For the vast majority of people, CRT shaders come close enough to approximate the look of a CRT, but IMO nothing beats putting the cartridge into the system like 3 times until its exactly flat and works, and the plastic of the controller.

It is of note that emulation is almost a moral obligation at this point. There is no reason that random Billy Joe needs to be charging people $900 for Panzer Dragoon Saga on SEGA Saturn. These games should be $5-$10, to allow all people to be able to experience what came before. And emulation is the solution. Plus, nearly none of the games people emulate are legally purchasable from the publisher or developer anymore.

Agreed, CRT and real hardware (FPGA counts) just feels right. I always rolled my eyes when people talked about frames of lag, but when I went from HDMI to CRT/component, it was noticeable. Like my childhood muscle memory suddenly works again. Not “oh I must be getting old, I have to relearn how to play because my fingers forgot.”

Like, getting all the coins from a ? block in NES Mario. Emulation, I always flub the first couple bounces because the timing is different. Via CRT I could have not touched the game in months, but I nail it because muscle memory still works.

If you didn't already know, your raspberry pi can output component video to connect to your CRT

I'm jealous! I'm waiting for The Guardian Legend for NES to come in the mail and I've been hunting around for a cheap or free little CRT to play it on, but no luck. 😭