normal - Normal Megadrive emulation, pixels are slightly blocky
Double - Doubles the size of the screen
Interpolated - Interpolates all of the pixels on the screen, so that they tend to blend into each other more. This tends to remove the blocky pixels effect. For example if you have several lots of the colour blue all together it will interpolate them as to give the impression that they are blended evenly into each other

Scanline - Imitates the lines that are seen on some TV screens.
50% Scanlines - same as above but only half the amount
25% Scanlines - again with only only a quarter of the amount
Interpolated Scanline - Interpolation and scanlines mixed together

I would disregard all of these modes however if you have a computer that meets recommend specification as detailed below. In that instance use this:

2xSAI (kreed) - This mode not only interpolates the pixels, it also applies advanced blending and filtering techniques. This increases the quality of the image substantially! This mode also has the largest impact on performance however, so people with slower machines may find this mode to be not worth the drop in performance.

As well as all of these modes, there are also options to play games in full screen or in a window. You may also choose to stretch the screen so that the image will fill it up completely. A good feature for those with slower computers is the frame skip option; this will give you the opportunity to tell the emulator not to draw certain frames, thus speeding the emulation up. This has the side effect of creating a less than smooth effect but it's certainly bearable in the vast majority of games.

There are quite a number of options and features that I haven't touched upon yet. Sound wise for example you may choose standard Megadrive sound emulation, or you
can enhance it in quality via a menu system.

Also included are options to configure your keyboard or joy pad in order to enhance your games playing experience.


But I'm no good at games, is there anyway I can make the games easier?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~


YES! - included within Gens is Game Genie emulation. This device was used on the Megadrive for you to input codes. These codes would give you such things as level selects, infinite lives, invulnerability etc


But I don't have time to play games
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The great thing about an emulator such as Gens is that it will allow you to save the game at any point during play. So if you fancy a quick 10-minute blast you can do just that, save the game, turn it off. Whence you come back simply select the load state function and you are back to the precise moment where you were in the game.

Please note:
*********

Sadly this feature is not available for Mega CD emulation at the moment due to technical problems inherent with saving states from that format. However you can still save in Mega CD games using the games designated save function


I want to play with others at certain games, is this possible?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Indeed it is. A small program called Kalleria is included with Gens. Simply electing the netplay option within Gens whilst online will result in a server list being downloaded. From this you can choose a server to play online, usually there are quite a few people playing.

I haven't tested this extensively as I find it's better to just play with 2 people in the same room. However in my limited testing of this feature, I have found it to be reliable enough. A fast Internet connection is something that is nigh on essential for speedy game play however.


How do I get games for this
emulator then?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Well obviously your PC doesn't have a cartridge port, so you have to download small files often a couple of megabytes called ROMs in order to use the emulator. ROMs are in essence direct copies of the games.

ROMs however are still technically illegal, so I can't give out links on where to get them in this review I am afraid.

For Mega CD emulation you will also need something called the Mega CD Bios, again I can't give out such information on Dooyoo I am afraid.

--------------------------
Myths regarding ROMs
--------------------------

A small note, many people seem to be under the impression that ROMs are legal as long as you either

a) Own the original cartridge
b) Delete them within 24 hours

Both of these instances are incorrect. Downloading ROMs is illegal, even if you do want one as a 'backup' to an original copy you may have. In essence by downloading a ROM you are getting someone else's backup not yours?

Specifications needed
(Copied directly 'with minor amendments' from Gens help file)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~

* Minimum Machine for Genesis emulation

- Pentium 166 (MMX is required for 2xSaI Kreed's engine) or K6 200.
- 16 MB Ram
- Video card 2 MB (4MB for triple buffer option 'smoother graphics') with DirectDraw support and 15/16-bpp mode.
- Win9X / Win2000
- DirectX 7.0

* Minimum Machine for SEGA CD emulation

- P2 233 or K6 300.
- 16 MBRam
- Video card 2 MB (4MB for triple buffer) with DirectDraw support and 15/16-bpp mode.
- CDROM drive x1
- Win9X / Win2000
- DirectX 7.0
- Latest ASPI drivers.

* Recommended Machine for Genesis emulation (60 FPS in full screen 320x240)

- P2 266 Mhz or K6-2 333
- A good video card like TNT...
- 32 MB Ram r><br>- Win9X / Win2000
- DirectX 7.0

* Recommended Machine for SEGA CD emulation (60 FPS in full screen 320x240)

- P2 333 Mhz or K6-2 450
- A good video card like TNT...
- CDROM drive x4
- 32 MB Ram
- Win9X / Win2000
- DirectX 7.0
- Latest ASPI drivers.


Use the normal render mode (in 'graphics' menu) to get the best performance.

So how much does this cost?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nothing, it is freely available and downloadable from: http://gens.consolemul.com

It is cardware however. This means if you enjoy it, then you are invited to send a postcard to the author. You are not obligated to do this however, but I think it's a nice touch and a good way to thank the author for his considerable time and effort spent on this project.

Please, please, please if there is anything in this review that you are unsure about, or that you would like to know then please ask me and I will be pleased to add or amend information.

Thank you for reading,

Kev

For the Eagle Eyed amongst you, you may notice I have done an opinion on Gens Win before (totally different opinion). Nevertheless the product is virtually the same, hence I have emailed Dooyoo in order to remove the original opinion + points, and if possible to consilidate the catagories.

This was a genuine mistake, I didn't realise I had already done an opinion on this emulator until I was about to post!