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|[[DaedalusX64]]
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→Emulators
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|[[DaedalusX64]]
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|[[Mupen64Plus]] FZ
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|[https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.mupen64plusae.v3.fzurita 3.0.308 322 (beta)]
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Although many Nintendo 64 emulators have been made and many games can be run between them, until recently complete compatibility and/or accuracy left a bit to be desired. For half a decade, Mupen64Plus and Project64 have vied for the most playable emulator, and which was more compatible often depended on when and in what configuration each emulator has been tested. As of August 2017, both emulators have roughly equal compatibility and accuracy when running with the same [[recommended N64 plugins]] setup, though both default to Glide64, a now relatively lackluster plugin.
;[[Mupen64Plus]]:A multi-platform emulator based on Hacktarux's Mupen64. It's about as accurate as Project64,<ref>loganmc10. [https://github.com/mupen64plus/mupen64plus-core/pull/336 ''Ignore TLB write if TLB entry is unmapping itself'']. "By the way, once this, along with the other PR's I have waiting are merged, we are at "compatibility parity" with Project64 as far as I can tell. I don't know of any game that doesn't boot with mupen64plus that works in PJ64."</ref> when both emulators are run with GLideN64. However, Mupen64Plus lacks a native GUI, instead being launched either from the command line or by dragging and dropping ROMs onto the executable and editing the config with a text editor. [[BizHawk]] and [[OpenEmu]] use forks of Mupen64Plus and its plugins for their N64 emulation, but they seem to be shallow. As of 2022 Project64-style overclocking for faster frame rates has been added under the option 'CountPerOpDenomPot'.
:;Mupen64Plus-Next and ParaLLEl-N64:Both are heavily-modified forks developed as [[libretro]] cores. They introduce many features and optimizations not present in mainline alongside [[RetroArch]]'s general features, including 3-point texture filtering for Glide64, superior A/V sync and latency, and even an initially exclusive LLE Vulkan renderer based on Angrylion's pixel-perfect RDP plugin now known as ParaLLEl-RDP, making it a better alternative to the standalone version in some cases. ParaLLEl-RDP has a special "[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzR93F9gPdc Super VI Mode]" option which, if used, can make the visuals of N64 games look less blurry with fairly mitigated jaggies even at their native resolutions. Although, it may need a [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7_D_D419S0 powerful GPU]. It also offers native high-resolution rendering, only available in integer scales of the original N64 resolution.
::As for the difference between the two cores, ParaLLEl-N64 is actually the older of the two, as it is based off of the old Mupen64Plus-libretro core, having been renamed to ParaLLEl-N64 upon its initial integration of the ParaLLEl-RDP and RSP plugins. In addition to the ParaLLEl plugins, it also retains the older HLE plugins (glN64, Rice, and Glide64), as well as Angrylion Plus. Meanwhile, Mupen64Plus-Next is a new rebase off of bleeding-edge mainline, and as such is the more compatible of the two. It does away with the legacy plugins and replaces them with GLideN64 as a better HLE solution (though of course, the ParaLLEl plugins and Angrylion Plus stay), it considerably cleans up the Core Options menu for easier configuration, and it adds Transfer Pack support. Add to this the fact that going forward, all further improvements and new features will be to the Mupen64Plus-Next core, and Mupen64Plus-Next is now the more recommended of the two, thus ParaLLEl-N64 should now only be considered for performance reasons or perhaps for older ROM hacks that don't play well with the newer, more accurate plugins.
:;[[m64p]]:Probably the easiest "out of the box" solution for Nintendo 64 emulation. In keeping with its theme of simplicity for the end user, it uses ParaLLEl-RDP and ParaLLEl-RSP for its video and RSP plugins, as well as its own custom GUI and input plugin, and unlike other emulators, it does not allow you to use anything else. If GLideN64 is desired instead, there is an older build that retains it - unfortunately lacking the texture enhancement suite required for use of texture packs and upscaling.
:;[[RMG]]:Rosalie's Mupen GUI is a project aiming to close the gap between Project64 and Mupen64Plus in terms of user experience. Its interface is about on par with m64p's in terms of cleanliness and ease of use, but unlike m64p, it allows you to use other plugins. The latest version comes bundled with GLideN64 and ParaLLEl-RDP for video plugins, and mupen64plus-hle-rsp and ParaLLEl-RSP for RSP plugins. However, for some reason it currently does not allow you access to ParaLLEl-RDP's options within its GUI, so if you wish to make use of features such as upscaling or downsampling, you must do so by editing the mupen64plus.cfg file, whereas m64p does expose these options in its GUI. However, if you prefer GLideN64, this is a superior alternative, as it does have access to its settings GUI, and the last version of m64p that uses GLideN64 is becoming increasingly outdated.
