Ares: Difference between revisions - Emulation General Wiki

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|version = {{Version|ares}}

|active = Yes

|platform = [[Emulators on Windows|Windows]] [[Emulators on Linux|Linux]] [[Emulators on macOS|macOS]] FreeBSD

|architecture = x64

|architecture = x64, ARM64

|target = [[Atari 2600 emulators|2600]][[Nintendo Entertainment System emulators|Famicom / NES]][[Super Nintendo emulators|Super Famicom / SNES]][[Nintendo 64 emulators|Nintendo 64]][[Game Boy/Game Boy Color emulators|Game Boy (Color)]][[Game Boy Advance emulators|Game Boy Advance]][[WonderSwan emulators|WonderSwan (Color), Pocket Challenge V2]][[SG-1000 emulators|SG-1000]][[Master System emulators|Mark III / Master System, Game Gear]][[Sega Genesis emulators|Mega Drive / Genesis]][[PlayStation emulators|PlayStation]][[PC Engine (TurboGrafx-16) emulators|PC Engine (SuperGrafx) / TurboGrafx-16]][[Neo Geo and variants|Neo Geo]][[Neo Geo Pocket emulators|Neo Geo Pocket (Color)]][[MSX emulators|MSX2]][[ColecoVision emulators|ColecoVision]][[ZX Spectrum line|ZX Spectrum]][[My Vision emulators|My Vision]]

|target = [[Atari 2600 emulators|2600]][[Nintendo Entertainment System emulators|Famicom / NES]][[Super Nintendo Entertainment System emulators|Super Famicom / SNES]][[Nintendo 64 emulators|Nintendo 64]]/[[Nintendo_64_emulators#Peripherals|64DD]][[Game Boy/Game Boy Color emulators|Game Boy (Color)]][[Game Boy Advance emulators|Game Boy Advance]][[WonderSwan emulators|WonderSwan (Color), Pocket Challenge V2]][[SG-1000 emulators|SG-1000]][[Master System emulators|Mark III / Master System, Game Gear]][[Sega Genesis emulators|Mega Drive / Genesis]][[Sega_Genesis_emulators#Hardware_features_and_peripherals|Sega/Mega CD, 32X, CD 32X]][[PlayStation emulators|PlayStation]][[PC Engine (TurboGrafx-16) emulators|PC Engine (SuperGrafx) / TurboGrafx-16]][[Neo Geo and variants|Neo Geo]][[Neo Geo Pocket emulators|Neo Geo Pocket (Color)]][[MSX emulators|MSX2]][[ColecoVision emulators|ColecoVision]][[ZX Spectrum line|ZX Spectrum]][[My Vision emulators|My Vision]][[Pioneer_LaserActive|Sega PAC and NEC PAC]]

|website = [https://ares-emu.net ares-emu.net]

|license = ~~Internet Systems Consortium (~~ISC~~) license~~

|support = [https://www.patreon.com/LukeUsher Patreon][https://ko-fi.com/LukeUsher Ko-fi] [https://github.com/sponsors/LukeUsher GitHub Sponsor] [https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/lukepusher PayPal]

|prog-lang = {{Proglang|C++}}

|license = {{License|ISC}}

|source = [https://github.com/ares-emulator/ares GitHub]

|issuetracker = [https://github.com/ares-emulator/ares/issues GitHub]

}}

'''ares''' is a free and open-source, [[Multi-system_emulators|multi-system emulator]]. It is a ~~descendent~~ of [[higan]] and [[bsnes]], and focuses on accuracy and preservation.

'''ares''' is a free and open-source, [[Multi-system_emulators|multi-system emulator]]. It is a descendant of [[higan]] and [[bsnes]], and focuses on accuracy and preservation.

==Download==

{| cellpadding="4"

|-

|align=center|{{Icon|Win-big|Mac-big}}

|align=center|{{Icon|Win-big|Mac-big|WoA-big}}

|'''[https://github.com/ares-emulator/ares/releases Official releases]'''

|-

|align=center|{{Icon|Win-big|Mac-big}}

|align=center|{{Icon|Win-big|Mac-big|WoA-big}}

|[https://github.com/ares-emulator/ares/releases/tag/nightly Official Nightly builds]

|-

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|-

|align=center|{{Icon|Lin-big}}

|'''[https://flathub.org/apps/details/dev.ares.ares Flatpak]''' '''[https://~~aur.~~archlinux.org/packages/ares-emu/ ArchLinux ~~AUR~~]'''

|'''[https://flathub.org/apps/details/dev.ares.ares Flatpak]''' '''[https://archlinux.org/packages/extra/x86_64/ares-emu/ ArchLinux]''' '''[https://github.com/pkgforge-dev/ares-emu-appimage/ AppImage]'''

|}

|

{| colspan="3"

|colspan="3"|<hr/>

|-

|align=center|{{Icon|BSD-big}}

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ares began development as bsnes on October 14th, 2004. It is available under the Internet Systems Consortium (ISC) license, which is a permissive license that is functionally similar to the BSD and MIT licenses. It used to be under the terms of the Creative Commons (CC) BY-NC-ND 4.0 license, which it made the ares emulator a non-commercial software that does not permit publishing modifications (forks) online. The reason for this was to prevent splintering development between higan and ares.

