# The best snes emulator



## Subzero100 (Dec 14, 2013)

What is considered the best snes emulator on the net? It's zsnes for me even if it hasn't been updated in years.


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## KazoWAR (Dec 14, 2013)

best as in what? speed, compatibly, balance of speed and compatibly?

compatibly would be higan, speed... idk i guess zsnes?


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## trumpet-205 (Dec 14, 2013)

If you have modern capable computer, it is HIgan (formerly known as bsnes).

Otherwise for embedded or low power/old PC, Snes9x.


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## DinohScene (Dec 14, 2013)

Bsnes.
It achieved 100% perfect emulation an year orso ago.

You'll need a beefy PC to perfectly emulate some games iirc.


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## YayMii (Dec 15, 2013)

ZSNES is considered to be very far behind the other emulators in terms of compatibility and accuracy, and has a dated looking GUI (although if you like the GUI there's a custom one for Snes9X/bsnes that looks just like it).

Personally, I just Snes9X as it's the only emulator (other than maybe ZSNES) that allows for fullscreen at custom resolutions. Higan/bsnes only allows for borderless fullscreen (instead of true fullscreen), which adds input latency on Windows 8/8.1 and causes blurriness (unless you use integer scaling, but then it doesn't fill the screen). Not to mention it doesn't support filters nor does it support custom refresh rates, so I can't set up the emulator to look the way I want it to on my CRT monitor (Blargg's NTSC filters for maximum nostalgia/detail, 180Hz refresh rate for minimum eyestrain).

The sad thing is, I can't find any other emulator for any other system that meets my needs (or at least supports custom refresh rates), so I'm pretty much SOL due to my pickiness.


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## the_randomizer (Dec 15, 2013)

Avoid Zsnes, like YayMii has said, it is extremely outdated, has numerous emulation issues with special chip games (Star Fox runs too fast, Super Mario RPG freezes randomly, etc) and the sound emulation is pure garbage. Higan is the most accurate, Snes9x 1.53 however, is still very accurate (esp. in the sound dept like Higan) while keeping system requirements down, but most end users won't be able to tell much of a difference. I personally prefer Snes9x due to the GUI being user friendly, and still having very high compatibility and near-perfect audio emulation.

I personally prefer it over Higan due to the ease of the GUI and custom resolutions.


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## trumpet-205 (Dec 15, 2013)

byuu wrote Snes9x DSP core. Snes9x uses LLE in sound emulation.

As for fullscreen thigh, I prefer borderline, since it preserves aspect ratio.


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## TheCasketMan (Dec 15, 2013)

i use the website vizzed.com
I can play almost all games from atari 2600 through the n64 legally and without downloading!


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## the_randomizer (Dec 15, 2013)

trumpet-205 said:


> byuu wrote Snes9x DSP core. Snes9x uses LLE in sound emulation.
> 
> As for fullscreen thigh, I prefer borderline, since it preserves aspect ratio.


 

Ah yes, that would explain why the audio emulation is the same as Higan, heck, I can't tell a difference between that and real hardware, I believe either Blaarg helped him or was allowed to use his code for the S-SMP core, correct? I forgot it uses LLE for audio 

I hope people don't suggest Zsnes....no one should have to suffer


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## Subzero100 (Dec 15, 2013)

Lol this is rich some retard on this one gaming site was making a inaccurate reply about the best snes emu, and somehow thinks that you need a 3 gig computer in order to achieve that. I have the perfect emu it runs all the snes games just as it should, and it's called zsnes.....i don't think u even need a p4 to run it.


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## the_randomizer (Dec 15, 2013)

Subzero100 said:


> Lol this is rich some retard on this one gaming site was making a inaccurate reply about the best snes emu, and somehow thinks that you need a 3 gig computer in order to achieve that. I have the perfect emu it runs all the snes games just as it should, and it's called zsnes.....i don't think u even need a p4 to run it.


Snes9x is a lot better than Zsnes in overall emulation, has accurate sound and doesn't require a beefy CPU. Zsnes doesn't even run many games at the correct speed, like Star Fox or Star Ocean. I do NOT recommend Zsnes at all  Snes9x is helluva lot better for many reasons.  The sound is perfect and all you need is a decent CPU to run it 

Hate to say it, but Zsnes is pure garbage, but rest assured, I would never recommend Higan/Bsnes to anyone. Besides, Zsnes hasn't been updated in over seven years.
http://emulation-general.wikia.com/wiki/Super_Nintendo_emulators

Reasons why Zsnes is not recommended http://emulation-general.wikia.com/wiki/ZSNES

Games like Earthworm Jim 2 do not have sound effects on Zsnes
Many games lock up randomly
Many games like Kirby's Dreamland 3 have weird transparency bugs
Sound effects in all games are effed up bad (I'd be more than willing to post a comparison  )
Overall sucks at playing games properly, thus ruining the experience.


