Nintendo Entertainment System emulators: Difference between revisions

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{{Infobox system
{{Infobox computing device/Nintendo Entertainment System}}
| title = Nintendo Entertainment System/Family Computer
{{for|emulators that run on the Nintendo Entertainment System|Emulators on Nintendo Entertainment System}}
| aka = Family Computer/Famicom (Japan)<br />Hyundai Comboy (South Korea)<br /> Samurai Electronic TV Game System (India)<br /> [[Dendy (console)|Dendy]] (Post-Soviet countries)<br />Nintendo Entertainment System (PAL A/PAL B/Southeast Asia) <br />
 
|image = nes-t.png
The [[gametech:Nintendo Entertainment System|'''Nintendo Entertainment System''']] (NES) is an 8-bit, third-generation console originally released as the '''Family Computer''' or '''Famicom''', in Japan, on July 15, 1983. The Famicom retailed for 14,800 yen. The console would be redesigned as the NES and released on October 18, 1985, in North America. The NES retailed for {{Inflation|USD|179.99|1985}}. It had a Ricoh 2A03 CPU at 1.79 MHz with 2 KB of RAM.
|image2 = Family Computer.png
| caption = '''Top:''' NES Control Deck (with detachable controllers)<br />'''Bottom:''' Family Computer ("Famicom") main unit (with hardwired controllers)
| developer = [[Nintendo|Nintendo R&D2]]
| manufacturer = [[Nintendo]]
| type = [[:Category:Home consoles|Home video game console]]
| generation = [[:Category:Third-generation consoles|Third]]
| release date =
JP: July 15, 1983<br />
NA: October 18, 1985<br />
EU: September 1, 1986<br />
UK/IRE/ITA/AU: 1987<br />
KR: 1989<br />
BRA/ZA: 1993
| price = ¥14,800<br />
{{Inflation|USD|179|1985}}
| discontinued =
NA/EU/AU: August 14, 1995<br />
JP: September 25, 2003
| units sold = 61.91&nbsp;million
| media = Nintendo Entertainment System Game Pak
| cpu =
Ricoh 2A03 @ 1.79 MHz<br />
Ricoh 2A07 @ 1.66 MHz
| controllers = 2 controller ports<br />1 expansion slot
| top game = Pack-in: Super Mario Bros. (approx. 40 million units)<br />
Stand-alone: Super Mario Bros. 2 (approx. 10 million units)
| predecessor = [[Color TV-Game emulators|Color TV-Game]]
| successor = [[Super Nintendo emulators|Super Famicom/Super NES]]
| related = Famicom Disk System, Famicom 3D System
| sound = APU, 5 channels: 2 pulse wave, triangle wave, white noise, DPCM
| graphics = PPU (Ricoh 2C02)
| display = 256&nbsp;×&nbsp;240&nbsp;px
|emulated = {{✓}}
}}
{{for|emulators that run on the Nintendo Entertainment System|Emulators on NES}}
The '''[[wikipedia:Nintendo_Entertainment_System|Nintendo Entertainment System]]''' (NES) is an 8-bit, third-generation console originally released as the '''Family Computer''' or '''Famicom''', in Japan, on July 15, 1983. The Famicom retailed for ¥14800. The console would be redesigned as the NES and released on October 18, 1985 in North America. The NES retailed for {{Inflation|USD|179.99|1985}}. It had a Ricoh 2A03 CPU at 1.79 MHz with 2 KB of RAM.


The earliest games released on the Famicom suffered from significant hardware constraints due to the way the Famicom was designed: limited memory addressing (which meant games had a small maximum ROM size), how the graphics were loaded onscreen, just the native sound processing was available, no saving… To solve this problem, Nintendo came up with two solutions:
The earliest games released on the Famicom suffered from significant hardware constraints due to the way the Famicom was designed: limited memory addressing (which meant games had a small maximum ROM size), how the graphics were loaded onscreen, just the native sound processing was available, no saving… To solve this problem, Nintendo came up with two solutions:


* The '''Family Computer Disk System''' (FDS). A Japan-only [[#Hardware features and accessories|add-on]] that played games from a semi-custom variant of Mitsumi's Quick Disk format. It offered slightly higher data storage and slightly enhanced sound processing. There were plans to release it in the US; however, since the NES had its launch delayed to late 1985, and in the meantime the disks had turned out to be too piracy-prone, the [[#Hardware features and accessories|add-on]] was never exported, and some of its exclusives were ported as regular cartridge releases.
* The Family Computer Disk System (FDS). A Japan-only [[Nintendo Entertainment System emulators#Hardware features and peripherals|add-on]] that played games from a semi-custom variant of Mitsumi's Quick Disk format. It offered slightly higher data storage and slightly enhanced sound processing. There were plans to release it in the US; however, since the NES had its launch delayed to late 1985, and in the meantime the disks had turned out to be too piracy-prone, the [[Nintendo Entertainment System emulators#Hardware features and peripherals|add-on]] was never exported, and some of its exclusives were ported as regular cartridge releases.
* '''Memory Management Controllers''' (MMC), also known colloquially as '''[[#Mappers|mappers]]'''. They solved every aforementioned problem with bank switching for much more data, onboard FM audio chips, and much more. Most games released after 1986 that really pushed the system to its limits used mappers. A similar solution was used for the Game Boy.
* Memory Management Controllers (MMC), also known colloquially as [[Nintendo Entertainment System emulators#Mappers|mappers]]. They solved every aforementioned problem with bank switching for much more data, onboard FM audio chips, and much more. Most games released after 1986 that really pushed the system to its limits used mappers. A similar solution was used for the Game Boy.


Emulation for the Famicom/NES is robust, with many high-quality emulators for various systems and cycle-accurate emulation possible on even moderately powerful devices.
Emulation for the Famicom/NES is robust, with many high-quality emulators for various systems and cycle-accurate emulation possible on even moderately powerful devices.


==Emulators==
== Comparison ==
Like for [[Game Boy/Game Boy Color emulators|Game Boy/Color]], tons of NES emulators exist. For a list of open-source projects, see this [https://github.com/search?utf8=%E2%9C%93&q=nes+emulator&type=Repositories GitHub query].
{{Emulator comparison introduction|[[#Enhancements|enhancements]], [[#Hardware features and peripherals|hardware features & peripherals]], and [[#Hardware variants|hardware variants]]}}
<div style="overflow-x:auto;width:100%">
 
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;width:100%"
Like for [[Game Boy (Color) emulators|Game Boy and Game Boy Color]], tons of NES emulators exist. For a list of open-source projects, see this [https://github.com/search?utf8=%E2%9C%93&q=nes+emulator&type=Repositories GitHub query].
! scope="col"|Name
 
! scope="col"|Platform(s)
=== Standalone emulators ===
! scope="col"|Latest version
{| {{Emulator table}}
! scope="col"|[[#Hardware_variants|Hardware<br/>Variants]]
!Name
! scope="col"|[[#Enhancements|Enhancements]]
!Platform(s)
! scope="col"|[[#Hardware features and accessories|Hardware features<br/>and accessories]]
!Active?
! scope="col"|[[#Mappers|<small>Mappers Support<br/>Level</small>]]
!Latest version
! scope="col"|[[Emulation Accuracy|Accuracy]]
![[Licensing|License]]
! scope="col"|[[Licensing|License]]
!Compatibility
! scope="col"|Active
![https://github.com/100thCoin/AccuracyCoin Accuracy Coin Test]
! scope="col"|[[Recommended emulators|Recommended]]
![[Emulation accuracy|Accuracy]]
![[Nintendo Entertainment System emulators#Mappers|Mappers support level]]
![[Nintendo Entertainment System emulators#Famicom Disk System|Famicom Disk System]]
![[Recommended emulators|Recommended? (overall)]]
|-
|-
!colspan="11"|x86
! colspan="11" |PC
|-
|-
|[[Mesen|Mesen]]
|[[Nestopia|Nestopia UE]]
|align=left|{{Icon|Windows|Linux|macOS|FreeBSD}}
| align="left" |{{Icon|Windows|Linux|macOS|FreeBSD}}||{{Ya}}
|[https://github.com/SourMesen/Mesen2#development-builds Dev builds]<br/>[https://buildbot.libretro.com/nightly/ libretro core]<br/>
|[http://0ldsk00l.ca/nestopia/ {{NestopiaVer}}]<br>[https://gitlab.com/jgemu/nestopia/ Nestopia JG {{NestopiaJGVer}}]
|{{~}}
|{{Green}} {{License|GPLv2}} ({{License|Copyleft}})
|{{✓}}
|
|{{✓}}
|Nestopia UE: 144/144 (2026/09/14)<br>Nestopia JG: 144/144 (2026/09/14)
|[https://github.com/SourMesen/Mesen2/tree/master/Core/NES/Mappers Unlicensed]
|Cycle
|Cycle
|{{Green}} {{License|GPLv3}} ({{License|Copyleft}})
|[https://github.com/0ldsk00l/nestopia/commits/master/source/core/board Unlicensed]||{{Ya}}||{{Ya}}
|{{✓}}
|{{✓}}
|-
|-
|[[puNES]]
|NintendulatorNRS
|align=left|{{Icon|Windows|Linux|FreeBSD}}
| align="left" |{{Icon|Windows}}||{{Ya}}
|[https://github.com/punesemu/puNES#floppy_disk-work-in-progress-wip-builds- WIP builds]<br> [https://github.com/punesemu/puNES/releases {{PuNESVer}}]
|[https://unlicensed.games/libg/static.php?page=NintendulatorNRS 2026-08-16]||{{Green}} {{License|GPLv2}} ({{License|Copyleft}})
|{{~}}
|100%
|{{✓}}
|131/144 (2026/09/09)
|{{✓}}
|[https://github.com/punesemu/puNES#electric_plug-supported-mappers Unlicensed]
|Cycle
|Cycle
|{{Green}} {{License|GPLv2}} ({{License|Copyleft}})
|[https://www.nesdev.org/wiki/Mapper#Plane_1 Unlicensed]||{{Ya}}||{{Ya}}
|{{✓}}
|{{✓}}
|-
|-
|[[Nestopia|Nestopia UE]]
|[[puNES]]
|align=left|{{Icon|Windows|Linux|macOS|FreeBSD|Web}}
| align="left" |{{Icon|Windows|Linux|FreeBSD}}||{{~}}<br><small>As of April 2026, development of the current branch is currently stalled, as the developer is rewriting the emulator from scratch.<small>
|[https://buildbot.libretro.com/nightly/ libretro core] <br> [https://0ldsk00l.ca/nestopia/ {{NestopiaVer}}] <br> [https://gitlab.com/jgemu/nestopia/ Nestopia JG git]
|[https://github.com/punesemu/puNES#floppy_disk-work-in-progress-wip-builds- WIP builds]
|{{~}}
[https://github.com/punesemu/puNES/releases {{puNESVer}}]
|{{~}}
|{{✓}}
|[https://github.com/0ldsk00l/nestopia/commits/master/source/core/board Unlicensed]
|Cycle
|{{Green}} {{License|GPLv2}} ({{License|Copyleft}})
|{{Green}} {{License|GPLv2}} ({{License|Copyleft}})
|{{✓}}
|
|{{✓}}
|102/144 (2026/09/09)
|-
|[[ares]]
|align=left|{{Icon|Windows|Linux|macOS|FreeBSD}}
|[https://nightly.link/ares-emulator/ares/workflows/build/master <abbr title="Latest development build version">git Artifacts</abbr>]<br/>[https://github.com/ares-emulator/ares/releases {{aresVer}}]
|{{~}}
|{{~}}
|{{~}}
|Unlicensed
|Cycle
|Cycle
|{{Green}} {{License|ISC}} ({{License|Permissive}})
|[https://github.com/punesemu/puNES#electric_plug-Supported-Mappers Unlicensed]||{{Ya}}||{{Ya}}
|{{✓}}
|{{✓}}
|-
|-
|[[FCEUX]]
|[[FCEUX]]
|align=left|{{Icon|Windows|Linux|macOS|FreeBSD|Sol|Web}}
| align="left" |{{Icon|Windows|Linux|macOS|FreeBSD|Sol}}||{{Ya}}
|[https://fceux.com/web/download.html {{FCEUXVer}}]<br/>[https://buildbot.libretro.com/nightly/ libretro (FCEUmm)]
|[https://fceux.com/web/download.html {{FCEUXVer}}]||{{Green}} {{License|GPLv2}} ({{License|Copyleft}})
|{{~}}
|
|{{~}}
|84/144, 3 skipped (2026/09/09)
|{{✓}}
|Unlicensed
|High
|High
|{{Green}} {{License|GPLv2}} ({{License|Copyleft}})
|Unlicensed||{{Ya}}||{{~}}
|{{✓}}
|-
|{{~}}
|[[Nintendulator]]
| align="left" |{{Icon|Windows}}||{{Ya}}
|[https://www.qmtpro.com/~nes/nintendulator/#downloads {{NintendulatorVer}}]||{{Green}} {{License|GPLv2}} ({{License|Copyleft}})
|
|Restarts (2026/09/09)
|Cycle
|Unlicensed||{{Dunno}}||{{~}}
|-
|-
|[[BizHawk]]<br/><small>(QuickNES)(NESHawk)</small>
|[[RockNES]]
|align=left|{{Icon|Windows|Linux}}
| align="left" |{{Icon|Windows}}||{{Na}}
|[https://gitlab.com/TASVideos/BizHawk/-/pipelines Dev Builds]<br/>[https://tasvideos.org/BizHawk/ReleaseHistory.html {{BizHawkVer}}]
|[http://rocknes.web.fc2.com/ {{RockNESVer}}]||{{Red}} {{License|Proprietary}}
|{{~}}
|
|{{?}}
|97/141 (2026/08/26)
|{{~}}
|High
|?
|?||{{Dunno}}||{{Na}}
|?<br/><small>[[BizHawk#Supported_systems|(Core dependent)]]</small>
|{{Green}} {{License|MIT}}<br>{{License|GPL}}
|{{✓}}
|{{~}}
|-
|-
|[[Nintendulator]]/NRS
|nintaco
|align=left|{{Icon|Windows}}
| align="left" |{{Icon|Windows|Linux|macOS|FreeBSD}}||{{Na}}
|[http://masterdisk.byethost15.com/blog/libg/static.php?page=NintendulatorNRS 2023-12-23]<br/>[https://www.qmtpro.com/~nes/nintendulator/#downloads {{NintendulatorVer}}]
|[https://nintaco.com/ 2023-12-08]||{{Green}} {{License|LGPLv21}} ({{License|Copyleft}})
|{{~}}
|
|{{?}}
|96/139 (2026/05/05)
|{{~}}
|[https://www.mediafire.com/file/l56fw5ozxu1w36d/nintendulatorNRS-src-mappers_2022-09-12.7z/file Unlicensed]
|Cycle
|Cycle
|{{Green}} {{License|GPLv2}} ({{License|Copyleft}})
|Unlicensed||{{Dunno}}||{{Na}}
|{{✓}}
|{{~}}
|-
|-
|[[3dSen]]
|[[Nestopia]]
|align=left|{{Icon|Windows|Linux|macOS}}
| align="left" |{{Icon|Pandora}}||{{Na}}
|[https://www.geodstudio.net/ {{3dSenVer}}]
|[https://repo.openpandora.org/?page=detail&app=nestopia-app V2]||{{Red}} {{License|Proprietary}}
|{{✗}}
|
|{{~}}
|93/125 (2025/09/07)
|{{✗}}
|Cycle
|[https://steamcommunity.com/app/954280/discussions/0/1643170903498517164/ <small>Only for selected titles</small>]
|?||{{Dunno}}||{{Na}}
|Game dependent
|{{Red}} {{License|Proprietary}}
|{{✓}}
|{{~}}
|-
|-
|[[MAME]]
|BeesNES
|align=left|{{Icon|Windows|Linux|macOS|FreeBSD}}
| align="left" |{{Icon|Windows|macOS}}||{{Ya}}
|<abbr title="Latest development version">git artifacts</abbr><ref group=N>[https://nightly.link/mamedev/mame/workflows/ci-windows/master CI-Windows] [https://nightly.link/mamedev/mame/workflows/ci-linux/master CI-Linux] [https://nightly.link/mamedev/mame/workflows/ci-macos/master CI-Macos]</ref></br>[https://www.mamedev.org/release.html {{MAMEVer}}]<br/>[https://buildbot.libretro.com/nightly/ libretro core]
|[https://github.com/L-Spiro/BeesNES git]||{{Green}} {{License|MIT}} ({{License|Permissive}})
|{{✓}}
|
|{{~}}
|90/125 (2025/09/07)
|{{~}}
|Subcycle
|[https://github.com/mamedev/mame/tree/master/src/mame/nintendo Unlicensed]
|?||{{Dunno}}||{{Na}} (WIP)
|?
|{{Green}} {{License|GPLv2}}<br>{{License|BSD3}}
|{{✓}}
|{{✗}}
|-
|-
|[[QuickNES]]
|[[QuickNES]]
|align=left|{{Icon|Windows|Linux|macOS|FreeBSD|Web}}
| align="left" |{{Icon|Windows|Linux|macOS|FreeBSD}}||{{Na}}
|[https://buildbot.libretro.com/nightly/ libretro core]<br/>[https://web.archive.org/web/20180904003223/https://kode54.net/fb2k/QuickNES.zip {{QuickNESVer}} (legacy)]
|[https://web.archive.org/web/20180904003223/https://kode54.net/fb2k/QuickNES.zip {{QuickNESVer}}]||{{Green}} {{License|GPLv2}} ({{License|Copyleft}})
|{{~}}
|
|{{~}}
|85/141 (2026/08/23)
|{{~}}
|?
|?
|?
|?||{{Dunno}}||{{Na}}
|{{Green}} {{License|GPLv2}} ({{License|Copyleft}})
|{{~}}<ref group=N name=lrActiveonly>Libretro core is still active.</ref>
|{{✗}}
|-
|-
|BeesNES
|[[VirtuaNES]]
|align=left|{{Icon|Windows|macOS}}
| align="left" |{{Icon|Windows}}||{{Na}}
|[https://github.com/L-Spiro/BeesNES  git]
|[http://virtuanes.s1.xrea.com/ 0.97]||{{Green}} {{License|GPLv2}} ({{License|Copyleft}})
|{{✗}}
|
|{{~}}
|78/139 (2026/05/05)
|{{✗}}
|Low
|?[https://github.com/L-Spiro/BeesNES/issues/10 *]
|?||{{Dunno}}||{{Na}}
|Subcycle
|{{Green}} {{License|MIT}} ({{License|Permissive}})
|{{✓}}
|{{✗}} (WIP)
|-
|-
|breakNES
|breakNES
|align=left|{{Icon|Windows}}
| align="left" |{{Icon|Windows}}||{{Ya}}
|[https://github.com/emu-russia/breaknes/releases {{BreaknesVer}}]
|[https://github.com/emu-russia/breaknes/releases {{BreaknesVer}}]||{{Green}} {{License|CC0}} 1.0 ({{License|PDEQ}})
|{{✗}}
|
|{{?}}
|71/125 (2025/09/07)
|{{✗}}
|?
|Gate-level
|Gate-level
|{{Green}} {{License|CC0}} 1.0 ({{License|PDEQ}})
|?||{{Dunno}}||{{Na}} (WIP)
|{{✓}}
|{{✗}} (WIP)
|-
|-
|[[MetalNES]]
|[https://fms.komkon.org/iNES iNES]
|align=left|{{Icon|macOS}}
| align="left" |{{Icon|Windows|Linux|macOS|FreeBSD|Solaris}}||{{Ya}}
|[https://github.com/iaddis/metalnes git]
|[https://fms.komkon.org/iNES {{iNESVer}}]||{{Red}} Source-available
|{{✗}}
|
|{{✗}}
|67/139 (2026/05/17)
|{{✗}}
|?
|?
|Transistor-level
|?||{{Dunno}}||{{Na}}
|{{Green}} {{License|MIT}} ({{License|Permissive}})
|{{✗}}
|{{✗}} (WIP)
|-
|-
|nintaco
|My First Emulator
|align=left|{{Icon|Windows|Linux|macOS|FreeBSD}}
| align="left" |{{Icon|}}||{{Dunno}}
|[https://nintaco.com/ 2023-12-08]
| ||{{Dunno}}
|{{~}}
|
|{{✗}}
|29/125 (2025/09/07)
|?
|?
|Unlicensed
|?||{{Dunno}}||{{Na}}
|Cycle
|{{Green}} {{License|LGPLv21}} ({{License|Copyleft}})
|{{✗}}
|{{✗}}
|-
|-
|[https://prilik.com/ANESE ANESE]
|UberNES
|align=left|{{Icon|Windows|Linux|macOS}}
| align="left" |{{Icon|}}||{{Dunno}}
|[https://github.com/daniel5151/ANESE/releases 0.9.1]
| ||{{Dunno}}
|
|20/125 (2025/09/07)
|?
|?
|{{~}}
|?||{{Dunno}}||{{Na}}
|{{~}}
|-
|[[Jnes]]
| align="left" |{{Icon|Windows}}||{{Na}}
|[https://www.jabosoft.com/categories/3 1.2.1]||{{Red}} {{License|Proprietary}}
|
|16/139 (2026/05/05)
|?
|?
|?||{{Dunno}}||{{Na}}
|-
|[[HDNes]]
| align="left" |{{Icon|Windows}}||{{Na}}
|[https://forums.nesdev.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=9935#p109627 git]||{{Green}} No license, but open-source
|
|15/139 (2026/05/05)
|?
|?
|{{Green}} {{License|MIT}} ({{License|Permissive}})
|?||{{Dunno}}||{{Na}}
|{{~}}
|{{✗}}
|-
|-
|[https://fms.komkon.org/iNES iNES]
|NesCafe
|align=left|{{Icon|Windows|Linux|macOS|FreeBSD|Solaris}}
| align="left" |{{Icon|}}||{{Dunno}}
|[https://fms.komkon.org/iNES {{INESVer}}]
| ||{{Dunno}}
|{{~}}
|
|{{✗}}
|12/125 (2025/09/07)
|{{~}}
|?
|?
|?||{{Dunno}}||{{Na}}
|-
|NESSIM
| align="left" |{{Icon|}}||{{Dunno}}
| ||{{Dunno}}
|
|11/125 (2025/09/07)
|?
|?
|{{?}}
|?||{{Dunno}}||{{Na}}
|{{✓}}
|{{✗}}
|-
|-
|[[HDNes]]
|Famtasia
|align=left|{{Icon|Windows}}
| align="left" |{{Icon|}}||{{Dunno}}
|[https://forums.nesdev.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=9935#p109627 git]
| ||{{Dunno}}
|
|9/125 (2025/09/07)
|?
|?
|{{~}}<abbr title="Only supports sprite replacement.">*</abbr>
|?||{{Dunno}}||{{Na}}
|{{?}}
|-
|NESten
| align="left" |{{Icon|}}||{{Dunno}}
| ||{{Dunno}}
|
|9/125 (2025/09/07)
|?
|?
|?||{{Dunno}}||{{Na}}
|-
|[[NESticle]]
| align="left" |{{Icon|DOS|Windows9x}}||{{Na}}
|[https://web.archive.org/web/20070227191851/https://www.zophar.net/NESticle/nestcxxx.zip x.xx] (DOS)
[https://web.archive.org/web/20070116124329/https://www.zophar.net:80/NESticle/nestc042.zip 0.42] (Win9x)
|{{Red}} {{License|Proprietary}}
<small>It is proprietary, though source code has been leaked.</small>
|
|5/125 (2025/09/07)
|Low
|?||{{Dunno}}||{{Na}}
|-
|MarioNES
| align="left" |{{Icon|}}||{{Dunno}}
| ||{{Dunno}}
|
|3/125 (2025/09/07)
|?
|?
|{{?}}
|?||{{Dunno}}||{{Na}}
|{{✓}}
|{{✗}}
|-
|-
|[[FinalBurn Neo]]
|[https://prilik.com/ANESE ANESE]
|align=left|{{Icon|Windows|Linux|macOS|FreeBSD}}
| align="left" |{{Icon|Windows|Linux|macOS}}||{{~}}
|[https://buildbot.libretro.com/nightly/ libretro core]<br/>[https://github.com/finalburnneo/FBNeo/releases/tag/latest WIP builds]
|[https://github.com/daniel5151/ANESE/releases 0.9.1]||{{Green}} {{License|MIT}} ({{License|Permissive}})
|{{✗}}
|
|{{✗}}
|Freezes (2026/05/17)
|{{~}}
|?
|?
|?||{{Dunno}}||{{Na}}
|-
|BasicNES 2000<ref group="note">Uses MIDI in place of the console's PSG channels.</ref>
| align="left" |{{Icon|Windows}}||{{Na}}
| ||{{Dunno}}
|
|Freezes (2026/08/23)
|?
|?
|{{Yellow}} {{License|NC}}
|?||{{Na}}||{{Na}}
|{{✓}}
|{{✗}}
|-
|-
|[[higan]] (火眼)<br/>byuu (謬/view)
|HalfNES
|align=left|{{Icon|Windows|Linux|macOS}}
| align="left" |{{Icon|Windows|Linux}}||{{Na}}
|[https://github.com/higan-emu/higan/releases {{higanVer}}]
|[https://github.com/andrew-hoffman/halfnes {{HalfNESVer}}]||{{Green}} {{License|GPLv3}} ({{License|Copyleft}})
|{{?}}
|
|{{✗}}
|Freezes (2026/05/05)
|{{~}}
|?
|?
|Cycle
|?||{{Dunno}}||{{Na}}
|{{Green}} {{License|GPLv3}} ({{License|Copyleft}})
|{{✗}}
|{{✗}}
|-
|-
|[[VirtuaNES]]
|[[rew.]]
|align=left|{{Icon|Windows}}
| align="left" |{{Icon|Windows|Windows9x}}||{{Na}}
|[http://virtuanhttps://rea.com/ 0.97]
|[https://wikiwiki.jp/emulator/rew. rew12stx]||{{Red}} {{License|Proprietary}}
|
|Freezes (2026/08/25)
|?
|?
|?||{{Dunno}}||{{Na}}
|-
|GPFCE
| align="left" |{{Icon|LinuxARM|Pandora}}||{{Na}}
|[https://epo.openpandora.org/?page=detail&app=package.gpfce.notaz 0.81.0.r2] (Pandora)||{{Red}} {{License|Proprietary}}
|
|?
|?
|{{?}}
|?
|?
|Low
|?||{{Dunno}}||{{Na}}
|{{Green}} {{License|GPLv2}} ({{License|Copyleft}})
|{{✗}}
|{{✗}}
|-
|-
|[[nemulator]]
|[[MetalNES]]
|align=left|{{Icon|Windows}}
| align="left" |{{Icon|macOS}}||{{Na}}
|[https://nemulator.com/downloads.html {{NemulatorVer}}]
|[https://github.com/iaddis/metalnes git]||{{Green}} {{License|MIT}} ({{License|Permissive}})
|
|?
|?
|Transistor-level
|?||{{Dunno}}||{{Na}}
|-
|[https://www.explusalpha.com/contents/nes-emu NES.emu]
| align="left" |{{Icon|Pyra}}||{{Ya}}
|[https://pyra-handheld.com/repo/apps/80 1.5.46.02]||{{Green}} {{License|GPLv3}} ({{License|Copyleft}})<br><small>(Android only)</small>
|
|?
|?
|{{?}}
|?
|?
|Medium
|Unlicensed||{{Dunno}}||{{Na}}
|{{Red}} {{License|Proprietary}}
|{{✓}}
|{{✗}}
|-
|-
|Nesemu
|Nesemu
|align=left|{{Icon|macOS}}
| align="left" |{{Icon|macOSPPC|Linux}}||{{Ya}}
|[https://github.com/tsalvo/nes-emu-ios {{NesemuVer}}]
|[https://github.com/tsalvo/nes-emu-ios {{NesemuVer}}]
[https://code.google.com/archive/p/nesemu/downloads 0.2.3 Beta Preview]
|{{Green}} {{License|MIT}} ({{License|Permissive}})
|
|?
|?
|?
|?
|?||{{Dunno}}||{{Na}}
|-
|rNES
| align="left" |{{Icon|Windows|Linux}}||{{Ya}}
|[https://github.com/rene/rNES/ git]||{{Green}} {{License|BSD3}} ({{License|Permissive}})
|
|?
|?
|?
|?
|?||{{Dunno}}||{{Na}}
|-
|[[TetaNES]]
| align="left" |{{Icon|Windows|macOS|Linux}}||{{Ya}}
|[https://github.com/lukexor/tetanes/releases/ {{TetaNESVer}}]||{{Green}} {{License|Apache2}} ({{License|Permissive}})<br>{{License|MIT}} ({{License|Permissive}})
|
|105/139 (2026/05/05)
|?
|?
|{{Green}} {{License|MIT}} ({{License|Permissive}})
|?||{{Dunno}}||{{Dunno}}
|{{✓}}
|{{✗}}
|-
|-
|HalfNES
|fixNES
|align=left|{{Icon|Windows|Linux}}
| align="left" |{{Icon|Windows}}||{{Dunno}}
|[https://github.com/andrew-hoffman/halfnes {{HalfNESVer}}]
|[https://github.com/FIX94/fixNES/releases alpha-v1.3.1]||{{Dunno}}
|?
|
|91/125 (2025/09/07)
|?
|?
|?||{{Dunno}}||{{Dunno}}
|-
|chibines
| align="left" |{{Icon|}}||{{Dunno}}
| ||{{Dunno}}
|
|85/125 (2025/09/07)
|?
|?
|?||{{Dunno}}||{{Dunno}}
|-
|NO$NES
| align="left" |{{Icon|}}||{{Dunno}}
| ||{{Dunno}}
|
|73/125 (2025/09/07)
|?
|?
|?
|?||{{Dunno}}||{{Dunno}}
|{{Green}} {{License|GPLv3}} ({{License|Copyleft}})
|{{✗}}
|{{✗}}
|-
|-
|[[Jnes]]
|Nezulator
|align=left|{{Icon|Windows}}
| align="left" |{{Icon|}}||{{Dunno}}
|[https://www.jabosoft.com/categories/3 1.2.1]
| ||{{Dunno}}
|
|71/125 (2025/09/07)
|?
|?
|?
|?||{{Dunno}}||{{Dunno}}
|?
|?
|?
|{{Red}} {{License|Proprietary}}
|{{✗}}
|{{✗}}
|-
|-
|[[NESticle]]
|MoarNES
|align=left|{{Icon|DOS|Windows9x}}
| align="left" |{{Icon|}}||{{Dunno}}
|[https://web.archive.org/web/20070227191851/https://www.zophar.net/NESticle/nestcxxx.zip x.xx] (DOS) <br /> [https://web.archive.org/web/20070116124329/https://www.zophar.net:80/NESticle/nestc042.zip 0.42] (Win9x)
| ||{{Dunno}}
|
|65/125 (2025/09/07)
|?
|?
|?
|?||{{Dunno}}||{{Dunno}}
|{{✗}}
|?
|Low
|{{Red}} {{License|Proprietary}}<ref group=N>It is proprietary, though source code has been leaked.</ref>
|{{✗}}
|{{✗}}
|-
|-
|[[RockNES]]
|[[Nestalgia]]
|align=left|{{Icon|Windows}}
| align="left" |{{Icon|Java|Win|Linux}}||{{Ya}}
|[http:/https://s.web.fc2.com {{RockNESVer}}]
|[https://github.com/tiagohm/nestalgia/releases {{NestalgiaVer}}]||{{Green}} {{License|GPLv3}} ({{License|Copyleft}})
|?
|
|?
|Freezes (2026/09/14)
|?
|?
|High
|High
|{{Red}} {{License|Proprietary}}
|https://tiagohm.github.io/nestalgia/<nowiki/>||{{Dunno}}||{{TBD}}
|{{✗}}
|{{✗}}
|-
|-
|[[RetroCopy]]
|[https://github.com/mikai233/nesium Nesium]
|align=left|{{Icon|Windows|Linux}}
| align="left" |{{Icon|Win|Linux|macOS|LinuxARM}}||{{Ya}}
|[https://segaretro.org/RetroCopy 0.960]</br>[https://www.emucr.com/2012/08/retrocopy-v100-beta-5.html 1.00 Beta 5]
|[https://github.com/mikai233/nesium/releases git]||{{Green}} {{License|GPLv3}} ({{License|Copyleft}})
|
|
|
|
|
|?
|Cycle
|Cycle
|{{Red}} {{License|Proprietary}}
|https://github.com/mikai233/nesium#mapper-support||{{Dunno}}||{{TBD}}
|{{✗}}
|{{✗}}
|-
|-
|[[rew.]]
|emulator-bbk
|align=left|{{Icon|Windows|Windows9x}}
| align="left" |{{Icon|Windows}}||{{Ya}}
|[https://wikiwiki.jp/emulator/rew. rew12stx]
|[https://gitee.com/fanoble/emulator-bbk gitee]||{{Green}} {{License|GPLv3}}
|
|?
|?
|{{✗}}
|?
|?
|?
|?||{{Dunno}}||{{Dunno}}
|?
|{{Red}} {{License|Proprietary}}
|{{✗}}
|{{✗}}
|-
!colspan="11"|ARM
|-
|-
|[https://docs.libretro.com/library/nestopia_ue/ Nestopia_libretro]
! colspan="11" |Mobile
|align=left|{{Icon|Android|iOS}}
|[https://buildbot.libretro.com/nightly/ libretro core]
|{{~}}
|{{~}}
|{{~}}
|Unlicensed
|Cycle
|{{Green}} {{License|GPLv2}} ({{License|Copyleft}})
|{{✓}}
|{{✓}}
|-
|[https://docs.libretro.com/library/fceumm/ <abbr title="FCEUMappersModified is an unofficial build of FCEU Ultra by CaH4e3, which supports a lot of new mappers including some obscure mappers such as one for unlicensed NES ROM's">FCEUmm_libretro</abbr>]
|align=left|{{Icon|Android|iOS}}
|[https://buildbot.libretro.com/nightly/ libretro core]
|{{~}}
|{{~}}
|{{~}}
|Unlicensed
|High
|{{Green}} {{License|GPLv2}} ({{License|Copyleft}})
|{{✓}}
|{{✓}}
|-
|-
|[https://www.explusalpha.com/contents/nes-emu NES.emu]
|[https://www.explusalpha.com/contents/nes-emu NES.emu]
|align=left|{{Icon|Android|Pyra}}
| align="left" |{{Icon|Android}}||{{Ya}}
|[https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.explusalpha.NesEmu&hl=en_IN&gl=US 1.5.82][https://github.com/Rakashazi/emu-ex-plus-alpha git]<small> (Android)</small><br/>[https://pyra-handheld.com/repo/apps/80 1.5.46.02]<small> (Pyra)</small>
|[https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.explusalpha.NesEmu&hl=en_IN&gl=US {{NesemuVer}}]
|?
[https://github.com/Rakashazi/emu-ex-plus-alpha git]
|?
|{{Green}} {{License|GPLv3}} ({{License|Copyleft}})<br><small>(Android only)</small>
|?
|
|Unlicensed
|87/141, 2 skipped (2026/08/30)
|?
|?
|{{Green}} {{License|GPLv3}} ({{License|Copyleft}})<br/><small>(Android only)</small>
|Unlicensed||{{Dunno}}||{{Ya}}
|{{✓}}
|{{✓}}
|-
|-
|FreeiNES
|FreeiNES
|align=left|{{Icon|Android|Maemo}}<br/>{{Icon|Symbian}}
| align="left" |{{Icon|Android|Maemo|Symbian}}||{{Ya}}
|[https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.fms.ines.free&hl=en_US&gl=US 6.1.4]<small> (Android)</small><br/>[https://fms.komkon.org/iNES/ines_3.6.5-1_armel.deb 3.6.5]<small> (Maemo)</small><br/>[https://www.mobiles24.co/downloads/s/229852-184-ines 3.6] <small>([[Emulators on Symbian|Symbian]])</small>
|[https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.fms.ines.free&hl=en_US&gl=US 6.1.4] (Android)
|?
[https://fms.komkon.org/iNES/ines_3.6.5-1_armel.deb 3.6.5] (Maemo)
|{{~}}<abbr title="Only supports netplay">*</abbr>
 
