# Emulators: Which are better? I'm Curious For Opinions! :D



## Centrix (Sep 16, 2014)

I'm just wondering whats better now, PC emulators such as FCEUX, SNES9X to give a few examples or say SNES9X EX or NES.EMU on Android? I get they both have pros and cons but I have been curious as to know the communities input on the matter? It would seem to me that allot of these emulators that are on Android are just ports of their PC counter parts. So the question I'm asking I guess is which is better or is it all a matter of prefrence? and if so which would you choose and why?

Thanks Again for the Feed back guys, as always


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## LWares87 (Sep 16, 2014)

I used to have had loads of different emulators on my computer, but now i use RetroArch which make things alot easier to get my gaming fix (not just at home, but on the move as well).


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## Fishaman P (Sep 16, 2014)

I'd say use Bizhawk for simplicity and leave it at that.
Its cores are all suitably accurate enough for TASing, so you don't have to worry about getting stuck with the shit pile that is SNES9X.


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## matpower (Sep 16, 2014)

Most Android emulators are ports of PC emulators, technically, PC would be better because:
 * They are more powerful
 * Most ports are made by 3rd party, so it takes a while until it gets on the same level as the PC, both feature and compatibility wise


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## LWares87 (Sep 16, 2014)

Fishaman P said:


> I'd say use Bizhawk for simplicity and leave it at that.
> Its cores are all suitably accurate enough for TASing, so you don't have to worry about getting stuck with the shit pile that is SNES9X.


i must admit though, Snes9x does have it problems with SMW Hacks which have custom music.

I'm not sure about bsnes though...


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## Deleted-236924 (Sep 17, 2014)

Higan master race.
I cringe whenever people suggest ZSNES to others.


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## the_randomizer (Sep 17, 2014)

Fishaman P said:


> I'd say use Bizhawk for simplicity and leave it at that.
> Its cores are all suitably accurate enough for TASing, so you don't have to worry about getting stuck with the shit pile that is SNES9X.


 
May I ask what you have against Snes9x? Surely, it's not as bad as other shit piles like Zsnes. I'm very picky about accuracy and how games are depicted in emulators. As one who used to be a Zsnes user (unfortunately), I can attest that Snes9x 1.53 test build (as of 6/25/14) is by far the best version of it to date. Could you expound on why it's "shit"? Bizhawk is good for TASing, yes, but configuring it is a pain in the ass, TAS only; for general purpose, Snes9x or Higan will suffice. RetroArch is much better for multiple emulators-in-one and doesn't have a convoluted GUI.



Pingouin7 said:


> Higan master race.
> 
> *I cringe whenever people suggest ZSNES to others*.


 
Damn straight, that's like people suggesting they use Internet Explorer 6 or Netscape instead of Chrome or Firefox. Why would anyone want to abuse themselves with such torture? Higan is nice in certain circumstances, like RetroArch, as you have a much better GUI than the default one.


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## matpower (Sep 17, 2014)

LWares87 said:


> i must admit though, Snes9x does have it problems with SMW Hacks which have custom music.
> 
> I'm not sure about bsnes though...


I guess it is because these hacks use ZSNES's speedhacks instead of using SNES's original stuff, I bet BSNES would have that same problem.


Pingouin7 said:


> Higan master race.
> I cringe whenever people suggest ZSNES to others.


SNES9x Master Race, just because I can recommend it to people with weak hardware. 
But yeah, using ZSNES is the same of using Windows 3.1 with Internet Explorer 5 to browse the web instead of upgrading to something more capable and better.


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## the_randomizer (Sep 17, 2014)

matpower said:


> I guess it is because these hacks use ZSNES's speedhacks instead of using SNES's original stuff, I bet BSNES would have that same problem.
> 
> SNES9x Master Race, just because I can recommend it to people with weak hardware.
> But yeah, using ZSNES is the same of using Windows 3.1 with Internet Explorer 5 to browse the web instead of upgrading to something more capable and better.


 

Higan isn't as bad on CPUs as it used to be, esp. with the balanced core and RetroArch for the GUI, a good way (and easiest way) to use Higan,  The accuracy core is only for like, two games, but that's it. Snes9x is the second most accurate and has come a very long way since 1.51. As far as I know, Zsnes is dead in the water, and the alleged 2.0 is vaporware.


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## Eity (Sep 17, 2014)

> I cringe whenever people suggest ZSNES to others.


I use Higan only for some games, where it really matters. As for the rest I still prefer ZSNES. Without support of archived roms, and with that high requirements (yes, I can run it, but I don't like to put more stress on my PC, if I can put less) I don't really want to use it as main SNES emulator, and would not recommend it for that.

Generally I use many different emulators, on both Windows & Android, not to mention other systems (PSP, DS, etc).


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## the_randomizer (Sep 17, 2014)

Eity said:


> I use Higan only for some games, where it really matters. As for the rest I still prefer ZSNES. Without support of archived roms, and with that high requirements (yes, I can run it, but I don't like to put more stress on my PC, if I can put less) I don't really want to use it as main SNES emulator, and would not recommend it for that.
> 
> Generally I use many different emulators, on both Windows & Android, not to mention other systems (PSP, DS, etc).


 

Snes9x actually has very low requirements, I mean, it has so many issues with special chip games, not to mention the inaccurate S-SMP (audio emulation), I mean, have you by chance tried Snes9x 1.53? You can't even play games like Earthworm Jim 2 with sound effects on Zsnes due to the bad audio and emulation timing  One of these days I want to make a comparison video 

List of Zsnes issues
http://emulation-general.wikia.com/wiki/ZSNES


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## matpower (Sep 17, 2014)

Eity said:


> I use Higan only for some games, where it really matters. As for the rest I still prefer ZSNES. Without support of archived roms, and with that high requirements (yes, I can run it, but I don't like to put more stress on my PC, if I can put less) I don't really want to use it as main SNES emulator, and would not recommend it for that.
> 
> Generally I use many different emulators, on both Windows & Android, not to mention other systems (PSP, DS, etc).


