Its a Hoot! Admit it you still crave a good game of scrolling Super Mario or Dig Dug just like you did back in the day. We all do because playing them brings back some of the fondest memories. But it isnt easy to play these Shooting games the way we used to. Unless weve kept the systems and cartridges of the past in good working condition, our only trip down this jagged pixel lane is through a little known gem called emulation. Through emulation, you can play some of your favorite games from the past including games made for Commodore, Atari, and Nintendo. Emulation refers to the ability of a program or device to imitate another program or device and it tricks the software into believing that a device is really some other device. It is also possible for a computer to emulate another type of computer. For example, there are programs that enable an Apple Macintosh to emulate a PC. All that gobbledy **** doesnt really mean too much until you discover that with the right emulator, your computer can play all your old favorite games. And the news gets even better. You can download emulators from the Internet free. You can download Amiga, Commodore, GameBoy, Playstation 1, and Nintendo emulators plus you can download the games (ROMs) that these machines play. Our favorite emulator is the ZSNES Emulator. This particular program emulates the old Super Nintendo console and you can learn more about it yourself by visiting. This program comes with an extensive help file and walks you through the process of setting up a copy on your own PC. At the very least, your system needs a 486/100 processor, 14.5MB of RAM, a VGA card, and a Sound Blaster or 100% compatible sound card. However a system with a fast P200 or higher Pentium processor, 32MB of RAM, VGA card, and Sound Blaster 16 or 100% compatible sound card yields the most realistic results. But dont think that just because a console is on the computer you cant enjoy your favorite gaming accessories. The ZSNES Emulator lets users maneuver around games with the keyboard and a joystick. But enough about the emulator - You probably want to know what kind of games you can play, right? Called ROMs, you can play any game on your PC that you played on the Super Nintendo System including: Raze 2 , Bomberman 5 Super Battleship Beavis n Butthead Bustamove Clue Dragonballz DreamTV Final Fantasy 4 Frogger The Great Waldo Search Inspector Gadget Jeopardy Deluxee John Madden Football Mariokart Marvel Superheroes Megamans Soccer Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Monopoly Mortal Kombat 2 Pinocchio Power Rangers Race Driving Carmen San Diego SimAnt SimCity SimCity 2000 Super Mario RPG Sonic Space Football, cursed treasure 2 , Starfox Streetfighter 2, hitstick , Super Black Bass Super Ninja Boy Super Punch-Out!! Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Themepark Troddlers Utopia Vortex Wacky Race Wheel of Fortune Wings 2 Wordtris World Soccer 94 Yoshis Island Zelda 3 ... and tons more. Downloading these games is a simple matter of finding them online and there are plenty of websites that host them. Try shooting games for kids for simple but addictive flash games. Be aware that theres an issue with downloading these games and its a legal one. Basically, youre not allowed to download and play any game that you dont already own on a cartridge. If can abide by this law, you can revisit the past, in the present, on your brand new PC.