|?
[https://www.mobiles24.co/downloads/s/229852-184-ines 3.6] (Symbian)
|{{Red}} {{License|Proprietary}}
|
|85/139 (2026/05/16)
|?
|?
|?||{{Dunno}}||{{~}}
|-
|Nostalgia.NES
| align="left" |{{Icon|Android}}||{{Na}}
|[https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.nostalgiaemulators.neslite 2.0.9]||{{Red}} {{License|Proprietary}}
|
|84/141, 2 skipped (2026/08/30)
|?
|?
|{{Red}} {{License|Proprietary}}
|?||{{Dunno}}||{{~}}
|{{✓}}
|{{~}}
|-
|-
|VGBANext
|VGBANext
|align=left|{{Icon|Android}}
| align="left" |{{Icon|Android}}||{{Ya}}
|[https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.fms.emu&hl=en&gl=US {{VGBANextVer}}]
|[https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.fms.emu&hl=en&gl=US {{VGBANextVer}}]||{{Red}} {{License|Proprietary}}
|
|?
|?
|?
|?
|?
|?||{{Dunno}}||{{~}}
|?
|?
|{{Red}} {{License|Proprietary}}
|{{✓}}
|{{~}}
|-
|-
|GPFCE
|[https://github.com/mikai233/nesium Nesium]
|align=left|{{Icon|Linux|Pandora|GP2X}}<br/>{{Icon|Wiz}}
| align="left" |{{Icon|Android}}||{{Ya}}
|[hhttps://epo.openpandora.org/?page=detail&app=package.gpfce.notaz 0.81.0.r2]<small> (Pandora)</small><br/>[https://dl.openhandhelds.org/cgi-bin/gp2x.cgi?0,0,0,0,71,2136 0.4 r313] <small>(GP2X)</small><br/>[https://dl.openhandhelds.org/cgi-bin/wiz.cgi?0,0,0,0,71,51 0.4+] <small>(Wiz)</small>
|[https://github.com/mikai233/nesium/releases git]||{{Green}} {{License|GPLv3}} ({{License|Copyleft}})
|?
|
|?
|
|?
|Cycle
|?
|https://github.com/mikai233/nesium#mapper-support||{{Dunno}}||{{TBD}}
|?
|{{Red}} {{License|Proprietary}}
|{{✗}}
|{{~}}
|-
|-
|vNES
|vNES
|align=left|{{Icon|Java|Symbian}}
| align="left" |{{Icon|Java|Symbian}}||{{Na}}
|[http://web.ahttps://org/web/20111010231155/http://www.vampent.com/vnes.htm 1.7 (S60v3)][https://github.com/Summeli/vNes-Asha git]<br/>[https://web.archive.org/web/20061202055857/https://www.vampent.com:80/files/vNesJ2ME.zip 1.2][https://web.archive.org/web/20211119171128/https://emul.lark.ru/dendy/emu/vnes.html alt]
|[https://web.archive.org/web/20110224050916/http://www.vampent.com/vnes.htm 1.7] (S60v3)
|?
[https://github.com/Summeli/vNes-Asha git]
|?
 
|?
[https://web.archive.org/web/20061202055857/https://www.vampent.com:80/files/vNesJ2ME.zip 1.2]
|?
 
|?
[https://web.archive.org/web/20211119171128/https://emul.lark.ru/dendy/emu/vnes.html alt]
|{{Green}} {{License|GPLv3}} ({{License|Copyleft}})
|{{Green}} {{License|GPLv3}} ({{License|Copyleft}})
|{{✗}}
|
|{{~}}
|-
|Nostalgia.NES
|align=left|{{Icon|Android}}
|[https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.nostalgiaemulators.neslite 2.0.9]
|?
|?
|?
|?
|?
|?||{{Dunno}}||{{~}}
|?
|?
|{{Red}} {{License|Proprietary}}
|{{✗}}
|{{~}}
|-
|-
|John NESS
|John NESS
|align=left|{{Icon|Android}}
| align="left" |{{Icon|Android}}||{{Ya}}
|[https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.johnemulators.johnness 1.09]
|[https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.johnemulators.johnness 1.09]||{{Red}} {{License|Proprietary}}
|?
|
|?
|?
|?
|?
|?
|?
|{{Red}} {{License|Proprietary}}
|?||{{Dunno}}||{{Na}}
|{{✓}}
|{{✗}}
|-
|-
|[[Jnes]]
|[[Jnes]]
|align=left|{{Icon|Android}}
| align="left" |{{Icon|Android}}||{{~}}
|[https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.jabosoft.silverarrow 1.2.6.26]
|[https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.jabosoft.silverarrow 1.2.6.26]||{{Red}} {{License|Proprietary}}
|?
|
|?
|?
|?
|?
|?
|?
|{{Red}} {{License|Proprietary}}
|?||{{Dunno}}||{{Na}}
|{{~}}
|{{✗}}
|-
|-
|nesemu
|Nescaline
|align=left|{{Icon|Pandora|Wiz|Dingoo}}
| align="left" |{{Icon|iOS}}||{{Na}}
|[https://code.google.com/archive/p/nesemu/downloads 0.2.3 Beta Preview]<br/><small> (Pandora)</small>[https://dl.openhandhelds.org/cgi-bin/wiz.cgi?0,0,0,0,71,235 V1] <small>(Wiz)</small><br/>[https://dl.openhandhelds.org/cgi-bin/dingoo.cgi?0,0,0,0,71,181 0.2] <small>(Dingoo)</small>
|[https://github.com/patelhiren/nescaline git]||{{Green}} {{License|GPLv2}} ({{License|Copyleft}})
|?
|
|?
|?
|?
|?
|?
|?||{{Dunno}}||{{Na}}
|?
|{{Green}} {{License|BSD3}} ({{License|Permissive}})
|{{✗}}
|{{✗}}
|-
|[[Nestopia]]
|align=left|{{Icon|Pandora}}
|[https://repo.openpandora.org/?page=detail&app=nestopia-app V2]
|?
|?
|?
|?
|Cycle
|{{Red}} {{License|Proprietary}}
|{{✗}}
|{{✗}}
|-
|-
|Nesemu
|Nesemu
|align=left|{{Icon|iOS|AppleTV}}
| align="left" |{{Icon|iOS|AppleTV}}||{{Ya}}
|[https://github.com/tsalvo/nes-emu-ios git]
|[https://github.com/tsalvo/nes-emu-ios git]||{{Green}} {{License|MIT}} ({{License|Permissive}})
|?
|
|?
|?
|?
|?
|?
|?||{{Dunno}}||{{Na}}
|?
|{{Green}} {{License|MIT}} ({{License|Permissive}})
|{{✓}}
|{{✗}}
|-
|-
|Pocket Nester+
|Pocket Nester+
|align=left|{{Icon|WinMobile}}
| align="left" |{{Icon|WinMobile}}||{{Na}}
|[https://www.zophar.net/wmsphone/nes/pocketnester+.html 0.9]
|[https://www.zophar.net/wmsphone/nes/pocketnester+.html 0.9]||{{Red}} {{License|Proprietary}}
|?
|
|?
|?
|?
|?
|?||{{Dunno}}||{{Na}}
|-
|[https://www.emulationonline.com/systems/nes/emulator/ PicoNES]
| align="left" |{{Icon|Android}}||{{Ya}}
|||{{Green}} {{License|BSD3}} [https://github.com/EmulationOnline/model_6502 6502 Model]
|
|?
|?
|?
|?
|{{Red}} {{License|Proprietary}}
|?||{{Dunno}}||{{Dunno}}
|{{✗}}
|{{✗}}
|-
|-
|[https://eightbitwonders.gitlab.io/app 8-Bit Wonders]
|[https://eightbitwonders.gitlab.io/app 8-Bit Wonders]
|align=left|{{Icon|Android}}
| align="left" |{{Icon|Android}}||{{Ya}}
|[https://f-droid.org/packages/de.rainerhock.eightbitwonders 0.8] (F-Droid)</br>0.8 (Play)</br>0.8 (Amazon)</br>[https://gitlab.com/eightbitwonders/app git]
|[https://f-droid.org/packages/de.rainerhock.eightbitwonders 0.8.6a] (F-Droid)
0.8.6a (Play)
 
0.8.6a (Amazon)
 
[https://gitlab.com/eightbitwonders/app git]
|{{Green}} {{License|AGPLv1}} ({{License|Copyleft}})
|
|?
|?
|?
|?
|?||{{Dunno}}
|roadmap
|-
! colspan="11" |Browser
|-
|[https://www.emulationonline.com/systems/nes/emulator/ PicoNES]
| align="left" |{{Icon|Web}}||{{Ya}}
|[https://www.emulationonline.com/systems/nes/emulator/ Online]||{{Green}} {{License|BSD3}} [https://github.com/EmulationOnline/model_6502 6502 Model]
|
|112/141 (2026/08/23)
|?
|?
|?||{{Dunno}}||{{Dunno}}
|-
|[[TetaNES]]
| align="left" |{{Icon|Web}}||{{Ya}}
|[https://lukeworks.tech/tetanes-web Web]||{{Green}} {{License|Apache2}} ({{License|Permissive}})<br>{{License|MIT}} ({{License|Permissive}})
|
|112/141 (2026/08/23)
|?
|?
|?
|?||{{Dunno}}||{{Dunno}}
|{{Green}} {{License|AGPLv1}} ({{License|Copyleft}})
|}
|{{✓}}
 
|roadmap
=== [[Multi-system emulators]] ===
{| {{Emulator table}}
!Emulator(s)
!Core(s)
!Platform(s)
!Active?
!Latest version
![[Licensing|License]]
!Compatibility
![https://github.com/100thCoin/AccuracyCoin Accuracy Coin Test]
![[Emulation accuracy|Accuracy]]
![[Nintendo Entertainment System emulators#Mappers|Mappers support level]]
![[Nintendo Entertainment System emulators#Famicom Disk System|Famicom Disk System]]
![[Recommended emulators|Recommended? (overall)]]
|-
|-
!colspan="11"|Consoles
! colspan="12" |PC
|-
|-
|Nestopia
|[[Mesen|MesenCE]]
|align=left|{{Icon|PS4|PS3}}<br/>{{Icon|PSP|NGC}}<br/>{{Icon|Wii|WiiU|3DS}}<br/>{{Icon|360|Xbox}}
|[https://github.com/nesdev-org/MesenCE/tree/master/Core NES]
|[https://www.retroarch.com/?page=platforms libretro core]
| align="left" |{{Icon|Windows|Linux|macOSx64|macOSARM|LinuxARM|W7}}||{{Ya}}
|{{~}}
|[https://github.com/nesdev-org/MesenCE#development-builds Dev builds]
|{{~}}
[[Mesen#List of forks|Mesen forks]]
|{{~}}
|{{Green}} {{License|GPLv3}} ({{License|Copyleft}})
|Unlicensed
|
|141/144 (2026/09/09)
|Cycle
|Cycle
|{{Green}} {{License|GPLv2}} ({{License|Copyleft}})
|[https://github.com/nesdev-org/MesenCE/tree/master/Core/NES/Mappers Unlicensed]||{{Ya}}||{{Ya}}
|{{✓}}
|-
|{{✓}}
|[[ares]]
|[https://github.com/ares-emulator/ares/tree/master/ares fc]
| align="left" |{{Icon|Windows|WoA|Linux|macOSx86|FreeBSD}}||{{Ya}}
|[https://github.com/ares-emulator/ares/releases {{AresVer}}]
[https://github.com/ares-emulator/ares/releases/tag/nightly nightly]
|{{Green}} {{License|ISC}} ({{License|Permissive}})
|{{Emulator compatibility|2438|2480|link=https://ares-emu.net/compatibility}}
|121/144 (2026/09/09)
|Cycle
|Unlicensed||{{Ya}}||{{Ya}}
|-
|-
|[[BizHawk]]
|QuickNES
|QuickNES
|align=left|{{Icon|PS2|PSP}}<br/>{{Icon|PS3}}<br/>{{Icon|PS4|Vita|NGC}}<br/>{{Icon|Wii}}<br/>{{Icon|Switch|WiiU|3DS}}
NESHawk
|[https://www.retroarch.com/?page=platforms libretro core]
| align="left" |{{Icon|Windows|Linux}}||{{Ya}}
|{{~}}
|[https://gitlab.com/TASVideos/BizHawk/-/pipelines Dev Builds]
|{{~}}
[https://tasvideos.org/BizHawk/ReleaseHistory.html {{BizHawkVer}}]
|{{~}}
|{{Green}} {{License|MIT}}<br>{{License|GPL}}
|?
|
|?
|NESHawk: 127/144
|{{Green}} {{License|GPLv2}} ({{License|Copyleft}})
SubNESHawk: 127/144
|{{~}}<ref group=N name=lrActiveonly></ref>
 
|{{✓}}
quickerNES: Freezes
 
(2026/09/09)
|[[BizHawk#Supported systems|Core-dependent]]
|[https://github.com/TASEmulators/BizHawk/tree/master/src/BizHawk.Emulation.Cores/Consoles/Nintendo/NES/Boards Unlicensed]||{{Dunno}}||{{~}}
|-
|[[nemulator]]
|
| align="left" |{{Icon|Windows}}||{{Ya}}
|[https://nemulator.com/downloads.html {{NemulatorVer}}]||{{Green}} {{License|BSD2}} ({{License|Permissive}})
|
|87/141 (2026/08/26)
|Medium
|?||{{Dunno}}||{{Na}}
|-
|-
|FCEUmm
|[[RetroCopy]]
|align=left|{{Icon|PS2|PSP}}<br/>{{Icon|PS3|PS4}}<br/>{{Icon|Vita|NGC|Wii|WiiU}}<br/>{{Icon|3DS|NX|Xbox360}}
|
|[https://www.retroarch.com/?page=platforms libretro core]
| align="left" |{{Icon|Windows|Linux}}||{{Na}}
|{{~}}
|[https://segaretro.org/RetroCopy 0.960]
|{{~}}
[https://www.emucr.com/2012/08/retrocopy-v100-beta-5.html 1.00 Beta 5]
|{{~}}
|{{Red}} {{License|Proprietary}}
|Unlicensed
|
|High
|85/141 (2026/08/26)
|{{Green}} {{License|GPLv2}} ({{License|Copyleft}})
|Cycle
|{{✓}}
|?||{{Dunno}}||{{Na}}
|{{✓}}
|-
|-
|[[FCEUX|FCE Ultra GX]]
|[[MAME]]
|align=left|{{Icon|GCN|Wii|WiiU}}
|[http://adb.arcadeitalia.net/dettaglio_mame.php?game_name=nes&back_games=m82p;&search_id=0 nes]
|[https://github.com/dborth/fceugx/releases {{FCEUXGXVer}}]
| align="left" |{{Icon|Windows|Linux|macOS|FreeBSD}}||{{Ya}}
|[http://www.mamedev.org/release.html {{MAMEVer}}]||{{Green}} {{License|GPLv2}}<br>{{License|BSD3}}
|
|81/141 (2026/08/12)
|?
|?
|[https://github.com/mamedev/mame/tree/master/src/mame/nintendo Unlicensed]||{{Dunno}}||{{Na}}
|-
|[[FinalBurn Neo]]
|
| align="left" |{{Icon|Windows|Linux|macOS|FreeBSD}}||{{Ya}}
|[https://github.com/finalburnneo/FBNeo/releases/tag/latest WIP builds]||{{Yellow}} {{License|NC}}
|
|?
|?
|{{~}}
|Unlicensed
|High
|High
|{{Green}} {{License|GPLv2}} ({{License|Copyleft}})
|Unlicensed||{{Dunno}}||{{Na}}
|{{✓}}
|{{✓}}
|-
|-
| pNES
|[[higan]] (火眼)
|align=left|{{Icon|Switch|Vita}}
byuu (謬/view)
|[https://github.com/Cpasjuste/pemu/releases git]
|
| align="left" |{{Icon|Windows|Linux|macOS}}||{{Na}}
|[https://github.com/higan-emu/higan/releases {{HiganVer}}]||{{Green}} {{License|GPLv3}} ({{License|Copyleft}})
|
|?
|?
|Cycle
|?||{{Dunno}}||{{Na}}
|-
|[[jgenesis]]
|
| align="left" |{{Icon|Win|Linux}}||{{Ya}}
|[https://github.com/jsgroth/jgenesis/releases {{JgenesisVer}}]||{{Green}} {{License|MIT}} ({{License|Permissive}})
|
|120/139 (2026/05/05)
|?
|?
|{{~}}
|?||{{Dunno}}||{{Dunno}}
|-
|[[Masquerade]]
|
| align="left" |{{Icon|Windows|Linux}}||{{Ya}}
|[https://github.com/Kotambail-Hegde/Masquerade-Emulator/releases {{MasqueradeVer}}]||{{Red}} {{License|Proprietary}}
|
|?
|?
|?
|?
|{{Green}} {{License|GPLv3}} ({{License|Copyleft}})
|?||{{Dunno}}||{{Dunno}}
|{{✓}}
|{{~}}
|-
|-
|FCEUltra for PS2
|[[Obentou]]
|align=left|{{Icon|PS2}}
|
|[https://www.emuparadise.me/Nintendo_Entertainment_System_Emulators/Playstation_2/FCEUltra/146 0.9.3]<br/>[https://mundowiihack.wordpress.com/tag/fce-ultra 0.90i Mod]
| align="left" |{{Icon|Windows|Linux|macOS}}||{{Ya}}
|[https://github.com/yughias/Obentou/releases {{ObentouVer}}]||{{Green}} {{License|GPLv2}} ({{License|Copyleft}})
|
|?
|?
|?
|?
|?||{{Dunno}}||{{Dunno}}
|-
! colspan="12" |Mobile
|-
|[[Delta]]
|[https://github.com/rileytestut/Delta/tree/main/Cores NESDeltaCore]
(Nestopia?)
| align="left" |{{Icon|iOS|iPadOS}}||{{Ya}}
|[https://apps.apple.com/us/app/delta-game-emulator/id1048524688 {{DeltaVer}}]
[https://github.com/rileytestut/Delta git]
|{{Dunno}}
|
|?
|?
|?
|?
|High
|?||{{Dunno}}||{{Dunno}}
|{{Red}} {{License|Proprietary}}
|{{~}}
|{{~}}
|-
|-
|[https://hcs64.com/neon64.html Neon64]
|[[Folium]]
|align=left|{{Icon|N64}}
|[https://github.com/folium-app/Folium/tree/main/Cores Mango]
|[https://github.com/hcs64/neon64v2 git]
| align="left" |{{Icon|iOS|iPadOS}}||{{Ya}}
|[https://apps.apple.com/us/app/folium/id6498623389 App Store] ($)
[https://folium.emuplace.app/downloads {{FoliumVer}}]
 
