Emulation Guide #9 - SNES using the SNES9X emulator
The Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES or Super Nintendo) is Nintendo's 4th generation console for the 16-bit era. It was released in 1990 in Japan (as the Super Famicom), 1991 in North America, 1992 in Europe & Australasia (Oceania), and South America in 1993.
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The machines were a global success, becoming the best-selling consoles of the 16-bit era despite its relatively late start, although market share was lost to Sega with the fierce competition it faced in North America and Europe from their Megadrive /Genesis console.
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The SNES remains one of the most popular retro consoles and is a favourite among fans, collectors, retro gamers, emulation enthusiasts and old Men like me! Much as find the idea of having an original SNES, and shelves full of games appealing, compatibility issues with new TVs, and space, mean that emulation is the better option for reliving the late night gaming sessions of my youth. Fortunately, there are some fantastic emulators out there for SNES and SNES9x is my go to emulator for this system. Link to the emulator for download is below, choose the x64 version unless you are using an old machine and version of Windows:
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Emulator Zone website: https://www.emulator-zone.com/snes/snes9x
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You will obviously need some games, and there is a link below to Internet Archive which has the majority of the Roms for the SNES stored in their servers. I've included a link to the US versions as they run at 60hHz on NTSC and run faster than the European version at 50Hz PAL.
As always I can't vouch for all of the Roms as I have not tested them all - but the Internet Archive generally provides a good source for Roms. More generally if you are looking for other options for sourcing ROM files then consider having a look at my wider games hunting advice - https://www.beanzontech.com/emulation-games-hunting.
Points to note:
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Click on the snes9x-x64.exe file once you have unzipped the download in order to open the emulator.
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Use the Input/Input Config menu to configure your controller - remember to ensure it is connected and turned on before you launch the emulator.
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Use the Video/Display Configuration menu to play around with your video rendering settings (Alt F5 is the shortcut). This can be done in game and results are immediate. I prefer "Simple 4x" or "Super2xSai" depending on the game.
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You can limit frames to 60 FPS, turn on triple buffering and play around with the aspect ratios and screen display settings. This can make a small difference to performance - but it's really down to your preference.
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"Alt Enter" (or Return...) enters and exits full screen mode. Esc toggles the menu bar visibility so you can select different settings in game, access load and save states, load new games or exit.
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The Cheat menu does work and you can access lots of different cheats for the game you are currently playing in game play.
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I have never really had any issues running the emulator, given it's age it's hardly surprising most 21st century hardware can run SNES games! I Hope you enjoy the video and reliving those early 90s classics - and don't forget to check out the oddities - after all Steven Seagal is the final option!
Until the next one - Go Well!
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Archive.org links:
Roms:
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