nemulator - a mutli-system (NES/SMS/GG/GB) emulator

6/13/2022

This release features NSF playback support and a bunch of bug fixes/improvements:

NES: Four-screen mirroring fixes for Holy Diver MMC1 version
NES: Sprite DMA fix for Dusty Diamond's All-Star Softball
NES: PPU rewrite
NES: PPU timing changes to fix random crashes in Battletoads level 2
NES: vblank/NMI timing changes to fix glitches in Kick Master, Wolverine, and others
NES: Emulate pixel ouput pipeline (demo_ntsc.nes)
NES: Remove fast emulation mode
NES: MMC5 IRQ handling improvements
NES: Allow writes to MMC5 PRG-ROM area (fixes Bandit Kings of Ancient China)
NES: Disallow palette writes while rendering (fixes flashes during Solstice intro)
SMS: R register fix for Reggie Jackson Baseball (pitcher never pitches)
SMS: R register fix for Impossible Mission (same map used every game)
SMS: Adjust VDP IRQ timing (fixes Black Belt screen split glitches)
GB: LYC changes to fix glitch in Link Awakening's title screen
GB: Various PPU fixes (now passes dmg-acid2 test)

10/8/2020

Fixed a bug that could cause nemulator to crash

9/30/2020

nemulator now emulates the Nintendo Game Boy!

This release is, and future releases will be, compiled for x64 only. NES fast mode emulation is deprecated and will be removed in a future release.

Fixed Punch-Out sprite corruption
Add NES Mapper 189 (Thunder Warrior, SF2 World Warrior)
NES APU IRQ Fixes (Fixes SMB3 Spade Panel glitch)
Use new API to disable screen saver
NES Mapper 32 fixes for Ai Sensei no Oshiete - Watashi no Hoshi (J)
Detect bad header in Youkai Kuraba, Family Boxing, Damist '89
NES MMC1 fixes for Ninjara Hoi! (J)
NES PPU fixes for Knight Rider
Add NES Mapper 13 (Videomation)
SMS: CPU fixes for Parlour Games
SMS: Fix region detection
SMS: Fix joypad 2 input
SMS: Fix IM mode 0 handling (Bubble Bobble, Alien 3)
SMS: CPU performance optimizations
Audio filtering improvements
Add option to not pause when window loses focus (app.pause_on_lost_focus in nemulator.ini)
NES: PPU fix for glitch in Solstice intro
NES: PPU fix for Isolated Warrior
SMS: Fix VDP IRQ timing
Reduced CPU utilization
Gamma correction fixes
Fix static for invalid non-NES games
Added icon

3/1/2017

Sega Game Gear emulation
NES: Fixed Aladdin (SuperGame) hang when starting game
NES: Added Mapper 190 (Magic Kid GooGoo) support

1/19/2016

Fixed some bugs that were introduced in recent versions:
- Some gamepad configurations stopped working in nemulator 4.0
- Fixed shaky status bar in Mickey's Safari in Letterland

1/9/2016

Sega Master System emulation

nemulator now emulates the Sega Master System! Please note that rom path configuration has changed. Check nemulator.ini.

12/25/2015

Added support for VRC7 expansion audio
Note: requires updated libraries from Microsoft

7/21/2014

Fixed status bar glitch in Burai Fighter
Added support for MMC5 and Sunsoft 5B expansion audio
Fixed an APU sweep unit bug

12/22/2013

Improved image scaling. Adjust sharpness with 9 and 0 keys (sharpness in nemulator.ini).
Fixed side masking bug introduced in previous release.

11/28/2013

Controller reading fixes for Paperboy and other Mindscape games
Added support for the following mappers:
- 64 (RAMBO-1) - Klax, Skull & Crossbones, Rolling Thunder
- MC-ACC - The Incredible Crash Test Dummies
Option to stretch game to fit widescreen display (app.stretch_to_fit in nemulator.ini)
Option to suspend computer from quit menu (show_suspend in nemulator.ini)
Unofficial opcode support - fixes Streemerz (and other games using the MUSE sound engine) and Double Action Blaster Guys
New, higher quality, audio resampler
More accurate color palette
Note: requires updated libraries from Microsoft

2/24/2013

Reduced video latency in fullscreen mode
Fixed bug that would cause nemulator to hang when selecting an invalid image from the menu

1/27/2013

APU emulation has been completely re-written for nemulator 3.0.