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## trumpet-205 (Dec 15, 2013)

Keep in mind that HIgan comes in 3 flavors, accuracy, balanced, and performance.

Only accuracy requires beefy computer, the remaining two flavors have much less system requirement. Performance profile is slightly better than Snes9x.


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## TyBlood13 (Dec 15, 2013)

I never had any issues with ZSNES, but that's probably b/c the only thing I used it for was EarthBound and some Mario World hacks. Didn't like bsnes back in the day since the main ROM site I used only gave .smc games instead of .sfc. Nowadays I use various ports of SNES9x, mainly on the Wii. Suits my needs rather well


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## the_randomizer (Dec 15, 2013)

TyBlood13 said:


> I never had any issues with ZSNES, but that's probably b/c the only thing I used it for was EarthBound and some Mario World hacks. Didn't like bsnes back in the day since the main ROM site I used only gave .smc games instead of .sfc. Nowadays I use various ports of SNES9x, mainly on the Wii. Suits my needs rather well


Glad you like Snes9x now, Zsnes is garbage and the fact that it being garbage can be backed up lol  I've plenty of substantiated evidence to back it up 



trumpet-205 said:


> Keep in mind that HIgan comes in 3 flavors, accuracy, balanced, and performance.
> Only accuracy requires beefy computer, the remaining two flavors have much less system requirement. Performance profile is slightly better than Snes9x.


 
Right, and I know about that version, what I don't like about it is how the GUI is set up, or how the ROM files are loaded, that and the fact I can't force-stretch the aspect ratio to fit the entire screen. Trivial, I know, but it is what it is  I see no perceptible difference in performance between those two emulators, and I'm used to Snes9x's GUI.


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## trumpet-205 (Dec 15, 2013)

TyBlood13 said:


> Didn't like bsnes back in the day since the main ROM site I used only gave .smc games instead of .sfc. Nowadays I use various ports of SNES9x, mainly on the Wii. Suits my needs rather well


Higan/bsnes now use cartridge folder instead of single ROM file. You should be able to import .smc file under higan, which it then would convert it to cartridge folder.


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## the_randomizer (Dec 15, 2013)

I really hope Zsnes dies. Zsnes 2.0 was supposedly in the works, but I don't believe that for a second; even Snes9x took a short amount of time between 1.51 and 1.52.  In order of accuracy, Higan>Snes9x>Zsnes


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## Subzero100 (Dec 15, 2013)

i meant it works better for me and the compatibility is better as it runs the fx chips games with no problem.


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## the_randomizer (Dec 15, 2013)

Subzero100 said:


> i meant it works better for me and the compatibility is better as it runs the fx chips games with no problem.


 

Snes9x actually has higher compatibility, the framerate for the FX chips are clocked wrong. Earthworm Jim 2 is also missing most of the sound effects.  S-DD1 games don't run properly, all special chips are poorly emulated; this is a well-known issue. The sound emulation is pretty bad, I can do some comparisons if that would help


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## Subzero100 (Dec 15, 2013)

Somehow all my roms work flawlessly it's probably the way i have mine set up. I dont use snes9x anymore it never worked good for me.


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## the_randomizer (Dec 15, 2013)

Subzero100 said:


> Somehow all my roms work flawlessly it's probably the way i have mine set up. I dont use snes9x anymore it never worked good for me.


 

Can you explain the issue you had with Snes9x and when you last used it? Sounds like you may have used anything pre-1.52. You're likely used to Zsnes' emulation quirks, but Snes9x works just fine as of 1.52 and 1.53. I won't try and force people to change, but I will tell you that Zsnes is not doing it right. Have you tried Earthworm Jim 2? The game uses some form of audio streaming, which Zsnes does not emulate properly, therefore you only have music, no sound effects. Super Mario RPG crashes randomly, Star Fox runs at 25 fps as opposed to the the slower 12 or so.

Here's a short comparison between the two

Snes9x uses LLE or low-level emulation for the audio, which equates to practically perfect sound:
http://filetrip.net/view?GPW9dagFRI

Zsnes uses old HLE or high-level emulation for the audio, is broken and has many issues
http://filetrip.net/view?WFQ7khxs2C

The difference should be noticeable


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## Subzero100 (Dec 15, 2013)

i dont know never had the problem with those. Its in the settings has to set up properly. Never cared for earthworm jim anyway.

i set this thing up years ago so i could tell you exactly how, and i just tried both games one might run slightly better at sertain points but that's about it. As long as its playable i dont care about perfection really.


