The Affinity The Brain Interview

@Archaic_Ruins

Published in

Archaic Ruins

· 4 years ago

Alan Dykes - October, 1996

Here we have The_Brain, the writer of VSMC. You write probably to most hopefull emulator as of right now, what works, and what will work in the near future?
What works? Lots of stuff 'works' -- Commercial games and homebrewn alike. VSMC will currently _play_:

Super Mario World
Cosmo Gangs
Mr. Do!
Wing Commander

and will almost play: Equinox, Super Starwars, Ultima: R.O.B. and many, MANY others.Of course, it will certainly play other games, too -- but I'm relying on the users of VSMC to inform me about these things.

And more games every day, as I understand it :). What gaming system is your favorite?
I really prefer the PC platform. ... Mainly because the games are easy to cheat on (PC users have all the neat debugger toys, like SoftIce, etc.) (that's was the original (and remaining?) purpose of VSMC -- to be able to apply PC cheat methods to SNES games. And, in the future, GB and NES games, as well -- all in time...of course, cheating is just the beginning -- In time, people could develop Mario World Level Editors and what not.. THAT'S what I'm really looking forward to.

Editors are good, so, about what time frame would you estimate VSMC to be done? (nothing specific, but an idea)
'done' in what sense?

well, let's consider 'done' as being at least 80% of all games. That is a good goal.
Okay.. Were you around when I spoke of exponential development?It basically goes: Ouch!

In the beginning, you implement the very crude functions, and get very few, very crude demos to work. Later, you implement less and less, and you get more and more working. I'm at the point, now, where a single change can make large numbers of programs work. Such as was the case with SMW and SM: All Stars, come to think of it...

Ok, you are in DC right? What part do you play in DC since it seems to be a major player in console emulation?
I maintain the VSMC homepage... Nothing more.

Ok, what would be your favorite gaming system?
Aside from the PC and other home computers? I like the SNES -- mainly because it's the only one I'm able to program with (without an emulator, I mean). ie: I don't have the Magicom for my NES, nor do I have a MagicCard for my GB.

Ok, for the guys in #emu, what are you working on now?
right now, I'm working on the protocol I plan to use for network play, and the cheat finder, and a better file selection GUI and the ability to select your SRAM and REALTIME save filenames.

Ah, the network play, that should be REALLY kewl, will it support TCP/IP for I-NET games?
no IPX only. it's DOS, remember... The most common DOS network protocol is IPX and serial, of course! :)

Ok, oh, just so it is noted, TB does NOT distribute commercial ROMs, so don't ask him.
Thank you (GRIN)

I am aware about how annoying it is :), well, that about raps it up, anything you would like to comment on? anything is ok
Yeah, there is, in fact. I don't really know how to put this lightly... So:To all the lazy freeloaders who complain about the emulators in existence today (not just VSMC), be it for speed or compatibility reasons: Shut up. If you could do any better, you'd have done it yourself.

(too much?... maybe)

No, I agree, y0shi said something along those lines too. :). Well, thanks for your time!
okie :)As a side note: these games will also run on vsmc:

Wanderers from YSiii _plays_

these sorta play (or at least do something good):