APU Frame and DMC IRQs are now working properly (Dragon Quest (J), FireHawk, Mig-29, Bee 52)
VRC6 audio support (Akumajo Densetsu (J))
Fixed bug that could cause nemulator to crash on startup when no ROMs are found
Compiled with Visual Studio 2012; requires updated libraries from Microsoft

12/17/2012

Improved thread scheduling. Disabling processor throttling is no longer recommended and the disable_processor_throttling option has been deprecated.
Fixed mouse cursor hiding on windowed/fullscreen transitions
Reduced audio latency
.ram file path is configurable in nemulator.ini (sram_path)
Fixed GPU memory leak
Timer-based sync was broken on some systems; fixed
Fire Emblem is now working correctly
Added mapper 115 (AV Jiu Ji Ma Jiang 2 (Unl), Yuu Yuu Hakusho Final - Makai Saikyou Retsuden (English) (Unl))
Added mapper 193 (Fighting Hero)

11/11/2011

Added quick access menu feature to ease navigation of large collections. Press Select, or up at top of menu, to activate.
More accurate color palette (based on Bisqwit's work)
Improved IRQ timing (fixes Mickey's Adventures in Numberland glitches)
Improved handling of sprite memory reads (fixes Super Cars glitches)
Fixed bug that could cause nemulator to hang when selecting a game
Enter and escape keys now work for menu navigation and entering/exiting games
Added support for the following mappers:
- 15 - 100-in-1 Contra Function 16
- 16 - Dragon Ball Z (J)
- 18 - The Lord of King (J), Magic John (J), Pizza Pop! (J)
- 41 - Caltron 6-in-1
- 42 - Bio Miracle Bokutte Upa (J) (Mario Baby - FDS Conversion)
- 44 - Super Cool Boy 4-in-1, Super Big 7-in-1
- 47 - Super Spike V'Ball + Nintendo World Cup
- 70 - Family Trainer - Manhattan Police (J), Ge Ge Ge no Kitarou 2 (J), Kamen Rider Club (J)
- 72 - Pinball Quest (J), Moero!! Juudou Warriors (J), Moero!! Pro Tennis (J)
- 73 - Salamander (J)
- 76 - Digital Devil Monogatari (J)
- 77 - Napoleon Senki (J)
- 82 - SD Keiji - Blader (J)
- 85 - VRC7 Lagrange Point (J), Tiny Toon Adventures 2 (J)
- 86 - Moero!! Pro Yakyuu (Red) (J), Moero!! Pro Yakyuu (Black) (J)
- 89 - Tenka no Goikenban - Mito Koumon (J)
- 92 - Moero!! Pro Soccer (J), Moero!! Pro Yakuu '88 - Ketteiban (J)
- 95 - Dragon Buster (J)
- 97 - Kaiketsu Yanchamaru (J)
- 105 - Nintendo World Championships
- 113 - Rad Racket, Papillon

4/17/2011

Support for joystick axes and POV hats (e.g., Xbox 360 D-Pad). See nemulator.ini for configuration examples.
New audio engine provides better audio rate/framerate synchronization
Processor throttling interferes with nemulator's timing. Added an option to disable it while nemulator is running.
Fixed handling of RMW instructions by MMC1 (Bill and Ted's Excellent Video Game Adventure, AD&D Hillsfar, etc. work now)
Turbo button support - press turbo button (by default, S for button A on joypad 1, A for button B) to enable/disable turbo mode. Hold down left shift while pressing button to decrease rate or right shift to increase rate.
Added support for SKB opcode (fixes Puzznic glitches)
Fixed scrolling bug in menu
Added config option to run nemulator as high priority process
Rewrite of cartridge/mapper interface
Added support for the following mappers:
- 10 (MMC4) - Fire Emblem
- 19 - Final Lap, Splatter House, Mappy Kids
- 25 - Gradius 2
- 32 - Image Fight
- 33 - Bubble Bobble 2 (J)
- 34 - Mashou (J)
- 40 - SMB2J FDS conversion
- 68 - After Burner
- 75 - Tetsuwan Atom, Exciting Boxing
- 79 - Krazy Kreatures
- 80 - Minelvation Saga, Kyonshiizu 2
- 87 - City Connection (J)
- 88 - Quinty (J), Devil Man (J)
- 103 - Doki Doki Panic FDS conversion
- 112 - San Guo Zhi - Qun Xion Zheng Ba
- 152 - Arkanoid II (J)
- 228 - Action 52, Cheetamen II

