Resolution
Resolution is the measure in which how many pixels are displayed on the screen.
For emulation of 2D systems, the resolution can only be upscaled, making the pixels more apparent. For emulation of 5th generation consoles and newer, the internal resolution can be increased to make the game look sharper.
Console Resolutions
System | Native Resolution | Color depth and color space | Video display resolution | Native Refresh Rate (Hz) |
---|---|---|---|---|
Atari 2600 | 160×192[N 1] | 128 colors, Color/Luminance | 240p | 59.922751013551 (NTSC), 49.860759671615 (PAL) |
NES | 256×240 | 52 colors, Color/Luminance[N 2] | 240p | 60.098813897441 (NTSC), 50.006978908189 (PAL) |
Sega Master System | 256×192, 256×224, 256x240 (some PAL games) | 64 colors, RGB | 240p | 59.922751013551 (NTSC), 49.701460119948 (PAL) |
SNES | 256×224p, 256×239p, 512×224p, 512×239p
512×448i, 512×478i |
15-bit, RGB | 240p, 480i | 60.098813897441 (NTSC), 50.006978908189 (PAL) |
Virtual Boy | 384×224 (per screen) | 4 shades of red | 224p | 50.273487773488 |
Sega Genesis | 320×224, 256×224, 320x240 (some PAL games), 256x240 (some PAL games),
320×448, 256×448, 320x480 (some PAL games), 256x480 (some PAL games) |
512 colors, RGB | 240p, 480i | 59.922751013551 (NTSC), 49.701460119948 (PAL) |
Game Boy/Color | 160×144 | 15-bit, RGB (4 shades of grey for non-color games) | 144p | 59.727500569606 |
Sega Game Gear | 160x144 (native GG mode), 256x192 downscaled (SMS backwards compatible mode) | 4096 colors, RGB (64 color in SMS backwards compatibility mode) | 144p | 59.922751013551 |
Nintendo 64 | 320x200, 320x240, 640×240, 640×480[N 3] | 15-bit/21-bit, RGB[N 4] | 240p, 480i (NTSC), 576i (PAL) | 60 (NTSC), 50 (PAL)[N 5] |
Sega Saturn | 320×224p, 320×240p, 320×256p, 352×224p, 352×240p, 352×256p, 640×224p, 640×240p, 640×256p, 704×240p
320×448i, 320×512i, 320×480i, 352×448i, 320×480i, 352×512i, 640×448i, 640×480i, 640×512i, 704×448i, 704×480i, 704×512i |
15-bit/24-bit, RGB | 240p, 480i, 480p, 576i (PAL) | 60 (NTSC), 50 (PAL)[N 5] |
PlayStation | 256×224p, 256x240p, 320x224p, 320×240p, 512x224p, 512×240p, 640x224p, 640x240p
256x448i, 256x480i, 320x448i, 320x480i, 370x448i, 370x480i, 512x448i, 512x480i, 640x448i, 640×480i |
16-bit/24-bit, RGB[N 6] | 240p, 480i, 576i (PAL) | 59.940060138702 (NTSC), 50.00028192997 (PAL) |
WonderSwan | 224×144 | 4096 colors, RGB | 144p | 75.471698113207 |
Game Boy Advance | 240×160 | 15-bit, RGB | 160p | 59.727500569606 |
Pokémon Mini | 96×64 | 1-bit monochrome | ? | N/A |
PlayStation 2 | 512×224 512x240 512×448 512x480
640x224 640x240 640x448 640×480 800x600 1024x768 1280x1024 |
24-bit, RGB | 240p, 480i (NTSC), 480p, 576i (PAL), 576p, 720p | 60 (NTSC), 50 (PAL)[N 5] |
Sega Dreamcast | 640×480
720x480 720x576 768x480 768x576 800x608 1024x768 1280x1024 |
24-bit, RGB | 240p, 480i (NTSC), 480p, 576i (PAL), 576p, 720p, [N 7] 1080i, 1080p | 60 (NTSC), 50 (PAL)[N 5] |
GameCube and Wii | 596×448
608×456 640×480[N 8] etc |
24-bit, RGB | 240p, 480i (NTSC), 480p, 576i (PAL), 576p, 720p, 1080i, 1080p | 60 (NTSC), 50 (PAL)[N 5] |
Nintendo DS | 256×192 (per screen) | 18-bit, RGB | 192p | 59.826098288081 |
PlayStation Portable | 480×272 | 24-bit, RGB | 272p | 60[N 5] |
Nintendo 3DS | 800x240 top screen[N 9]
320x240 bottom screen |
24-bit, RGB | 240p | 60[N 5] |
- ↑ This is a rough figure given for simplicity's sake. In reality, the Atari 2600 doesn't really output pixels, and it has no limits on the number of lines it can display. However, it did have a hard limit on the number of horizontal color clocks for drawing the picture (160), and most games only output 192 lines, hence the commonly given resolution of 160x192.
- ↑ The NES has a 6-bit palette, but not all of the 64 possible entries maps to unique colors.
- ↑ While N64 games ran at various resolutions internally, in practice the hardware's VI component always doubled the scale horizontally, and output in either 640x240p or 640x480i, though there is letterboxing at times.
- ↑ The N64 can use either either 18-bit (15 bits of RGB and 3 bits of alpha) or 32-bit framebuffer, however the DAC is only capable of outputting 21-bit RGB
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 Preliminary or approximate value.
- ↑ The PSX can use a 16-bit or 24-bit framebuffer, however most of the GPU's commands can only render onto a 16-bit framebuffer
- ↑ A variety of display moves are possible for homebrew programs, see [1]
- ↑ Similar to N64, games ran at various resolutions internally[2], though output is usually in 480p.
- ↑ This is the "true" resolution of the top screen and what games will be rendered at in full 3d mode, however, due to said 3d effect the horizontal resolution is effectively halved. Each eye will only see 400x240 and games run in 2d mode will (normally) be rendered at 400x240 [3].
Color encoding
On systems connected with a composite, s-video or rf cable the color of the video signal is encoded using either NTSC or PAL. While NTSC and PAL has become synonymous with 60 and 50hz, the color encoding is independent of refresh rate, with the Dreamcast popularising "PAL-60" modes in PAL regions. Note that a RGB or component video signal is not inherently NTSC or PAL coded. When playing on an emulator, NTSC filters can be used to produce an image similar to playing on a TV.
Integer Scaling
- Main article: Scaling
Upscaling the resolution will only look good if you scale it by integers (2x, 3x, 4x, etc.). If you are scaling with non-integers, you can make the image look better using the Pixellate shader.