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## trumpet-205 (Dec 15, 2013)

Right, but you are the one who asked which one is the best SNES emulator. ZSNES is far from being the best SNES emulator.

Unless you have Pentium III or even older PC (14+ years old PC) there is no advantage to use ZSNES.


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## Elrinth (Dec 15, 2013)

ZSnes was always my fav snes emu. Extremely easy to setup and even features netplay.
Now it's been quite a while since I used Snes9x, but I remember it being super duper inferior to ZSnes back in early 2000. I'm sure alot has happened since.
As many state, zsnes isn't in development any more. If I got to choose I'd probably use Higan or perhaps try Snes9x again. Tho it's important to know that Snes9x was last updated in 2011. While higan has been getting updates pretty recently. Only 3 days ago 

no$sns seems to be a decent snes emulator aswell: http://nocash.emubase.de/sns.htm entirely written in assembler!  tho I couldn't find any save/load state options.


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## the_randomizer (Dec 15, 2013)

trumpet-205 said:


> Right, but you are the one who asked which one is the best SNES emulator. ZSNES is far from being the best SNES emulator.
> 
> Unless you have Pentium III or even older PC (14+ years old PC) there is no advantage to use ZSNES.


 

^This. Zsnes is dead, despite the developers stating that they're working on Zsnes 2.0 (yeah right). Snes9x 1.54 is in the works, and Byuu is helping BearOSO and the other developers, though the pace has slowed somewhat 



Elrinth said:


> ZSnes was always my fav snes emu. Extremely easy to setup and even features netplay.
> Now it's been quite a while since I used Snes9x, but I remember it being super duper inferior to ZSnes back in early 2000. I'm sure alot has happened since.
> As many state, zsnes isn't in development any more. If I got to choose I'd probably use Higan or perhaps try Snes9x again. Tho it's important to know that Snes9x was last updated in 2011. While higan has been getting updates pretty recently. Only 3 days ago
> 
> ...




That's why I love RetroArch, it has both the Higan and Snes9x cores for me to play around with, Zsnes, yeah, it's deader then Elvis.


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## kristianity77 (Dec 15, 2013)

I cant believe I've read through all the replies and no one has mentioned SnesGT? I mean what? It leaves Zsnes, and Snes9x in the dust. Its the only emulator that totally nails the sound chip as well. In my eyes, and with the hundreds of roms ive played through, its pretty much flawless.


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## Subzero100 (Dec 16, 2013)

zsnes has been working flawless for me for years, and plays all the games perfectly.For me there's no need for anything else; especially since all my info is on it. Also snes9x has been updated in the recent year where zsnes has not, so of course it was bound to catch up.

"I cant believe I've read through all the replies and no one has mentioned SnesGT?"\

Probably because its irrelevant , and until now i never even heard of it.


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## kristianity77 (Dec 16, 2013)

Subzero100 said:


> zsnes has been working flawless for me for years, and plays all the games perfectly.For me there's no need for anything else; especially since all my info is on it. Also snes9x has been updated in the recent year where zsnes has not, so of course it was bound to catch up.
> 
> "I cant believe I've read through all the replies and no one has mentioned SnesGT?"\
> 
> Probably because its irrelevant , and until now i never even heard of it.


 

So its irrelevant because you've never heard of it yet your the OP asking people on here what is considered to be the best snes emu?  Perhaps you should hunt it down and try it out perchance if you've never heard of it no?


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## the_randomizer (Dec 16, 2013)

kristianity77 said:


> I cant believe I've read through all the replies and no one has mentioned SnesGT? I mean what? It leaves Zsnes, and Snes9x in the dust. Its the only emulator that totally nails the sound chip as well. In my eyes, and with the hundreds of roms ive played through, its pretty much flawless.


 

That too is a very fantastic emulator, in fact, both use LLE audio, I can't tell a difference audio-wise, plus it fully emulates the Satellaview/Super Famicom add-on, nothing no emulator can claim, so other games that were release on that are emulated  It's a fantastic emulator 



Subzero100 said:


> zsnes has been working flawless for me for years, and plays all the games perfectly.For me there's no need for anything else; especially since all my info is on it. Also snes9x has been updated in the recent year where zsnes has not, so of course it was bound to catch up.
> 
> "I cant believe I've read through all the replies and no one has mentioned SnesGT?"\
> 
> ...


