i'd put my self as emulator.Due to trying to find some of your favorite games and systems can be a pain.
But i'd love to just have a room dedicated to the retro machines with an old tube tv and the consoles and games all on shelve's A proper nerd retreat lol

I pretty use the real hardware exclusively, I am not a fan of emulation although I did love my now broken Dingoo 

I never use emulators, real hardware all the way. It feels authentic.

I thought I would add a poll to this and bump it for the new people

I do both because I do emulation when I travel. 

Sadly mostly emulation these days' I do own a few systems still, but like most don't have the room for them all, I'd gladly open a video game museum if I won the lottery! I've probably owned 30-35 pieces of hardware over the years so at one point have played thousands of original games how they should be played but at least emulation opens classic gaming up to the masses and keeps the communitys going!

I have to admit, I'm an emulation whore 🙂

yes I love the emulation, and I know , I know it doesn't compare to real hardware, but it serves its proposes for what I use it for.

system based all the way. I did get rid of the majority of my older consoles when I was about 17 but ended up buying them all back later on as I regretted it lol

The only times I emulate is when its a game I can't afford or don't really want to spend the money on or when I'm away and want to play some old games on my phone. I do love my Android emulators!!

Original consoles/arcade hardware for me too. Emulators are convenient but they're never 100% accurate...

fair point regarding accuracy of the emulation. I use emulation on my dc via SD card and I must admit the majority of the time I am bitterly disappointed

The one time I will use emulation is if its for an article I am writing and I need to take screengrabs or just sample the game for reference. I will certainly never use it for my personal gaming time.

As I said before, I mainly use emulation when I'm traveling and I want to play some console retro games.  Otherwise, I guess the only other time is if I am testing a ROM for a homebrew or hack.  I do prefer playing on the real thing, though.

I pretty much use the original hardware with the exception being SNES emulation through the Wii. I have a Wii Snes pad too which certainly helps for that authentic feeling.

I just dont have the space (or the hardware).

I think this is probably the last gen we will see emulated at some point if we are lucky and as the industry changes we will find that we lose the ability to replay the next gen's 'old classics' unless a company feels like re-releasing them