:;Wii64 and Not64:Both are based on Mupen64, with Not64 being a fork of Wii64. Not64 claims to be better optimized as well as having higher compatibility and more frequent updates. N64 emulation on Wii is not very good, and it is recommended to stick with the Virtual Console releases whenever possible.
;[[Project64]]:An open-source emulator for Windows, as well as one of the oldest. Its official release builds are more up-to-date than Mupen64Plus', and the current version, 3.0.1, is roughly as accurate as the development versions of Mupen64Plus when both are played with recommended plugins. It has a more user-friendly interface than the Mupen64Plus attempts and supports more features such as Transfer Pak emulation. It does come with GLideN64 out-of-the-box, but the default audio plugin isn't even the best in the box. For the most part, it works well in [[Wine]], but, if you're on a different platform, use Mupen64Plus instead.
;[[Ares]]:An open-source multi-system emulator and successor to Near's [[higan]] project, with a mostly original N64 core. Unlike other N64 emulators, it aims for high accuracy and does not employ HLE RSP or RDP emulation of any kind, not does it use game-specific hacks. It uses Themaister's ParaLLEl-RDP Vulkan renderer (with Angrylion's MAME renderer as a software-based fallback) for pixel-perfect LLE graphics. While it is currently less compatible than Mupen64Plus or Project64, it is quickly catching up to them (only a handful of games are currently listed as partially or not working), and it currently passes several stringent accuracy tests the other emulators do not. However, it remains to be seen how accurate its developers are willing to make it without compromising speed and playability on current machines.
;[[CEN64]]:Aims for cycle accuracy while at the same time aiming to eventually be usable on modern PC hardware. It lacks many features and has spotty compatibility, but it can already emulate some well-known edge cases such as picture recognition in Pokemon Snap. Unfortunately, its creator appears to have abandoned the project citing lack of satisfaction with his stated goal of fast cycle-accurate emulation, and development has all but stopped.
;[[1964]]:Along with its various versions and forks, it was once a decent, speedy open-source alternative to Project64 and Mupen64, though it usually lagged behind the two compatibility-wise. Nowadays it has completely fallen off the radar as development has halted, and there is no longer a central code repo to speak of. There is little reason to use it nowadays outside of historical purposes, very specific edge cases, or if your device is too slow to run Mupen64Plus or Project64.
;Daedalus:is Is a Nintendo 64 emulator for PC which was ported to the PSP under the name of DaedalusX64. The PSP version later became the main version and got ported to platforms such as the Dreamcast, the PS2, the PS Vita, and the 3DS. On PSP, several games are able to reach full speed and most of them work with few emulation issues.
;[[Sixtyforce]]:is Is macOS-only, closed-source, and asks you to pay for full access to its features. It was once one of the only choices for Mac users, particularly those with older Macs since it's the only emulator with a <abbr title="Power PC">PPC</abbr> [[Dynamic recompilation|dynarec]]), but, with the switch to x86 and Mupen64Plus being ported to macOS, it has now become less relevant. However, development is still ongoing and is currently in its [https://sixtyforce.com/rosetta/ third rewrite] to support the upcoming [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple-designed_processors Apple Silicon].
;[[UltraHLE]]:marked Marked a milestone in Nintendo 64 emulation, in that it was the first to play some popular N64 titles at full speed on hardware made at the time of its release through [[High/Low level emulation|high-level emulation]]; it isn't without its drawbacks though - pressure from users, combined with legal threats from Nintendo, forced them to discontinue development. Besides being for historical value, there's not much to expect from this emulator anyway due to compatibility issues.
;[[Ryu64]]:is Is a Nintendo 64 emulator made in C#. The 'Ryu' word is named after the "RyuJIT" used in both Visual Basic & C#. But it might have been inspired by the lead author's sole (so far) [https://github.com/Ryujinx/Ryujinx/commits?author=Dudejoe870 commit] at Switch emulator, [[Ryujinx]]'s Git repository, and his depreciated [https://github.com/Dudejoe870/RyujinxAutoUpdate Ryujinx Auto Updater] tool. "86RYU", an x86 JIT compiler, is being developed alongside this emulator too.
;n64oid:An Android exclusive Nintendo 64 emulator. It is similar to Project 64 1.6 in terms of compatibility, although it is unknown who authored it, as the APK for n64oid circulates on many legally questionable APK sites. n64oid has the infamous problem in Mario Kart 64 of the screen in Wario Stadium not displaying properly, as it displays nothing but black. It upscales all games to widescreen, which works well most of time, but on many phones it will have performance issues. The emulator is relatively poor, but it is much easier to set up than other options. The emulator features a menu with many similarities to the mobile edition of Snes9x EX+, and the My Boy! family of Android emulators for Game Boy systems.
==Emulation issues==