Instead of using ZSNES, it would be better to use SNES9x, just look at that:

Compatibility is lower than any modern emulator due to low accuracy to real SNES system.
Games crashing - Der Langrisser (freezes after 2-3 hours), Super Mario RPG (freezes in many different points of the game), Star Ocean and many other games have freezing and crashing issues.
Bad sound emulation - A ton of games sound terrible on ZSNES; Earthworm Jim 2 has no sound effects.
Many of the co-processors, which are actually on the cartridges, are emulated in extremely strange ways. For example, Super FX for example is not clocked correctly - Star Fox runs twice as fast as it should.
Transparency - Kirby Dreamland 3, Mecarobot Golf, Jurassic Park and any game that uses pseudo hi-res translucency won't display correctly in the default graphics engine. To get them to display properly in 1.51, you have to press 8 to switch to the old graphics engine. Or use an older version.
	

	
	
		
		

		
			




(Hopefully GBATemp's IMG tag works with .gifs)


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## Eity (Sep 17, 2014)

> Instead of using ZSNES, it would be better to use SNES9x, just look at that:


May be it is. ZSNES generally works fine with the games I interested in. But yes, there is few exceptions, BTW Kirby is exactly the game I used Higan for, because of it. As for SNES9x... I just did not really tried it (well I did in ancient times, on some old version, which if I remember correctly was not working, so I just stayed with ZSNES from like ~2003).


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## the_randomizer (Sep 17, 2014)

Eity said:


> May be it is. ZSNES generally works fine with the games I interested in. But yes, there is few exceptions, BTW Kirby is exactly the game I used Higan for, because of it. As for SNES9x... I just did not really tried it (well I did in ancient times, on some old version, which if I remember correctly was not working, so I just stayed with ZSNES from like ~2003).


 

Snes9x has changed a lot, and here's a most recent version http://www.s9x-w32.de/dl/testbuilds/snes9x_testbuild_25062014.zip A test build towards 1.54. It's very light on the CPU compared to Higan and still pretty dang accurate. Square Enix games on Zsnes sound horrible, like, REALLY bad. It's not a maybe, it's a definite yes, the emulation inaccuracies are verified by many users and programmers alike, when you get used to them however, it is hard to tell a difference, I'll do a side-by-side comparison to show what exactly is wrong.

I used to use Zsnes too, until I found better and more stable emulators. Games with chips won't run properly, EWJ2 has no sound effects, you name it. The issues listed in that wiki are legit.


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## Tom Bombadildo (Sep 17, 2014)

It's hard to gauge which is "best" really, as a person's definition of "best" is pretty personal when it comes to emulator. Some people say the best emulators are the most accurate, others say the best are the ones that can just play every game regardless of whether it's exactly like the legit versions.

Me, I don't mind inaccuracies in emulation so my list might reflect that.

Higan for NES/SNES/
Visual Boy Advance for GB/C/A
ePSXe for PS1 games
Dolphin for GC/Wii
PCSX2 for PS2
Fusion for Sega consoles
NullDC for Dreamcast on PC, and reicast on Android
MAME for arcade stuff...

Retroarch is nice, but I can never be assed to install it on my PC. Have it on my Tablet, though.


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## the_randomizer (Sep 17, 2014)

Kega Fusion is actually one of the most accurate, but fastest emulators for Genesis  Snes9x is very good, but Zsnes is more than just a few inaccuracies, the emulation is very very bad overall.


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## Plstic (Sep 17, 2014)

Tom Bombadildo said:


> It's hard to gauge which is "best" really, as a person's definition of "best" is pretty personal when it comes to emulator. Some people say the best emulators are the most accurate, others say the best are the ones that can just play every game regardless of whether it's exactly like the legit versions.
> 
> Me, I don't mind inaccuracies in emulation so my list might reflect that.
> 
> ...


I'd say demul is more accurate than NullDC now.


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## the_randomizer (Sep 17, 2014)

Plstic said:


> I'd say demul is more accurate than NullDC now.


 

Hard as hell to configure right since it's in Russian, the error messages anyway.


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## spencer5976 (Sep 17, 2014)

I still use BSNES .82, I like to use filters.


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## the_randomizer (Sep 17, 2014)

spencer5976 said:


> I still use BSNES .82, I like to use filters.


 

A good version, as it's pretty dang fast IIRC.


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## Plstic (Sep 17, 2014)

the_randomizer said:


> Hard as hell to configure right since it's in Russian, the error messages anyway.


I have it working fine, as long as you have good .chds and gdis you should be good to go.


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## the_randomizer (Sep 17, 2014)

Plstic said:


> I have it working fine, as long as you have good .chds and gdis you should be good to go.


 

I mean the plugins, does it even support Xinput? I don't even know how to configure the right settings, much less navigate it.


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## Plstic (Sep 17, 2014)

the_randomizer said:


> I mean the plugins, does it even support Xinput? I don't even know how to configure the right settings, much less navigate it.


 
I dunno, I don't use xinput, I have a custom fight stick.


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## the_randomizer (Sep 17, 2014)

Plstic said:


> I dunno, I don't use xinput, I have a custom fight stick.


 
Maybe one of these days I'll try it again. NullDC has stereo issues with some games like Grandia 2, there was no stereo output for the music.


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