 
SnesGT is developed by some Japanese guys who pretty much had cycle-accurate SPC700/S-SMP emulation before Snes9x ever did, so they get huge props for that. Zsnes 1.51 was released seven years ago, in 2006, I think it's safe to say it's dead. Compare the games to real hardware and I can prove that Zsnes does NOT emulate any game remotely close to the real thing. Super Mario World? The twirl-jump attack? 

Believe me, I've done extensive comparative tests on Snes9x vs. Zsnes, and it simply loses. What's good for one person doesn't mean good for everyone else.  Truly the IE 6 of Snes emulators


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## Elrinth (Dec 16, 2013)

lol randomizer, nice ending 

If you want to know about more snes emulators, zophar.net has a pretty comprehensive emulator list: http://www.zophar.net/snes.html
If you want to download snes music go to http://snesmusic.org/v2/
If you want to bla bla bla... bla bla bla bla bla!


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## Subzero100 (Dec 16, 2013)

Well all emulators are pretty much garbage at some point, but for some reason mine works perfectly. That's pretty good for a old emu from a scene that's pretty much dead.


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## kristianity77 (Dec 16, 2013)

I think most of the emulators now have the graphics and what not down 100%.  For me its just the differences in sound compared to real hardware.  Thats why I picked out SnesGT.  I know its very choosy to pick  out sound effects that sound wrong on other emus but for me its was a bugbear.

Never before SnesGT had i heard the thunder sound correctly on Super Castlevania IVs title screen.   Nor had I heard the left and right mixing work perfectly on Super Mario World (going through a pipe on a real snes was the 3 noise thing it makes going left to right to left on the speakers) only snesGT does this correctly.  And other sounds as well like certain sword effects in Secret of Mana.  Wrong on others, correct on GT.   Output the emu to a TV using I think its called Blaarg NTSC filter (I could be wrong here) and it makes a 40 inch lcd look and feel just like an old CRT.  It gives the picture the old hazy look of RF cable, and even puts in the shadowing that you used to get on black lines.  Proper nostalgia!   Its those little things that stick out, especially if a console like the snes, was your bread and butter as a teenager as it was me.


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## Subzero100 (Dec 16, 2013)

kristianity77 said:


> I think most of the emulators now have the graphics and what not down 100%. For me its just the differences in sound compared to real hardware. Thats why I picked out SnesGT. I know its very choosy to pick out sound effects that sound wrong on other emus but for me its was a bugbear.
> 
> Never before SnesGT had i heard the thunder sound correctly on Super Castlevania IVs title screen. Nor had I heard the left and right mixing work perfectly on Super Mario World (going through a pipe on a real snes was the 3 noise thing it makes going left to right to left on the speakers) only snesGT does this correctly. And other sounds as well like certain sword effects in Secret of Mana. Wrong on others, correct on GT. Output the emu to a TV using I think its called Blaarg NTSC filter (I could be wrong here) and it makes a 40 inch lcd look and feel just like an old CRT. It gives the picture the old hazy look of RF cable, and even puts in the shadowing that you used to get on black lines. Proper nostalgia! Its those little things that stick out, especially if a console like the snes, was your bread and butter as a teenager as it was me.


 
hmmm you should probably buy the real thing then, but i dont use the emu just for sound effects or another small differences. Just running the games in the end that's all that matters really.


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## kristianity77 (Dec 16, 2013)

Subzero100 said:


> hmmm you should probably buy the real thing then, but i dont use the emu just for sound effects or another small differences. Just running the games in the end that's all that matters really.


 

I had the real thing for about 5 years from beginning to when I then jumped on the PSX bandwagon.  All im saying is, is there is emulation to play games on for people who probably never owned a snes or took much notice of it, whereby something like Zsnes is fine.  Then there is emulation for people who had one, loved it, and wants 99.9% of the experience of days gone by, down to the tiniest of details.  And ones like ZSnes and Snes9x to a point, dont cut it.


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## Subzero100 (Dec 16, 2013)

cell phones....the perfect example...if their controls weren't shitty. Then again you can make any emu good as long as you know how to set it up right.


