Digital Archaeology: How Hackers revive Classic Games

The first time I was introduced to the concept of playing a retro game on my PC, I was confused. How could I play games designed exclusively for consoles on a PC? This curiosity led me down a very deep rabbit hole of hex editors, hardware manuals, debates between piracy and publishers, and most of all, the sheer joy of discovering the concept of reverse engineering and the pioneers who started it all.

In this talk, I would like to walk you through the evolution of retro game emulation, from the early days of building tools to make video game emulation possible, to the modern era where emulation has become the de facto method for Retro Game Preservation and Restoration.

The talk will cover the following points:

• What is Emulation? How does it apply to Retro Games?
• The Early Pioneers of Emulation – The Original Reverse Engineers
• The Evolution of Emulation Tools and Software Through Open Source Development
• Restoration and Preservation of Retro Games
• The Murky Legalities