Most cores in ares are original and were started when the project was run by Near, although its Nintendo 64 core's graphics emulation is based on Themaister's ParaLLEl-RDP Vulkan renderer as well as MAME's software renderer, and an original Atari 2600 core was added later. Its most useful cores are the ones that have been in development the longest or that have few competing options. Its SNES emulation is derived from that of the original [[bsnes]] project and is the most accurate one around. Its WonderSwan and Neo Geo Pocket emulation are also the most complete and accurate, with the highest compatibility available (100% in the case of the WonderSwan). The Genesis emulation is highly accurate ~~as well and supports <100% compatibility~~ across the console and its add-ons. 32x and CD emulation both have >95% compatibility with commercial games ~~and is~~ by far the best option for 32x across emulators.

Most cores in ares are original and were started when the project was run by Near, although its Nintendo 64 core's graphics emulation is based on Themaister's ParaLLEl-RDP Vulkan renderer as well as MAME's software renderer, and an original Atari 2600 core was added later. Its most useful cores are the ones that have been in development the longest or that have few competing options. Its SNES emulation is derived from that of the original [[bsnes]] project and is the most accurate one around. Its WonderSwan and Neo Geo Pocket emulation are also the most complete and accurate, with the highest compatibility available (100% in the case of the WonderSwan). The Genesis emulation is highly accurate across the console and its add-ons, albeit slightly less compatible than some competing options. 32x and CD emulation both have >95% compatibility with commercial games, making ares by far the best option for the 32x across emulators.

Uniquely, ares is (as of 2026) the only emulator that provides comprehensive support for the [[Pioneer LaserActive]], thereby making MegaLD and LD-ROM² [[LaserDisc]] games playable in emulation for the first time. The Mega Drive-based '''Sega PAC (PAC-S10/PAC-S1)''' has been supported since v146, and the PC Engine-based '''NEC PAC (PAC-N10/PAC-N1/PCE-LP1)''' since v147.

Other cores are less useful, with known incompatibilities and other emulators available that are both faster and more accurate. The GBA emulation was derived from work done in bsnes for the ST018 coprocessor, but is slower and less accurate than [[mGBA]]. Its Atari 2600 emulation is well behind [[Stella]] and [[MAME]], and its PlayStation emulation has some noticeable compatibility gaps that you won't find in [[DuckStation]] or [[Mednafen]].

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*Debugger

==High CPU usage under Windows==

On some Windows systems, the default audio driver causes very high CPU utilisation, even with no game actually running. Switching from WASAPI to SDL will resolve that issue on OpenGL video driver.

If your video driver is Direct3D, switching to DirectSound audio driver should resolve any audio crackles and instability.

==External links==

*[https://discord.com/invite/gz2quhk2kv Discord]

[[Category:Emulators]]

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[[Category:Game Boy/Game Boy Color emulators]]

[[Category:Game Boy Advance emulators]]

[[Category:WonderSwan emulators]]

[[Category:WonderSwan/WonderSwan Color emulators]]

[[Category:SG-1000 emulators]]

[[Category:Master System emulators]]

[[Category:Sega Genesis emulators]]

[[Category:Pioneer LaserActive PAC emulators]]

[[Category:Pioneer LaserActive NEC/PC Engine PAC emulators]]

[[Category:Pioneer LaserActive Sega PAC emulators]]

[[Category:Super Game Boy emulators]]

[[Category:Add-on console emulators]]

[[Category:PlayStation emulators]]

[[Category:PC Engine (TurboGrafx-16) emulators]]

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[[Category:Linux emulation software]]

[[Category:macOS emulation software]]

[[Category:BSD emulation software]]

[[Category:Active emulation software]]

