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→Mappers
* '''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 were not 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 more accurate most active and recommended emulators ([https://www.mediafiregithub.com/filelibretro/Mesen/l56fw5ozxu1w36dtree/nintendulatorNRS-src-mappers_2022-09-12.7zmaster/file NintendulatorNRSCore Mesen], [https://github.com/mamedevpunesemu/mamepuNES/commits/master/src/mamecore/nintendo MAMEmappers puNES], [https://github.com/NovaSquirrel0ldsk00l/Mesen-Xnestopia/commits/master/Core Mesen-Xsource/core/board Nestopia UE], [https://githubwww.mediafire.com/punesemufile/puNES/commits/masterl56fw5ozxu1w36d/nintendulatorNRS-src-mappers_2022-09-12.7z/core/mappers puNESfile NintendulatorNRS], [https://github.com/0ldsk00lmamedev/nestopiamame/commitstree/master/sourcesrc/coremame/board Nestopia UEnintendo MAME]) 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 sufficient 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".
