SNES, SEGA & NES Games and Emulators, what works, what doesn't and how they stack up
I have made a New Thread due to Waggster telling me the title could not be updated tp reflect the new additions. :D
Ok here’s the massive update I promised. As far as Games/ROMs compatibility look below for what’s working on each EMU and what’s not. It is an on going test and some of the games I do not have so they have to be updated by those trying to play them. I will try to keep things as updated as possible though so keep checking back and if you find out before I do, let me know :D .
A Huge THANKS to all EMU creators and developers as well as all developers for the PSP, without you I def would not enjoy my PSP as much as I do now!
Now first I want to add the EMU's that are available and how they stack up outside of my personal thoughts on them. I am also expanding to include the NES EMU's and hopefully soon the Sega EMU's.
On the NES EMU's I am not aware of any games not running correctly, if we need a compatibility list for that system just indicate as such and I will get it under way.
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Ok lets get the ball rolling, first to the Super Nintendo.
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Many have asked what settings to use for the best performance. Now there are many settings used to attain good speed and game play. I personally have discovered the following with all EMU's on the Super Nintendo Side;
Frame Skip @ 3 (Any higher then this will make effects such as laser blasts, flashes, etc not appear as well as when your character is hit; if they flash when damaged, most of the time they just completely disappear if the Frame Skip is above 3) I have tried Auto Frame Skip and still prefer the manual method...it just seems to work better.
CPU set at 333mhz (Let me clear this up for those who would ask, The PSP comes UNDERCLOCKED!! at 222mhz. It is made to run at 333mhz but that drains the battery much faster and so Sony Underclocked the PSP's Processor to increase battery life. In all actuality you are not overclocking the processor or harming it, the CPU and all its components were made to run at 333mhz from the day it was made, but since Sony locked it at 222mhz until better batteries are available (And until Gran Turismo 4 comes to PSP) we have to manually turn it back up to the normal speed. So do not be concerned with using this option. However as the PSP EMU's progress you might find that you do not need to clock as high which will help get you better battery life (Or just buy the new battery).
Sound pushed up in RPGs between 1.2 and 1.4 (This is for UO SNES9x ONLY)
Graphics upped no further then 1.2 - 1.3 (I found errors in some games when using this, the screen would become distorted, Final Fantasy 3/6 is a good example of this. Again this is only for UO SNES9x)
Sound @ 44k (Dropping to 22k is an option but in every game that I tried it I did not see any increase in speed nor did the frame rate counter go up any. Again a UO SNES option only.)
Transparency On (While turning it off does give you 1-3 more frames, 9 times out of 10 it also drops parts of the game. In Chrono Trigger its mainly just graphics effects on special attacks however in Zelda you have to run Transparency, unless you like not seeing the ground at times lol. Personally for the small gain I found using the graphics speed up more effective then losing transparency and recommend learning to use that instead and leaving this on.)
This Emulator was made by: PSP Wiki/ Y
This is a port of SNES9x to the PSP. It is the most frequently updated of the SNES Emulators. It also sports the most options for controlling your games.
Personally I feel this to be the best EMU available for Super Nintendo Emulation, however it does not play all games. Corrections are being made but there are still problems (see the compatibility list below) Make sure your game(s) is not on the list! We try to keep it as updated as possible. I would recommend this EMU to all users as it gives you all the options you could need and is updated almost daily.
Those options include:
Graphics and Sound controls (These allow you to speed up the Sound and or Graphics up to 3 times there normal speed to help compensate if you feel they are falling behind)
Auto Frame Skip as well as Manual Frame Skip.
Screen Size Changes to include 4:3, Full Screen Width x2 and more.
Sound Options include Turning On and Off as well as Quality level.
Transparency can be Turned On and Off.
PSP CPU Processor Overclocking up to 333mhz
Freeze States
This Emulator was made by: PSP Wiki/ Bifuteki
This is a port of SNES9x to the PSP. This EMU is the most Compatible of all Super Nintendo Emulators. It plays most every game. If you have a game listed on the NON-Working Side of UO SNES then I recommend using this EMU. It has a lot of the features of the UO release but not all of them. The EMU is not updated as often as UO but it seems to get an update every so often.
The options of this EMU are as follows:
Auto Frame Skip as well as Manual Frame Skip.