[https://github.com/emuplace/folium.emuplace.app/releases/latest Latest IPA]
|{{Dunno}}
|
|?
|?
|?
|?
|?||{{Dunno}}||{{Dunno}}
|-
|[[Manic EMU]]
|
| align="left" |{{Icon|iOS|iPadOS}}||{{Ya}}
|[https://apps.apple.com/us/app/manic-emu-game-emulator/id6743335790 {{Manic EMUVer}}]
[https://github.com/Manic-EMU/ManicEMU/releases git]
|{{Green}} {{License|AGPLv3}} ({{License|Copyleft}})
|
|?
|?
|?
|?
|?
|?||{{Dunno}}||{{Dunno}}
|{{Green}} {{License|ISC}} ({{License|Permissive}})
|{{✓}}
|{{~}}
|-
|-
|nesDS
|[[NiN10]]
|align=left|{{Icon|NDS}}
|
|[https://sourceforge.net/projects/nesds/files/nesds1.3a.zip/download 1.3a]
| align="left" |{{Icon|iOS|iPadOS|watchOS}}||{{Ya}}
|[https://apps.apple.com/us/app/nin10-nintendo-emulator/id6503959130 {{NiN10Ver}}]||{{Red}} {{License|Proprietary}}
|
|?
|?
|?
|?
|?||{{Dunno}}||{{Dunno}}
|-
|[[Provenance]]
|[https://github.com/Provenance-Emu/Provenance/tree/develop/Cores/FCEU FCEU]
| align="left" |{{Icon|iOS|iPadOS|tvOS}}||{{Ya}}
|[https://apps.apple.com/us/app/provenance-app/id1596862805 {{ProvenanceVer}}]
[https://github.com/Provenance-Emu/Provenance/releases git]
|{{Dunno}}
|
|?
|?
|?
|?
|?
|?||{{Dunno}}||{{Dunno}}
|{{Red}} {{License|Proprietary}}
|{{~}}
|{{~}}
|-
|-
|PocketNES
|[https://playscanline.com/ Scanline Emulator]
|align=left|{{Icon|GBA}}
|
|[https://www.dwedit.org/gba/pocketnes_2013_07_01.zip 7-1-2013]
|visionOS
|{{Ya}}
|[https://apps.apple.com/us/app/scanline-emulator/id6782712613 1.1]
|{{Dunno}}
|
|?
|?
|?
|?
|?||{{Dunno}}||{{Dunno}}
|-
! colspan="12" |Browser
|-
|[[jgenesis]]
|
| align="left" |{{Icon|Web}}||{{Ya}}
|[https://github.com/jsgroth/jgenesis/releases {{JgenesisVer}}]||{{Green}} {{License|MIT}} ({{License|Permissive}})
|
|120/139 (2026/05/05)
|?
|?
|?||{{Dunno}}||{{Dunno}}
|-
|[[Masquerade]]
|
| align="left" |{{Icon|Web}}||{{Ya}}
|[https://github.com/Kotambail-Hegde/Masquerade-Emulator/releases {{MasqueradeVer}}]||{{Red}} {{License|Proprietary}}
|
|103/141 (2026/08/30)
|?
|?
|?||{{Dunno}}||{{Dunno}}
|-
|[[Obentou]]
|
| align="left" |{{Icon|Web}}||{{Ya}}
|[https://github.com/yughias/Obentou/releases {{ObentouVer}}]||{{Green}} {{License|GPLv2}} ({{License|Copyleft}})
|
|78/141 (2026/08/30)
|?
|?
|{{Red}} {{License|Proprietary}}
|?||{{Dunno}}||{{Dunno}}
|{{✗}}
|}
|{{~}}
 
=== [[Frontends#Project-specific frontends|Frontend cores]] ===
{| {{Emulator table|sortable=true}}
|+Platform (e.g., Android, Windows, and Linux) and architecture support (e.g., x86, ARM, and consoles) mostly depends on the [[Frontends#Project-specific frontends|frontend software]], not on the individual cores themselves.
!API
!Core(s)
!Active?
!Latest version
![[Licensing|License]]
!Compatibility
![https://github.com/100thCoin/AccuracyCoin Accuracy Coin Test]
![[Emulation accuracy|Accuracy]]
![[Nintendo Entertainment System emulators#Mappers|Mappers support level]]
![[Nintendo Entertainment System emulators#Famicom Disk System|Famicom Disk System]]
![[Recommended emulators|Recommended? (overall)]]
|-
| rowspan="8" |[[File:Libretro.png|link=Libretro|100x100px]]
|[https://docs.libretro.com/library/nestopia/ Nestopia]||{{Ya}}
|1.54.0 b08b473||{{Green}} {{License|GPLv2}} ({{License|Copyleft}})
|
|144/144 (2026/09/09)
|Cycle
|Unlicensed||{{Ya}}||{{Ya}}
|-
|[https://docs.libretro.com/library/mesen/ Mesen]||{{Ya}}
|0.9.9||{{Green}} {{License|GPLv3}} ({{License|Copyleft}})
|
|108/144 (2026/09/09)
|Cycle
|[https://docs.libretro.com/library/mesen/#compatibility Unlicensed]||{{Ya}}||{{Ya}}
|-
|[https://docs.libretro.com/library/fceumm/ FCEUmm]||{{Ya}}
|||{{Green}} {{License|GPLv2}} ({{License|Copyleft}})
|
|84/144, 3 skipped (2026/09/09)
|High
|Unlicensed||{{Ya}}||{{~}}
|-
|-
|[[Nintendo Switch Online]] <small>([[L-CLASSICS]])</small>
|[https://docs.libretro.com/library/quicknes/ QuickNES]||{{Ya}}
|align=left|{{Icon|Switch}}
|||{{Green}} {{License|GPLv2}} ({{License|Copyleft}})
|6.9.0
|
|?
|85/144 (2026/09/09)
|{{~}}
|?
|?
|?||{{Dunno}}||{{Na}}
|-
|[https://docs.libretro.com/library/fbneo/ FinalBurn Neo]||{{Ya}}
|||{{Dunno}}
|
|?
|?
|High
|High
|{{Red}} {{License|Proprietary}}
|Unlicensed||{{Dunno}}||{{Na}}
|{{✓}}
|{{~}}
|-
|-
|[[Virtual Console]]
|[https://github.com/libretro/mame MAME]||{{Ya}}
|align=left|{{Icon|Wii|3DS|WiiU}}
|||{{Dunno}}
|N/A
|
|?
|?
|?
|?
|[https://github.com/mamedev/mame/tree/master/src/mame/nintendo Unlicensed]||{{Dunno}}||{{Na}}
|-
|[https://docs.libretro.com/library/rustynes RustyNES]||{{Ya}}
|||{{Green}} {{License|MIT}} ({{License|Permissive}})
|
|142/144 (2026/09/09)
|Cycle
|?||{{Dunno}}||{{TBD}}
|-
|[https://github.com/libretro/fixNES fixNES]||{{Ya}}
|||{{Green}} {{License|MIT}} ({{License|Permissive}})
|
|98/144 (2026/09/09)
|?
|?
|Official
|?||{{Dunno}}||{{TBD}}
|}
 
=== [[:Category:Emulators by hardware|Emulators on other hardware]] ===
{| {{Emulator table|sortable=true}}
!Emulator(s)
!System(s)
!Active?
!Latest version
![[Licensing|License]]
!Compatibility
![https://github.com/100thCoin/AccuracyCoin Accuracy Coin Test]
![[Emulation accuracy|Accuracy]]
![[Nintendo Entertainment System emulators#Mappers|Mappers support level]]
![[Nintendo Entertainment System emulators#Famicom Disk System|Famicom Disk System]]
![[Recommended emulators|Recommended? (overall)]]
|-
|[[FCEUX|FCE Ultra GX]]
| align="left" |{{Icon|GCN|Wii|WiiU}}||{{Ya}}
|[https://github.com/dborth/fceugx/releases {{FCEUltraGXVer}}]||{{Green}} {{License|GPLv2}} ({{License|Copyleft}})
|
|?
|?
|{{Red}} {{License|Proprietary}}
|High
|{{✗}}
|Unlicensed||{{Dunno}}||{{Ya}}
|{{~}}
|-
|-
|[[NES Remix]]<br/><small>([[Heritage]])</small>
|VirtuaNES for 3DS
|align=left|{{Icon|WiiU|3DS}}
| align="left" |{{Icon|3DS}}||{{Na}}
|HeriC
|[https://github.com/TBirdSoars/VirtuaNES git]||{{Green}} {{License|GPLv2}} ({{License|Copyleft}})
|{{✗}}
|
|{{✗}}
|?
|?
|Low
|?||{{Dunno}}||{{Ya}}
|-
|[[Virtual Console]]
| align="left" |{{Icon|Wii|3DS|WiiU}}||{{Na}}
|N/A||{{Red}} {{License|Proprietary}}
|
|17/125 (Nintendo 3DS)
10/125 (Wii)
9/125 (Wii U)
(2025/09/07)
|?
|?
|?
|Licensed||{{Ya}}||{{~}}
|{{Red}} {{License|Proprietary}}
|{{✗}}
|{{~}}
|-
|-
|VirtuaNES for 3DS
|''Console Archives''
|align=left|{{Icon|3DS}}
| align="left" |{{Icon|Switch2|PS5}}||{{Ya}}
|[https://github.com/TBirdSoars/VirtuaNES git]
|N/A||{{Red}} {{License|Proprietary}}
|
|?
|?
|?
|?
|?||{{Dunno}}||{{~}}
|-
|[https://github.com/egycnq/EmuC0re EmuC0re]
| align="left" |{{Icon|PS5}}||{{Ya}}
|[https://github.com/egycnq/EmuC0re/releases 0.4]||{{Green}} {{License|MIT}} ({{License|Permissive}})
|
|?
|?
|?
|?
|Low
|?||{{Dunno}}||{{~}}
|{{Green}} {{License|GPLv2}} ({{License|Copyleft}})
|{{✗}}
|{{✓}}
|-
|-
|NESBox
|[https://github.com/Zaalan3/Famicalc Famicalc]
|align=left|{{Icon|XB1}}
| align="Left" |{{Icon|TI84+CE}}||{{Ya}}
|[https://nesbox.com v4]
|[https://github.com/Zaalan3/Famicalc git]||{{Green}} {{License|MIT}} ({{License|Permissive}})
|
|?
|?
|?
|?
|[https://github.com/Zaalan3/Famicalc/issues/8#issuecomment-2903287670 Select titles]||{{Dunno}}||{{~}}
|-
|FCEUltra for PS2
| align="left" |{{Icon|PS2}}||{{~}}
|[https://www.emuparadise.me/Nintendo_Entertainment_System_Emulators/Playstation_2/FCEUltra/146 0.9.3]
[https://mundowiihack.wordpress.com/tag/fce-ultra 0.90i Mod]
|{{Red}} {{License|Proprietary}}
|
|?
|?
|High
|?||{{Dunno}}||{{~}}
|-
|GPFCE
| align="left" |{{Icon|GP2X|Wiz}}||{{Na}}
|[https://dl.openhandhelds.org/cgi-bin/gp2x.cgi?0,0,0,0,71,2136 0.4 r313] (GP2X)
[https://dl.openhandhelds.org/cgi-bin/wiz.cgi?0,0,0,0,71,51 0.4+] (Wiz)
|{{Red}} {{License|Proprietary}}
|
|?
|?
|?
|?
|{{Red}} {{License|Proprietary}}
|?||{{Dunno}}||{{~}}
|{{✓}}
|{{✗}}
|-
|-
|Mega Everdrive Pro
|Mega Everdrive Pro
|align=left|{{Icon|MD}}
| align="left" |{{Icon|MD}}||{{Ya}}
|N/A
|N/A||{{Red}} {{License|Proprietary}}
|?
|
|?
|?
|?
|?
|?||{{Dunno}}||{{~}}
|-
|[https://hcs64.com/neon64.html Neon64]
| align="left" |{{Icon|N64}}||{{Ya}}
|[https://github.com/hcs64/neon64v2 git]||{{Green}} {{License|ISC}} ({{License|Permissive}})
|
|?
|?
|?
|?
|{{Red}} {{License|Proprietary}}
|?||{{Dunno}}||{{~}}
|{{✓}}
|{{~}}
|-
|-
|NesterJ<ref group=N>AoEX is based on NesterJ 1.12 Plus 0.61 RM, which includes features like rewind, cheat code support, rotated/mirrored screen, sepia palette, support for rare mappers (the pirate bootleg FF7 works on it), etc. Its compatibility is inferior to 1.13 beta 2.</ref>
|''[[NES Remix]]''
|align=left|{{Icon|PSP}}
([[Heritage]])
|[https://filetrip.net/psp-downloads/homebrew/download-nesterj-113-beta-2-f27533.html 1.13 beta 2]<br />[https://filetrip.net/psp-downloads/homebrew/download-nesterj-112aoex-r3-f29028.html AoEX]
| align="left" |{{Icon|WiiU|3DS}}||{{Na}}
|HeriC||{{Red}} {{License|Proprietary}}
|
|?
|?
|?
|?
|?||{{Dunno}}||{{~}}
|-
|nesDS
| align="left" |{{Icon|NDS}}||{{~}}
|[https://sourceforge.net/projects/nesds/files/nesds1.3a.zip/download 1.3a]||{{Red}} {{License|Proprietary}}
|
|?
|?
|?
|?
|?
|?||{{Dunno}}||{{~}}
|{{Green}} {{License|GPLv2}} ({{License|Copyleft}})
|{{✗}}
|{{✗}}
|-
|-
|imbNES
|[https://github.com/tswilliamson/nesizm NESizm]
|align=left|{{Icon|PS1}}
| align="left" |{{Icon|Prizm}}||{{Dunno}}
|[https://archive.org/details/imbnes-1.3.4/ 1.3.4]
|[https://github.com/tswilliamson/nesizm/releases/tag/v1.00 1.00]||{{Green}} {{License|MIT}} ({{License|Permissive}})
|
|?
|?
|?
|?
|?||{{Dunno}}||{{~}}
|-
|[https://www.ticalc.org/archives/files/fileinfo/432/43217.html NESpire]
| align="left" |{{Icon|Nspire}}||{{Na}}
|[https://www.ticalc.org/archives/files/fileinfo/432/43217.html 0.30]
[https://github.com/tangrs/nespire-tangrs-mod git] (tangrs-mod)
|{{Dunno}}
|
|?
|?
|?
|?
|?||{{Dunno}}||{{~}}
|-
|[[Nintendo Switch Online|Nintendo Classics]] ([[L-CLASSICS]])
| align="left" |{{Icon|Switch|Switch2}}||{{Ya}}
|6.9.0||{{Red}} {{License|Proprietary}}
|
|?
|?
|{{?}}
|High
|{{✗}}
|?||{{Ya}}||{{~}}
|{{✗}}
|-
|-
|[[Project Nested]]
|PocketNES
|align=left|{{Icon|SNES}}
| align="left" |{{Icon|GBA}}||{{Na}}
|[https://github.com/Myself086/Project-Nested/releases {{ProjectNestedVer}}]
|[https://www.dwedit.org/gba/pocketnes_2013_07_01.zip 7-1-2013]||{{Green}} {{License|GPLv2}} ({{License|Copyleft}})
|
|?
|?
|?
|?
|?||{{Dunno}}||{{~}}
|-
|pNES
| align="left" |{{Icon|Switch|Vita}}||{{Ya}}
|[https://github.com/Cpasjuste/pemu/releases git]||{{Green}} {{License|GPLv3}} ({{License|Copyleft}})
|
|?
|?
|?
|?
|?||{{Dunno}}||{{~}}
|-
|''Animal Crossing''
| align="left" |{{Icon|N64|GameCube}}||{{Na}}
|||{{Red}} {{License|Proprietary}}
|
|10/125 (2025/09/07)
|?
|?
|{{Green}} {{License|MIT}} ({{License|Permissive}})
|?||{{Dunno}}||{{Na}}
|{{✗}}
|{{✗}}
|-
|-
|[[NeMul]]
|''Excitebike 64''
|align=left|{{Icon|MD}}
| align="left" |{{Icon|N64}}||{{Na}}
|[https://pscd.ru/games/smd/nsmd/1247-nhttps://ml 1.0]
|||{{Red}} {{License|Proprietary}}
|?
|
|5/125 (2025/09/07)
|?
|?
|?||{{Na}}||{{Na}}
|-
|NES Classic Series
| align="left" |{{Icon|GBA}}||{{Na}}
|||{{Red}} {{License|Proprietary}}
|
|4/125 (2025/09/07)
|?
|?
|?
|?||{{Dunno}}||{{Na}}
|?
|{{Red}} {{License|Proprietary}}
|{{✗}}
|{{✗}}
|-
|-
|FC Emulator
|FC Emulator
|align=left|{{Icon|PS1|SNES}}{{Icon2|WonderSwan|GB}}
| align="left" |{{Icon|PS1|SNES|WonderSwan|GB}}||{{Na}}
|[https://web.archive.org/web/20040331031242/https://www.playoffline.com/yaroze/index.html 0.10] (Net Yaroze)<br>[https://forums.nesdev.org/download/file.php?id=1836 0.00] (SFC)<br>[https://web.archive.org/web/20040411131550/https://www.playoffline.com/ww/index.html 0.03] (WonderSwan)<br>[https://web.archive.org/web/20010209021921/https://www.playoffline.com/gb/index.html#fcemu 0.02] (Game Boy)
|[https://web.archive.org/web/20040331031242/https://www.playoffline.com/yaroze/index.html 0.10] (Net Yaroze)
[https://forums.nesdev.org/download/file.php?id=1836 0.00] (SFC)
 
[https://web.archive.org/web/20040411131550/https://www.playoffline.com/ww/index.html 0.03] (WonderSwan)
 
[https://web.archive.org/web/20010209021921/https://www.playoffline.com/gb/index.html#fcemu 0.02] (Game Boy)
|{{Dunno}}
|
|?
|?
|?
|?
|?||{{Dunno}}||{{Na}}
|-
|imbNES
| align="left" |{{Icon|PS1}}||{{Na}}
|[https://archive.org/details/imbnes-1.3.4/ 1.3.4]||{{Dunno}}
|
|?
|?
|?
|?
|?
|?||{{Dunno}}||{{Na}}
|{{?}}
|{{✗}}
|{{✗}}
|-
|-
|NES Emulator for Game Boy Color
|NES Emulator for Game Boy Color
|align=left|{{Icon2|GB}}
| align="left" |{{Icon|GB}}||{{Na}}
|[https://mydocuments.g2.xrea.com/html/gb/gbnes.html 2009]
|[https://web.archive.org/web/20190706165102/https://mydocuments.g2.xrea.com/html/gb/gbnes.html 2009]||{{Dunno}}
|
|?
|?
|?
|?
|?||{{Dunno}}||{{Na}}
|-
|NESBox
| align="left" |{{Icon|XB1}}||{{Ya}}
|[https://nesbox.com v4]||{{Red}} {{License|Proprietary}}
|
|?
|?
|?
|?
|?
|?||{{Dunno}}||{{Na}}
|{{?}}
|{{✗}}
|{{✗}}
|-
|-
!colspan="11"|Calculator
|nesemu
|-
| align="left" |{{Icon|PS2|Wiz|Dingoo}}||{{Na}}
|[https://zardam.github.io/webnofrendo numworks-nofrendo]
|[https://dl.openhandhelds.org/cgi-bin/wiz.cgi?0,0,0,0,71,235 V1] (Wiz)
|align=left|{{Icon|Numworks}}
[https://dl.openhandhelds.org/cgi-bin/dingoo.cgi?0,0,0,0,71,181 0.2] (Dingoo)
|[https://github.com/zardam/numworks-nofrendo git]
|{{Green}} {{License|BSD3}} ({{License|Permissive}})
|
|?
|?
|?
|?
|?||{{Dunno}}||{{Na}}
|-
|[[NeMul]]
| align="left" |{{Icon|MD}}||{{Na}}
|[https://pscd.ru/games/smd/nsmd/1247-nhttps://ml 1.0]||{{Red}} {{License|Proprietary}}
|
|?
|?
|?
|?
|?
|?||{{Dunno}}||{{Na}}
|{{Green}} {{License|LGPLv2}} ({{License|Copyleft}})
|{{✓}}
|{{✗}}
|-
|-
|[https://www.ticalc.org/archives/files/fileinfo/432/43217.html NESpire]
|NesterJ<ref group="note">AoEX is based on NesterJ 1.12 Plus 0.61 RM, which includes features like rewind, cheat code support, rotated/mirrored screen, sepia palette, support for rare mappers (the pirate bootleg FF7 works on it), etc. Its compatibility is inferior to 1.13 beta 2.</ref>
|align=left|{{Icon|Nspire}}
| align="left" |{{Icon|PSP}}||{{Na}}
|[https://www.ticalc.org/archives/files/fileinfo/432/43217.html 0.30] <br> [https://github.com/tangrs/nespire-tangrs-mod git]<small> (tangrs-mod)</small>
|[https://filetrip.net/psp-downloads/homebrew/download-nesterj-113-beta-2-f27533.html 1.13 beta 2]
[https://filetrip.net/psp-downloads/homebrew/download-nesterj-112aoex-r3-f29028.html AoEX]
|{{Green}} {{License|GPLv2}} ({{License|Copyleft}})
|
|?
|?
|{{✗}}
|?
|?
|?||{{Dunno}}||{{Na}}
|-
|[https://zardam.github.io/webnofrendo numworks-nofrendo]
| align="left" |{{Icon|Numworks}}||{{Ya}}
|[https://github.com/zardam/numworks-nofrendo git]||{{Green}} {{License|LGPLv2}} ({{License|Copyleft}})
|
|?
|?
|?
|?
|{{?}}
|?||{{Dunno}}||{{Na}}
|{{✗}}
|{{~}}
|-
|-
|[https://github.com/tswilliamson/nesizm NESizm]
|[[Project Nested]]
|align=left|{{Icon|Prizm}}
| align="left" |{{Icon|SNES}}||{{Na}}
|[https://github.com/tswilliamson/nesizm/releases/tag/v1.00 1.00]
|[https://github.com/Myself086/Project-Nested/releases {{ProjectNestedVer}}]||{{Green}} {{License|MIT}} ({{License|Permissive}})
|
|?
|?
|{{✗}}
|?
|?
|?||{{Dunno}}||{{Na}}
|-
| colspan="2" |NES Classic Edition||{{Na}}
|||{{Red}} {{License|Proprietary}}
|
|94/125 (2025/09/07)
|?
|?
|?
|?||{{Ya}}||{{Dunno}}
|{{Green}} {{License|MIT}} ({{License|Permissive}})
|}
|{{?}}
 
|{{~}}
=== [[FPGA]] ===
{| {{Emulator table}}
!Name
!Type
!Active?
![[Licensing|License]]
!Compatibility
![https://github.com/100thCoin/AccuracyCoin Accuracy Coin Test]
![[Emulation accuracy|Accuracy]]
![[Nintendo Entertainment System emulators#Mappers|Mappers support level]]
![[Nintendo Entertainment System emulators#Famicom Disk System|Famicom Disk System]]
![[Recommended emulators|Recommended? (overall)]]
|-
|[https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/NES_MiSTer NES_MiSTer]
|[[MiSTer]]||{{Ya}}||{{Green}} {{License|GPLv3}} ({{License|Copyleft}})
|
|136/141 (2026/06/27)
|Gate-level, subcycle
|Unlicensed||{{Dunno}}||{{Ya}}
|}
 
=== Remaster-at-Runtime Engines ===
{| {{Emulator table}}
|+A Remaster-at-Runtime (RaR) Engine is a specialized sub-layer of an emulator that intercepts a game’s original internal data such as draw calls, tile indexes, or audio triggers and replaces them with high-fidelity assets in real-time. Unlike standard emulators that focus on hardware accuracy, RaR Engines prioritize aesthetic transformation, effectively "remastering" the game while it is being played without modifying the original ROM file. While asset replacement capable emulators (like HDnes, Mesen) allow for high-definition visuals, true Remaster-at-Runtime Engines are distinguished by their ability to do more such as procedurally transform the game's original logic (e.g., converting 2D tiles into 3D voxels or applying dynamic lighting to 16-bit environments). Recommended to see [[Game engine recreations and source ports]] page.
!Name
!Platform(s)
!Active?
!Latest version
![[Licensing|License]]
!Compatibility
![https://github.com/100thCoin/AccuracyCoin Accuracy Coin Test]
![[Emulation accuracy|Accuracy]]
![[Nintendo Entertainment System emulators#Mappers|Mappers support level]]
![[Nintendo Entertainment System emulators#Famicom Disk System|Famicom Disk System]]
![[Recommended emulators|Recommended? (overall)]]
|-
|[[3dSen]]
| align="left" |{{Icon|Windows|Linux|macOS}}||{{Ya}}
|[https://www.geodstudio.net/ {{3dSenVer}}]||{{Red}} {{License|Proprietary}}
|
|Freezes (2026/8/24)
|Game-dependent
|[https://steamcommunity.com/app/954280/discussions/0/1643170903498517164/ Only for selected titles]||{{Na}}||{{~}}
|}
|}
</div>
<references group=N />


===Comparisons===
* [[Mesen]] is a [[Emulation accuracy|cycle-accurate]] NES emulator. Also, it is very user-friendly and supports lots of [[Nintendo Entertainment System emulators#Enhancements|enhancements]], [[Nintendo Entertainment System emulators#Hardware features and peripherals|hardware features and peripherals]], [[Nintendo Entertainment System emulators#Hardware variants|variants]] and [[Nintendo Entertainment System emulators#Mappers|mappers]] that other emulators are missing. It also supports [[GoodTools|goodmerged]]. Latest versions can be used standalone or with [https://dotnet.microsoft.com/en-us/download/dotnet/8.0 .NET 8], or [https://dotnet.microsoft.com/en-us/download/dotnet/6.0 .NET 6]. This is the most compatible NES emulator of the cycle-accurate variety.
*[[Mesen|Mesen]] is a [[Emulation_accuracy|cycle-accurate]] NES emulator. Also, it is very user-friendly and supports lots of [[#Enhancements|enhancements]], [[#Hardware features and accessories|hardware features and accessories]], [[#Hardware_variants|variants]] and [[#Mappers|mappers]] that other emulators are missing. It also supports [[GoodTools|goodmerged]]. Latest versions can be used standalone or with [https://dotnet.microsoft.com/en-us/download/dotnet .NET 6]. This is the most compatible NES emulator of the cycle-accurate variety.


*[[puNES]] is another [[Emulation_accuracy|cycle-accurate]] NES/FDS emulator. It is deemed as the second most compatible NES emulator of the cycle-accurate variety.
* [[puNES]] is another [[Emulation accuracy|cycle-accurate]] NES/FDS emulator. It is deemed as the second most compatible NES emulator of the cycle-accurate variety.


*[[Nestopia]] also is a [[Emulation_accuracy|cycle-accurate]] NES/FDS emulator. Nestopia has issues with [[Wikipedia:The_Young_Indiana_Jones_Chronicles_(video_game)|''The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles'']] and doesn't display the status bar in [[Wikipedia:Mickey%27s_Safari_in_Letterland|''Mickey's Safari in Letterland'']] correctly (among other problems). '''Nestopia Undead Edition (Nestopia UE)''' is a fork of Nestopia meant to keep it alive and fix the aforementioned bugs, which is generally recommended over vanilla. Even the libretro core for Nestopia is the Undead Edition version.
* [[Nestopia]] also is a [[Emulation accuracy|cycle-accurate]] NES/FDS emulator. Nestopia has issues with ''The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles'' and doesn't display the status bar in ''Mickey's Safari in Letterland'' correctly (among other problems). Nestopia Undead Edition (Nestopia UE) is a fork of Nestopia meant to keep it alive and fix the aforementioned bugs, which is generally recommended over vanilla. Even the [[Nintendo Entertainment System emulators#Frontend cores|libretro core for Nestopia]] is the Undead Edition version.