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## kristianity77 (Dec 16, 2013)

This is the sort of difference your looking at if your interested.  But just to show.  First video, from youtube, doesnt state which emu it is, but its without doubt either Zsnes or Snes 9x.  Listen to the thunder, listen to the bats.  Second video, is hardware. Again, listen to the thunder, then the bats.  Its totally different.  You'll get the better version with SnesGT, perhaps even with Retoarch as well like the randomizer suggests (Im yet to delve into Retroarch yet on a PC, for my sins)


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## the_randomizer (Dec 16, 2013)

Like I said, Snes9x and SnesGT both use the same LLE audio code, so there shouldn't be an difference if any, between those and actual hardware (I too am very sensitive to them). Another prime example, is Lavo's scream from Chrono Trigger, Zsnes it sounds effed up, but on Snes9x/GT it's perfect  No emulator will ever be 1:1 to the real thing, definitely, but it can be pretty damn close.



kristianity77 said:


> This is the sort of difference your looking at if your interested. But just to show. First video, from youtube, doesnt state which emu it is, but its without doubt either Zsnes or Snes 9x. Listen to the thunder, listen to the bats. Second video, is hardware. Again, listen to the thunder, then the bats. Its totally different. You'll get the better version with SnesGT, perhaps even with Retoarch as well like the randomizer suggests (Im yet to delve into Retroarch yet on a PC, for my sins)




That first one ain't Snes9x, I can tell ya that, definitely Zsnes   That Konami logo sound is way off.


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## tbgtbg (Dec 17, 2013)

I haven't done much SNES emulating on PC since hacking the Xbox (not 360) on there, some games seem to work better in SNES9x, some in ZSNES, some are fine in both, some are awful in both.

The SNES emulator on Wii is pretty good. I think it's based on 9x. Of course you can just inject roms into VC and go that way too.


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## the_randomizer (Dec 17, 2013)

tbgtbg said:


> I haven't done much SNES emulating on PC since hacking the Xbox (not 360) on there, some games seem to work better in SNES9x, some in ZSNES, some are fine in both, some are awful in both.
> 
> The SNES emulator on Wii is pretty good. I think it's based on 9x. Of course you can just inject roms into VC and go that way too.


 
Have you tried Snes9x Next? It's actually fantastic and does a better job than Snes9x GX (RetroArch Wii has Next on it), no frame skipping which is miraculous on the Wii.  Speaking of which, Snes9x on the PC is phenomenal at this point and runs every game better than Zsnes does, at least, as of version 1.53    Problem with .wad injection is compatibility isn't that high.


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## RayleoPatel (Jun 16, 2017)

I have used the best sens emulators, these are pretty good and work very fast. I get more positive activities with this emulator.  You can check out the best sens emulator reviews.


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## Sonic Angel Knight (Jun 16, 2017)

Mega bump!


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## Jayro (Jun 16, 2017)

I'm  fan of Snes9x myself, since it plays all my personal favorites just fine, and accurate enough for my needs. It also isn't TOO resource-hungry, until I start a game using the FX chips. I use Starfox 2 as my benchmark game. If an emulator can run it full-speed, then it's good to go.


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## VMM (Jun 16, 2017)

RayleoPatel said:


> I have used the best sens emulators, these are pretty good and work very fast. I get more positive activities with this emulator.  You can check out the best sens emulator reviews.



Not sure why you dig a topic from 2013, but anyway here is my opinion on this:

Higan is the best now so I recommend trying,
but if your PC is not capable of such go, to snes9x,
it's still updated regularly and works with any potato PC


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## eriol33 (Jun 18, 2017)

after knowing znes was so inaccurate makes me wondering if I should repeat all my snes play during post-snes era, as I only played using zsnes back then


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## The Real Jdbye (Jun 18, 2017)

eriol33 said:


> after knowing znes was so inaccurate makes me wondering if I should repeat all my snes play during post-snes era, as I only played using zsnes back then


It probably doesn't matter, only a miniscule percentage of games have issues as a result of inaccurate emulation.


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## spotanjo3 (Jun 18, 2017)

Subzero100 said:


> What is considered the best snes emulator on the net? It's zsnes for me even if it hasn't been updated in years.



I will go with three: ZNSES, SNES9X and Higan. Depending on what you are looking for. I have three. No competition for me. They are an awesome emulators.


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## VinsCool (Jun 18, 2017)

BSNES/Higan is the most accurate, althought it requires a powerful machine to run fullspeed.

SNES9X is a very good emulator. Very accurate and runs every games almost perfectly, and it doesn't require a super computer to run. This one is recommended for everyday use.

ZSNES/SNES9X 1.43/SNESGT are quite obsolete, or less accurate, but they remain used, mostly for older ROMhacks, especially when console verified content doesn't work well on better emulators. I personally like SNESGT in this case, it provides excellent emulation, and most of the stuff I ran on it worked perfectly.


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## Subzero100 (Jun 29, 2017)

yeah accurate but too complicated to use making it totally useless for me, zsnes all the way with snes9x on the wii a close second.


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## Deleted User (Jul 2, 2017)

My preferred choice is SNES9x. zSNES has an ugly interface. Haven't tried BSNES before, my PC probably can't handle it.


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