Difference between revisions of "Nintendo Entertainment System emulators"
m (Murrigan moved page Nintendo Entertainment System to Nintendo Entertainment System Emulators: Consistency with the other console pages) |
m (ColamanZero57 moved page Nintendo Entertainment System Emulators to Nintendo Entertainment System emulators: Lower case) |
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Revision as of 01:11, 4 August 2013
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 | ✓ |
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 |
✓ | ? | 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
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).