Homebrew New 3DS - Emulation or VC ?

[Izual Urashima]

I recently got my hands on a New 3DS that is now under control, and I have now access to both options.

Considering I'm interested in playing both SNES and GBA games, what are the best choices for each of them and why ?

Thanks in (Game Boy) Advance.

 

[Giodude]

I recently got my hands on a New 3DS that is now under control, and I have now access to both options.

Considering I'm interested in playing both SNES and GBA games, what are the best choices for each of them and why ?

Thanks in (Game Boy) Advance.

Lately the emulators have been really improving, and are even a bit better than the vc injects. Snes9x doesnt look as pixel perfect as the snes vc, but it runs a bit faster and has support for special snes chips such as the Super FX chip. Gba on the other hand is a bit more of a gray area. GBA injects will always run flawlessly, 100%. This is because the gba games are run natively on the 3ds rather than being emulated. The tradeoff though is it runs in ds mode, so it isn't too sharp and doesnt have support for sleep mode or the home button. Your other choice is the latest mgba nightly, which is pretty fast but has a bit of emulation issues. I haven't tried it in a bit, but last time i used it there were a few audio crackling issues and not everything runs fullspeed; it is significantly sharper though. Keep in mind that using cia vc injects could possibly get you banned if you're connected to the internet while using them, while emulators can be used as injected 3dsx files which protect you from any banwaves.

 

[starburst]

Why do you not simply play one game using both options during a week or so and make a decision by yourself?

Granted, there are games that will not run within the virtual console, but this does not seem to be your problem (yet.)

 

[Taffy]

I will always prefer emulators for my snes games. For GBA games though, injections are my preference.

 

[ThoD]

For me, GB/GBC/GBA/NDS/Famicom injects are the best choice as they run flawlessly (NDS provided that you have a flashcart), while for everything else, emulation is preferable.

 

[Izual Urashima]

Seems the general idea thus far is emulation for SNES and VC for GBA. I'll take Starburst's suggestion and give a try to both though.

Thanks for the advices.

 

[Deleted User]

Injects are a bit less buggy when it comes to the gba.

 

[Deleted User]

For SNES? Emulation over VC by a long shot. For example, the ability to carry over saves/.srm from the computer to the Snes9x 3DS port then back is a god send for me. Other things like frame skipping, button customization, zl and rl button mapping, support for Super FX games, CHT support, etc is amazing. And if you're wondering, the best emulator for the NES is probably VirtuaNES.

As for GBA, just continue sticking with VC injects. It's better than emulation afaik.

 

[SG6000]

Rather than differentiating between emulators and VC its more useful to simply take GBA VC out of the equation; it's something else entirely and should be considered the default method of running GBA titles on 3DS systems. I'm sure if it was more widely known that there's pretty much actual Game Boy Advance hardware locked inside every 3DS model the use of emulators such as gpsp and mgba on 3DS would be far less commonplace.

I used to be a bit down on SNES VC because of spotty ROM compatibility (even with some non special chip games) and an offensively low max audio volume output - but Asdolo's All-In-One VC injector (search for beta 26 / 27) fixes the latter issue with the ability to increase the audio level. This is a total game changer for me because the audio accuracy itself with Snes VC is truly excellent - definitely the best available. Just don't whack the extra dbs up to full amplification prior to building the .cia otherwise it'll be distorted super over-driven mess; something like 125% seems to work nicely with most of the Snes VC games I've got installed but some games are inherently louder / quieter than others so you might need to do a little tweaking / rebuilding to hit that sweet spot. And if all of that sounds like a bit of a faff just stick with Bubble's Snes 9X; it runs pretty much everything and has every feature you could desire (including decent audio amplification).

 

[Feffe]

Rather than differentiating between emulators and VC its more useful to simply take GBA VC out of the equation; it's something else entirely and should be considered the default method of running GBA titles on 3DS systems. I'm sure if it was more widely known that there's pretty much actual Game Boy Advance hardware locked inside every 3DS model the use of emulators such as gpsp and mgba on 3DS would be far less commonplace.

