Relive the charming aesthetics of classic Atari games on your computer
Now it's easier than ever to relive the unique experience offered by classic Atari games, even if you don't own one of the most legendary consoles in the history of the videogame industry.
By using the appropriate emulator program, you can relive moments of emotion and nostalgia, enjoying the games of your favorite console, through your computer.
The options are of course numerous, as you can revive games from consoles such as Nintendo 64, Nintendo Wii, Game Cube and Sega, with the help of corresponding programs.
In this article we will see how we can install and use a Linux emulator for the Atari 2600 (Stella).
Installation (Linux/Windows)
Following are the commands for installing the emulator, per operating system:
Ubuntu
sudo apt install stella
Debian
sudo apt-get install stella
Arch Linux
sudo pacman -S stella
Fedora
sudo dnf install https://download1.rpmfusion.org/free/fedora/rpmfusion-free-release-NUMBER.noarch.rpm -y
Note: Replace “NUMBER” with the Fedora version of your system.
sudo dnf install stella
Windows/ Other Linux Distributions
If you have another Linux distribution or a Windows system, you can download the appropriate version for you from the official emulator page: https://stella-emu.github.io./downloads.html
Loading games
The first time you open Stella, you will need to set the “Rom path”. The Rom path is the folder where all your games are located. Press “OK” on the welcome message and, using the arrow keys / enter, navigate in the built-in file-browser. Remember that you can only have one and not multiple Rom Paths. Because of this, it is a good idea to organize the individual items into subfolders. For example:
Atari_Roms > etc. > etc.
Once you have set the ROM path, Stella will always open a list of available ROMs. Whenever you want to update the list, simply use your computer's file manager and place the new ROMS in the corresponding folder.
To load a game, you will need to use the “up” or “down” arrows to navigate through the list. When you decide which game to play, press “Enter”, and the game will launch. Note: You can exit the game at any time by clicking the “ESC” key.
For more detailed installation instructions as well as further settings and tweaks, you can consult the user guide available on the emulator site: https://stella-emu.github.io./docs/index.html
