Mesen
Developer(s) | Sour (Mesen1 and Mesen2); mkwong98 & NovaSquirrel have a fork that has released numerous "beta" builds |
---|---|
Latest version | 2.0.0 (preview) [+] |
Active | Yes |
Platform(s) | Windows Linux macOS 11/12 |
Emulates | NES / Famicom Famicom Disk System SNES / Super Famicom Game Boy (Color) PC-Engine (TurboGrafx-16) Master System Game Gear SG-1000 |
Accuracy | Cycle-Accurate |
Website | Mesen.ca |
Support ($) | Patreon |
Programmed in | C++, C#, C |
License | GNU GPLv3 |
Source code | GitHub |
Mesen is a free and open-source Famicom (NES), Famicom Disk System (FDS), Super Famicom (SNES), GB/GBC, PC-Engine/TurboGrafx-16, SG-1000 and Master System/Game Gear emulator for Windows, Linux and macOS. For now, the macOS version must be compiled from source.
The version currently under development is Mesen 2.x, first released as a preview build in 2023. The older Mesen 0.x branch could only emulate NES, and SNES/GB(C) emulation was found in a separate emulator named Mesen S. The current Mesen Libretro core for RetroArch is still based on the 0.x branch, but receiving backports from the newer branch. For the sake of simplicity, we will refer to the 0.x branch as Mesen1.
Contents
Download
Official release | |
Dev builds |
Overview
According to test ROMs, it is ranked as the most compatible NES/FDS emulator, slightly above puNES with a score of 100%.[1]
It has cycle-accurate emulation and offers numerous features, including:
- Support for over 290 mappers, (all licensed games supported.)
- FDS (Famicom Disk System) support
- Top loader NES variant support
- VS. System support
- Dendy support
- HDNes HD packs
- NTSC/PAL support
- NSF/NSFe support
- Video recording/playback
- Video filters (xBRZ, NTSC, etc.)
- Netplay
- Debugging tools
- Overclocking
- Custom palettes
- Sound effects (fake stereo, reverb, etc.)
- Rewind
Mesen 2.x can also run SNES games, which also feature similiar features, as well as Super FX and Satellaview support.
Game Boy (DMG) and Game Boy Color (CGB) games can also be played on Mesen 2.x, but only Game Boy Color can play CGB games. For DMG games, you can choose either Game Boy or Game Boy Color, or run the game in Super Game Boy mode by loading the Super Game Boy BIOS (1 or 2) into the SNES core.
An exclusive feature excluded from older versions is PC-Engine support, as well as the CD-ROM².
Screenshots
Hardware support
Mappers
0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 |
16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 28 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | |
32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 45 | 46 | 47 |
48 | 49 | 50 | 51 | 52 | 53 | 54 | 56 | 57 | 58 | 60 | 61 | 62 | 63 | ||
64 | 65 | 66 | 67 | 68 | 69 | 70 | 71 | 72 | 73 | 74 | 75 | 76 | 77 | 78 | 79 |
80 | 82 | 83 | 85 | 86 | 87 | 88 | 89 | 90 | 91 | 92 | 93 | 94 | 95 | ||
96 | 97 | 99 | 101 | 103 | 104 | 105 | 106 | 107 | 108 | 111 | |||||
112 | 113 | 114 | 115 | 116 | 117 | 118 | 119 | 120 | 121 | 123 | 125 | 126 | |||
132 | 133 | 134 | 136 | 137 | 138 | 139 | 140 | 141 | 142 | 143 | |||||
144 | 145 | 146 | 147 | 148 | 149 | 150 | 151 | 152 | 153 | 154 | 155 | 156 | 157 | 158 | 159 |
162 | 163 | 164 | 165 | 166 | 167 | 168 | 170 | 171 | 172 | 173 | 174 | 175 | |||
176 | 177 | 178 | 179 | 180 | 182 | 183 | 184 | 185 | 186 | 187 | 188 | 189 | 190 | 191 | |
192 | 193 | 194 | 195 | 196 | 197 | 198 | 199 | 200 | 201 | 202 | 203 | 204 | 205 | 206 | 207 |
208 | 209 | 210 | 211 | 212 | 213 | 214 | 215 | 216 | 217 | 218 | 219 | 220 | 221 | 222 | |
224 | 225 | 226 | 227 | 228 | 229 | 230 | 231 | 232 | 233 | 234 | 235 | 236 | 238 | ||
240 | 241 | 242 | 243 | 244 | 245 | 246 | 249 | 250 | 252 | 253 | 254 | 255 |
List of forks
Name | Platform(s) | Latest Version | libretro | Active | Recommended | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
PC / x86 | |||||||
Mesen-X | 2023-09-11 libretro core |
✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
Comparisons
- Mesen-X
- This fork was meant to gather development efforts from different forks of the 0.x branch. Not under active development, and archived as of September. This fork is deprecated as of Mesen 2.x's release.
Trivia
Origins of the name essentially come from two things:
- It's "NES EMulator", backwards -> Mesen.
- It's the Japanese word used to talk about a person's gaze or point of view, (目線 - めせん - Mesen), which is the reason why the logo is an eye icon.[2]
References
- Emulators
- Console emulators
- Home console emulators
- Multi-emulators
- Nintendo Entertainment System emulators
- Super Nintendo emulators
- PC Engine (TurboGrafx-16) emulators
- Game Boy/Game Boy Color emulators
- Windows emulation software
- Linux emulation software
- MacOS emulation software
- Netplay
- Custom Assets
- Inactive emulation software