Screen Size Changes to include 4:3, Full Screen Width x2.
Sound Options include Turning On and Off.
Transparency can be Turned On and Off.
PSP CPU Processor Overclocking up to 333mhz
Freeze States
Work in Progress and Early Emulators
Optimized SNES9x; This EMU has not seen an update for awhile and does not include many of the functions of the above EMU's.
This Emulator was made by: Yoshihiro
Super Nintendo ROMs Compatibility:
Ok guys I decided that I am going to go through the games I have and post what does not work with which EMU's. Now of course the games like MMX3 and MMX2 (That’s Mega Man X 2-3 for those who did not know) will not work because of there graphics requirements.
Anyway this will go by release and for now I will list what Does not work so far and what I have tested. If anyone wants to help, thanks!
UO SNES 002y16:
Working:
*Romancing Saga 3 English Version (Working but text is either cut off or jumbled)
*Rudra's Treasure/Rudora No Hihou English Version (Working but text is either cut off or jumbled)
*Star Ocean English Version (For some odd reason it shows japanese character text even though it's the translated English rom)
*Seiken Densetsu 3 English Version (Working but text is either cut off or jumbled)
*Rockman and Forte English Version (For some odd reason it shows japanese character text even though it's the translated English rom)
*Radical Dreamers English Version
*Contra 3
*Tales of Phantasia English Version (slow/works but I didn't check to see if *there was any text problems)
*Earthbound
*Killer Instinct
*Lethal Weapon (works, but has gfx glitches)
*Super Punchout
*Tiny Toons
*Mortal Kombat 2
*Cool Spot
*Fatal Fury
*Final Fight
*Mega Man X
*Mega Man 7
*Final Fantasy 5
*Final Fantasy 2
*Final Fantasy 3
*Chrono Trigger
*Illusion of Gaia
*Breath of Fire
*Breath of Fire 2
*The Legend of Zelda (A Link to the Past)
*Secret of Mana
*Sim City
*Star Fox
*Super Mario RPG
*Ninja Gaiden Trilogy
*Terranigma
*Looney Tunes B-Ball (character selection screwed up, fram skip of 3 works)
*Troddlers (sounds TERRIBLE, without sound - works perfectly)
*Kirby's Avalanche (sound misstimed, graphics very nice)
*TMNT 4: turtles in Time (graphics choppy occ.)
*Joe and Mac: Cavemen Ninja
*Wario's Woods (playable, but slow. sound garbled)
*Super Metroid
*Super Mario Kart
*Super Mario All Stars + World
*UniRacers
*Earthbound
*Earthworm Jim
*Sailor Moon Another Story
*7th Saga
*Act Raiser 2
*Bastard
*Castlevania IV
*Donkey Kong Country
*Donkey Kong Country 2
*Dragonball Z Hyper Dimension
*EVO
*Final Fight
*Illusion of Time
*Kirby's Dream Course (Plays Nice)
*Kirby Super Star
*Lufia
*Lufia II
*Metal Warriors
*Mortal Kombat 3
*Populous
*Sailor Fuwa(?)
*Sailor Moon R
*Sailor Moon SuperS (Vol2)
*Secret of Evermore
*Secret of the Stars
*Shadowrun
*Sailor Moon S
*Soul Blazer
*Star Ocean (sound goes out when you enter town after loading a save state)
*Super Bomberman 1
*Super Ghouls'n'Ghosts
*Super Nova
*Super Punchout (100% Playable)
*Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo
*Tales of Phantasia
*Terranigma
*Yu Yu Hakusho: Hakusho Tokubehuten
*Zombies Ate My Neighbors
*Gundam Wing Endless Duel
Not Working:
*Mega Man X2 (Due to Graphics EMU Chips in Game itself (Known as C4 Emulation))
*Mega Man X3 (Due to Graphics EMU Chips in Game itself (Known as C4 Emulation))
*Star Trek TNG (Resets system)
*Bahamut Lagoon English Version
*Clock Tower English Version
*Harvest Moon
*Jurassic Park 2 (Froze PSP?)
*Panic in Nakayosi Land (Froze PSP?)