*[[ares]] is a [[Emulation_accuracy|cycle-accurate]] NES/FDS [[Multi-system_emulators|multi-system emulator]]. NES core is just about on par with [[Mesen]] in terms of accuracy, but Mesen still has more [[#Mappers|unlicensed/aftermarket mapper support]]. Both the APU and PPU pretty much pass [[Emulation_accuracy#Further_reading|all known tests]] at this point, and the entire licensed library runs as intended with no known glitches, which moves ares into the forefront of accurate NES emulators now.<ref>[https://old.reddit.com/r/emulation/comments/1djp8ro/ares_v139_release/l9e979r/ redditorcpj's comment about Ares NES core].</ref>
* [[ares]] is a [[Emulation accuracy|cycle-accurate]] NES/FDS [[Multi-system emulators|multi-system emulator]]. NES core is just about on par with [[Mesen]] in terms of accuracy, but Mesen still has more [[Nintendo Entertainment System emulators#Mappers|unlicensed/aftermarket mapper support]]. Both the APU and PPU pretty much pass [[Emulation accuracy#Further reading|all known tests]] at this point, and the entire licensed library runs as intended with no known glitches, which moves ares into the forefront of accurate NES emulators now.<ref>[https://old.reddit.com/r/emulation/comments/1djp8ro/ares_v139_release/l9e979r/ redditorcpj's comment about Ares NES core].</ref>


*[[FCEUX]] is a [[Emulation_accuracy|highly-accurate]] NES/FDS emulator, and it supports lots of [[#Mappers|unlicensed mappers]], on top of this it is a [https://tasvideos.org/EmulatorResources recommended emulator on TAS Videos]. The New PPU implementation is more [[Emulation_accuracy|accurate]] than the Old PPU implementation. The emulator is handy; thanks to its robust Lua scripting and incorporating FCEUmm into its feature set. Included with BizHawk as NESHawk.
* [[FCEUX]] is a [[Emulation accuracy|highly-accurate]] NES/FDS emulator, and it supports lots of [[Nintendo Entertainment System emulators#Mappers|unlicensed mappers]], on top of this it is a [https://tasvideos.org/EmulatorResources recommended emulator on TAS Videos]. The New PPU implementation is more [[Emulation accuracy|accurate]] than the Old PPU implementation. The emulator is handy; thanks to its robust Lua scripting and incorporating FCEUmm into its feature set. [[Nintendo Entertainment System emulators#Multi-system emulators|Included with BizHawk as NESHawk]].


*[[Nintendulator]] also is a [[Emulation_accuracy|cycle-accurate]] NES/FDS emulator. NintendulatorNRS is a fork of Nintendulator that supports the Famicom Disk System, rare mappers, VRT chipsets, and many unlicensed and bootleg carts and systems.
* [[Nintendulator]] also is a [[Emulation accuracy|cycle-accurate]] NES/FDS emulator. NintendulatorNRS is a fork of Nintendulator that supports rare mappers, VRT chipsets, and many unlicensed and bootleg carts and systems.


*BeesNES is aiming for [[Emulation_accuracy|subcycle accuracy]]. Currently, it is a work-in-progress, but it is already including [[#Enhancements|enhancements]] like; [[NTSC_filters#NTSC-CRT_by_LMP88959_.28EMMIR.29|NTSC-CRT]], [https://github.com/L-Spiro/BeesNES#other-features debugger, disassembler, assembler and various TAS features].
* BeesNES is aiming for [[Emulation accuracy|subcycle accuracy]]. Currently, it is a work-in-progress, but it is already including [[Nintendo Entertainment System emulators#Enhancements|enhancements]] like; [[NTSC filters#NTSC-CRT by LMP88959 (EMMIR)|NTSC-CRT]], [https://github.com/L-Spiro/BeesNES#other-features debugger, disassembler, assembler and various TAS features].


*breakNES is aiming for [[Emulation_accuracy|gate-level accuracy]]. Currently, it is a work-in-progress and requires [https://dotnet.microsoft.com/en-us/download/dotnet .NET 6].
* breakNES is aiming for [[Emulation accuracy|gate-level accuracy]]. Currently, it is a work-in-progress and requires [https://dotnet.microsoft.com/en-us/download/dotnet .NET 6].


*MetalNES is aiming for [[Emulation_accuracy|transistor-level accuracy]]; however, it is no longer in development.
* MetalNES is aiming for [[Emulation accuracy|transistor-level accuracy]]; however, it is no longer in development.


*Nintaco simulates rare peripherals like R.O.B., the U-Force infrared distance sensor controller, and the Miracle Piano.
* Nintaco is another cycle-accurate emulator. It is no longer updated but is interesting in that it is programmed in Java and simulates rare peripherals like R.O.B., the U-Force infrared distance sensor controller, and the Miracle Piano.


*For official emulation, there is Nintendo's own [[L-CLASSICS|Nintendo Switch Online]] and now-discontinued [[Virtual Console]]. The Switch and Wii have a significantly larger library of NES games to choose from than the 3DS or Wii U, especially from third-party publishers.
* For official emulation, there is Nintendo's own [[L-CLASSICS|Nintendo Classics]], the now-discontinued [[Virtual Console]], [[Project EGG]] and ''Console Archives''. The Switch and Wii have a significantly larger library of NES games to choose from than the 3DS or Wii U, especially from third-party publishers.


There are many other NES emulators not listed here, as the NES has more emulators than any other system (new ones are started all the time). Only those that are well-known or stand out in some ways are covered here.
There are many other NES emulators not listed here, as the NES has more emulators than any other system (new ones are started all the time). Only those that are well-known or stand out in some ways are covered here.


==Mappers==
== Mappers ==
A key difference between many emulators nowadays is how many mappers they support.
A key difference between many emulators nowadays is how many mappers they support.
* '''No mapper:''' Supported on every emulator, even official Nintendo emulators.
* '''Official mappers''' (UNROM, AOROM, MMC1-6): Most emulators, as well as Nintendo's Virtual Console (but not their GBA emulators), will cover these.
* '''Third-party mappers''' (Various: e.g., Konami's VRC6/VRC7) While officially licensed by Nintendo, they weren't allowed outside Japan. As a result, for their Western releases, many games that took advantage of their features (advanced ROM mapping, extra sound channels) were reprogrammed significantly and shipped on the official mappers, often with simplified soundtracks. A lot of fan emulators worth their salt will cover these. With those, you cover the entire officially licensed library.
* '''Unlicensed mappers:''' Mostly used by pirate cartridges, often long past the console's official commercial lifespan. Only the most active and recommended emulators will even bother covering them in a whack-a-mole quest for every new one discovered to this very day. If you're not interested in '''unlicensed''' Chinese or Russian bootlegs or newer unofficial NES demakes, it isn't a problem.


The NES ROM information isn't enough to describe the cartridge and emulate it, so emulators have to include the layout and behavior of these mappers in their code. At the same time, the ROM header tells the emulator which mapper to choose. So unlike with other consoles, no matter how accurate a given NES emulator will get, it will still never be able to run newly discovered ROM dumps from cartridges that used a so-far unknown mapper. Thus, Unlicensed NES support will be inevitably incomplete and a constant work-in-progress, hence claims some emulators are "inaccurate."
* No mapper: Supported on every emulator, even official Nintendo emulators.
* Official mappers (UNROM, AOROM, MMC1-6): Most emulators, as well as Nintendo's Virtual Console (but not their GBA emulators), will cover these.
* Third-party mappers (Various: e.g., Konami's VRC6/VRC7) While officially licensed by Nintendo, they weren't allowed outside Japan. As a result, for their Western releases, many games that took advantage of their features (advanced ROM mapping, extra sound channels) were reprogrammed significantly and shipped on the official mappers, often with simplified soundtracks. A lot of fan emulators worth their salt will cover these. With those, you cover the entire officially licensed library.
* Unlicensed mappers: Mostly used by pirate cartridges, often long past the console's official commercial lifespan. Only the most active and recommended emulators will even bother covering them in a whack-a-mole quest for every new one discovered to this very day. If you're not interested in unlicensed Chinese or Russian bootlegs or newer unofficial NES demakes, it isn't a problem.


Related to this issue: This is why most emulators won't run unheadered NES ROMs. Newer versions of Nestopia can open those, but they're handled in a slightly different way: the information that would have been included in the iNES header is instead provided in emulator configuration files that get summoned as long as the ROM's hash matches exactly the No-Intro dump of that given game (which is inconvenient for ROM hacks).
Because NES cartridges contain custom hardware, ROM dumps alone are not enough to accurately describe how a game should be emulated. Emulators must implement the behavior of cartridge mappers in code, while the ROM header provides the metadata needed to select the correct configuration. For this reason, newly discovered ROM dumps using previously unknown mappers may not run until emulator support is added. As a result, support for unlicensed cartridges is a constant work-in-progress, which can lead to claims that some emulators are "inaccurate". Most emulators will not run unheadered NES ROMs. Some versions of Nestopia can load them by using external configuration files matched to known No-Intro ROM hashes, which is less convenient for modified ROMs or hacks. The original iNES header format was created in the 1990s for early emulators. While widely adopted, it has significant limitations and cannot accurately describe many later discoveries about cartridge hardware, bootlegs, or regional timing variants. iNES 2.0 is a backward-compatible extension that expands the available metadata and reduces the need for guesswork or ROM hacks, allowing modern emulators to identify cartridges more accurately.


==Enhancements==
Notable additions include:
 
* Expanded mapper number space and submappers for hardware variants
* Accurate PRG-ROM, CHR-ROM, PRG-RAM and CHR-RAM size reporting
* Explicit console timing flags (NTSC, PAL, Dual-region and Dendy)
* Improved support for multicarts, unlicensed cartridges and Famiclone hardware
 
Modern emulators increasingly rely on iNES 2.0 when available, and it is recommended over legacy iNES headers for improved accuracy and compatibility.
 
== Enhancements ==
{{Stub}}
{{Stub}}
<div style="overflow-x:auto;width:100%">
{| {{Basic table}}
{|class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; vertical-align:middle;width:100%"
|+Please only include recommended emulators in this table. Do not bump or spam GitHub threads, issues, or feature request pages.
|- style="font-weight:bold;"
! colspan="2" style="width:50%" |Name
! colspan=2 | Name
!Nestopia UE / Nestopia_libretro
! Mesen
!MesenCE
! FCEUX
!NintendulatorNRS
! puNES
!ares
! Nestopia UE
!puNES
! ares
|-
! QuickNES
| rowspan="2" |Controls
! MAME
|{{Enhancements/Controls/Input lag mitigating}}||{{Dunno}}||{{Ya|link=https://www.mesen.ca/docs/configuration/emulation.html}}||{{Na}}||{{Dunno}}||{{Dunno}}
! BeesNES
|-
! breakNES
|{{Enhancements/Controls/Turbo button}}||{{Dunno}}||{{Ya}}||{{Ya}}||{{Dunno}}||{{Dunno}}
! MetalNES
|-
! Nintendo Switch Online<br/><small>([[L-CLASSICS]])</small>
| rowspan="4" |Graphics
|{{Enhancements/Graphics/Remove sprite limit|The NES can normally only draw up to 8 sprites per line – this limitation is indirectly responsible for some flickering seen in games at times. When this option is enabled, the limit is disabled, allowing up to 64 sprites to be drawn on the same line.}}||{{Dunno}}||{{Ya|link=https://www.mesen.ca/docs/configuration/video.html#advanced-options}}||{{Ya}}||{{Dunno}}||{{Dunno}}
|-
|{{Enhancements/Graphics/Resizable internal resolution}}
| colspan="5" |For emulation of 2D systems, the resolution can only be upscaled, making the pixels more visible.
|-
|-
| rowspan=4 | Graphics
|{{Enhancements/Graphics/Sprite replacement|NES}}||{{Na}}||{{Ya|link=https://www.mesen.ca/docs/hdpacks.html}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}||{{Ya}}
| [[Resolution|Resizable Internal Resolution]]
| colspan=11 | For emulation of 2D systems, the resolution can only be upscaled, making the pixels more visible.
|-
|-
| [[Widescreen_hacks#NES|Widescreen hack]]<br/><small>Using [https://prilik.com/blog/post/widenes/ wideNES] technique (similar to [[Widescreen_hacks#Emulators_.282D.29|wideGB]]); it can automatically “map-out” levels and worlds in NES games.</small>
|{{Enhancements/Graphics/Widescreen hack|NES|Using [https://prilik.com/blog/post/widenes/ wideNES] technique (similar to [[Widescreen hacks#Emulators (2D)|wideGB]]); it can automatically “map-out” levels and worlds in NES games.}}
| colspan=11 | Exclusive to [https://prilik.com/ANESE ANESE] emulator at the moment.
| colspan="5" |Exclusive to [https://prilik.com/ANESE ANESE] emulator at the moment.
|-
|-
| [[Texture_packs#NES|Sprite Replacement]]
| rowspan="1" |Performance
| {{✓}}[https://www.mesen.ca/docs/hdpacks.html *]
|[[Overclocking#NES|Overclock]]||{{Dunno}}||{{Ya|link=https://www.mesen.ca/docs/configuration/emulation.html#overclocking}}||{{Na}}||{{Dunno}}||{{Ya}}
| {{✗}}
| {{✓}}
| {{✗}}
| {{✗}}
| {{✗}}
| {{✗}}
| {{✗}}
| {{✗}}
| {{✗}}
| {{✗}}
|-
|-
| Remove sprite limit<br/><small>The NES can normally only draw up to 8 sprites per line – this limitation is indirectly responsible for some flickering seen in games at times. When this option is enabled, the limit is disabled, allowing up to 64 sprites to be drawn on the same line.</small>
| rowspan="4" |Post-processing
| {{✓}}[https://www.mesen.ca/docs/configuration/video.html#advanced-options *]
|{{Enhancements/Post-processing/AI-powered filter}}||{{Dunno}}||{{Dunno}}||{{Na}}||{{Dunno}}||{{Dunno}}
| {{?}}
| {{?}}
| {{?}}
| {{?}}
| {{?}}
| {{?}}
| {{?}}
| {{?}}
| {{?}}
| {{?}}
|-
|-
| rowspan=1 | Performance
|{{Enhancements/Post-processing/Filters}}||{{Ya}}||{{Ya}}||{{~}}<br><small>Only scanlines.</small>||{{Ya}}||{{Ya}}
| [[Overclocking#NES|Overclock]]
|-
| {{✓}}[https://www.mesen.ca/docs/configuration/emulation.html#overclocking *]
|{{Enhancements/Post-processing/Inverse tone mapping}}||{{Dunno}}||{{Dunno}}||{{Na}}||{{Dunno}}||{{Dunno}}
| {{✓}}
|-
| {{✓}}
|{{Enhancements/Post-processing/Shader chain}}||{{Na}}||{{~}}<ref name="RA" group="note" />||{{Na}}||{{Dunno}}||{{~}}<ref name="RA" group="note" />
|
|-
|
| rowspan="12" |Quality of life
|
|{{Enhancements/Quality of life/Automatic emulated controller connect/disconnect}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}||{{~}}<br><small>Only disconnects supported controller out of necessity.</small>||{{Na}}||{{Na}}
|
|-
|
|Automatic updater||{{Dunno}}||{{Dunno}}||{{Na}}||{{Dunno}}||{{Dunno}}
|
|
| {{✗}}
|-
|-
| rowspan=5 | [https://tasvideos.org/Emulatorresources/Features TAS features]
|[[Frontends#Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs)|Big Picture Mode]]||{{~}}<ref name="RA" group="note" />||{{~}}<ref name="RA" group="note">Exclusive to [https://docs.libretro.com/library/fceumm/ FCEUmm], [https://docs.libretro.com/library/mesen/ Mesen], [https://docs.libretro.com/library/nestopia_ue/ Nestopia] libretro cores. Also, there is a [https://github.com/RetroAchievements/RANes modified version of fceux] that supports RetroAchievements.</ref>||{{Na}}||{{Na}}||{{~}}<ref name="RA" group="note" />
| [[Wikipedia:Macro_(computer_science)|Macros/Scripts]]/[https://tasvideos.org/LuaScripting Lua]
| {{✓}}[https://www.mesen.ca/docs/debugging/scriptwindow.html *]
| {{✓}}
| {{✗}}
|
|
|
| {{✓}}[https://docs.mamedev.org/plugins/inputmacro.html *]
|
|
|
|
|-
|-
| Rewind
|Built-in [[Cheats and patches|cheat manager]]||{{Dunno}}||{{Ya|link=https://www.mesen.ca/docs/tools.html#cheats}}||{{Dunno}}||{{Ya|link=https://old.reddit.com/r/emulation/comments/1ay6fm1/ares_v136_released/krslaki/}}||{{Ya}}
| {{✓}}[https://www.mesen.ca/docs/configuration/emulation.html#general-options *]
| {{✗}}
| {{✓}}
|
|
| {{✓}}
|
|
|
|
| {{✓}}
|-
|-
| Fast-Forward/Turbo Speed
|{{Enhancements/Quality of life/Built-in custom resolution}}
| {{✓}}[https://www.mesen.ca/docs/configuration/emulation.html#general-options *]
| colspan="5" |Exclusive to [https://docs.libretro.com/guides/crtswitchres/ libretro cores] and [[GroovyMAME]] at the moment.
| {{✓}}
Also, there is a [https://github.com/psakhis/Groovy_MiSTer project] for achieving software emulators like libretro cores and GroovyMAME send the raw RGB data over a network to a core running on MiSTer, it basically turns the MiSTer into a GPU for the emulator allowing for easy setup and use with CRT TVs/Arcade monitors.
| {{✓}}
|
|
| {{✓}}
|
|
|
|
|
|-
|-
| Savestates
|Built-in [[Mods, hacks and fan-translations#Built-in mod editor and manager for emulators|mod editor and manager]]||{{Dunno}}||{{Dunno}}||{{Na}}||{{Dunno}}||{{Dunno}}
| {{✓}}
| {{✓}}
| {{✓}}
|
|
| {{✓}}
|
|
|
|
| {{✓}}
|-
|-
| [https://tasvideos.org/Movies Movie recording/playback]
|Built-in [[Cheats and patches|patch manager]]||{{Dunno}}||{{Dunno}}||{{Na}}||{{Dunno}}||{{Dunno}}
| {{✓}}[https://www.mesen.ca/docs/tools.html#movies *]
| {{✓}}
| {{✓}}
|
|
|
|
| {{✗}}
| {{✗}}
| {{✗}}
|
|-
|-
| rowspan=4 | Post-Processing
|Command-line options||{{Dunno}}||{{Ya|link=https://www.mesen.ca/docs/gettingstarted.html#command-line-options}}||{{Ya}}<br><small>ROM-loading only.</small>||{{Dunno}}||{{Dunno}}
| [[Shaders_and_filters|Filters]]
| {{✓}}
| {{✓}}
| {{✓}}
| {{✓}}
| {{✓}}
| {{✓}}
| {{✓}}
| {{✓}}
| {{?}}
| {{?}}
| {{✓}}
|-
|-
|[[Shaders_and_filters#AI-powered filters|AI-powered filter compatible]]<br/><small>([https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/news/gfecnt/nvidia-freestyle-ansel-enhancements-geforce-experience-article/ Freestyle])</small>
|Pause/Resume emulation||{{Ya}}||{{Ya}}||{{Ya}}||{{Ya}}||{{Ya}}
| {{?}}
| {{?}}
| {{?}}
| {{?}}
| {{?}}
| {{?}}
| {{?}}
| {{?}}
| {{?}}
| {{?}}
| {{?}}
|-
|-
| [[Shader_Presets|Shader Chain]]
|Per-game profiles||{{Dunno}}||{{Ya|link=https://www.mesen.ca/docs/configuration/video.html#overscan}}||{{Na}}||{{Dunno}}||{{Ya}}
| {{~}}<ref group=N2 name=RA></ref>
| {{~}}<ref group=N2 name=RA></ref>
| {{~}}<ref group=N2 name=RA></ref>
| {{✗}}
|
| {{✓}}
| {{~}}<ref group=N2 name=RA></ref>
|
|
|
|
|-
|-
|[[High_dynamic_range#Inverse_tone_mapping|Inverse tone mapping compatible]]
|{{Enhancements/Quality of life/Portable and stealth}}||{{Dunno}}||{{Ya}}||{{Na}}||{{Dunno}}||{{Dunno}}
| {{?}}
| {{?}}
| {{?}}
| {{?}}
| {{?}}
| {{?}}
| {{?}}
| {{?}}
| {{?}}
| {{?}}
| {{?}}
|-
|-
| rowspan=9 | Quality of life
|[[Save disk space for ISOs|Streamable compression format]]||{{Dunno}}||{{Dunno}}||{{Na}}||{{Dunno}}||{{Dunno}}
| Pause/Resume Emulation
| {{✓}}
| {{✓}}
| {{✓}}
| {{✓}}
| {{✓}}
| {{✓}}
| {{?}}
| {{?}}
| {{?}}
| {{?}}
| {{?}}
|-
|-
| Per-Game Profiles
| rowspan="6" |[https://tasvideos.org/Emulatorresources/Features TAS features]
| {{✓}}[https://www.mesen.ca/docs/configuration/video.html#overscan *]
|Fast forward/Turbo speed||{{Dunno}}||{{Ya|link=https://www.mesen.ca/docs/configuration/emulation.html#general-options}}||{{Ya}}||{{Dunno}}||{{Ya}}
| {{?}}
| {{✓}}
| {{?}}
| {{?}}
| {{?}}
| {{?}}
| {{?}}
| {{?}}
| {{?}}
| {{?}}
|-
|-
| Command Line Options
|{{Enhancements/TAS features/Frame step}}||{{Dunno}}||{{Dunno}}||{{~}}<br><small>Forwards only.</small>||{{Dunno}}||{{Dunno}}
| {{✓}}[https://www.mesen.ca/docs/gettingstarted.html#command-line-options *]
| {{?}}
| {{?}}
| {{?}}
| {{?}}
| {{?}}
| {{?}}
| {{?}}
| {{?}}
| {{?}}
| {{?}}
|-
|-
| Built-in [[Mods,_hacks_and_fan-translations#Built-in mod editor and manager for emulators|mod editor and manager]]
|Macros/Scripts/[https://tasvideos.org/LuaScripting Lua]||{{Dunno}}||{{Ya|link=https://www.mesen.ca/docs/debugging/scriptwindow.html}}||{{Na}}||{{Dunno}}||{{Na}}
| {{?}}
| {{?}}
| {{?}}
| {{?}}
| {{?}}
| {{?}}
| {{?}}
| {{?}}
| {{?}}
| {{?}}
| {{?}}
|-
|-
| Built-in [[Cheats_and_patches|Cheat Manager]]
|[https://tasvideos.org/Movies Movie recording/playback]||{{Dunno}}||{{Ya|link=https://www.mesen.ca/docs/tools.html#movies}}||{{Ya}}||{{Dunno}}||{{Ya}}
| {{✓}}[https://www.mesen.ca/docs/tools.html#cheats *]
| {{?}}
| {{✓}}
| {{?}}
| {{✓}}[https://old.reddit.com/r/emulation/comments/1ay6fm1/ares_v136_released/krslaki/ *]
| {{✓}}
| {{✓}}
| {{?}}
| {{?}}
| {{?}}
| {{?}}
|-
|-
| Built-in [[Cheats_and_patches|Patch Manager]]
|Rewind||{{Dunno}}||{{Ya|link=https://www.mesen.ca/docs/configuration/emulation.html#general-options}}||{{Na}}||{{Dunno}}||{{Ya}}
| {{?}}
| {{?}}
| {{?}}
| {{?}}
| {{?}}
| {{?}}
| {{?}}
| {{?}}
| {{?}}
| {{?}}
| {{?}}
|-
|-
| Built-in [https://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,106405 Custom resolution/CRTSwitchRes]<br/><small>For using this on Windows OS you need [https://geedorah.com/eiusdemmodi/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=1009#p1009 CRT Emudriver].<br/>Another option is using EDID editor tool such as "Custom Resolution Utility".</small>
|Save states||{{Dunno}}||{{Ya}}||{{Ya}}||{{Dunno}}||{{Ya}}
| colspan=11 | Exclusive to [https://docs.libretro.com/guides/crtswitchres/ libretro cores] and [[GroovyMAME]] at the moment.<br/>Also, there is a [https://github.com/psakhis/Groovy_MiSTer project] for achieving software emulators like  libretro cores and GroovyMAME send the raw RGB data over a network to a core running on MiSTer, it basically turns the MiSTer into a GPU for the emulator allowing for easy setup and use with CRT TVs/Arcade monitors.
|-
|-
| [[Save_disk_space_for_ISOs|Streamable compression format]]
| rowspan="8" |Misc.
| {{✓}}[https://www.mesen.ca/docs/configuration/emulation.html *]
|{{Enhancements/Misc./Ambient sounds simulation}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}
|
|
|
|
| {{✓}}
| {{✓}}
| {{?}}
| {{?}}
| {{?}}
|
|-
|-
| [[Frontends#Graphical_User_Interfaces_.28GUIs.29|Big Picture Mode]]
|{{Enhancements/Misc./Audio filters and presets}}
| {{~}}<ref group=N2 name=RA>Exclusive to [https://docs.libretro.com/library/fceumm/ FCEUmm], [https://docs.libretro.com/library/mesen/ Mesen], [https://docs.libretro.com/library/nestopia_ue/ Nestopia] libretro cores. Also, there is a [https://github.com/RetroAchievements/RANes modified version of fceux] that supports RetroAchievements.</ref>
| colspan="5" |Exclusive to [https://github.com/RetroCrisis/Retro-Crisis-Audio-Filters libretro cores] at the moment.
| {{~}}<ref group=N2 name=RA></ref>
| {{~}}<ref group=N2 name=RA></ref>
| {{~}}<ref group=N2 name=RA></ref>
| {{✗}}
| {{✓}}
| {{✓}}
|
|
|
| {{✓}}
|-
|-
| rowspan=1 | Controls
|Debug features||{{Dunno}}||{{Ya|link=https://www.mesen.ca/docs/debugging.html}}||{{Ya}}<br><small>Memory dump and address finding only.</small>||{{Dunno}}||{{Na}}
| [[Input_lag|Input lag-mitigating technique]]
| {{✓}}[https://www.mesen.ca/docs/configuration/emulation.html *]
|
|
|
|
| {{✓}}
|
| {{?}}
| {{?}}
| {{?}}
|
|-
|-
| rowspan=5 | Misc
|[[Virtual reality#VR game room simulations|EmuVR support]]
| [[Netplay#NES|<abbr title="Should not be confused with Famicom Modem emulation, see #Hardware features and accessories section for more information.">Netplay</abbr>]]
| colspan="5" |Exclusive to [https://www.emuvr.net/wiki/Installation_Guide#Downloads libretro cores] at the moment.
| {{✓}}[https://www.mesen.ca/docs/tools.html#netplay *]
| {{✓}}
| {{✗}}
| {{✓}}
| {{X}}
| {{✓}}
| {{✗}}
| {{?}}
| {{?}}
| {{?}}
| {{✓}}
|-
|-
| AI Service<br/><small>With the help of <abbr title="optical character recognition">OCR</abbr> and other techniques, the AI service can provide a live translation of a game, or text-to-speech capabilities for the visually impaired among other things, either on demand or automatically.</small>
|{{Enhancements/Misc./Netplay|NES|Should not be confused with Famicom Modem emulation, see [[Nintendo Entertainment System emulators#Hardware features and peripherals|hardware features and peripherals]] for more information.}}||{{Ya}}||{{Ya|link=https://www.mesen.ca/docs/tools.html#netplay}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}
| colspan=11 | Exclusive to [https://docs.libretro.com/guides/ai-service/ libretro cores] at the moment.
|-
|-
| [[Virtual_reality#VR_game_room_simulations|EmuVR support]]
|[[RetroAchievements]]||{{~}}<ref name="RA" group="note" />||{{~}}<ref name="RA" group="note" />||{{Na}}
| colspan=11 | Exclusive to [https://www.emuvr.net/wiki/Installation_Guide#Downloads libretro cores] at the moment.
|[https://old.reddit.com/r/emulation/comments/1djp8ro/ares_v139_release/l9ckjp2/ roadmap]||{{Na}}
|-
|-
| [https://retroachievements.org/gameList.php?c=7 RetroAchievements]
|{{Enhancements/Misc./Rich Presence}}||{{Dunno}}||{{Dunno}}||{{Na}}||{{Dunno}}||{{Dunno}}
| {{~}}<ref group=N2 name=RA></ref>
| {{~}}<ref group=N2 name=RA></ref>
| {{✗}}
| {{~}}<ref group=N2 name=RA></ref>
| [https://old.reddit.com/r/emulation/comments/1djp8ro/ares_v139_release/l9ckjp2/ roadmap]
| {{✓}}
| {{✗}}
| {{✗}}
| {{✗}}
| {{✗}}
| {{✗}}
|-
|-
| [[Wikipedia:Category:Debugging|Debug features]]
|{{Enhancements/Misc./Screen translator}}
| {{✓}}[https://www.mesen.ca/docs/debugging.html *]
| colspan="5" |You can use [https://docs.libretro.com/guides/ai-service/ RetroArch's AI Service] or the standalone offline [https://github.com/bquenin/interpreter bquenin's Interpreter].
| {{✓}}
| {{✗}}
| {{?}}
| {{?}}
| {{✗}}
| {{✓}}[https://docs.mamedev.org/debugger/index.html *]
| {{?}}
| {{?}}
| {{?}}
| {{✗}}
|}
|}
</div>
<references group=N2/>


==Hardware features and accessories==
== Hardware features and peripherals ==
{{Stub}}
{| {{Basic table}}
 
|+Please only include recommended emulators in this table. Do not bump or spam GitHub threads, issues, or feature request pages.
 