@@ Line 8: / Line 8: @@
 |version = {{Version|ares}}
 |active = Yes
-|platform = [[Emulators on Windows|Windows]]<br/>[[Emulators on Linux|Linux]]<br/>[[Emulators on macOS|macOS]]<br/>FreeBSD
+|platform = [[Emulators on Windows|Windows]]<br/>[[Emulators on Linux|Linux]]<br/>[[Emulators on macOS|macOS]]<br/>[[Emulators on BSD|FreeBSD]]
-|architecture  = x64
+|architecture  = x64, ARM64
-|target = [[Atari 2600 emulators|2600]]</br>[[Nintendo Entertainment System emulators|Famicom / NES]]</br>[[Super Nintendo emulators|Super Famicom / SNES]]</br>[[Nintendo 64 emulators|Nintendo 64]]</br>[[Game Boy/Game Boy Color emulators|Game Boy (Color)]]</br>[[Game Boy Advance emulators|Game Boy Advance]]</br>[[WonderSwan emulators|WonderSwan (Color), Pocket Challenge V2]]</br>[[SG-1000 emulators|SG-1000]]</br>[[Master System emulators|Mark III / Master System, Game Gear]]</br>[[Sega Genesis emulators|Mega Drive / Genesis]]</br>[[PlayStation emulators|PlayStation]]</br>[[PC Engine (TurboGrafx-16) emulators|PC Engine (SuperGrafx) / TurboGrafx-16]]</br>[[Neo Geo and variants|Neo Geo]]</br>[[Neo Geo Pocket emulators|Neo Geo Pocket (Color)]]</br>[[MSX emulators|MSX2]]</br>[[ColecoVision emulators|ColecoVision]]</br>[[ZX Spectrum line|ZX Spectrum]]</br>[[My Vision emulators|My Vision]]
+|target = [[Atari 2600 emulators|2600]]</br>[[Nintendo Entertainment System emulators|Famicom / NES]]</br>[[Super Nintendo Entertainment System emulators|Super Famicom / SNES]]</br>[[Nintendo 64 emulators|Nintendo 64]]/[[Nintendo_64_emulators#Peripherals|64DD]]</br>[[Game Boy/Game Boy Color emulators|Game Boy (Color)]]</br>[[Game Boy Advance emulators|Game Boy Advance]]</br>[[WonderSwan emulators|WonderSwan (Color), Pocket Challenge V2]]</br>[[SG-1000 emulators|SG-1000]]</br>[[Master System emulators|Mark III / Master System, Game Gear]]</br>[[Sega Genesis emulators|Mega Drive / Genesis]]</br>[[Sega_Genesis_emulators#Hardware_features_and_peripherals|Sega/Mega CD, 32X, CD 32X]]</br>[[PlayStation emulators|PlayStation]]</br>[[PC Engine (TurboGrafx-16) emulators|PC Engine (SuperGrafx) / TurboGrafx-16]]</br>[[Neo Geo and variants|Neo Geo]]</br>[[Neo Geo Pocket emulators|Neo Geo Pocket (Color)]]</br>[[MSX emulators|MSX2]]</br>[[ColecoVision emulators|ColecoVision]]</br>[[ZX Spectrum line|ZX Spectrum]]</br>[[My Vision emulators|My Vision]]</br>[[Pioneer_LaserActive|Sega PAC and NEC PAC]]
 |website = [https://ares-emu.net ares-emu.net]
-|license = Internet Systems Consortium (ISC) license
+|support = [https://www.patreon.com/LukeUsher Patreon]</br>[https://ko-fi.com/LukeUsher Ko-fi]<br />[https://github.com/sponsors/LukeUsher GitHub Sponsor]<br/>[https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/lukepusher PayPal]
+|prog-lang = {{Proglang|C++}}
+|license = {{License|ISC}}
 |source = [https://github.com/ares-emulator/ares GitHub]
+|issuetracker = [https://github.com/ares-emulator/ares/issues GitHub]
 }}
-'''ares''' is a free and open-source, [[Multi-system_emulators|multi-system emulator]]. It is a descendent of [[higan]] and [[bsnes]], and focuses on accuracy and preservation.
+'''ares''' is a free and open-source, [[Multi-system_emulators|multi-system emulator]]. It is a descendant of [[higan]] and [[bsnes]], and focuses on accuracy and preservation.
 ==Download==
 {| cellpadding="4"
 |-
-|align=center|{{Icon|Win-big|Mac-big}}
+|align=center|{{Icon|Win-big|Mac-big|WoA-big}}
 |'''[https://github.com/ares-emulator/ares/releases Official releases]'''
 |-
-|align=center|{{Icon|Win-big|Mac-big}}
+|align=center|{{Icon|Win-big|Mac-big|WoA-big}}
 |[https://github.com/ares-emulator/ares/releases/tag/nightly Official Nightly builds]
 |-
@@ Line 30: / Line 33: @@
 |-
 |align=center|{{Icon|Lin-big}}
-|'''[https://flathub.org/apps/details/dev.ares.ares Flatpak]'''<br/>'''[https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/ares-emu/ ArchLinux AUR]'''
+|'''[https://flathub.org/apps/details/dev.ares.ares Flatpak]'''<br/>'''[https://archlinux.org/packages/extra/x86_64/ares-emu/ ArchLinux]'''<br/>'''[https://github.com/pkgforge-dev/ares-emu-appimage/ AppImage]'''
-|}
+|
-{| colspan="3"
+|colspan="3"|<hr/>
 |-
 |align=center|{{Icon|BSD-big}}
@@ Line 41: / Line 44: @@
 ares began development as bsnes on October 14th, 2004. It is available under the Internet Systems Consortium (ISC) license, which is a permissive license that is functionally similar to the BSD and MIT licenses. It used to be under the terms of the Creative Commons (CC) BY-NC-ND 4.0 license, which it made the ares emulator a non-commercial software that does not permit publishing modifications (forks) online. The reason for this was to prevent splintering development between higan and ares.