*Shadowrun
*Stargate
*Yoshy Island
SNES9x 0.003a:
Working:
*Stargate
*Mega Man Soccer
*Mega Man X
*Mega Man 7
*Final Fantasy Mystic Quest
*Final Fantasy 5
*Final Fantasy 3
*Final Fantasy 2
*Chrono Trigger
*Illusion of Gaia
*Breath of Fire
*Breath of Fire 2
*The Legend of Zelda (A Link to the Past)
*Secret of Mana
*Ninja Gaiden Trilogy
*Sailor Moon Fighting game
*Star Trek TNG (Sound is really...weird though)
*Sim City
*Star Fox (which I did not expect)
*Super Mario RPG
*Super Mario Kart (Really slow though)
*Super Metroid
*Super Mario All Stars + World
*Tales of Phantasia English Translation (Awesome Speed)
*Dragonball Z: Super Saijian Saga (?English Translation?)
*Kirby's Avalanche
*Kirby's Dreamcourse
*Tetris Attack
*Lufia 2 (Perfect Speed with full screen)
*Bahamut Lagoon English Translation (Kinda slow with Transparancy)
*Street Fighter 2 Black Belt Edition (Very Slow)
*Secret of Mana 2
*Super Strike Eagle
Not Working:
*Mega Man X2 (Due to Graphics EMU Chips in Game itself (Known as C4 Emulation))
*Mega Man X3 (Due to Graphics EMU Chips in Game itself (Known as C4 Emulation))
Also Big Thanks to Zeno and WikiGamers for the Site Thread made for this purpose as well, couldn't have gotten this far without you!
Super Nintendo Games Listing
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Next Up is the Nintendo System Emulation
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As for Emulator settings on the Nintendo:
You can attain full speed with a max overclock of 270mhz (With NesterJ). While you do not have to overclock with most games I have found that using 270mhz seems to handle every game I have thrown at it at 50fps or above most of the time to include Mario 3. You can max it to the full 333mhz if you want but I just set mine to 270mhz and leave it there. In a few games as with my original Nintendo when to many characters hit the screen the game seem to have a split second lag but I found no difference at 333mhz in those games and since they happened on the original system I just wrote them off as being maxed for the limits of the system itself (The Nintendo that is).
(Let me clear this up for those who would ask, The PSP comes UNDERCLOCKED!! at 222mhz. It is made to run at 333mhz but that drains the battery much faster and so Sony Underclocked the PSP's Processor to increase battery life. In all actuality you are not overclocking the processor or harming it, the CPU and all its components were made to run at 333mhz from the day it was made, but since Sony locked it at 222mhz until better batteries are available (And until Gran Turismo 4 comes to PSP) we have to manually turn it back up to the normal speed. So do not be concerned with using this option. However as the PSP EMU's progress you might find that you do not need to clock as high which will help get you better battery life (Or just buy the new battery).
As for Sound I ran at 44k all the time no problems. (NesterJ)
On Graphics I did full screen again with no problems. (NesterJ)
The first and most widely used Nintendo Emulator is Nester J
This Emulator was made by: (PSP Wiki) Ruka
This Emulator gets updated Often and seems to sport the most Features. It runs games at Full Speed with the settings mentioned above and supports Full Screen Emulation. There don't seem to be any known game problems with this Emulator that I have found.
Its Options and Features include:
Processor Overclocking
Sound Quality Changes and Options
Graphics Sizes to include Width x2, Normal and Full Screen
Freeze States
This Emulator was made by: REi (PSP Wiki)
This Emulator is Updated, just not as often as Nester J. I have yet to load it myself as I started out with NesterJ and loved it. I am now working on loading this Emulator to see its features and how it stacks up!
Third We have Famicontest (Also known as InfoNES for PSP)
This Emulator was made by: PSP Wiki
This Emulator does not seem to be well known or updated at all since its release here on DCEMU. Since PSP Wiki has been in every project above I believe it has a good foundation but why it has not seen any updates I can only Guess that Wiki has gone on to other projects and let the two above take over.
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Next We have the Sega Genesis Emulators (Including MegaDrive and Game Gear)
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Please see Next Page
I have found another game that works
I have found yet another game that works with recent release of snes9x for psp. While settings are original the game runs slow but it does run. but it runs perfectly when the psp is clocked to 333 Mghz, and Frame Skip is set to 2 and transparency is off. ooops in original post forgot to say what game. UniRacers!