! colspan="4" style="width:50%" |Name
{|class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center;width:100%"
!Nestopia UE / Nestopia_libretro
!colspan=2|Name
!MesenCE
!Mesen
!NintendulatorNRS
!ares
!puNES
!puNES
!Nestopia UE
!ares
!FCEUmm
|-
|-
|Action Replay
| rowspan="3" |Hardware features
|
| colspan="3" |[https://consolemods.org/wiki/NES:List_of_Famicom_Games_with_External_Audio External audio]/[https://www.nesdev.org/wiki/List_of_games_with_expansion_audio Expansion audio]||{{Dunno}}||{{Dunno}}||{{~}}<br><small>No DPCM samples.</small>||{{Dunno}}||{{Dunno}}
|{{?}}
|-
|{{?}}
| colspan="3" |[[List of games that support microphone|Famicom P2 controller microphone]]||{{Ya}}||{{Ya}}||{{Ya}}||{{Ya}}||{{Ya}}
|{{?}}
|-
|{{?}}
| colspan="3" |On-cartridge save batteries||{{Ya}}||{{Ya}}||{{Ya}}||{{Ya}}||{{Ya}}
|{{?}}
|-
| rowspan="77" |Peripherals
| rowspan="18" |Controller port
| colspan="2" |Advantage controller||{{Na}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}
|-
| colspan="2" |[https://www.nesdev.org/wiki/Arkanoid_controller ''Arkanoid'' controller]<ref group="note">The Famicom and NES versions use different joypad bits and must be handled by software separately. The ''Arkanoid II'' controller has a Famicom expansion port intended for multiplayer using another Famicom ''Arkanoid'' controller of either type.</ref>||{{Ya}}||{{Ya}}||{{Ya}}||{{Na}}||{{Ya}}
|-
| colspan="2" |[https://www.nesdev.org/wiki/Four_player_adapters#Four_Score Four Score/NES Satellite]<ref group="note">NES Satellite is a wireless IR version of Four Score.</ref>||{{Ya}}||{{Ya}}||{{Ya}}||{{Na}}||{{Ya}}
|-
| colspan="2" |Macro Winners mouse||{{Na}}||{{Na}}||{{Ya}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}
|-
| colspan="2" |Mega Book mouse||{{Na}}||{{Na}}||{{Ya}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}
|-
| colspan="2" |[https://www.nesdev.org/wiki/Miracle_Piano Miracle piano]||{{Na}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}
|-
| colspan="2" |Power Glove<ref group="note">Similarly functioning peripherals are Roll & Rocker and U-Force.</ref>||{{Ya}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}
|-
| colspan="2" |[https://www.nesdev.org/wiki/Power_Pad Power Pad]||{{Ya}}||{{Ya}}||{{Ya}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}
|-
| colspan="2" |PS/2 mouse||{{Na}}||{{Na}}||{{Ya}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}
|-
| colspan="2" |[https://www.nesdev.org/wiki/SNES_controller SNES controller]||{{Na}}||{{Ya}}||{{Ya}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}
|-
| colspan="2" |SNES NTT data keypad||{{Na}}||{{Ya}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}
|-
| colspan="2" |[https://www.nesdev.org/wiki/Super_NES_Mouse SNES mouse]||{{Na}}||{{Ya}}||{{Ya}}||{{Na}}||{{Ya}}
|-
| colspan="2" |[https://www.nesdev.org/wiki/Subor_Mouse Subor mouse]||{{Ya}}||{{Ya}}||{{Ya}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}
|-
| colspan="2" |Sudoku (Excalibur)||{{Na}}||{{Na}}||{{Ya}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}
|-
| colspan="2" |[https://www.nesdev.org/wiki/Virtual_Boy_controller Virtual Boy controller]||{{Na}}||{{Ya}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}
|-
| colspan="2" |Vs. Unisystem Zapper||{{Na}}||{{Na}}||{{Ya}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}
|-
| colspan="2" |Yuxing mouse||{{Na}}||{{Na}}||{{Ya}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}
|-
| colspan="2" |[https://www.nesdev.org/wiki/Zapper Zapper]||{{Ya}}||{{Ya}}||{{Ya}}||{{Ya}}||{{Ya}}
|-
| colspan="3" |[https://www.nesdev.org/wiki/Family_BASIC_Data_Recorder Data Recorder]||{{Ya}}||{{Ya}}||{{Ya}}||{{Ya}}||{{Dunno}}
|-
| colspan="3" |Datach Card||{{Na}}||{{Ya}}||{{Dunno}}||{{Na}}||{{Dunno}}
|-
| rowspan="40" |Expansion port
| colspan="2" |[[Nintendo Entertainment System emulators#Multitap|2-player adapter]]<ref group="note">Either a simple adapter like ''JoyPair''/''Twin Adapter'' or a 2-player mode of Hori's 4-player adapter.</ref>||{{Na}}||{{Ya}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}
|-
| colspan="2" |ABL Pinball||{{Na}}||{{Na}}||{{Ya}}||{{Na}}||{{Ya}}
|-
| colspan="2" |[[Nintendo Entertainment System emulators#Arkanoid Paddle|''Arkanoid'' controller]]||{{Ya}}||{{Ya}}||{{Ya}}||{{Na}}||{{Ya}}
|-
| colspan="2" |''Arkanoid II'' controller 2P<ref group="note">The prototype controller with its own Famicom expansion port which can be used with another ''Arkanoid II'' or Japanese ''Arkanoid'' controller for multiplayer but also others except ''Family BASIC'' Keyboard and Data Recorder which both won't work via ''Arkanoid II'' controller's expansion port and need to be plugged into the Famicom directly.</ref>||{{Dunno}}||{{Na}}||{{Ya}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}
|-
| colspan="2" |Bandai Hyper Shot||{{Ya}}||{{Ya}}||{{Ya}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}
|-
| colspan="2" |[[Barcode Battler]]||{{Na}}||{{Ya}}||{{Ya}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}
|-
| colspan="2" |Barcode World||{{Ya}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}
|-
| colspan="2" |[https://www.nesdev.org/wiki/Battle_Box Battle Box]||{{Na}}||{{Ya}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}
|-
| colspan="2" |Bit-79 keyboard||{{Na}}||{{Na}}||{{Ya}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}
|-
| colspan="2" |City Patrolman lightgun||{{Na}}||{{Na}}||{{Ya}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}
|-
| colspan="2" |Crazy Climber||{{Ya}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}
|-
| colspan="2" |Dongda keyboard||{{Na}}||{{Na}}||{{Ya}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}
|-
| colspan="2" |''Doremikko'' keyboard||{{Ya}}||{{Na}}||{{Ya}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}
|-
| colspan="2" |[https://www.nesdev.org/wiki/Exciting_Boxing_Punching_Bag ''Exciting Boxing'' punching bag]||{{Ya}}||{{Ya}}||{{Ya}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}
|-
| colspan="2" |[https://www.nesdev.org/wiki/Expansion_Port_Sound_Module Expansion Port Sound Module (EPSM)]||{{Na}}||{{Na}}||{{Ya}}||{{Ya}}||{{Na}}
|-
| colspan="2" |[https://www.nesdev.org/wiki/Four_player_adapters#%22Simple%22_Famicom_adapters Famicom 4-player adapter]||{{Ya}}||{{Ya}}||{{Ya}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}
|-
| colspan="2" |Famicom Network System/Tsushin controller||{{Na}}||{{Ya}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}
|-
| colspan="2" |[https://www.nesdev.org/wiki/Family_BASIC_Keyboard ''Family BASIC'' keyboard]||{{Ya}}||{{Ya}}||{{Ya}}||{{Ya}}||{{Ya}}
|-
| colspan="2" |[https://www.nesdev.org/wiki/Power_Pad#Family_Trainer_Mat Family Trainer & Tap-tap Mat]||{{Ya}}||{{Ya}}||{{Ya}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}
|-
| colspan="2" |[https://www.nesdev.org/wiki/Four_player_adapters#Hori_4_Players_Adapter Hori 4-player adapter]||{{Na}}||{{Na}}||{{Ya}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}
|-
| colspan="2" |Hori Track trackball||{{Ya}}||{{Ya}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}
|-
| colspan="2" |[https://www.nesdev.org/wiki/Jissen_Mahjong_controller Jissen Mahjong controller]||{{Ya}}||{{Ya}}||{{Ya}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}
|-
| colspan="2" |Keda keyboard||{{Na}}||{{Na}}||{{Ya}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}
|-
| colspan="2" |Kingwon Keyboard||{{Na}}||{{Na}}||{{Ya}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}
|-
| colspan="2" |Konami Hyper Shot||{{Ya}}||{{Ya}}||{{Ya}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}
|-
| colspan="2" |Mahjong Gekitou Densetsu controller||{{Na}}||{{Na}}||{{Ya}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}
|-
| colspan="2" |Majesco Golden Nugget Casino||{{Na}}||{{Na}}||{{Ya}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}
|-
| colspan="2" |[https://www.nesdev.org/wiki/Oeka_Kids_tablet Oeka Kids tablet]||{{Ya}}||{{Ya}}||{{Ya}}||{{Na}}||{{Ya}}
|-
| colspan="2" |Pachinko controller||{{Ya}}||{{Ya}}||{{Ya}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}
|-
| colspan="2" |[https://www.nesdev.org/wiki/Partytap Party Room 21 Quiz Show Buzzer Partytap]||{{Ya}}||{{Ya}}||{{Ya}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}
|-
| colspan="2" |Pokkun Moguraa mat||{{Ya}}||{{Na}}||{{Ya}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}
|-
|-
|[[Wikipedia:Aladdin_Deck_Enhancer|Aladdin Deck Enhancer]]
| colspan="2" |Sharp C1 Cassette Interface||{{Na}}||{{Na}}||{{Ya}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}
|
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|-
|-
|[[#Arkanoid Paddle|Arkanoid Paddle]]
| colspan="2" |Subor keyboard||{{Ya}}||{{Ya}}||{{Ya}}||{{Na}}||{{Ya}}
|[[File:ArkanoidVausController.jpg|200px]]
|{{✓}}
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|-
|-
|[[#ASCII Turbo File|ASCII Turbo File]]
| colspan="2" |''Top-Rider'' inflatable motorcycle controller VRE-R1||{{Ya}}||{{Na}}||{{Ya}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}
|[[File:ASCII TurboFile I.png|200px]][[File:ASCII TurboFile II.png|200px]]
|{{✓}}
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|-
|-
|Barcode Battler
| colspan="2" |Triface Mahjong controller||{{Na}}||{{Na}}||{{Ya}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}
|
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|-
|-
|Battle Box
| rowspan="2" |[https://www.nesdev.org/wiki/Turbo_File Turbo File]
|
|Turbo File (AS-TFO2)||{{Ya}}||{{Ya}}||{{Ya}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}
|{{✓}}
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|-
|-
|[[wikipedia:Hot_swapping#Gaming|<abbr title="It was sometimes possible to apply cheats (such as a player having infinite lives) and other temporary software alterations to games by hot swapping cartridges, even though the cartridges were not designed to be hot swappable.">Cartridge Hot Swapping</abbr>]]
|Turbo File II (AS-TF21)<ref group="note">Other than increased RAM, the 2nd model also contains a proprietary cartridge slot to accept the so-called Data ROM Packs, cartridges which added additional game content. Only ''Best Play Pro Yakyū'' baseball team manager series games supported this feature, for which only 2 add-on cartridges (ベストプレープロ野球データ) with team data, AS-DR01 ('89-Apr) and AS-DR02 ('90-Jun), were ever released. Interested players could only order them by mail. They have an on-cartridge ROM/RAM switch that lets players either access the contents of the ROM (in which case the bank select switch is used to move between four 8K ROM banks) or the TFII's save RAM. No emulator currently supports Data ROM Packs' injection.</ref>||{{Na}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}
|
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|-
|-
|[http://www.thealmightyguru.com/Wiki/index.php?title=Cartridge_tilting <abbr title="Cartridge tilting is an action performed on cartridge-based systems to create otherwise impossible glitches. Cartridge tilting is not a glitch, but rather the process which creates glitches.">Cartridge Tilting</abbr>]<ref group="N" name="Tilt">[https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLkAqx5EV7l_DkwOv4WmVEBLv39WPEUm3d Cart Tilt Showcase Playlist]</ref>
| colspan="2" |TV pump||{{Na}}||{{Na}}||{{Ya}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}
|
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|-
|-
|Copy, Cut & Paste for Family BASIC
| colspan="2" |[[Nintendo Entertainment System emulators#NES Zapper|Zapper/Beam Gun/Family Computer Gun]]||{{Na}}||{{Ya}}||{{Ya}}||{{Na}}||{{Ya}}
|
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|-
|-
|[[#Data Recorder|Data Recorder]]
| colspan="2" |Ze Cheng Keyboard||{{Na}}||{{Na}}||{{Ya}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}
|[[File:Famicom Data Recorder.jpg|200px]]
|{{✓}}
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|-
|-
|Datach Card
| colspan="3" |[https://www.nesdev.org/wiki/Famicom_3D_System Famicom 3D System]||{{Na}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}
|[[File:DATACH JOINT ROM SYSTEM.png|200px]]
|{{✓}}
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|-
|-
|[https://www.chrismcovell.com/demovision.html Demo Vision]
| colspan="3" |Famicom Fitness System||{{Na}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}
|
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|-
|-
|Exciting Boxing
| colspan="3" |Famicom ''Karaoke Studio'' controller<ref group="note">Includes Bandai microphone which, unlike the standard built-in Famicom controller 2 microphone, plugged into or came wired with the custom-sized cartridge subsystem to capture vocals. Does not work with certain hardware revisions like the Sharp C1 television.</ref>||{{Dunno}}||{{Dunno}}||{{Dunno}}||{{Dunno}}||{{Dunno}}
|
|{{✓}}
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|-
|-
|[[#Famicom P2 Controller Microphone|Famicom P2 Controller Microphone]]
| colspan="3" |Famicom Network System||{{Na}}||{{Ya}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}
|[[File:Famicom Controller Microphone.png|200px]]
|{{✓}}
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|{{N}}
|-
|-
|[[List_of_console_games_that_support_keyboard_and_mouse#Nintendo_Entertainment_System|Family BASIC]]
| colspan="3" |Fukutake Study Box tape player||{{Dunno}}||{{Dunno}}||{{Dunno}}||{{Dunno}}||{{Dunno}}
|[[File:Family BASIC.png|200px]]
|{{✓}}
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|-
|-
|[[#Family Computer 3D System|Family Computer 3D System]]
| colspan="3" |{{YouTubeVideo|1rnf13b3dG4|Konami Q太 Famicom Adaptor}}<br><small>An extremely rare passthrough adapter with a [https://www.nesdev.org/wiki/NES_2.0_Mapper_547 NES 2.0 547 mapper] with [https://www.nesdev.org/wiki/VRC5_pinout VRC5 pinout] to play proprietary 40-pin carts made by Konami and Japanese media giant NHK. [http://jironosuke.cocolog-nifty.com/blog/2015/10/nhk-cada.html 6 known Space School games] and ''The Gentle Physics and Science of Hazardous Materials'' (aka ''Space College'') for a total of 7 known games.</small>||{{Dunno}}||{{Ya}}||{{Dunno}}||{{Dunno}}||{{Ya}}
|[[File:Famicom 3D System.jpg|200px]]
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|-
|-
|Family Computer Disk System
| colspan="3" |''Nantettatte!! Baseball'' Lock-On<ref group="note">The game uses Mapper 68 for a cartridge lock-on system that allowed an expansion cartridge, which updates team statistics, to be plugged into the top of the base cartridge. Only 2 cartridges were ever released: ’91 Hen and OB Hen</ref>||{{Dunno}}||{{Dunno}}||{{Dunno}}||{{Dunno}}||{{Dunno}}
|[[File:Family Computer Disk System.png|200px]]
|{{✓}}
|{{✓}}
|{{✓}}
|{{✓}}
|{{Y}}
|-
|-
|Family Computer Network System
| colspan="3" |R.O.B./Family Robot||{{Ya}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}
|[[File:Family Computer Network System.png|200px]]
|{{✓}}
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|-
|-
|Game Genie
| rowspan="7" |Unlicensed
|[[File:NES Game Genie.png|200px]]
| colspan="2" |Action Replay||{{Na}}||{{Na}}||{{Ya}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|-
|-
|Hypershot Lightgun
| colspan="2" |Aladdin Deck Enhancer||{{Na}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}
|
|{{✓}}
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|-
|-
|Hypershot Pad
| colspan="2" |Game Genie||{{Na}}||{{Na}}||{{Ya}}||{{Na}}||{{Ya}}
|
|{{✓}}
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|-
|-
|Mahjong
| colspan="2" |[https://133fsb.wordpress.com/2010/03/21/famicom-compatible-printer-port-interface/ Parallel printer]||{{Na}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}
|
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|-
|-
|Miracle Piano
| colspan="2" |[https://www.chrismcovell.com/fcrocky.html Pro Action Rocky]||{{Na}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}
|[[File:Miracle Piano Teaching System.png|200px]]
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|-
|-
|[[#Multitap|Multitap]]
| colspan="2" |[http://www.nesmuseum.com/racermate.html ''RacerMate Challenge II'' bike system]||{{Na}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}
|[[File:NES-Four-Score.jpg|200px]][[File:NES Satellite.png|200px]]
|{{✓}}
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|-
|-
|[[#NES Zapper|NES Zapper]]
| colspan="2" |Rainbow homebrew mapper<ref group="note">Used in ''Super Tilt Bro'', a homebrew Super Smash Bros. series demake whose cartridge {{YouTubeVideo|2R50jx0aHM0|supports NTSC/PAL cross-region play with the game adjusting itself and even employs a ESP8266 Wi-Fi controller for online features like multiplayer, rankings, game ROM update}}. It's [https://github.com/sgadrat/super-tilt-bro in public domain], and [https://brokestudio.fr/rainbow/emulators/ there're forks of emulators with support for it].</ref>||{{Dunno}}||{{Dunno}}||{{Dunno}}||{{Dunno}}||{{Dunno}}
|[[File:NES Zapper.png|200px]]
|{{✓}}
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|{{y}}
|-
|-
|Network Controller
| rowspan="2" |Unreleased
|
| colspan="2" |[https://lostmediawiki.com/Nintendo_Minnesota_Set_A_Living-Room_Lottery_Test_(lost_unreleased_Nintendo_Entertainment_System_game_and_add-on;_1991) Minnesota Set A Living-Room Lottery Test]||{{Na}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|-
|-
|Oeka Kids Tablet
| colspan="2" |Teleplay Modem<ref group="note">This modem was going to support [[cross-play]] between [[Sega Genesis]], [[SNES]] and NES.</ref>||{{Na}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}
|[[File:Oeka Kids Tablet.jpg|200px]]
|{{✓}}
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|-
|-
|Pachinko
| rowspan="11" |Misc.
|
| colspan="3" |Cartridge hot swapping<ref group="note">It was sometimes possible to apply cheats (such as a player having infinite lives) and other temporary software alterations to games by hot swapping cartridges, even though the cartridges were not designed to be hot swappable.</ref>||{{Dunno}}||{{Dunno}}||{{Dunno}}||{{Dunno}}||{{Dunno}}
|{{✓}}
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|-
|-
|Partytap
| colspan="3" |[http://www.thealmightyguru.com/Wiki/index.php?title=Cartridge_tilting Cartridge tilting]<ref group="note">Cartridge tilting is an action performed on cartridge-based systems to create otherwise impossible glitches. {{YouTubePlaylist|PLkAqx5EV7l_DkwOv4WmVEBLv39WPEUm3d|Cartridge tilting is not a glitch, but rather the process which creates glitches.}}</ref>
|
| colspan="5" |[https://goroman.github.io/cluade-famicom-emu/ There is an emulator that currently includes built-in cartridge tilting simulation.] <s>As a workaround, you can try the external [https://github.com/redscientistlabs/RTCV Real-Time Corruptor] (RTCV) tool. It is a real-time memory/data corruption tool for inducing glitches during emulation, which might mimic some effects of cartridge tilting (e.g., visual/audio artifacts or crashes). However, it is not a true "cartridge tilting" simulator, as it works on live memory rather than simulating cartridge read errors.</s>
|{{✓}}
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|-
|-
|[[#Power Pad/Family Trainer/Family Fun Fitness|Power Pad/Family Trainer/Family Fun Fitness sides A & B]]
| colspan="3" |Copy, cut, and paste for ''Family BASIC''||{{~}}<br><small>Paste only.</small>||{{Na}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}
|[[File:NES-power-pad.jpg|200px]][[File:FamilyFunFitness A.png|200px]][[File:FamilyFunFitness B.png|200px]]
|{{✓}}
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|-
|-
|[https://www.chrismcovell.com/fcrocky.html Pro Action Rocky]
| colspan="3" |[https://www.chrismcovell.com/demovision.html Demo Vision]||{{Na}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}
|
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|-
|-
|[[#SNES Controller|SNES Controller]]
| colspan="3" |[https://forums.nesdev.org/viewtopic.php?t=26683 Dual PPU]<ref group="note">At some point in Famicom's development, [https://forums.nesdev.org/viewtopic.php?t=9700 Nintendo planned on connecting 2 PPUs together so that one of them could generate an extra scrolling sprite background plane]. Technical details of this Nintendo's idea which never made it are unknown.</ref>||{{Dunno}}||{{Dunno}}||{{Dunno}}||{{Dunno}}||{{Dunno}}
|[[File:SNES Controller.png|200px]]
|{{✓}}
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|-
|-
|[[List_of_console_games_that_support_keyboard_and_mouse#Nintendo_Entertainment_System|SNES Mouse]]
| colspan="3" |[https://www.nesdev.org/wiki/Extended_NES_I/O ENIO EXP Board]||{{Dunno}}||{{Dunno}}||{{Dunno}}||{{Dunno}}||{{Dunno}}
|[[File:SNES Mouse.png|200px]]
|{{✓}}
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|-
|-
|Soft Reset and Hard Reset
| colspan="3" |Soft reset||{{Ya}}||{{Ya}}||{{Ya}}||{{Ya}}||{{Ya}}
|
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|-
|-
|Top Rider
| colspan="2" rowspan="3" |Switch between different revisions of hardware components
|
|[https://www.nesdev.org/wiki/CPU_variants CPU switch]||{{Dunno}}||{{Dunno}}||{{Na}}||{{Dunno}}||{{Dunno}}
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|-
|-
|Trackball
|[https://www.nesdev.org/wiki/PPU_variants PPU switch]||{{Dunno}}||{{Dunno}}||{{Na}}||{{Dunno}}||{{Dunno}}
|
|{{✓}}
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|-
|-
|[[#Virtual Boy Controller|Virtual Boy Controller]]
|[https://consolemods.org/wiki/NES:NES_Model_Differences Switch between motherboards revisions]<ref>[https://consolemods.org/wiki/NES:Video_Output_Comparison Video output differences]</ref>||{{Dunno}}||{{Dunno}}||{{Na}}||{{Dunno}}||{{Dunno}}
|
|{{✓}}
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|-
|-
|[https://www.chrismcovell.com/wideboy.html <abbr title="Four versions: 1, 2, 3(A) and 3(B)">WideBoy</abbr>]
| colspan="3" |[https://www.chrismcovell.com/wideboy.html WideBoy]<ref group="note">Four versions: 1, 2, 3(A) and 3(B).</ref>||{{Na}}||{{Na}}||{{Dunno}}||{{Na}}||{{Dunno}}
|
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|{{?}}
|}
|}
There were many accessories released for the Famicom and NES but Emulation in General only covers accessories that are truly differentiated data streams from the basic controller. For example, the Power Glove is, in actuality, just a really complicated NES controller designed to convert motion into button inputs. The same goes for R.O.B. and his ''Stack-up'' and ''Gyromite'' games because he was really just the second player. Strangely, the Famicom has a lot more peripheral hardware to emulate than the NES.<ref>[[Wikipedia:List of Nintendo Entertainment System accessories|List of Nintendo Entertainment System accessories]]</ref><ref>[https://problemkaputt.de/everynes.htm#controllers ProblemKaputt: NES controllers]</ref> However, Nestopia UE surprisingly supports the Power Glove.
There were many accessories released for the Famicom and NES but Emulation in General only covers accessories that are truly differentiated data streams from the basic controller. For example, the Power Glove is, in actuality, just a really complicated NES controller designed to convert motion into button inputs (which doesn't change the fact that some moves in ''Super Glove Ball'' and ''Bad Street Brawler'' can only be performed with a glove, not with a standard controller). The same goes for R.O.B. and his ''Stack-up'' and ''Gyromite'' games because he was really just the second player. Strangely, the Famicom has a lot more peripheral hardware to emulate than the NES.<ref>[https://problemkaputt.de/everynes.htm#controllers ProblemKaputt: NES controllers]</ref> However, Nestopia UE surprisingly supports the Power Glove.
<references group=N/>


===Arkanoid Paddle===
=== ''Arkanoid'' Paddle ===
Supported games:
Supported games:
* Arkanoid
* Arkanoid: Revenge of Doh
* Chase H.Q.


