Ouya Store May Have Nintendo Emulators At Launch

The Ouya Store may be launched with Nintendo emulators.

Emulators have been controversial since they popped up for computer gamers, as it has been considered a potential copyright violation to use them. Several emulators have come and gone, and regulation has made them near impossible for casual gamers to gather a decent videogame collection on. Of all the emulator problems, Nintendo has been one of the worst opposers, forcing the removal of their games from emulator ROM lists.

One of the most popular emulators was MAME (Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator), which gave computer gamers the chance to re-live the days when arcade machines were where the fun was at. These days, arcades are mostly filled with pinball games and sit-down cabinets, making the classic machines of the 80s practically obsolete. Arcades used to be the place where we played original videogames before they hit consoles in toned-down versions.

Ouya is a videogame console that got its start on Kickstarter, a sort of “for gamers by gamers” console powered by Android. The idea behind Ouya was to make new games free to try, which is a smart concept that more major developers would do well to support.

Too often these days, console gamers pay upwards of hundreds of dollars for a game they aren’t even sure they’ll like, and bigger console companies may or may not release a demo of the game to help us make an informed decision. This results in wasted money and bitter feelings toward certain developers who end up losing money over personal boycotts.

Having emulators available on the Ouya console could be the deciding factor, giving classic Nintendo gamers a chance to play their old favorite titles from the NES, SNES, and N64, consoles that haven’t seen much action outside game collectors’ homes. Emulators such as EMUya, SuperGNES, and Mupen64Plus were all planned to be in the Ouya store as of last week, so classic Mario and Zelda fans may get to see their low-definition favorites in all their old-school glory.

Ouya may just be the way to go if you don’t want to go broke on the Xbox 720 and PlayStation 4, but don’t want to be left behind with older consoles.

What do you think of having Nintendo emulators available at launch on Ouya?

Your Ouya may come with a Nintendo emulator go.ign.com/10lOsFw

— IGN (@IGN) April 1, 2013