-Most cores in ares are original and were started when the project was run by Near, although its Nintendo 64 core's graphics emulation is based on Themaister's ParaLLEl-RDP Vulkan renderer as well as MAME's software renderer, and an original Atari 2600 core was added later. Its most useful cores are the ones that have been in development the longest or that have few competing options. Its SNES emulation is derived from that of the original [[bsnes]] project and is the most accurate one around. Its WonderSwan and Neo Geo Pocket emulation are also the most complete and accurate, with the highest compatibility available (100% in the case of the WonderSwan). The Genesis emulation is highly accurate as well and supports <100% compatibility across the console and its add-ons. 32x and CD emulation both have >95% compatibility with commercial games and is by far the best option for 32x across emulators.
+Most cores in ares are original and were started when the project was run by Near, although its Nintendo 64 core's graphics emulation is based on Themaister's ParaLLEl-RDP Vulkan renderer as well as MAME's software renderer, and an original Atari 2600 core was added later. Its most useful cores are the ones that have been in development the longest or that have few competing options. Its SNES emulation is derived from that of the original [[bsnes]] project and is the most accurate one around. Its WonderSwan and Neo Geo Pocket emulation are also the most complete and accurate, with the highest compatibility available (100% in the case of the WonderSwan). The Genesis emulation is highly accurate across the console and its add-ons, albeit slightly less compatible than some competing options. 32x and CD emulation both have >95% compatibility with commercial games, making ares by far the best option for the 32x across emulators.
+Uniquely, ares is (as of 2026) the only emulator that provides comprehensive support for the [[Pioneer LaserActive]], thereby making MegaLD and LD-ROM² [[LaserDisc]] games playable in emulation for the first time. The Mega Drive-based '''Sega PAC (PAC-S10/PAC-S1)''' has been supported since v146, and the PC Engine-based '''NEC PAC (PAC-N10/PAC-N1/PCE-LP1)''' since v147.
 Other cores are less useful, with known incompatibilities and other emulators available that are both faster and more accurate. The GBA emulation was derived from work done in bsnes for the ST018 coprocessor, but is slower and less accurate than [[mGBA]]. Its Atari 2600 emulation is well behind [[Stella]] and [[MAME]], and its PlayStation emulation has some noticeable compatibility gaps that you won't find in [[DuckStation]] or [[Mednafen]].
@@ Line 61: / Line 66: @@
 *Debugger
+==High CPU usage under Windows==
+On some Windows systems, the default audio driver causes very high CPU utilisation, even with no game actually running. Switching from WASAPI to SDL will resolve that issue on OpenGL video driver.
+If your video driver is Direct3D, switching to DirectSound audio driver should resolve any audio crackles and instability.
+==External links==
+*[https://discord.com/invite/gz2quhk2kv Discord]
+{{TurboGrafx-16/SuperGrafx emulators}}
+{{WonderSwan/WonderSwan Color emulators}}
+{{Neo Geo Pocket/Neo Geo Pocket Color emulators}}
+{{Famicom (NES) emulators}}
+{{Super Famicom (SNES) emulators}}
+{{Game Boy/Game Boy Color emulators}}
 {{Game Boy Advance emulators}}
+{{SG-1000 emulators}}
+{{Master System/Game Gear emulators}}
+{{Sega Genesis emulators}}
 [[Category:Emulators]]
@@ Line 76: / Line 97: @@
 [[Category:Game Boy/Game Boy Color emulators]]
 [[Category:Game Boy Advance emulators]]
-[[Category:WonderSwan emulators]]
+[[Category:WonderSwan/WonderSwan Color emulators]]
 [[Category:SG-1000 emulators]]
 [[Category:Master System emulators]]
 [[Category:Sega Genesis emulators]]
+[[Category:Pioneer LaserActive PAC emulators]]
+[[Category:Pioneer LaserActive NEC/PC Engine PAC emulators]]
+[[Category:Pioneer LaserActive Sega PAC emulators]]
+[[Category:Super Game Boy emulators]]
+[[Category:Add-on console emulators]]
 [[Category:PlayStation emulators]]
 [[Category:PC Engine (TurboGrafx-16) emulators]]
@@ Line 89: / Line 115: @@
 [[Category:Linux emulation software]]
 [[Category:macOS emulation software]]
+[[Category:BSD emulation software]]
+[[Category:Active emulation software]]