SNES Emulators

[badinsults]

ZSNES has not been updated for over a decade, and I assume most people have moved on. However, if you are unaware, there have been many advancements in SNES emulation over the years, and highly accurate representations of the hardware exist in both software and FPGA form. This is not to disparage ZSNES, for it was the best choice for SNES emulation during its peak, and is still a good option for low end hardware.

If you want to try these out, here are some links:

SNES9x - SNES9x has been around for about as long as ZSNES. The last major release (1.6) was about two years ago, but development is still active. It is a good choice for mid-range computers.

BSNES - A highly accurate SNES emulator by Near. This emulator not only has high accuracy, but can also simulate certain notorious bugs in older emulators that were exploited in old hacks.

higan - Higan is a multi-system emulator by Near, of which the SNES is possibly in its most accurate state. It is focused on creating the most accurate representation of old systems, and therefore has a bit of a learning curve.

ares - Ares is basically the same as Higan, but has a more user friendly interface. It is being actively developed for.

SNES for MiSTer - The MiSTer is an open source FPGA hardware system. The SNES core is in an advanced, highly accurate state.

If anyone knows of other in-development emulators, post below and I will update this list.

[grinvader]

If anyone knows of other in-development emulators, post below and I will update this list.

Yeah, you could say that.

[nintendo_nerd]

Good to see the forums back, I'll be damned. Also yeah, Higan is the one I use now, since my CPU is no longer a potato lol.

[blackmyst]

I haven't really used SNES emulators since modern user-friendly flash carts became available, giving me the ability to easily play all those fan-translated and/or hard-to-find obscure games on my real SNES on one of my several CRT TVs that I've hoarded over the years like a crazy person. /r/crtgaming btw.

But I'm really glad cycle-accurate emulators exist for future conservation. I hope we can eventually get them for all remaining retro systems (CEN64 devs where you at???).

[Gil_Hamilton]

I haven't really used SNES emulators since modern user-friendly flash carts became available, giving me the ability to easily play all those fan-translated and/or hard-to-find obscure games on my real SNES on one of my several CRT TVs that I've hoarded over the years like a crazy person.

Yeah, I've still got a few tubes specifically for playing things meant to be seen on tubes.
This includes DVDs, actually. Tossed in some old anime DVDs recently, and they were borderline unwatchable on LCD due to noise in the blacks being visible and the brights being much more subdued(laser fire looking like yellowed newspaper levels of ick). Everything was muddy and muted and gross until I fed the disks to a picture tube and suddenly they popped like they were supposed to. Because, well, that's what the disks were mastered for.



My only "proper television" is a 32" behemoth from Toshiba that's frankly entirely too large for my space, but also the only thing I have that takes s-video and component input. It is also the "best" thing I have that takes composite by far, with my other options for NTSC-ish stuff being composite video monitors from the 80s(an Amdek Color-I is currently in service on an 80s home computer setup).

Got a few SVGA displays, all fairly late-gen(two were from the rise of the LCD, all have digital push-button controls). Don't think any will take TV refresh rates, but I haven't actually tested. God knows their published specs aren't always the actual limits.

https://twitter.com/CRTpixels
I've been using this guy's twittfeed to demonstrate what I'm talking about to the unwashed masses.

[blackmyst]

I know right? It's not just 240p content like SNES games that looks better on a CRT, but 480i stuff too. Like 6th gen consoles, or DVDs. Like 480i looks super sharp and smooth, whereas the same on an LCD screen looks like a blurry washed-out mess with compression artifacts front and center.

I've got several Phillips sets including a "medium" one, a small ~14 incher, and a massive wide screen (non-digital!) set which is literally the best way to play some widescreen-only Wii games like Xenoblade. Also managed to get a really nice flatscreen Trinitron CRT with minimal geometry issues, and a B&O MX4000.

And yeah SVGA monitors are still the best way to play retro PC stuff, I wouldn't play Monkey Island 3 on an LCD in a million years.

I've actually seen that twitter account just recently! So many good examples there, I don't even know where to start. I hope stuff like this can be the spark that can help make really good CRT filters for emulators standard across the board.

[grinvader]

not just 240p content like SNES games that looks better on a CRT, but 480i stuff too. Like 6th gen consoles, or DVDs.

... or the SNES. ;þ

[blackmyst]

You mean like... the console put atop the TV set? lol

Sorry if I'm getting whooshed. D:

[grinvader]

Any SNES can do 240p or 480i.

[blackmyst]

Ohhhhhh that's what you mean lol. I know a number of games use it for the title screen (Olivia's Mystery is one of them, pretty fun game) but are there any games that use it for actual gameplay aside from RPM racing? That one Ranma game doesn't count. :p

[grinvader]

Eeeeh... most uses of it I have noticed were in menu screens, honestly (in which case, look no further than SD2/3). The Lufia 2 credits also are hires+interlace iirc, for whatever the fuck reason (none of the rest of the whole game uses it, really begs the question).
I think someone made a full list at one point, but I can't remember where. Might be on this board for all I know.