I used to be a bit down on SNES VC because of spotty ROM compatibility (even with some non special chip games) and an offensively low max audio volume output - but Asdolo's All-In-One VC injector (search for beta 26 / 27) fixes the latter issue with the ability to increase the audio level. This is a total game changer for me because the audio accuracy itself with Snes VC is truly excellent - definitely the best available. Just don't whack the extra dbs up to full amplification prior to building the .cia otherwise it'll be distorted super over-driven mess; something like 125% seems to work nicely with most of the Snes VC games I've got installed but some games are inherently louder / quieter than others so you might need to do a little tweaking / rebuilding to hit that sweet spot. And if all of that sounds like a bit of a faff just stick with Bubble's Snes 9X; it runs pretty much everything and has every feature you could desire (including decent audio amplification).

Which non-SpecialChip games you tried didn't run on SNES VC?

 

[TurdPooCharger]

Snes9x doesnt look as pixel perfect as the snes vc

Is this compared from SNES Virtual Console versus Snes9x_3DS pixel perfect mode?

In Snes9x > Options > [GLOBAL SETTINGS] Screen Stretch > 'No Stretch' .... 'Pixel Perfect'

 

[Giodude]

Is this compared from SNES Virtual Console versus Snes9x_3DS pixel perfect mode?

In Snes9x > Options > [GLOBAL SETTINGS] Screen Stretch > 'No Stretch' .... 'Pixel Perfect'

I wanna say it isn't quite as sharp, but I can't test it at the moment. It might be.

 

[TurdPooCharger]

I wanna say it isn't quite as sharp, but I can't test it at the moment. It might be.

NP. I'm curious about this myself. Currently trying to do F-ZERO menu screenshots. Results will be coming soon™.

Edit - Judge for yourself. This is just one game, which might not be the same for every case. Also, static screenshots doesn't take into account FPS and discrepancy in motion blurring.

I know for a fact F-ZERO on Snes9x looks less accurate than Virtual Console as there's this screwy horizontal edge where sky meets land.

Oh forgot to mention, screenshots captured with Rosalina menu.

 

[Giodude]

NP. I'm curious about this myself. Currently trying to do F-ZERO menu screenshots. Results will be coming soon™.

Edit - Judge for yourself. This is just one game, which might not be the same for every case. Also, static screenshots doesn't take into account FPS and discrepancy in motion blurring.

I know for a fact F-ZERO on Snes9x looks less accurate than Virtual Console as there's this screwy horizontal edge where sky meets land.

Oh forgot to mention, screenshots captured with Rosalina menu.

Wow, looks like snes9x is really the better option.

 

[Feffe]

Wow, looks like snes9x is really the better option.

Do not forget Snes9x have some issues

Not Available / Problematic:

1. Minor sound issues.
2. Mosaic effect and mid-frame palette update problems - we use the 3DS hardware for speed; but we have to give up these two features for it. Most games work well without it. If you game's colours look funny, go to the Settings and try changing the palette options.
3. Resume from sleep mode

Of course, it's still a good emulator and a nice, viable option, but the VC has better accuracy.
My rule of thumb is using the VC for every "normal" games, Snes9x for Special Chip games or some fan translation (Fire Emblem 4).
Now with NES it's different, the compatibility of VC is too much hit or miss and I prefer VirtuaNES.

 

[SG6000]

Which non-SpecialChip games you tried didn't run on SNES VC?

One example - though not particularly egregious I'll admit but important to me personally - is Assault Suit Valken. Runs great until you start noticing graphical glitches and problems with tiling as the game progresses. These issues aren't present on either Catsfc or Bubble's SNES 9X.

SNES VC also failed to boot a host of romhacks that other options handled great when I had my spurt of testing a while back - but I don't think that that's a terrible issue per se but rather an argument to have other SNES emulation options on hand as they all have strengths.

One thing worth mentioning in my book is that Bubble's SNES 9X has the godsend ''Disable (continuous) SRAM writing to SD" feature that makes the odd game which fails to run without stuttering on Catsfc run without problems. One example of this is the delocalisation / fan translation of Pop'N Twinbee: Rainbow Bell Adventures. Admittedly I never tested how this one ran on SNES VC but judging by how a few Mario World romhacks which also continously write to SRAM black screen upon boot on SNES VC I didn't have much incentive to keep testing. It's not as big an issue as my phrasing might have suggested though, fair play for asking for clarification.