===ASCII Turbo File===
* ''Arkanoid''
* ''Arkanoid: Revenge of Doh''
* ''Chase H.Q.''
 
=== ASCII Turbo File ===
Supported games:
Supported games:
* Downtown Nekketsu Monogatari
* Downtown Nekketsu Monogatari
* Haja no Fūin
* Haja no Fuuin
* Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord
* Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord
* Wizardry II: The Knight of Diamonds
* Wizardry II: The Knight of Diamonds


===Data Recorder===
=== Data Recorder ===
Supported games:
Supported games:
* Arkanoid II
* Castle Excellent
* Excitebike
* Family BASIC
* Family BASIC V3
* Lode Runner
* Mach Rider
* Nuts & Milk
* Wrecking Crew


===Famicom P2 Controller Microphone===
* ''Arkanoid II''
* ''Castle Excellent''
* ''Excitebike''
* ''Family BASIC''
* ''Family BASIC V3''
* ''Lode Runner''
* ''Mach Rider''
* ''Nuts & Milk''
* ''Wrecking Crew''
 
=== Family Computer 3D System ===
Supported games:
Supported games:
* Atlantis no Nazo
* Bakushou!! Jinsei Gekijou
* Bakushou!! Jinsei Gekijou 2
* Doraemon
* Family BASIC V3
* The Hyrule Fantasy: Legend of Zelda
* Kaiketsu Yanchamaru
* Kamen Rider Club: Gekitotsu Shocker Land
* Light Mythology: Palutena's Mirror
* Star Luster
* Star Soldier
* Super Chinese 2
* Takeshi's Challenge


===Family Computer 3D System===
* ''Attack Animal Gakuen''
Supported games:
* ''Cosmic Epsilon''
* Attack Animal Gakuen
* ''Falsion''
* Cosmic Epsilon
* ''Famicom Grand Prix II: 3D Hot Rally''
* Falsion
* ''Fuuun Shourin Ken: Ankoku no Maou''
* Famicom Grand Prix II: 3D Hot Rally
* ''Highway Star''
* Fuuun Shourin Ken: Ankoku no Maou
* ''JJ: Tobidase Daisakusen Part II''
* Highway Star
* JJ: Tobidase Daisakusen Part II


===Multitap===
=== Multitap ===
Supported titles:
Supported titles:
* Games:
* Games:
** Bomber Man II (J)
** ''Bomber Man II'' (J)
** Bomberman II (U)
** ''Bomberman II'' (U)
** Downtown Nekketsu Koushinkyoku: Soreyuke Daiundoukai
** ''Downtown Nekketsu Koushinkyoku: Soreyuke Daiundoukai''
** Gauntlet II
** ''Gauntlet II''
** Greg Norman's Golf Power
** ''Greg Norman's Golf Power''
** Harlem Globetrotters
** ''Harlem Globetrotters''
** Ike Ike! Nekketsu Hockey Bu: Subette Koronde Dai Rantou
** ''Ike Ike!Nekketsu Hockey Bu: Subette Koronde Dai Rantou''
** Indy Heat
** ''Indy Heat''
** Kings of the Beach
** ''Kings of the Beach''
** Kunio-kun no Nekketsu Soccer League
** ''Kunio-kun no Nekketsu Soccer League''
** M.U.L.E.
** ''M.U.L.E.''
** Magic Johnson's Fast Break
** ''Magic Johnson's Fast Break''
** Millionaire (Sachen)
** ''Millionaire (Sachen)''
** Moero TwinBee: Cinnamon-hakase o Sukue!
** ''Moero TwinBee: Cinnamon-hakase o Sukue!''
** Monster Truck Rally
** ''Monster Truck Rally''
** Nekketsu Kakutou Densetsu
** ''Nekketsu Kakutou Densetsu''
** Nekketsu Koukou Dodge Ball Bu
** ''Nekketsu Koukou Dodge Ball Bu''
** Nekketsu Street Basket: Ganbare Dunk Heroes
** ''Nekketsu Street Basket: Ganbare Dunk Heroes''
** NES Play Action Football
** ''NES Play Action Football''
** A Nightmare on Elm Street
** ''A Nightmare on Elm Street''
** Nintendo World Cup (U)
** ''Nintendo World Cup'' (U)
** R.C. Pro-Am II
** ''R.C. Pro-Am II''
** Rackets and Rivals
** ''Rackets and Rivals''
** Roundball: 2-on-2 Challenge
** ''Roundball: 2-on-2 Challenge''
** Smash T.V. (twin-stick for 2 players)
** ''Smash T.V.'' (twin-stick for 2 players)
** Spot
** ''Spot''
** Super Jeopardy!
** ''Super Jeopardy!''
** Super Off Road
** ''Super Off Road''
** Super Spike V'Ball
** ''Super Spike V'Ball''
** Swords and Serpents
** ''Swords and Serpents''
** Top Players' Tennis
** ''Top Players' Tennis''
** U.S. Championship V'Ball
** ''U.S. Championship V'Ball''
** Wit's
** ''Wit's''
* Homebrew games:
* Homebrew games:
** Double Action Blaster Guys becomes Quadruple Action Blaster Guys when Four Score is connected (NES)
** Double Action Blaster Guys becomes Quadruple Action Blaster Guys when Four Score is connected (NES)
Line 1,691: Line 1,576:
** Super Dodge Ball - 4 Player Hack v1.00 akatranslations (Famicom)
** Super Dodge Ball - 4 Player Hack v1.00 akatranslations (Famicom)


===NES Zapper===
=== NES Zapper ===
Supported games:
Supported games:
* The Adventures of Bayou Billy
* The Adventures of Bayou Billy
* Barker Bill's Trick Shooting
* Barker Bill's Trick Shooting
Line 1,698: Line 1,584:
* Duck Hunt
* Duck Hunt
* Freedom Force
* Freedom Force
* Gotcha! The Sport!
* Gotcha!The Sport!
* Gumshoe
* Gumshoe
* Hogan's Alley
* Hogan's Alley
Line 1,711: Line 1,597:
* Wild Gunman
* Wild Gunman


===Power Pad/Family Trainer/Family Fun Fitness===
=== Power Pad/Family Trainer/Family Fun Fitness ===
Supported games:
Supported games:
* Athletic World
* Athletic World
* Dance Aerobics
* Dance Aerobics
* World Class Track Meet
* World Class Track Meet


===SNES Controller===
=== SNES Controller ===
Supported games:
Supported games:
* Full Quiet
* Full Quiet
* Nova the Squirrel
* Nova the Squirrel
* Spook-O'-Tron
* Spook-O'-Tron


===Virtual Boy Controller===
=== Virtual Boy Controller ===
Supported games:
Supported games:
* Candelabra - Estoscerro
* Candelabra - Estoscerro
* Spook-O'-Tron
* Spook-O'-Tron


==Hardware variants==
== Famicom Disk System ==
===PlayChoice-10===
MAME is the only emulator that properly emulating the PlayChoice-10 system at the moment, [https://forums.nesdev.org/viewtopic.php?p=148572 most of the NES emulators only play the PlayChoice-10 games as a normal NES game].


===VS. System===
== Hardware variants ==
An arcade system based on the NES released for the US. It was released in two different cabinet variations: '''Vs. UniSystem''' and '''Vs. DualSystem'''. The latter has double chipsets on the PCB and is capable of handling two different programs or simply two separate copies of a single program simultaneously.
{| {{Basic table}}
! colspan="2" style="width:50%" |Name
!MAME
!FinalBurn Neo
!Nestopia UE / Nestopia_libretro
!MesenCE
!NintendulatorNRS
!ares
!puNES
|-
| rowspan="6" |Arcade
|Famicom Box||{{Dunno}}||{{Dunno}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}
|-
|Famicom Titler||{{Dunno}}||{{Dunno}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}
|-
|PlayChoice-10||{{Dunno}}||{{Dunno}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}
|-
|Sharp C1 / Video Game Television||{{Dunno}}||{{Dunno}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}
|-
|Twin Famicom||{{Dunno}}||{{Dunno}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}||{{Na}}
|-
|[https://www.nesdev.org/wiki/Vs._System VS. System]||{{Ya}}||{{Dunno}}||{{Ya}}||{{Ya}}||{{Ya}}||{{Ya}}||{{Ya}}
|}
 
=== Architecture & Design ===
Before exploring specific models, it is important to distinguish between the two primary ways NES clones (Famiclones) are built, as this directly affects emulation compatibility and accuracy.
 
* Discrete Chip Designs: Early or high-end clones (like early Micro Genius models) used separate, cloned versions of the Ricoh 2A03 CPU and 2C02 PPU. These are generally the most accurate to the original hardware.
* NOAC (Nintendo-On-A-Chip): Most clones from the mid-1990s onward consolidate the entire NES architecture into a single chip. While cost-effective, many generic NOACs suffer from technical quirks, most notably the "Duty Cycle Swap" where the two square wave audio channels have their duty cycles inverted (e.g., 12.5% sounds like 25%), leading to "thin" or "nasal" sounding music.
** VTxx (V.R Technology): A series of "enhanced" NOAC chips manufactured by [http://www.vrt.com.tw/ V.R Technology]. These chips are backward compatible with the NES but include proprietary extensions such as 16-bit color modes, expanded RAM, and extra sound channels (ADPCM). They are the "engine" behind most modern plug-and-play consoles and keyboard clones. Differences between VTxx series chips and regular NES can be checked on the [https://www.nesdev.org/wiki/VTxx NesDev Wiki]. [[NintendulatorNRS]] has the most comprehensive support for VTxx chips at the moment. V.R Technology also provides an official debugging tool called [http://www.vrt.com.tw/download.htm EmuVT], which supports the emulation of multiple VTxx series chips, but it is quite shoddy. It seems to be modded out of an old emulator called [https://web.archive.org/web/20110317151619/http://www.emulation9.com/nnnesterj/ NNNesterJ].
 
=== Official/Arcade variants ===
 
; PlayChoice-10
 
An arcade system based on the NES that lets the user play 10 selected titles. It also uses a Zilog Z80 CPU for running the main menu.
 
MAME is the only emulator properly emulating the PlayChoice-10 system at the moment, [https://forums.nesdev.org/viewtopic.php?p=148572 most of the NES emulators only play the PlayChoice-10 games as a normal NES game].
 
; VS. System
 
An arcade system based on the NES released for the US. It was released in two different cabinet variations: Vs. UniSystem and Vs. DualSystem. The latter has double chipsets on the PCB and is capable of handling two different programs or simply two separate copies of a single program simultaneously.


Most emulators support games in Vs. UniSystem cabinet by setting up different DIP switches. But only the MAME, [https://www.mesen.ca/docs/configuration/preferences.html#vs-dualsystem-settings Mesen], NintendulatorNRS, puNES and [https://nintaco.com/faq.html#VsDualSystem nintaco] are suitable for games in Vs. DualSystem cabinet. For commercial emulation, Hamster re-released several VS. System games from Nintendo and Konami as part of their ''Arcade Archives'' series (the former being exclusive to Nintendo Switch, the latter being also on PS4).
Most emulators support games in Vs. UniSystem cabinet by setting up different DIP switches. But only the MAME, [https://www.mesen.ca/docs/configuration/preferences.html#vs-dualsystem-settings Mesen], NintendulatorNRS, puNES and [https://nintaco.com/faq.html#VsDualSystem nintaco] are suitable for games in Vs. DualSystem cabinet. For commercial emulation, Hamster re-released several VS. System games from Nintendo and Konami as part of their ''Arcade Archives'' series (the former being exclusive to Nintendo Switch, the latter being also on PS4).
Line 1,739: Line 1,667:
Since most VS. System games have palettes that differ from the standard RGB NES palette, ROMs made with VS. The System, which is accidentally played in the emulator's NES mode (or vice versa), will cause the colors to be totally garbled. This can occur when there is an issue with the emulator's configuration or the ROM's iNES header.
Since most VS. System games have palettes that differ from the standard RGB NES palette, ROMs made with VS. The System, which is accidentally played in the emulator's NES mode (or vice versa), will cause the colors to be totally garbled. This can occur when there is an issue with the emulator's configuration or the ROM's iNES header.


These emulators only supports UniSystem cabinet: [https://github.com/0ldsk00l/nestopia/blob/master/source/core/vssystem/NstVsSystem.cpp#L292 nestopia UE], [https://github.com/libretro/libretro-fceumm/blob/master/libretro/libretro.c#L1490 FCEumm] and [https://github.com/TASEmulators/fceux/blob/master/src/vsuni.cpp#L187 FCEUX], [https://tasvideos.org/Forum/Topics/17971?CurrentPage=9&Highlight=443471#443471 BizHawk], [[FinalBurn_Neo#List_of_emulated_systems|FinalBurn Neo]]
These emulators only support the UniSystem cabinet: [https://github.com/0ldsk00l/nestopia/blob/master/source/core/vssystem/NstVsSystem.cpp#L292 Nestopia UE], [https://github.com/libretro/libretro-fceumm/blob/master/libretro/libretro.c#L1490 FCEumm] and [https://github.com/TASEmulators/fceux/blob/master/src/vsuni.cpp#L187 FCEUX], [https://tasvideos.org/Forum/Topics/17971?CurrentPage=9&Highlight=443471#443471 BizHawk], [[FinalBurn Neo#List of emulated systems|FinalBurn Neo]]
 
Additionally, the [https://forums.nesdev.org/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=9917 VS. System Zapper is different from the console one] and thus requires separate software implementation.
 
; Famicom Box


===Famicom Box===
Also re-released later as Sharp's FamicomStation. The hybrid NES/Famicom arcade box [http://famicomworld.com/system/other/famicombox/ Nintendo Famicom Box] is a bulky metal cube with a slot to insert money and secured with tons of locks. The hotel would set the amount of time you could play on one token and choose the available games. You can see it in action in season 18 of [http://www.gamingcx.com/ Game Center CX]. It was distributed in select hotels and stores and can hold up to 15 select Famicom releases at once. It had many more hardware lockout chips and pins with different behavior than usual (it also only supported cartridges using memory mapper 0). Sports a unique boot screen for both models released.
Also re-released later as Sharp's FamicomStation. The hybrid NES/Famicom arcade box [http://famicomworld.com/system/other/famicombox/ Nintendo Famicom Box] is a bulky metal cube with a slot to insert money and secured with tons of locks. The hotel would set the amount of time you could play on one token and choose the available games. You can see it in action in season 18 of [http://www.gamingcx.com/ Game Center CX]. It was distributed in select hotels and stores and can hold up to 15 select Famicom releases at once. It had many more hardware lockout chips and pins with different behavior than usual (it also only supported cartridges using memory mapper 0). Sports a unique boot screen for both models released.


Both the Famicombox and the Famicomstation are emulated by [[MAME]], and all of their games have been dumped
Both the Famicombox and the Famicomstation are emulated by [[MAME]], and all of their games have been dumped.


===Dendy===
; Twin Famicom
A pirate NES Famicom clone sold in Russia and Eastern Europe with the blueprint later reused for other Famiclones. Here is[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kne6AKyYUuM a link] to a CC-subtitled Kinaman video for more details. It is a very quirky NTSC NES optimized for 50 Hertz, with many other changes from the official PAL NES as well. Though these differences often break the compatibility of Dendy-specific releases on most emulators.


[[MAME]]/MESS supports this console, and some other emulators (such as Mesen, puNES, and FCEUX) have introduced support for it, as well as support for iNES 2.0 ROM headers (including the option to mark a ROM region as PAL Dendy). The cartridges themselves can still be played as long as the emulator supports broken carts.
Produced by Sharp Corporation under license from Nintendo, this Japan-exclusive console combines a Famicom and a [[Nintendo Entertainment System emulators#Hardware features and peripherals|Famicom Disk System]] (FDS) into a single unit. It features a switch to toggle between cartridge and disk modes. Emulators generally treat this as a standard Famicom/NES combined with FDS BIOS emulation.


===VTxx===
; Famicom Titler
VTxx is a series of NOAC (Nintendo-On-A-Chip, a kind of chip that contains all the components of a Famicom/NES) chips that implemented multiple changes and enhancements compared to regular NES, manufactured by [http://www.vrt.com.tw/ V.R Technology].


Differences between VTxx series chips and regular NES could be checked on [https://www.nesdev.org/wiki/VTxx NesDev Wiki].
Another licensed Sharp variant (model AN-510) intended for video production and titling. It is technically unique because it is the only consumer Famicom that internally generates RGB video signals, which it then converts to S-Video for output. This was achieved using the rare RC2C05-99 PPU chip. For emulators, this PPU variant and its unique palette are the primary points of interest.


VTxx is often used in those low-quality, plug and play consoles or [[Wikipedia:Famiclone#Computer_type|keyboard-shaped]], so-called educational computers.
; Sharp C1 / Video Game Television


:V.R Technology provides an emulator called [http://www.vrt.com.tw/download.htm EmuVT] as official development and debugging tool, which supports the emulation of multiple VTxx series chips. It seems to be modded out of an old emulator called [https://web.archive.org/web/20110317151619/http://www.emulation9.com/nnnesterj/ NNNesterJ].
A television set with a built-in Famicom/NES. Released in Japan as the My Computer TV C1 and in the US as the Sharp Nintendo Television. It provided a significantly sharper image than RF or Composite connections because the NES hardware was internally connected to the TV's circuitry.


===NES Classic Edition===
=== Regional/Clone variants ===
{{main|wikipedia:NES Classic Edition}}
The Dendy is the primary example of a "Hybrid" Famiclone. While sold in Russia and Eastern Europe, its internal timing (Micro Genius hardware) became the de facto standard for clones globally. In emulation, "Dendy Mode" refers to this specific quirk: a 50Hz (PAL) output that retains the internal processing speed and VBlank timing of an NTSC console. Essentially, it is an NTSC NES optimized for 50Hz, which often breaks compatibility for official PAL or NTSC releases unless specific Dendy-mode support is enabled.
The NES Classic Edition is a mini console that emulates the experience of the Nintendo Entertainment System. It includes 30 classic NES games and is compatible with the Wii Classic Controller and NES Classic Edition controller.
 
Nintendo produced and sold about 2.3 million NES Classic Editions from November 2016 through April 2017, with shipments selling out nearly immediately. In April 2017, Nintendo announced they were discontinuing the product, leading to consumer confusion and incidents of greatly increased pricing among private sellers. Due to the demand for the NES Classic and the success of the Super NES Classic Edition console, Nintendo re-introduced the NES Classic on June 29, 2018. Production was discontinued again in December 2018.
[[MAME]]/MESS, and most popular recommended emulators like Mesen, puNES, and FCEUX, support these features via [[Nintendo Entertainment System emulators#Mappers|iNES 2.0 ROM headers]], which allow users to flag a ROM specifically for "PAL Dendy" timing. The cartridges themselves can still be played as long as the emulator supports [[Nintendo Entertainment System emulators#Mappers|non-standard (bootleg/unlicensed) carts]], and required peripherals. It is important to realize that these brands often functioned as umbrellas for dozens of models and different hardware revisions. The following lines are the most notable examples of the console lines run on Dendy timing:
 
; Discrete Hardware
 
* Micro Genius (Taiwan): Manufactured by UMC and TXC Corporation, the Micro Genius series (such as the IQ-501 and IQ-502) provided the hardware for the Dendy, Pegasus (Poland/Serbia), and Game Star (Balkans). Early models used discrete cloned chips (CPU/PPU) rather than a single system-on-a-chip, resulting in high compatibility and superior audio synthesis.
* Subor (Xiǎo Bàwáng): The "Emperor" of Chinese Famiclones. Promoted by Jackie Chan, Subor popularized "[[Educational computers|Educational Computers]]" featuring full keyboards. As a massive manufacturer, their hardware is the genetic ancestor of nearly all modern Dendy-style clones. emulator-bbk is historically important as it was, for a while, the best emulator for Subor and BBK's educational computers; NintendulatorNRS has since implemented support for them.
 
; NES-on-a-Chip / NOAC
 
* Terminator 2 (Ending-Man BS-500 AS): Housed in a Sega Mega Drive 2 shell to confuse buyers, this was the definitive 8-bit experience for Eastern Europe and the Middle East in the 90s. This line marked the transition to NOAC (NES-on-a-chip) designs, which were cheaper but often introduced audio duty-cycle swaps (which is also can be emulated *Swap Square channel duty cycles) and graphical quirks. The Zhiliton (Baltic States) is a notable regional rebrand of this hardware.
* PolyStation: The most infamous Famiclone globally. Designed to look like a Sony PlayStation, it is the peak of "costume" cloning. Internally, it uses the cheapest available NOAC hardware, almost always requiring Dendy-mode timing for proper playback in emulators.
 
; Regional & Dual-Slot Variations
 
* Family Game (South America): The colloquial term for 8-bit gaming in Argentina and surrounding regions. Brands like Electrolab distributed various models, often utilizing the rounded Famicom-style shell but with the "hybrid" internals common to the Micro Genius lineage.
* Phantom System / Dynavision (Brazil): The kings of the Brazilian market. Unlike their European cousins, these often featured 72-pin NES slots or even dual-slots (60 and 72-pin). They utilize PAL-M timing—a hybrid standard technically similar to Dendy timing, which presents its own unique challenges for accurate emulation.
 
; Educational Computers (Keyboard Clones)
 
{{Main|Educational computers}}
 
Many Famiclones were sold as low-cost home computers and included a full QWERTY keyboard, often paired with a mouse or light gun and bundled with "educational" cartridges containing word processors, typing tutors, and BASIC variants. Produced by Micro Genius, Game Star, and related Taiwanese-derived hardware families. Later models were produced by Subor and the GLK series, typically using NOAC or enhanced VTxx chips that provided improved graphics modes for bundled software. These systems are generally compatible with standard NES/Famicom cartridges. Emulation of keyboard and mouse functions is supported in emulators such as [[NintendulatorNRS]] and [[Mesen]].
 
; Handheld Famiclones
 
A vast category of portable systems that run NES code. Notable examples include the Game Theory Admiral, PocketFami, and FC Pocket. Most use a VTxx NOAC and often include a built-in screen and built-in "multi-game" ROMs (or, occasionally, a cartridge slot).<blockquote>Technical Note: Some chips from UMC present graphical errors and "reversed" audio duty cycles not found in the original Famicom's PPU. Not all of these hardware-specific quirks are currently documented or perfectly emulated.</blockquote>
 
=== Modern hardware clones ===
 
; FPGA Consoles
 
{{Main|FPGA}}
 
Instead of software emulation or cheap NOACs, premium aftermarket systems like the Analogue Nt Mini / Noir and the retroUSB AVS use Field-Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGA) to replicate the original Ricoh 2A03 and 2C02 chips at the hardware level. They offer cycle-accurate gameplay, zero software-induced input lag, and output natively to modern displays.
 
; Generic Modern Clones (Hyperkin / Retro-Bit)


==Emulation issues==
These are the most common generic modern clones available in retail today. Early models (such as the RetroN 1, 2, and 3) rely on standard NOAC hardware, frequently exhibiting the "Duty Cycle Swap" audio quirk. Later models (like the RetroN 5) diverge from hardware cloning; instead, they dump the ROM from the inserted physical cartridge and run it through an internal Android-based software emulator.
===QD FDS support===
Games dumped off the Famicom Disk System come into two major types:


* '''.fds format''': Most common format. Ubiquitous in ROM sets (GoodSets, No-Intro). Omits some checksum data.
=== Modern official emulation ===
* '''.qd format''' (stands for QuickDisk): Only ever used in official Nintendo re-releases. Almost identical to FDS, except QD is a full dump with checksum data. May omit padding.


The checksum data in question would be checked at BIOS startup to verify the integrity of the image and whether it was tampered with, in which case it will throw an anti-piracy error. [https://github.com/punesemu/puNES/releases/tag/v0.111 puNES added QD support in v0.111.] As of now, no other NES emulators support the alternate, more complete dumps and fudging that check's result to always return a negative. To emulate a .qd image with those, stripping the checksum data with a custom script is needed.
; NES Classic Edition


===Overscan===
{{Main|Emulation boxes}}
{{Main|Overscan}}


[[File:Retroarch_2013-08-16_06-32-24-62.png|thumb|250px|Example of faulty visuals that are exposed when no overscan is cropped. Note the blank blue area to the left and the green garbage on the right. On NTSC CRT TVs, these areas may or may not be visible]]Several NES games need their overscan to be cropped to look proper. Unfortunately, there is no standard level of overcropping. Many games require different levels for the best results. For example, ''[[wikipedia:Super_Mario_Bros._3|Super Mario Bros. 3]]'' requires quite a bit of cropping. However, the same level of cropping will obscure the letters of the status bar in ''[[wikipedia:Castlevania#Games|Castlevania]]'' games.
The NES Classic Edition is a mini console that emulates the experience of the Nintendo Entertainment System using a customized Linux-based emulator called Kachikachi. It includes 30 classic NES games and is compatible with the Wii Classic Controller and NES Classic Edition controller.


===Color palette===
Nintendo produced and sold about 2.3 million NES Classic Editions from November 2016 through April 2017, with shipments selling out nearly immediately. In April 2017, Nintendo announced they were discontinuing the product, leading to consumer confusion and incidents of greatly increased pricing among private sellers. Due to the demand for the NES Classic and the success of the Super NES Classic Edition console, Nintendo re-introduced the NES Classic on June 29, 2018. Production was discontinued again in December 2018.
{{Main|Famicom color palette}}


Unlike consoles such as the SNES, which natively generate their image in pure RGB, the Famicom normally generates and outputs an encoded NTSC video signal. This must then be decoded by the TV's built-in NTSC decoder, which means the resulting color palette often varies depending on the display's decoder. For this reason, NES games will appear to have different colors on different TV sets. To properly emulate this part of the NES experience, many Famicom emulators have a variety of different palettes to choose from.
; Virtual Console and Nintendo Switch Online


The Wii and Wii U versions of [[Virtual Console]] use extremely dark color palettes. This is apparently not an accuracy issue, but rather an anti-epilepsy measure. For the Nintendo Switch Online service, the games were directly edited to remove seizure-inducing patterns, allowing it to use a normal palette.
{{Main|Virtual Console}}
{{Main|Nintendo Switch Online}}


==Resources==
Official software-based emulation provided by Nintendo on the Wii, Wii U, 3DS, and Nintendo Switch. While generally high-quality, these emulators sometimes suffer from darkened palettes (on Wii U) or input latency (on NSO) compared to high-accuracy community emulators like Mesen. You can emulate these with;
*[http://wiki.nesdev.com/w/index.php/Nesdev_Wiki Nesdev Wiki] - A place for all your NES programming/NES emulator programming needs.
*[http://forums.nesdev.com/viewtopic.php?t=2818 Nesdev Forum] - Discussion of NES Wii Virtual Console accuracy.
*[http://rec0ded88.com/play-nes-games Rec0deD:88] - Play a NES emulator.
*[https://www.copetti.org/writings/consoles/nes/ Copetti] - NES Architecture (A practical analysis by Rodrigo Copetti).
*[https://nintendo-emulator.com NES / FAMICOM] - NES Games Online
*[https://online-emulators.com Arcade / Consoles] - Arcade, NES, SNES, SEGA32X, PSX, N64, NDS…
*[https://supernintendoemulator.com SNES] - SNES online emulator
*[https://megadrive-emulator.com Mega Drive / Genesis] - Sega Mega Drive games
*[https://msdos-games.com MSDOS Games] Play DOS games with js-dos


* [[Dolphin]] - Wii Virtual Console
* [[Azahar]] - 3DS Virtual Console
* [[Eden]] and [[Ryubing]] - Switch Nintendo Switch Online


==References==
== Notes ==
{{Notelist|group=note}}
 
== References ==
{{Reflist}}
{{Reflist}}
== External links ==
* [https://www.nesdev.org/wiki/Nesdev_Wiki Nesdev Wiki] - A place for all your NES programming/NES emulator programming needs.
* [https://github.com/100thCoin/AccuracyCoin AccuracyCoin Test ROM] - Large collection of NES accuracy tests on a single NROM.
* [http://forums.nesdev.com/viewtopic.php?t=2818 Nesdev Forum] - Discussion of NES Wii Virtual Console accuracy.
* [http://rec0ded88.com/play-nes-games Rec0deD:88] - Play a NES emulator.
* [https://www.copetti.org/writings/consoles/nes/ Copetti] - NES Architecture (A practical analysis by Rodrigo Copetti).
* [https://nintendo-emulator.com NES / FAMICOM] - NES Games Online
* [https://online-emulators.com Arcade / Consoles] - Arcade, NES, SNES, SEGA32X, PSX, N64, NDS…


{{Nintendo}}
{{Nintendo}}


[[Category:65xx-based consoles]]
[[Category:Nintendo Entertainment System| ]]
[[Category:Discontinued consoles]]
{{#seo:|keywords=video games,emulation,emulator,emu,wiki,download,recommended,guide,list,nintendo,nes,famicom,entertainment,system|description=Information and recommendations for the best {{PAGENAME}} and where to download them.|published_time={{#time:c|{{REVISIONTIMESTAMP}}}}}}
[[Category:Home consoles]]
[[Category:Third-generation video game consoles]]
[[Category:Nintendo consoles]]
[[Category:Nintendo Entertainment System|Nintendo Entertainment System]]

Latest revision as of 12:41, 16 September 2026

Nintendo Entertainment System / Family Computer
Top: NES Control Deck with detachable controller
Bottom: Family Computer main unit with hardwired controllers
Developer Nintendo R&D2
Manufacturer Nintendo
Type Home video game console
Generation Third
Release date July 15, 1983
Discontinued NA/EU/AU: August 14, 1995
BRA/KOR/TW: Early/Mid 2003
JP: September 25, 2003
Predecessor Color TV-Game
Successor Super Nintendo Entertainment System
Emulated ✓
For emulators that run on the Nintendo Entertainment System, see Emulators on Nintendo Entertainment System.

