Difference between revisions of "Nintendo Entertainment System emulators"

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Some arcade machines based on the NES hardware, such as the PlayChoice-10 and the Versus series of cabinets, did generate a native RGB signal, however. The colors on these cabinets tend to be very vibrant and saturated, giving games a very distinct look compared to how they would look on the real console. Nestopia gives the user the choice to use the RGB palette featured in these cabinets, though it is not usually considered to be the definitive or "real" NES palette.
 
Some arcade machines based on the NES hardware, such as the PlayChoice-10 and the Versus series of cabinets, did generate a native RGB signal, however. The colors on these cabinets tend to be very vibrant and saturated, giving games a very distinct look compared to how they would look on the real console. Nestopia gives the user the choice to use the RGB palette featured in these cabinets, though it is not usually considered to be the definitive or "real" NES palette.
  
==<span style="font-size:18px;">Links</span>==
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===Accuracy===
  
 
[http://tasvideos.org/EmulatorResources/NESAccuracyTests.html NES emulator accuracy]
 
[http://tasvideos.org/EmulatorResources/NESAccuracyTests.html NES emulator accuracy]
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 +
Nestopia has issues with The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles. Neither Nestopia nor puNES display the status bar in Mickey's Safari in Letterland correctly. etc... These test ROMs, unfortunately, don't test everything that matters for accurate emulation (and in some cases, test stuff that doesn't matter for emulating any games).
 
[[Category:Consoles]]
 
[[Category:Consoles]]

Revision as of 07:01, 23 July 2013

The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES)
The

Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit, 3rd generation console released in 1983 in Japan, where it was known as the Famicom.

The Famicom Disk System (FDS) is a Japan-only add-on which played special versions of games. It featured an extra FM sound channel, which allowed for richer sounds and music than is possible on the regular console.

Emulators

Name Operating System(s) Latest Version NES FDS Accuracy rating Recommended
Nestopia Windows, Linux 1.44 High
puNES Windows, Linux SVN ? Very High
Nintendulator Windows SVN ? Very High
BizHawk Windows 1.4.1 Very High
RetroArch (Nestopia) Multiplatform 1.44 High

FCEUX

Windows, Linux, Wii, Gamecube

2.2.1

3.3.2

Mid
higan Windows, Linux, OS X 0.92 ? Mid
Jnes Windows, Android

1.1.1 Windows

1.3.2.24 Android

? Low
Nesticle Windows, MS-DOS

x.xx

MS-DOS
0.42
Windows

? Low
NesterJ* PlayStation Portable 1.13 beta 2/AoEX ? ?

*AoEX is based on NesterJ 1.12 Plus 0.61 RM, so it includes features like rewind mode, cheat codes support, rotated/mirrored screen, sepia palette, support to rare mappers (the pirate bootleg FF7 works on it), etc, but its compatibility is inferior to 1.13 beta 2.

Emulation Issues

Color Palette

Unlike consoles like the SNES, which natively generate the image in pure RGB, the NES/Famicom normally generates and outputs an encoded NTSC video signal, which must then be decoded by the TV's built-in NTSC decoder. This means the resulting color palette often varies depending on the display's decoder. This is why NES games appear to have different colors on different TV sets.

NES emulators are similarly afflicted by this issue, as they each have their own algorithms for generating the NES color palette, meaning they all have slightly to wildly varying palettes. As such, there isn't really a "true" NES color palette, and which emulator has the "best" palette often comes down to preference, or whichever looks closest to how the real console looks on a user's own particular TV. Emulators such as Nestopia have the ability for the user to edit the color palette to their liking.

Some arcade machines based on the NES hardware, such as the PlayChoice-10 and the Versus series of cabinets, did generate a native RGB signal, however. The colors on these cabinets tend to be very vibrant and saturated, giving games a very distinct look compared to how they would look on the real console. Nestopia gives the user the choice to use the RGB palette featured in these cabinets, though it is not usually considered to be the definitive or "real" NES palette.

Accuracy

NES emulator accuracy

Nestopia has issues with The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles. Neither Nestopia nor puNES display the status bar in Mickey's Safari in Letterland correctly. etc... These test ROMs, unfortunately, don't test everything that matters for accurate emulation (and in some cases, test stuff that doesn't matter for emulating any games).