Gens is an open-source Sega Genesis/Mega Drive, Sega/Mega CD and Sega 32X emulator.
Download
Netplay
You can also use a P2P Kaillera client with Gens for netplay.
| Review
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| PROS |
- Support for up to 4 (5??) simultaneous people
- No fiddling with router settings and port forwarding
- Netplay traffic is handled by a central dedicated server that helps keep things synched
- Private game chat support and public chat to speak people outside your game room
- Being able to drop out of a game at any time without disrupting (much) your teammate(s).
- Kicking/banning/muting people from your room
- It's a matchmaking service where you can join other people's rooms, too
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| CONS |
- Supports only Genesis/Mega Drive, Sega/Mega CD, and Sega 32X games
- Dropping out of a game is a bit different than with standard emulators
- Everyone needs to have the exact same ROM version or Netplay won't work (if it somehow does, it'll desynch rather quickly)
- Everyone needs to have the exact same save file, or no save file at all. Else, it desynchs
- You need to constantly switch focus back and forth between chat and emulator window in order to chat.
- You will hear no sound while the window is unfocused.
- It's slightly (significantly still) prone to freezing/crashing/BSOD (in that order)
- Random, inconsistent FPS drops due to the server trying to keep everyone synched, sometimes stuttering. It's annoying, but rarely does it make it unplayable
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