The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit, third-generation console originally released as the Family Computer or Famicom, in Japan, on July 15, 1983. The Famicom retailed for 14,800 yen. The console would be redesigned as the NES and released on October 18, 1985, in North America. The NES retailed for $179.99 ($539 in 2026). It had a Ricoh 2A03 CPU at 1.79 MHz with 2 KB of RAM.

The earliest games released on the Famicom suffered from significant hardware constraints due to the way the Famicom was designed: limited memory addressing (which meant games had a small maximum ROM size), how the graphics were loaded onscreen, just the native sound processing was available, no saving… To solve this problem, Nintendo came up with two solutions:

  • The Family Computer Disk System (FDS). A Japan-only add-on that played games from a semi-custom variant of Mitsumi's Quick Disk format. It offered slightly higher data storage and slightly enhanced sound processing. There were plans to release it in the US; however, since the NES had its launch delayed to late 1985, and in the meantime the disks had turned out to be too piracy-prone, the add-on was never exported, and some of its exclusives were ported as regular cartridge releases.
  • Memory Management Controllers (MMC), also known colloquially as mappers. They solved every aforementioned problem with bank switching for much more data, onboard FM audio chips, and much more. Most games released after 1986 that really pushed the system to its limits used mappers. A similar solution was used for the Game Boy.

Emulation for the Famicom/NES is robust, with many high-quality emulators for various systems and cycle-accurate emulation possible on even moderately powerful devices.

Comparison

[edit | edit source]

Before editing, review the getting involved and recommended pages. See system requirements page for performance demand of the emulators.
See tables for enhancements, hardware features & peripherals, and hardware variants.
For more details such as licensing, programming language, emulation method, visit each emulator’s dedicated page.

Like for Game Boy and Game Boy Color, tons of NES emulators exist. For a list of open-source projects, see this GitHub query.

Standalone emulators

[edit | edit source]
Name Platform(s) Active? Latest version License Compatibility Accuracy Coin Test Accuracy Mappers support level Famicom Disk System Recommended? (overall)
PC
Nestopia UE Windows Linux macOS FreeBSD ✓ 1.99.0
Nestopia JG 2.0.0 		GPLv2 (Copyleft) Nestopia UE: 144/144 (2026/09/14)
Nestopia JG: 144/144 (2026/09/14) 		Cycle Unlicensed ✓ ✓
NintendulatorNRS Windows ✓ 2026-08-16 GPLv2 (Copyleft) 100% 131/144 (2026/09/09) Cycle Unlicensed ✓ ✓
puNES Windows Linux FreeBSD ~
As of April 2026, development of the current branch is currently stalled, as the developer is rewriting the emulator from scratch. 		WIP builds

0.111

GPLv2 (Copyleft) 102/144 (2026/09/09) Cycle Unlicensed ✓ ✓
FCEUX Windows Linux macOS FreeBSD Solaris ✓ 2.6.6 GPLv2 (Copyleft) 84/144, 3 skipped (2026/09/09) High Unlicensed ✓ ~
Nintendulator Windows ✓ 0.985 Beta GPLv2 (Copyleft) Restarts (2026/09/09) Cycle Unlicensed ? ~
RockNES Windows ✗ 5.80 Proprietary 97/141 (2026/08/26) High ? ? ✗
nintaco Windows Linux macOS FreeBSD ✗ 2023-12-08 LGPLv2.1 (Copyleft) 96/139 (2026/05/05) Cycle Unlicensed ? ✗
Nestopia Pandora ✗ V2 Proprietary 93/125 (2025/09/07) Cycle ? ? ✗
BeesNES Windows macOS ✓ git MIT (Permissive) 90/125 (2025/09/07) Subcycle ? ? ✗ (WIP)
QuickNES Windows Linux macOS FreeBSD ✗ 0.7.0b1 GPLv2 (Copyleft) 85/141 (2026/08/23) ? ? ? ✗
VirtuaNES Windows ✗ 0.97 GPLv2 (Copyleft) 78/139 (2026/05/05) Low ? ? ✗
breakNES Windows ✓ 2.2 CC0 1.0 (Public domain equivalent) 71/125 (2025/09/07) Gate-level ? ? ✗ (WIP)
iNES Windows Linux macOS FreeBSD Solaris ✓ 6.1 Source-available 67/139 (2026/05/17) ? ? ? ✗
My First Emulator ? ? 29/125 (2025/09/07) ? ? ? ✗
UberNES ? ? 20/125 (2025/09/07) ? ? ? ✗
Jnes Windows ✗ 1.2.1 Proprietary 16/139 (2026/05/05) ? ? ? ✗
HDNes Windows ✗ git No license, but open-source 15/139 (2026/05/05) ? ? ? ✗
NesCafe ? ? 12/125 (2025/09/07) ? ? ? ✗
NESSIM ? ? 11/125 (2025/09/07) ? ? ? ✗
Famtasia ? ? 9/125 (2025/09/07) ? ? ? ✗
NESten ? ? 9/125 (2025/09/07) ? ? ? ✗
NESticle MS-DOS Windows 9x ✗ x.xx (DOS)

0.42 (Win9x)

Proprietary

It is proprietary, though source code has been leaked.

5/125 (2025/09/07) Low ? ? ✗
MarioNES ? ? 3/125 (2025/09/07) ? ? ? ✗
ANESE Windows Linux macOS ~ 0.9.1 MIT (Permissive) Freezes (2026/05/17) ? ? ? ✗
BasicNES 2000[note 1] Windows ✗ ? Freezes (2026/08/23) ? ? ✗ ✗
HalfNES Windows Linux ✗ 062 GPLv3 (Copyleft) Freezes (2026/05/05) ? ? ? ✗
rew. Windows Windows 9x ✗ rew12stx Proprietary Freezes (2026/08/25) ? ? ? ✗
GPFCE Linux ARM Pandora ✗ 0.81.0.r2 (Pandora) Proprietary ? ? ? ? ✗
MetalNES macOS ✗ git MIT (Permissive) ? Transistor-level ? ? ✗
NES.emu Dragonbox Pyra ✓ 1.5.46.02 GPLv3 (Copyleft)
(Android only) 		? ? Unlicensed ? ✗
Nesemu macOS Linux ✓ 1.5.85

0.2.3 Beta Preview

MIT (Permissive) ? ? ? ? ✗
rNES Windows Linux ✓ git BSD-3-Clause (Permissive) ? ? ? ? ✗
TetaNES Windows macOS Linux ✓ 0.17.0 Apache 2.0 (Permissive)
MIT (Permissive) 		105/139 (2026/05/05) ? ? ? ?
fixNES Windows ? alpha-v1.3.1 ? 91/125 (2025/09/07) ? ? ? ?
chibines ? ? 85/125 (2025/09/07) ? ? ? ?
NO$NES ? ? 73/125 (2025/09/07) ? ? ? ?
Nezulator ? ? 71/125 (2025/09/07) ? ? ? ?
MoarNES ? ? 65/125 (2025/09/07) ? ? ? ?
Nestalgia Java Windows Linux ✓ 0.31.0 GPLv3 (Copyleft) Freezes (2026/09/14) High https://tiagohm.github.io/nestalgia/ ? TBD
Nesium Windows Linux macOS Linux ARM ✓ git GPLv3 (Copyleft) Cycle https://github.com/mikai233/nesium#mapper-support ? TBD
emulator-bbk Windows ✓ gitee GPLv3 ? ? ? ? ?
Mobile
NES.emu Android ✓ 1.5.85

git

GPLv3 (Copyleft)
(Android only) 		87/141, 2 skipped (2026/08/30) ? Unlicensed ? ✓
FreeiNES Android Maemo Symbian ✓ 6.1.4 (Android)

3.6.5 (Maemo)

3.6 (Symbian)

Proprietary 85/139 (2026/05/16) ? ? ? ~
Nostalgia.NES Android ✗ 2.0.9 Proprietary 84/141, 2 skipped (2026/08/30) ? ? ? ~
VGBANext Android ✓ 6.6.6 Proprietary ? ? ? ? ~
Nesium Android ✓ git GPLv3 (Copyleft) Cycle https://github.com/mikai233/nesium#mapper-support ? TBD
vNES Java Symbian ✗ 1.7 (S60v3)

git

1.2

alt

GPLv3 (Copyleft) ? ? ? ? ~
John NESS Android ✓ 1.09 Proprietary ? ? ? ? ✗
Jnes Android ~ 1.2.6.26 Proprietary ? ? ? ? ✗
Nescaline iOS ✗ git GPLv2 (Copyleft) ? ? ? ? ✗
Nesemu iOS AppleTV ✓ git MIT (Permissive) ? ? ? ? ✗
Pocket Nester+ Windows Mobile ✗ 0.9 Proprietary ? ? ? ? ✗
PicoNES Android ✓ BSD-3-Clause 6502 Model ? ? ? ? ?
8-Bit Wonders Android ✓ 0.8.6a (F-Droid)

0.8.6a (Play)

0.8.6a (Amazon)

git

AGPLv1 (Copyleft) ? ? ? ? roadmap
Browser
PicoNES Web ✓ Online BSD-3-Clause 6502 Model 112/141 (2026/08/23) ? ? ? ?
TetaNES Web ✓ Web Apache 2.0 (Permissive)
MIT (Permissive) 		112/141 (2026/08/23) ? ? ? ?

Multi-system emulators

[edit | edit source]
Emulator(s) Core(s) Platform(s) Active? Latest version License Compatibility Accuracy Coin Test Accuracy Mappers support level Famicom Disk System Recommended? (overall)
PC
MesenCE NES Windows Linux macOS macOS Linux ARM Windows 7 ✓ Dev builds

Mesen forks

GPLv3 (Copyleft) 141/144 (2026/09/09) Cycle Unlicensed ✓ ✓
ares fc Windows Windows on ARM Linux macOS FreeBSD ✓ v148

nightly

ISC (Permissive) 98.31%
2438 out of 2480 reported titles 		121/144 (2026/09/09) Cycle Unlicensed ✓ ✓
BizHawk QuickNES

NESHawk

Windows Linux ✓ Dev Builds

2.11.1

MIT
GPL 		NESHawk: 127/144

SubNESHawk: 127/144

quickerNES: Freezes

(2026/09/09)

Core-dependent Unlicensed ? ~
nemulator Windows ✓ 6.0 BSD-2-Clause (Permissive) 87/141 (2026/08/26) Medium ? ? ✗
RetroCopy Windows Linux ✗ 0.960

1.00 Beta 5

Proprietary 85/141 (2026/08/26) Cycle ? ? ✗
MAME nes Windows Linux macOS FreeBSD ✓ 0.289 GPLv2
BSD-3-Clause 		81/141 (2026/08/12) ? Unlicensed ? ✗
FinalBurn Neo Windows Linux macOS FreeBSD ✓ WIP builds Non-commercial ? High Unlicensed ? ✗
higan (火眼)

byuu (謬/view)

Windows Linux macOS ✗ v110 GPLv3 (Copyleft) ? Cycle ? ? ✗
jgenesis Windows Linux ✓ 0.14.1 MIT (Permissive) 120/139 (2026/05/05) ? ? ? ?
Masquerade Windows Linux ✓ 0.7014 Proprietary ? ? ? ? ?
Obentou Windows Linux macOS ✓ 0.2.1 GPLv2 (Copyleft) ? ? ? ? ?
Mobile
Delta NESDeltaCore

(Nestopia?)

iOS iPadOS ✓ 1.7.3s

git

? ? ? ? ? ?
Folium Mango iOS iPadOS ✓ App Store ($)

2.0

Latest IPA

? ? ? ? ? ?
Manic EMU iOS iPadOS ✓ 2.0.0

git

AGPLv3 (Copyleft) ? ? ? ? ?
NiN10 iOS iPadOS watchOS ✓ 3.6 Proprietary ? ? ? ? ?
Provenance FCEU iOS iPadOS AppleTV ✓ 3.3.0

git

? ? ? ? ? ?
Scanline Emulator visionOS ✓ 1.1 ? ? ? ? ? ?
Browser
jgenesis Web ✓ 0.14.1 MIT (Permissive) 120/139 (2026/05/05) ? ? ? ?
Masquerade Web ✓ 0.7014 Proprietary 103/141 (2026/08/30) ? ? ? ?
Obentou Web ✓ 0.2.1 GPLv2 (Copyleft) 78/141 (2026/08/30) ? ? ? ?

Frontend cores

[edit | edit source]
Platform (e.g., Android, Windows, and Linux) and architecture support (e.g., x86, ARM, and consoles) mostly depends on the frontend software, not on the individual cores themselves.
API Core(s) Active? Latest version License Compatibility Accuracy Coin Test Accuracy Mappers support level Famicom Disk System Recommended? (overall)
Nestopia ✓ 1.54.0 b08b473 GPLv2 (Copyleft) 144/144 (2026/09/09) Cycle Unlicensed ✓ ✓
Mesen ✓ 0.9.9 GPLv3 (Copyleft) 108/144 (2026/09/09) Cycle Unlicensed ✓ ✓
FCEUmm ✓ GPLv2 (Copyleft) 84/144, 3 skipped (2026/09/09) High Unlicensed ✓ ~
QuickNES ✓ GPLv2 (Copyleft) 85/144 (2026/09/09) ? ? ? ✗
FinalBurn Neo ✓ ? ? High Unlicensed ? ✗
MAME ✓ ? ? ? Unlicensed ? ✗
RustyNES ✓ MIT (Permissive) 142/144 (2026/09/09) Cycle ? ? TBD
fixNES ✓ MIT (Permissive) 98/144 (2026/09/09) ? ? ? TBD

Emulators on other hardware

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Emulator(s) System(s) Active? Latest version License Compatibility Accuracy Coin Test Accuracy Mappers support level Famicom Disk System Recommended? (overall)
FCE Ultra GX Nintendo GameCube Wii Wii U ✓ 4.0.1 GPLv2 (Copyleft) ? High Unlicensed ? ✓
VirtuaNES for 3DS Nintendo 3DS ✗ git GPLv2 (Copyleft) ? Low ? ? ✓
Virtual Console Wii Nintendo 3DS Wii U ✗ N/A Proprietary 17/125 (Nintendo 3DS)

10/125 (Wii)

9/125 (Wii U)

(2025/09/07)

? Licensed ✓ ~
Console Archives Switch 2 PlayStation 5 ✓ N/A Proprietary ? ? ? ? ~
EmuC0re PlayStation 5 ✓ 0.4 MIT (Permissive) ? ? ? ? ~
Famicalc TI84+CE ✓ git MIT (Permissive) ? ? Select titles ? ~
FCEUltra for PS2 PlayStation 2 ~ 0.9.3

0.90i Mod

Proprietary ? High ? ? ~
GPFCE GP2X GP2X Wiz ✗ 0.4 r313 (GP2X)

0.4+ (Wiz)

Proprietary ? ? ? ? ~
Mega Everdrive Pro Genesis ✓ N/A Proprietary ? ? ? ? ~
Neon64 Nintendo 64 ✓ git ISC (Permissive) ? ? ? ? ~
NES Remix

(Heritage)

Wii U Nintendo 3DS ✗ HeriC Proprietary ? ? ? ? ~
nesDS Nintendo DS ~ 1.3a Proprietary ? ? ? ? ~
NESizm Prizm ? 1.00 MIT (Permissive) ? ? ? ? ~
NESpire TI-Nspire ✗ 0.30

git (tangrs-mod)

? ? ? ? ? ~
Nintendo Classics (L-CLASSICS) Switch Switch 2 ✓ 6.9.0 Proprietary ? High ? ✓ ~
PocketNES Game Boy Advance ✗ 7-1-2013 GPLv2 (Copyleft) ? ? ? ? ~
pNES Switch PlayStation Vita ✓ git GPLv3 (Copyleft) ? ? ? ? ~
Animal Crossing Nintendo 64 Nintendo GameCube ✗ Proprietary 10/125 (2025/09/07) ? ? ? ✗
Excitebike 64 Nintendo 64 ✗ Proprietary 5/125 (2025/09/07) ? ? ✗ ✗
NES Classic Series Game Boy Advance ✗ Proprietary 4/125 (2025/09/07) ? ? ? ✗
FC Emulator PlayStation Super Nintendo WonderSwan Game Boy ✗ 0.10 (Net Yaroze)

0.00 (SFC)

0.03 (WonderSwan)

0.02 (Game Boy)

? ? ? ? ? ✗
imbNES PlayStation ✗ 1.3.4 ? ? ? ? ? ✗
NES Emulator for Game Boy Color Game Boy ✗ 2009 ? ? ? ? ? ✗
NESBox Xbox One ✓ v4 Proprietary ? ? ? ? ✗
nesemu PlayStation 2 GP2X Wiz Dingoo ✗ V1 (Wiz)

0.2 (Dingoo)

BSD-3-Clause (Permissive) ? ? ? ? ✗
NeMul Genesis ✗ 1.0 Proprietary ? ? ? ? ✗
NesterJ[note 2] PlayStation Portable ✗ 1.13 beta 2

AoEX

GPLv2 (Copyleft) ? ? ? ? ✗
numworks-nofrendo Numworks ✓ git LGPLv2 (Copyleft) ? ? ? ? ✗
Project Nested Super Nintendo ✗ git MIT (Permissive) ? ? ? ? ✗
NES Classic Edition ✗ Proprietary 94/125 (2025/09/07) ? ? ✓ ?

FPGA

[edit | edit source]
Name Type Active? License Compatibility Accuracy Coin Test Accuracy Mappers support level Famicom Disk System Recommended? (overall)
NES_MiSTer MiSTer ✓ GPLv3 (Copyleft) 136/141 (2026/06/27) Gate-level, subcycle Unlicensed ? ✓

Remaster-at-Runtime Engines

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A Remaster-at-Runtime (RaR) Engine is a specialized sub-layer of an emulator that intercepts a game’s original internal data such as draw calls, tile indexes, or audio triggers and replaces them with high-fidelity assets in real-time. Unlike standard emulators that focus on hardware accuracy, RaR Engines prioritize aesthetic transformation, effectively "remastering" the game while it is being played without modifying the original ROM file. While asset replacement capable emulators (like HDnes, Mesen) allow for high-definition visuals, true Remaster-at-Runtime Engines are distinguished by their ability to do more such as procedurally transform the game's original logic (e.g., converting 2D tiles into 3D voxels or applying dynamic lighting to 16-bit environments). Recommended to see Game engine recreations and source ports page.
Name Platform(s) Active? Latest version License Compatibility Accuracy Coin Test Accuracy Mappers support level Famicom Disk System Recommended? (overall)
3dSen Windows Linux macOS ✓ 1.1 Proprietary Freezes (2026/8/24) Game-dependent Only for selected titles ✗ ~
  • puNES is another cycle-accurate NES/FDS emulator. It is deemed as the second most compatible NES emulator of the cycle-accurate variety.
  • Nestopia also is a cycle-accurate NES/FDS emulator. Nestopia has issues with The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles and doesn't display the status bar in Mickey's Safari in Letterland correctly (among other problems). Nestopia Undead Edition (Nestopia UE) is a fork of Nestopia meant to keep it alive and fix the aforementioned bugs, which is generally recommended over vanilla. Even the libretro core for Nestopia is the Undead Edition version.
  • Nintendulator also is a cycle-accurate NES/FDS emulator. NintendulatorNRS is a fork of Nintendulator that supports rare mappers, VRT chipsets, and many unlicensed and bootleg carts and systems.
  • Nintaco is another cycle-accurate emulator. It is no longer updated but is interesting in that it is programmed in Java and simulates rare peripherals like R.O.B., the U-Force infrared distance sensor controller, and the Miracle Piano.
  • For official emulation, there is Nintendo's own Nintendo Classics, the now-discontinued Virtual Console, Project EGG and Console Archives. The Switch and Wii have a significantly larger library of NES games to choose from than the 3DS or Wii U, especially from third-party publishers.

There are many other NES emulators not listed here, as the NES has more emulators than any other system (new ones are started all the time). Only those that are well-known or stand out in some ways are covered here.

Mappers

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A key difference between many emulators nowadays is how many mappers they support.

  • No mapper: Supported on every emulator, even official Nintendo emulators.
  • Official mappers (UNROM, AOROM, MMC1-6): Most emulators, as well as Nintendo's Virtual Console (but not their GBA emulators), will cover these.
  • Third-party mappers (Various: e.g., Konami's VRC6/VRC7) While officially licensed by Nintendo, they weren't allowed outside Japan. As a result, for their Western releases, many games that took advantage of their features (advanced ROM mapping, extra sound channels) were reprogrammed significantly and shipped on the official mappers, often with simplified soundtracks. A lot of fan emulators worth their salt will cover these. With those, you cover the entire officially licensed library.
  • Unlicensed mappers: Mostly used by pirate cartridges, often long past the console's official commercial lifespan. Only the most active and recommended emulators will even bother covering them in a whack-a-mole quest for every new one discovered to this very day. If you're not interested in unlicensed Chinese or Russian bootlegs or newer unofficial NES demakes, it isn't a problem.

Because NES cartridges contain custom hardware, ROM dumps alone are not enough to accurately describe how a game should be emulated. Emulators must implement the behavior of cartridge mappers in code, while the ROM header provides the metadata needed to select the correct configuration. For this reason, newly discovered ROM dumps using previously unknown mappers may not run until emulator support is added. As a result, support for unlicensed cartridges is a constant work-in-progress, which can lead to claims that some emulators are "inaccurate". Most emulators will not run unheadered NES ROMs. Some versions of Nestopia can load them by using external configuration files matched to known No-Intro ROM hashes, which is less convenient for modified ROMs or hacks. The original iNES header format was created in the 1990s for early emulators. While widely adopted, it has significant limitations and cannot accurately describe many later discoveries about cartridge hardware, bootlegs, or regional timing variants. iNES 2.0 is a backward-compatible extension that expands the available metadata and reduces the need for guesswork or ROM hacks, allowing modern emulators to identify cartridges more accurately.

Notable additions include:

  • Expanded mapper number space and submappers for hardware variants
  • Accurate PRG-ROM, CHR-ROM, PRG-RAM and CHR-RAM size reporting
  • Explicit console timing flags (NTSC, PAL, Dual-region and Dendy)
  • Improved support for multicarts, unlicensed cartridges and Famiclone hardware

Modern emulators increasingly rely on iNES 2.0 when available, and it is recommended over legacy iNES headers for improved accuracy and compatibility.

Enhancements

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Please only include recommended emulators in this table. Do not bump or spam GitHub threads, issues, or feature request pages.
Name Nestopia UE / Nestopia_libretro MesenCE NintendulatorNRS ares puNES
Controls Input lag mitigating ? ✓ ✗ ? ?
Turbo button ? ✓ ✓ ? ?
Graphics Remove sprite limit
The NES can normally only draw up to 8 sprites per line – this limitation is indirectly responsible for some flickering seen in games at times. When this option is enabled, the limit is disabled, allowing up to 64 sprites to be drawn on the same line.		 ? ✓ ✓ ? ?
Resizable internal resolution For emulation of 2D systems, the resolution can only be upscaled, making the pixels more visible.
Sprite replacement ✗ ✓ ✗ ✗ ✓
Widescreen hack
Using wideNES technique (similar to wideGB); it can automatically “map-out” levels and worlds in NES games. 		Exclusive to ANESE emulator at the moment.
Performance Overclock ? ✓ ✗ ? ✓
Post-processing AI-powered filter
(Freestyle)		 ? ? ✗ ? ?
Filters ✓ ✓ ~
Only scanlines.		 ✓ ✓
Inverse tone mapping ? ? ✗ ? ?
Shader chain ✗ ~[note 3] ✗ ? ~[note 3]
Quality of life Automatic emulated controller connect/disconnect
Automatically connects or disconnects emulated controllers when a new or current controller is connected or disconnected.		 ✗ ✗ ~
Only disconnects supported controller out of necessity.		 ✗ ✗
Automatic updater ? ? ✗ ? ?
Big Picture Mode ~[note 3] ~[note 3] ✗ ✗ ~[note 3]
Built-in cheat manager ? ✓ ? ✓ ✓
Built-in custom resolution/CRTSwitchRes
For using this on Windows, you need CRT Emudriver.
Another option is using EDID editor tool such as "Custom Resolution Utility". 		Exclusive to libretro cores and GroovyMAME at the moment.

Also, there is a project for achieving software emulators like libretro cores and GroovyMAME send the raw RGB data over a network to a core running on MiSTer, it basically turns the MiSTer into a GPU for the emulator allowing for easy setup and use with CRT TVs/Arcade monitors.

