Which NES Emulator is the Best?

mitu

If you're going for accuracy - and you will be playing on a PC - you could try Mesen (www.mesen.ca). There's also a libretro core you could download for RetroArch (https://docs.libretro.com/library/mesen/).

Darksavior

@oldskool The default fceumm seems fine for me. Though, you need to change the default palette. I use the unsaturated palette.

thelostsoul

@acid snes9x is snes emulator not nes. ;-)

@OldSkool You can use default emulator of RetroPie lr-fceumm. Its good enough. But I recently read about a second emulator lr-nestopia, which comes with RetroPie and changed to it, because I read it is more accurate, but it is not for weak systems. I would say, if you have an actual gaming monitor, then you can emulate almost every 8 and 16 bit console accurately without problem.

I would stick with the emulators with lr- prefix, because they are working with all those RetroPie settings, which makes life easier. In example, you setup your settings once and all emulators with lr- prefix should have access to it, like gamepad settings. There are some other versions of the emulators without lr- prefix, but these are only for those who exactly know what they are doing and need extra configuration time.

All that said, for RetroPie NES I recommend lr-nestopia, if your hardware isn't weak like a Raspberry Pi Zero.

On the other hand, there is Higan emulator, which is known for being extremely hungry, but very accurate, with very little compromise in todays usual emulation. Use it only with a strong cpu on current pc systems. Higan isn't available for RetroPie yet. I don't know since when, but I saw it got several new systems to support. It started out as a snes emulator, but now it even support sega systems and a lot more.

stephensmattlee

Personally use Nestopia on my RetroPie setup, never had any problems on the Pi 3 with it and just found it more accurate than the default. No problem with using either though to be fair.

Eldrethor

@stephensmattlee What differences have you noticed between nestopia and fceumm? I've tested a small handful of games, but nothing stands out to me. If anything, I feel like nestopia has very slightly more input lag than fceumm.

mediamogul

@eldrethor said in Which NES Emulator is the Best?:

What differences have you noticed between nestopia and fceumm?

lr-fceumm has the best light gun support for one, but it's still got some issues that need to be ironed out.

thelostsoul

@eldrethor lr-nestopia don't support Retro Achievements yet, whereas lr-fceumm does.

matchaman

@mediamogul said in Which NES Emulator is the Best?:

@eldrethor said in Which NES Emulator is the Best?:

What differences have you noticed between nestopia and fceumm?

lr-fceumm has the best light gun support for one, but it's still got some issues that need to be ironed out.

Does this core have support of light gun simulation via d-pad or does it require a mouse?

mediamogul

@matchaman

Currently, all light gun-capable systems in RetroArch require mouse input. The most popular option seems to be the Dolphinbar/Wiimote/Gun Casing combo, as it's the most accessible and least expensive. However, Aimtrack guns, while more expensive, seem to be growing in popularity and have a few premium advantages.

tuki_cat

@mediamogul I know this is an old thread, but I wondered if you might have some advice for me regarding lr-fceumm. I have my Aimtrak gun set up and all working in mame (lr-mame2003 and advance mame 1.4).

It is also working in lr-fceumm, although I have only tested it in Duck Hunt. However, the movement on the cursor when I move the gun is very sensitive. I only have to move the gun an inch to the left of right for it to move to the edge of the screen - is there anything I am missing?

Edit - sorry I realise this is in the wrong forum and should be under support - sorry!

mediamogul

@tuki_cat said in Which NES Emulator is the Best?:

However, the movement on the cursor when I move the gun is very sensitive. I only have to move the gun an inch to the left of right for it to move to the edge of the screen - is there anything I am missing?

If you haven't already, you'll want to change the input type to 'pointer' in the core options. Control should be pretty smooth in lr-fceumm with it enabled.

tuki_cat

@mediamogul great, thanks - all working now

le36

Hi, is there any other link removed expect the Jnes for playing retro NES games on PC. I don't like mame games and now I want to try some NES games so any other emulator expects the mention one.

mitu

@le36 No links to ROMs sites, please.