Gaming console emulators

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acr4acr4
Posted:
in Mac Software edited January 2014
I'm looking to play some old NES games and need a good emulator. I have an 1.33 GHz iBook (last revision) with 1.5 GB RAM, so I'm assuming I can handle the beefier emulators, although all I really want is something that is flicker-free.



Currently, I am using "Nestopia" which unfortunatly has some flicker problems. Can anyone suggest an alternate program? (I have google-searched to death, but can't find a good comparison anywhere).



Also, if you know of any good SNES or Amiga emulators, that would be rockin' too. I need something to hold me out until the Wii comes out...

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 15
    blackbird_1.0blackbird_1.0 Posts: 724member
    SNES:

    http://macupdate.com/info.php/id/22029

    http://macupdate.com/info.php/id/11337

    http://macupdate.com/info.php/id/7960

    http://macupdate.com/info.php/id/2763



    Amiga:

    http://macupdate.com/info.php/id/14044

    http://macupdate.com/info.php/id/10845

    http://macupdate.com/info.php/id/10847

    http://macupdate.com/info.php/id/14607



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  • Reply 2 of 15
    acr4acr4 Posts: 100member
    Wicked. Thanks!
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  • Reply 3 of 15
    blackbird_1.0blackbird_1.0 Posts: 724member
    No problem.
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  • Reply 4 of 15
    kim kap solkim kap sol Posts: 2,987member
    Don't try ZSNES on the iBook...it's Intel-only.



    There are 3 SNES emus on Mac, ZSNES, SNES9x and BSNES...only SNES9x will run or run acceptably on the iBook.
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  • Reply 5 of 15
    acr4acr4 Posts: 100member
    Alright, thanks for the heads-up.



    Anyone know of an original NES emulator?
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  • Reply 6 of 15
    Marvinmarvin Posts: 15,585moderator
    Quote:

    Originally posted by acr4

    Anyone know of an original NES emulator?



    http://www.zophar.net/mac/nes.html



    RockNES is the best one:



    http://mac.softpedia.com/get/Games/RockNES.shtml



    NES games don't play quite so well because they are 8-bit. Newer systems don't really like 8-bit colour (256 colors). My screen messed up anyway when running some NES games. I think the SNES games were generally far better quality so I just stick to them under SNES9x.
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  • Reply 7 of 15
    splinemodelsplinemodel Posts: 7,311member
    The old RockNES has some playability issue that crop up from time to time, but is much less CPU intensive. THe new RockNES is a cycle-for-cycle NES emulator but has a big overhead.



    The NES is not a computer, and coders have had trouble writing good emulators for it. Thing is, though, that it would be easy to write a really good NES emulator if you can be guaranteed to have 3 cpus cores.
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  • Reply 8 of 15
    kim kap solkim kap sol Posts: 2,987member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by acr4

    Alright, thanks for the heads-up.



    Anyone know of an original NES emulator?



    I'd recommend Nestopia: http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/15241



    But there's a small chance that it flickers if you're using some of the more processor intensive graphics filters such as HQ2X or HQ3X. Give it a try though...if it doesn't work, RockNES and many other NES emulators exist for Mac.
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  • Reply 9 of 15
    aquaticaquatic Posts: 5,602member
    Both of those NES emulators are "cycle exact" and therefore run like complete shit on my PBG4 867. With 640 RAM. What a joke. I remember silky smooth NES on my G3 with iNES. And with old versions of RockNES. Does anyone know where I can get my hands on an old copy of RockNES? Thanks!
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  • Reply 10 of 15
    aquaticaquatic Posts: 5,602member
    And to round it out let's make this thread broader. I've waited a long, long time for N64 enjoyment on my Mac. I thought Gerritt had gone away. YAY! He's bringing Sixty Force to Intel. And he released a new PPC SixtyForce which I'll have to try sometime. Last version up to around 80% speed on my 867mhz PBG4. A few minor graphics glitches in games. Hey, all I want is Perfect Dark, Smash Brothers, and Mario Kart on my mac. Mario on SNES/NES, and punchout. A GameCube emulator can't be far off either. It uses a PPC so I'd imagine emulation on a G4 or G5 would be pretty fast. Then we could play Melee. It's been so long since I wasted time with games. I can't wait to do that as soon as I have a spare weekend some time.
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  • Reply 11 of 15
    Marvinmarvin Posts: 15,585moderator
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Aquatic

    It uses a PPC so I'd imagine emulation on a G4 or G5 would be pretty fast. Then we could play Melee.



    I think Gamecube is way off. They can't even do PSone properly for OS X. Forget Gerrit, I want Connectix back (virtual game station - damn you Sony, grabbin' it before an OS X version). Whoever worked in that team were emulation gods.



    I've tried the latest version of Sixtyforce and it is an improvement but Mupen64 still rivals it (use 0.4 not 0.5) and it doesn't really play games well enough to be usable. SNES9x plays SNES games perfectly and I expect the same from emulation of newer systems.



    For all the hassle, for anything higher than a SNES, you're better off buying a second hand console.



    I think the games companies should put their smart caps on and actively develop emulators for desktop systems and then sell game roms on itunes or something. It's not like they are profitable as consoles any more.
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  • Reply 12 of 15
    aquaticaquatic Posts: 5,602member
    GOOD CALL marvin. Proof that sometimes, even though it could make money, sometimes people would rather not think, and lose out on extra money.



    So, what about a NES emulator that doesn't stutter on a 867mhz G4? Anyone got an old RockNES??
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  • Reply 13 of 15
    splinemodelsplinemodel Posts: 7,311member
    Hey aquatic: send me an email. I have a copy of RockNES 2.5.0
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  • Reply 14 of 15
    splinemodelsplinemodel Posts: 7,311member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Marvin

    I think Gamecube is way off. They can't even do PSone properly for OS X. Forget Gerrit, I want Connectix back (virtual game station - damn you Sony, grabbin' it before an OS X version). Whoever worked in that team were emulation gods.



    Sony locked down a large part of what made VGS work really well. There was a lot of litigation, too. It's very, very possible to make a good emulator if you have either some form of schematics or a lab full of expensive equipment. Especially since MIPS and PPC have similar ISAs. Making a PS1 or 2 emulator for Intel wouldn't be as clean, but it's still something that wouldn't be dreadfully hard to do if Sony weren't so opposed to it. If anyone makes a decent PlayStation emulator (1, 2, PSP) is going to get hit with a buttload of litigation.



    At one point I actually set out to write a NES emulator written primarily in PPC assembler, used Altivec, and leveraged the GPU. It turns out that it's a good thing I got a job that summer instead. Between the NES and the new batch (360, PS3), consoles have been more or less just PCs, and they are very easy to emulate if you don't have to reverse engineer them. Since the SNES hardware is almost identical to that from an Apple IIGS, it was very easy to build good SNES emulators.



    For example, I'd assume there is a great XBox 360 emulator that runs on quad G5s. (That is, the one that MS used while the 360 hardware was still in development) It just that you'll have a hard time reverse engineering an XBox 360.
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  • Reply 15 of 15
    mr.klawzmr.klawz Posts: 30member
    what about a good place for roms?
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