Netplay

This is a hub for various information about NetPlay. Most info was gathered from the guys over at /vr/, so if you have any question, or you need someone to play retro games with, visit their IRC channel at: #/vr/_Netplay on rizon.net

Port Forwarding

Before you get started, you should note that some emulators and clients will require you to forward your ports. To do that, follow the Port Fowarding Guide For Netplay.

NES

RetroArch

• bnes, FCEU, QuickNES, or Nestopia cores ^citation

RockNESX 2.0

• A very old NES emulator. Has a very nice interface but the documentation doesn't indicate what ports it uses, so you're limited to using a VPN like hamachi. The author did away with Netplay in more recent versions.

Jnes

• Still shows signs of being updated, but it absolutely HATES anything other than stock Kaillera. I'm not sure if it's possible to get it to work.

SNES

RetroArch

• Snes9x or bsnes cores.

Sega Consoles

KegaFusion

• Concerning Sega emulators, this is really the only one worthwhile option to netplay with. It emulates practically every single console and peripheral prior to the Saturn, all while allowing for some decent Netplay capabilities on the side.

GENS

• An acceptable alternative. While it only emulates Genesis/Megadrive, Sega CD and 32x, it uses Kaillera for online multiplayer, which is helpful in case you get consistent desynchs while using KegaFusion.

Arcade

The many platforms that conform the term "Arcade" has got to be considered the most extensively researched and emulated platforms in existence. Choosing the right emulator is quite a daunting task, since there are so many different versions that accomplish the same thing in almost impercetible different ways. Branching off from a standard official emulator that, by itself, is commonly regarded to leave much to be desired.

GGPO

• Arcade emulator built around netplay. Widely considered to have the best netcode for only multiplayer available. It's so great that its used in some more recent commercial games. Only disadvantage is that you need to open ports to use it, and it's severely limited to games that were made or modified specifically to use this technology.

MameHUB

• Said to have a comparable netcode to GGPO, it's also capable of emulating console games through MESS. However, using MameHUB requires registration, and the frontend, being coded in Java, is an absolute resource-hog which heavily impairs your gaming experience if you're using a low-end computer. You can join a game that's already in session.  Newer versions of MAMEHub use much less resources.

Dolphin

Official Netplay Guide

• If you don't have a very powerful CPU, you may not want to bother.

Note: The developers are working on integrating Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection to connect emulators to Nintendo's own servers.

PCSX2

Unofficial Netplay Build

• Netplay has never officially been added to PCSX2, but someone tried making their own branch a few years ago to implement it. Only about seven fighting games work and the project has been abandoned.

Note: You can connect to Sony's own servers though: How To Play PCSX2 Online (See Online PS2 Games for what games still have servers up)