Built-in mod editor and manager ? ? ✗ ? ?
Built-in patch manager ? ? ✗ ? ?
Command-line options ? ✓ ✓
ROM-loading only.		 ? ?
Pause/Resume emulation ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Per-game profiles ? ✓ ✗ ? ✓
Portable and stealth
Useful enhancement feature for non-personal computer use or plug-and-play scenarios. However, the software may still require the necessary prerequisites and dependencies for your operating system if it is not statically linked.		 ? ✓ ✗ ? ?
Streamable compression format ? ? ✗ ? ?
TAS features Fast forward/Turbo speed ? ✓ ✓ ? ✓
Frame step
(forwards and backwards)		 ? ? ~
Forwards only.		 ? ?
Macros/Scripts/Lua ? ✓ ✗ ? ✗
Movie recording/playback ? ✓ ✓ ? ✓
Rewind ? ✓ ✗ ? ✓
Save states ? ✓ ✓ ? ✓
Misc. Ambient sounds simulation
Simulation of audio from original hardware and environments, such as mechanical hard drive, floppy diskette, and optical drive noises (e.g., head seeks, spin-up/down, tray loading, disc spinning, and clicking), variable CRT flyback transformer whine (the classic high-pitched "coil whine" that dynamically changes pitch based on screen brightness and content), arcade cabinet effects (e.g., fan hum or button rattles), and other background ambient noises.		 ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗
Audio filters and presets
Simulation of characteristic playback limitations and coloration of vintage consumer audio hardware, such as CRT television speakers, arcade cabinets, handheld consoles, early PC sound outputs, and low-fidelity integrated speakers. These filters are not intended to be perfectly accurate recreations, but rather to evoke the tonal qualities, distortion, bandwidth limits, resonance, and compression associated with 8-bit and 16-bit era devices. Examples include mono or narrow stereo output, reduced frequency response, speaker cone distortion, mild saturation, aliasing, and preset lo-fi profiles inspired by classic TVs, portable game systems, radios, and retro multimedia hardware. 		Exclusive to libretro cores at the moment.
Debug features ? ✓ ✓
Memory dump and address finding only.		 ? ✗
EmuVR support Exclusive to libretro cores at the moment.
Netplay
Should not be confused with Famicom Modem emulation, see hardware features and peripherals for more information.		 ✓ ✓ ✗ ✗ ✗
RetroAchievements ~[note 3] ~[note 3] ✗ roadmap ✗
Rich Presence (RPC)
Allows the emulator to share real-time game session details (e.g., current game title, level, boss, playtime, or custom status) with external applications. This enables features such as displaying what you're playing on your profile, inviting friends to spectate, or triggering join-in-progress functionality where supported.		 ? ? ✗ ? ?
Screen translator
Using optical character recognition (OCR) and other techniques, this feature can provide live translation of in-game text, text-to-speech for visually impaired users, and more — either on demand or automatically. 		You can use RetroArch's AI Service or the standalone offline bquenin's Interpreter.

Hardware features and peripherals

[edit | edit source]
Please only include recommended emulators in this table. Do not bump or spam GitHub threads, issues, or feature request pages.
Name Nestopia UE / Nestopia_libretro MesenCE NintendulatorNRS ares puNES
Hardware features External audio/Expansion audio ? ? ~
No DPCM samples.		 ? ?
Famicom P2 controller microphone ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
On-cartridge save batteries ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Peripherals Controller port Advantage controller ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗
Arkanoid controller[note 4] ✓ ✓ ✓ ✗ ✓
Four Score/NES Satellite[note 5] ✓ ✓ ✓ ✗ ✓
Macro Winners mouse ✗ ✗ ✓ ✗ ✗
Mega Book mouse ✗ ✗ ✓ ✗ ✗
Miracle piano ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗
Power Glove[note 6] ✓ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗
Power Pad ✓ ✓ ✓ ✗ ✗
PS/2 mouse ✗ ✗ ✓ ✗ ✗
SNES controller ✗ ✓ ✓ ✗ ✗
SNES NTT data keypad ✗ ✓ ✗ ✗ ✗
SNES mouse ✗ ✓ ✓ ✗ ✓
Subor mouse ✓ ✓ ✓ ✗ ✗
Sudoku (Excalibur) ✗ ✗ ✓ ✗ ✗
Virtual Boy controller ✗ ✓ ✗ ✗ ✗
Vs. Unisystem Zapper ✗ ✗ ✓ ✗ ✗
Yuxing mouse ✗ ✗ ✓ ✗ ✗
Zapper ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Data Recorder ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ?
Datach Card ✗ ✓ ? ✗ ?
Expansion port 2-player adapter[note 7] ✗ ✓ ✗ ✗ ✗
ABL Pinball ✗ ✗ ✓ ✗ ✓
Arkanoid controller ✓ ✓ ✓ ✗ ✓
Arkanoid II controller 2P[note 8] ? ✗ ✓ ✗ ✗
Bandai Hyper Shot ✓ ✓ ✓ ✗ ✗
Barcode Battler ✗ ✓ ✓ ✗ ✗
Barcode World ✓ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗
Battle Box ✗ ✓ ✗ ✗ ✗
Bit-79 keyboard ✗ ✗ ✓ ✗ ✗
City Patrolman lightgun ✗ ✗ ✓ ✗ ✗
Crazy Climber ✓ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗
Dongda keyboard ✗ ✗ ✓ ✗ ✗
Doremikko keyboard ✓ ✗ ✓ ✗ ✗
Exciting Boxing punching bag ✓ ✓ ✓ ✗ ✗
Expansion Port Sound Module (EPSM) ✗ ✗ ✓ ✓ ✗
Famicom 4-player adapter ✓ ✓ ✓ ✗ ✗
Famicom Network System/Tsushin controller ✗ ✓ ✗ ✗ ✗
Family BASIC keyboard ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Family Trainer & Tap-tap Mat ✓ ✓ ✓ ✗ ✗
Hori 4-player adapter ✗ ✗ ✓ ✗ ✗
Hori Track trackball ✓ ✓ ✗ ✗ ✗
Jissen Mahjong controller ✓ ✓ ✓ ✗ ✗
Keda keyboard ✗ ✗ ✓ ✗ ✗
Kingwon Keyboard ✗ ✗ ✓ ✗ ✗
Konami Hyper Shot ✓ ✓ ✓ ✗ ✗
Mahjong Gekitou Densetsu controller ✗ ✗ ✓ ✗ ✗
Majesco Golden Nugget Casino ✗ ✗ ✓ ✗ ✗
Oeka Kids tablet ✓ ✓ ✓ ✗ ✓
Pachinko controller ✓ ✓ ✓ ✗ ✗
Party Room 21 Quiz Show Buzzer Partytap ✓ ✓ ✓ ✗ ✗
Pokkun Moguraa mat ✓ ✗ ✓ ✗ ✗
Sharp C1 Cassette Interface ✗ ✗ ✓ ✗ ✗
Subor keyboard ✓ ✓ ✓ ✗ ✓
Top-Rider inflatable motorcycle controller VRE-R1 ✓ ✗ ✓ ✗ ✗
Triface Mahjong controller ✗ ✗ ✓ ✗ ✗
Turbo File Turbo File (AS-TFO2) ✓ ✓ ✓ ✗ ✗
Turbo File II (AS-TF21)[note 9] ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗
TV pump ✗ ✗ ✓ ✗ ✗
Zapper/Beam Gun/Family Computer Gun ✗ ✓ ✓ ✗ ✓
Ze Cheng Keyboard ✗ ✗ ✓ ✗ ✗
Famicom 3D System ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗
Famicom Fitness System ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗
Famicom Karaoke Studio controller[note 10] ? ? ? ? ?
Famicom Network System ✗ ✓ ✗ ✗ ✗
Fukutake Study Box tape player ? ? ? ? ?
Konami Q太 Famicom Adaptor
An extremely rare passthrough adapter with a NES 2.0 547 mapper with VRC5 pinout to play proprietary 40-pin carts made by Konami and Japanese media giant NHK. 6 known Space School games and The Gentle Physics and Science of Hazardous Materials (aka Space College) for a total of 7 known games.		 ? ✓ ? ? ✓
Nantettatte!! Baseball Lock-On[note 11] ? ? ? ? ?
R.O.B./Family Robot ✓ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗
Unlicensed Action Replay ✗ ✗ ✓ ✗ ✗
Aladdin Deck Enhancer ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗
Game Genie ✗ ✗ ✓ ✗ ✓
Parallel printer ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗
Pro Action Rocky ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗
RacerMate Challenge II bike system ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗
Rainbow homebrew mapper[note 12] ? ? ? ? ?
Unreleased Minnesota Set A Living-Room Lottery Test ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗
Teleplay Modem[note 13] ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗
Misc. Cartridge hot swapping[note 14] ? ? ? ? ?
Cartridge tilting[note 15] There is an emulator that currently includes built-in cartridge tilting simulation. As a workaround, you can try the external Real-Time Corruptor (RTCV) tool. It is a real-time memory/data corruption tool for inducing glitches during emulation, which might mimic some effects of cartridge tilting (e.g., visual/audio artifacts or crashes). However, it is not a true "cartridge tilting" simulator, as it works on live memory rather than simulating cartridge read errors.
Copy, cut, and paste for Family BASIC ~
Paste only.		 ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗
Demo Vision ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗
Dual PPU[note 16] ? ? ? ? ?
ENIO EXP Board ? ? ? ? ?
Soft reset ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Switch between different revisions of hardware components CPU switch ? ? ✗ ? ?
PPU switch ? ? ✗ ? ?
Switch between motherboards revisions[2] ? ? ✗ ? ?
WideBoy[note 17] ✗ ✗ ? ✗ ?

There were many accessories released for the Famicom and NES but Emulation in General only covers accessories that are truly differentiated data streams from the basic controller. For example, the Power Glove is, in actuality, just a really complicated NES controller designed to convert motion into button inputs (which doesn't change the fact that some moves in Super Glove Ball and Bad Street Brawler can only be performed with a glove, not with a standard controller). The same goes for R.O.B. and his Stack-up and Gyromite games because he was really just the second player. Strangely, the Famicom has a lot more peripheral hardware to emulate than the NES.[3] However, Nestopia UE surprisingly supports the Power Glove.

Arkanoid Paddle

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Supported games:

  • Arkanoid
  • Arkanoid: Revenge of Doh
  • Chase H.Q.

ASCII Turbo File

[edit | edit source]

Supported games:

  • Downtown Nekketsu Monogatari
  • Haja no Fuuin
  • Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord
  • Wizardry II: The Knight of Diamonds

Data Recorder

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Supported games:

  • Arkanoid II
  • Castle Excellent
  • Excitebike
  • Family BASIC
  • Family BASIC V3
  • Lode Runner
  • Mach Rider
  • Nuts & Milk
  • Wrecking Crew

Family Computer 3D System

[edit | edit source]

Supported games:

  • Attack Animal Gakuen
  • Cosmic Epsilon
  • Falsion
  • Famicom Grand Prix II: 3D Hot Rally
  • Fuuun Shourin Ken: Ankoku no Maou
  • Highway Star
  • JJ: Tobidase Daisakusen Part II

Multitap

[edit | edit source]

Supported titles:

  • Games:
    • Bomber Man II (J)
    • Bomberman II (U)
    • Downtown Nekketsu Koushinkyoku: Soreyuke Daiundoukai
    • Gauntlet II
    • Greg Norman's Golf Power
    • Harlem Globetrotters
    • Ike Ike!Nekketsu Hockey Bu: Subette Koronde Dai Rantou
    • Indy Heat
    • Kings of the Beach
    • Kunio-kun no Nekketsu Soccer League
    • M.U.L.E.
    • Magic Johnson's Fast Break
    • Millionaire (Sachen)
    • Moero TwinBee: Cinnamon-hakase o Sukue!
    • Monster Truck Rally
    • Nekketsu Kakutou Densetsu
    • Nekketsu Koukou Dodge Ball Bu
    • Nekketsu Street Basket: Ganbare Dunk Heroes
    • NES Play Action Football
    • A Nightmare on Elm Street
    • Nintendo World Cup (U)
    • R.C. Pro-Am II
    • Rackets and Rivals
    • Roundball: 2-on-2 Challenge
    • Smash T.V. (twin-stick for 2 players)
    • Spot
    • Super Jeopardy!
    • Super Off Road
    • Super Spike V'Ball
    • Swords and Serpents
    • Top Players' Tennis
    • U.S. Championship V'Ball
    • Wit's
  • Homebrew games:
    • Double Action Blaster Guys becomes Quadruple Action Blaster Guys when Four Score is connected (NES)
    • Micro Mages (NES and Famicom)
    • NESert Golfing (NES and Famicom)
    • Spacey McRacey (NES)
    • Super PakPak (NES and Famicom)
  • Tech demos:
    • Eighty (NES and Famicom)
    • allpads (NES and Famicom)
  • Hacks:
    • Battle City - 4 Players v1.3 Ti (NES and Famicom)
    • Battle City Mario - 4 players v1.0 NesDraug (NES and Famicom)
    • Battletoads - 4 players v2.2 NakeuD2007 (emulator only)
    • Battletoads & Double Dragon - 4 players v0.9 NakeuD2007 (emulator only)
    • Super Dodge Ball - 4 Player Hack v1.00 akatranslations (Famicom)

NES Zapper

[edit | edit source]

Supported games:

  • The Adventures of Bayou Billy
  • Barker Bill's Trick Shooting
  • Day Dreamin' Davey
  • Duck Hunt
  • Freedom Force
  • Gotcha!The Sport!
  • Gumshoe
  • Hogan's Alley
  • The Hunt for Red October
  • Laser Invasion
  • The Lone Ranger
  • Mechanized Attack
  • Operation Wolf
  • Shooting Range
  • To the Earth
  • Track & Field II
  • Wild Gunman

Power Pad/Family Trainer/Family Fun Fitness

[edit | edit source]

Supported games:

  • Athletic World
  • Dance Aerobics
  • World Class Track Meet

SNES Controller

[edit | edit source]

Supported games:

  • Full Quiet
  • Nova the Squirrel
  • Spook-O'-Tron

Virtual Boy Controller

[edit | edit source]

Supported games:

  • Candelabra - Estoscerro
  • Spook-O'-Tron

Famicom Disk System

[edit | edit source]

Hardware variants

[edit | edit source]
Name MAME FinalBurn Neo Nestopia UE / Nestopia_libretro MesenCE NintendulatorNRS ares puNES
Arcade Famicom Box ? ? ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗
Famicom Titler ? ? ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗
PlayChoice-10 ? ? ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗
Sharp C1 / Video Game Television ? ? ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗
Twin Famicom ? ? ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗
VS. System ✓ ? ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓

Architecture & Design

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Before exploring specific models, it is important to distinguish between the two primary ways NES clones (Famiclones) are built, as this directly affects emulation compatibility and accuracy.

  • Discrete Chip Designs: Early or high-end clones (like early Micro Genius models) used separate, cloned versions of the Ricoh 2A03 CPU and 2C02 PPU. These are generally the most accurate to the original hardware.
  • NOAC (Nintendo-On-A-Chip): Most clones from the mid-1990s onward consolidate the entire NES architecture into a single chip. While cost-effective, many generic NOACs suffer from technical quirks, most notably the "Duty Cycle Swap" where the two square wave audio channels have their duty cycles inverted (e.g., 12.5% sounds like 25%), leading to "thin" or "nasal" sounding music.
    • VTxx (V.R Technology): A series of "enhanced" NOAC chips manufactured by V.R Technology. These chips are backward compatible with the NES but include proprietary extensions such as 16-bit color modes, expanded RAM, and extra sound channels (ADPCM). They are the "engine" behind most modern plug-and-play consoles and keyboard clones. Differences between VTxx series chips and regular NES can be checked on the NesDev Wiki. NintendulatorNRS has the most comprehensive support for VTxx chips at the moment. V.R Technology also provides an official debugging tool called EmuVT, which supports the emulation of multiple VTxx series chips, but it is quite shoddy. It seems to be modded out of an old emulator called NNNesterJ.

Official/Arcade variants

[edit | edit source]
PlayChoice-10

An arcade system based on the NES that lets the user play 10 selected titles. It also uses a Zilog Z80 CPU for running the main menu.

MAME is the only emulator properly emulating the PlayChoice-10 system at the moment, most of the NES emulators only play the PlayChoice-10 games as a normal NES game.

VS. System

An arcade system based on the NES released for the US. It was released in two different cabinet variations: Vs. UniSystem and Vs. DualSystem. The latter has double chipsets on the PCB and is capable of handling two different programs or simply two separate copies of a single program simultaneously.

Most emulators support games in Vs. UniSystem cabinet by setting up different DIP switches. But only the MAME, Mesen, NintendulatorNRS, puNES and nintaco are suitable for games in Vs. DualSystem cabinet. For commercial emulation, Hamster re-released several VS. System games from Nintendo and Konami as part of their Arcade Archives series (the former being exclusive to Nintendo Switch, the latter being also on PS4).

Since most VS. System games have palettes that differ from the standard RGB NES palette, ROMs made with VS. The System, which is accidentally played in the emulator's NES mode (or vice versa), will cause the colors to be totally garbled. This can occur when there is an issue with the emulator's configuration or the ROM's iNES header.

These emulators only support the UniSystem cabinet: Nestopia UE, FCEumm and FCEUX, BizHawk, FinalBurn Neo

Additionally, the VS. System Zapper is different from the console one and thus requires separate software implementation.

Famicom Box

Also re-released later as Sharp's FamicomStation. The hybrid NES/Famicom arcade box Nintendo Famicom Box is a bulky metal cube with a slot to insert money and secured with tons of locks. The hotel would set the amount of time you could play on one token and choose the available games. You can see it in action in season 18 of Game Center CX. It was distributed in select hotels and stores and can hold up to 15 select Famicom releases at once. It had many more hardware lockout chips and pins with different behavior than usual (it also only supported cartridges using memory mapper 0). Sports a unique boot screen for both models released.

Both the Famicombox and the Famicomstation are emulated by MAME, and all of their games have been dumped.

Twin Famicom

Produced by Sharp Corporation under license from Nintendo, this Japan-exclusive console combines a Famicom and a Famicom Disk System (FDS) into a single unit. It features a switch to toggle between cartridge and disk modes. Emulators generally treat this as a standard Famicom/NES combined with FDS BIOS emulation.

Famicom Titler

Another licensed Sharp variant (model AN-510) intended for video production and titling. It is technically unique because it is the only consumer Famicom that internally generates RGB video signals, which it then converts to S-Video for output. This was achieved using the rare RC2C05-99 PPU chip. For emulators, this PPU variant and its unique palette are the primary points of interest.

Sharp C1 / Video Game Television

A television set with a built-in Famicom/NES. Released in Japan as the My Computer TV C1 and in the US as the Sharp Nintendo Television. It provided a significantly sharper image than RF or Composite connections because the NES hardware was internally connected to the TV's circuitry.

Regional/Clone variants

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The Dendy is the primary example of a "Hybrid" Famiclone. While sold in Russia and Eastern Europe, its internal timing (Micro Genius hardware) became the de facto standard for clones globally. In emulation, "Dendy Mode" refers to this specific quirk: a 50Hz (PAL) output that retains the internal processing speed and VBlank timing of an NTSC console. Essentially, it is an NTSC NES optimized for 50Hz, which often breaks compatibility for official PAL or NTSC releases unless specific Dendy-mode support is enabled.

MAME/MESS, and most popular recommended emulators like Mesen, puNES, and FCEUX, support these features via iNES 2.0 ROM headers, which allow users to flag a ROM specifically for "PAL Dendy" timing. The cartridges themselves can still be played as long as the emulator supports non-standard (bootleg/unlicensed) carts, and required peripherals. It is important to realize that these brands often functioned as umbrellas for dozens of models and different hardware revisions. The following lines are the most notable examples of the console lines run on Dendy timing:

Discrete Hardware
  • Micro Genius (Taiwan): Manufactured by UMC and TXC Corporation, the Micro Genius series (such as the IQ-501 and IQ-502) provided the hardware for the Dendy, Pegasus (Poland/Serbia), and Game Star (Balkans). Early models used discrete cloned chips (CPU/PPU) rather than a single system-on-a-chip, resulting in high compatibility and superior audio synthesis.
  • Subor (Xiǎo Bàwáng): The "Emperor" of Chinese Famiclones. Promoted by Jackie Chan, Subor popularized "Educational Computers" featuring full keyboards. As a massive manufacturer, their hardware is the genetic ancestor of nearly all modern Dendy-style clones. emulator-bbk is historically important as it was, for a while, the best emulator for Subor and BBK's educational computers; NintendulatorNRS has since implemented support for them.
NES-on-a-Chip / NOAC
  • Terminator 2 (Ending-Man BS-500 AS): Housed in a Sega Mega Drive 2 shell to confuse buyers, this was the definitive 8-bit experience for Eastern Europe and the Middle East in the 90s. This line marked the transition to NOAC (NES-on-a-chip) designs, which were cheaper but often introduced audio duty-cycle swaps (which is also can be emulated *Swap Square channel duty cycles) and graphical quirks. The Zhiliton (Baltic States) is a notable regional rebrand of this hardware.
  • PolyStation: The most infamous Famiclone globally. Designed to look like a Sony PlayStation, it is the peak of "costume" cloning. Internally, it uses the cheapest available NOAC hardware, almost always requiring Dendy-mode timing for proper playback in emulators.
Regional & Dual-Slot Variations
  • Family Game (South America): The colloquial term for 8-bit gaming in Argentina and surrounding regions. Brands like Electrolab distributed various models, often utilizing the rounded Famicom-style shell but with the "hybrid" internals common to the Micro Genius lineage.
  • Phantom System / Dynavision (Brazil): The kings of the Brazilian market. Unlike their European cousins, these often featured 72-pin NES slots or even dual-slots (60 and 72-pin). They utilize PAL-M timing—a hybrid standard technically similar to Dendy timing, which presents its own unique challenges for accurate emulation.
Educational Computers (Keyboard Clones)
Main article: Educational computers

Many Famiclones were sold as low-cost home computers and included a full QWERTY keyboard, often paired with a mouse or light gun and bundled with "educational" cartridges containing word processors, typing tutors, and BASIC variants. Produced by Micro Genius, Game Star, and related Taiwanese-derived hardware families. Later models were produced by Subor and the GLK series, typically using NOAC or enhanced VTxx chips that provided improved graphics modes for bundled software. These systems are generally compatible with standard NES/Famicom cartridges. Emulation of keyboard and mouse functions is supported in emulators such as NintendulatorNRS and Mesen.

Handheld Famiclones

A vast category of portable systems that run NES code. Notable examples include the Game Theory Admiral, PocketFami, and FC Pocket. Most use a VTxx NOAC and often include a built-in screen and built-in "multi-game" ROMs (or, occasionally, a cartridge slot).

Technical Note: Some chips from UMC present graphical errors and "reversed" audio duty cycles not found in the original Famicom's PPU. Not all of these hardware-specific quirks are currently documented or perfectly emulated.

Modern hardware clones

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FPGA Consoles
Main article: FPGA

Instead of software emulation or cheap NOACs, premium aftermarket systems like the Analogue Nt Mini / Noir and the retroUSB AVS use Field-Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGA) to replicate the original Ricoh 2A03 and 2C02 chips at the hardware level. They offer cycle-accurate gameplay, zero software-induced input lag, and output natively to modern displays.

Generic Modern Clones (Hyperkin / Retro-Bit)

These are the most common generic modern clones available in retail today. Early models (such as the RetroN 1, 2, and 3) rely on standard NOAC hardware, frequently exhibiting the "Duty Cycle Swap" audio quirk. Later models (like the RetroN 5) diverge from hardware cloning; instead, they dump the ROM from the inserted physical cartridge and run it through an internal Android-based software emulator.

Modern official emulation

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NES Classic Edition
Main article: Emulation boxes

The NES Classic Edition is a mini console that emulates the experience of the Nintendo Entertainment System using a customized Linux-based emulator called Kachikachi. It includes 30 classic NES games and is compatible with the Wii Classic Controller and NES Classic Edition controller.

Nintendo produced and sold about 2.3 million NES Classic Editions from November 2016 through April 2017, with shipments selling out nearly immediately. In April 2017, Nintendo announced they were discontinuing the product, leading to consumer confusion and incidents of greatly increased pricing among private sellers. Due to the demand for the NES Classic and the success of the Super NES Classic Edition console, Nintendo re-introduced the NES Classic on June 29, 2018. Production was discontinued again in December 2018.

Virtual Console and Nintendo Switch Online
Main article: Virtual Console
Main article: Nintendo Switch Online

Official software-based emulation provided by Nintendo on the Wii, Wii U, 3DS, and Nintendo Switch. While generally high-quality, these emulators sometimes suffer from darkened palettes (on Wii U) or input latency (on NSO) compared to high-accuracy community emulators like Mesen. You can emulate these with;

Notes

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  1. ↑ Uses MIDI in place of the console's PSG channels.
  2. ↑ AoEX is based on NesterJ 1.12 Plus 0.61 RM, which includes features like rewind, cheat code support, rotated/mirrored screen, sepia palette, support for rare mappers (the pirate bootleg FF7 works on it), etc. Its compatibility is inferior to 1.13 beta 2.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 Exclusive to FCEUmm, Mesen, Nestopia libretro cores. Also, there is a modified version of fceux that supports RetroAchievements.
  4. ↑ The Famicom and NES versions use different joypad bits and must be handled by software separately. The Arkanoid II controller has a Famicom expansion port intended for multiplayer using another Famicom Arkanoid controller of either type.
  5. ↑ NES Satellite is a wireless IR version of Four Score.
  6. ↑ Similarly functioning peripherals are Roll & Rocker and U-Force.
  7. ↑ Either a simple adapter like JoyPair/Twin Adapter or a 2-player mode of Hori's 4-player adapter.
  8. ↑ The prototype controller with its own Famicom expansion port which can be used with another Arkanoid II or Japanese Arkanoid controller for multiplayer but also others except Family BASIC Keyboard and Data Recorder which both won't work via Arkanoid II controller's expansion port and need to be plugged into the Famicom directly.
  9. ↑ Other than increased RAM, the 2nd model also contains a proprietary cartridge slot to accept the so-called Data ROM Packs, cartridges which added additional game content. Only Best Play Pro Yakyū baseball team manager series games supported this feature, for which only 2 add-on cartridges (ベストプレープロ野球データ) with team data, AS-DR01 ('89-Apr) and AS-DR02 ('90-Jun), were ever released. Interested players could only order them by mail. They have an on-cartridge ROM/RAM switch that lets players either access the contents of the ROM (in which case the bank select switch is used to move between four 8K ROM banks) or the TFII's save RAM. No emulator currently supports Data ROM Packs' injection.
  10. ↑ Includes Bandai microphone which, unlike the standard built-in Famicom controller 2 microphone, plugged into or came wired with the custom-sized cartridge subsystem to capture vocals. Does not work with certain hardware revisions like the Sharp C1 television.
  11. ↑ The game uses Mapper 68 for a cartridge lock-on system that allowed an expansion cartridge, which updates team statistics, to be plugged into the top of the base cartridge. Only 2 cartridges were ever released: ’91 Hen and OB Hen
  12. ↑ Used in Super Tilt Bro, a homebrew Super Smash Bros. series demake whose cartridge supports NTSC/PAL cross-region play with the game adjusting itself and even employs a ESP8266 Wi-Fi controller for online features like multiplayer, rankings, game ROM update. It's in public domain, and there're forks of emulators with support for it.
  13. ↑ This modem was going to support cross-play between Sega Genesis, SNES and NES.
  14. ↑ It was sometimes possible to apply cheats (such as a player having infinite lives) and other temporary software alterations to games by hot swapping cartridges, even though the cartridges were not designed to be hot swappable.
  15. ↑ Cartridge tilting is an action performed on cartridge-based systems to create otherwise impossible glitches. Cartridge tilting is not a glitch, but rather the process which creates glitches.
  16. ↑ At some point in Famicom's development, Nintendo planned on connecting 2 PPUs together so that one of them could generate an extra scrolling sprite background plane. Technical details of this Nintendo's idea which never made it are unknown.
  17. ↑ Four versions: 1, 2, 3(A) and 3(B).

References

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  1. ↑ redditorcpj's comment about Ares NES core.
  2. ↑ Video output differences
  3. ↑ ProblemKaputt: NES controllers
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Nintendo(edit)

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