12/9/2010

The number of games displayed in the menu is now customizable. See menu_columns option in nemulator.ini.
Widescreen/fullscreen aspect ratio is selectable via app.widescreen option in nemulator.ini.
Fixed bug that could cause nemulator to hang while exiting.

12/6/2010

Lots of changes in this release:

Sound engine improvements - audible adjustments to playback frequency are essentially eliminated
Fixed IRQ behavior following CLI, PLP, and RTI instructions (fixes Pinbot, High Speed, and some test ROMs)
More accurate MMC3 implementation
Fixed sprite DMA from non-CPU memory (fixes Noah's Ark)
CRC-based detection for ROMs that aren't adequately described by iNES headers
ROMs are cached on startup for smoother scrolling through the menu (can be disabled in nemulator.ini)
Hotkeys for resetting games (F2) and switching between fast and accurate emulation modes (F3)
Emulation of emphasis bits and grayscale mode
Fixed handling of OAM reads via $2004 while rendering; Micro Machines is working properly now
A lot of code reorg/cleanup and a few bug fixes
Added support for the following mappers:
- MMC6 - Startropics
- 23 - Contra (J), Parodius, Crisis Force
- 67 - Fantasy Zone 2 (J)
- 78 - Holy Diver (J)
- 93 - Fantasy Zone (J)
- 94 - Senjou no Ookami
- 119 - Pinbot, High Speed
- 184 - Atlantis no Nazo
- 185 - Spy vs. Spy (J), Mighty Bomb Jack (J)

6/12/2010

Performance improvements
Some code cleanup and minor bug fixes

6/10/2010

I've discovered some new PPU behavior that allows The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles to be emulated without graphical glitches. nemulator is the first emulator to do this! Other changes:

MMC1 fixes - Robocop 3 is working now
MMC3 fixes - Gauntlet II, Mickey's Safari in Letterland, Kickle Cubicle, and probably others are working properly now
Joypad fixes - simultaneous left+right and up+down are no longer permitted
Added mapper 69 (FME-7) support (Hebereke, Batman - Return of the Joker, etc.)
Added mapper 66 (GxROM) support (Dragon Power, Thunder & Lightning, etc.)

1/30/2010

Four-screen mirroring fixes. Rad Racer 2 works correctly now (if it doesn't, your ROM most likely has the wrong mirroring info in its header; try another copy).
Support for SUROM boards (Dragon Warrior III and IV). Since the iNES format doesn't provide enough info to identify these boards, the mapper_variant option needs to be set to 1 for them in nemulator.ini (GoodNES ROMs are already configured).
SRAM wasn't being saved on reset; fixed.
Compiled using profile-guided optimization (PGO), resulting in 25% lower CPU utilization (if accurate mode was too slow before, try it now).
Support for monitor refresh rates other than 60Hz (see timer_sync option in nemulator.ini).

1/6/2010

Fixed a bug that, in some cases, prevented SRAM from being saved to disk.

1/5/2010

nemulator now includes a cycle-accurate emulation mode! This mode enables accurate emulation of games like Battletoads and Marble Madness and eliminates graphical glitches in many other games. The scanline-based (fast) mode is used in the menu, and the cycle-based (accurate) mode is used in-game. This is configurable in nemulator.ini.
Added options to disable sprite limiting (to reduce flicker) and to mask the sides of the screen (to hide scrolling glitches). These are configurable globally and on a per-game basis; see nemulator.ini.
Fixed bug that could cause random hangs on game selection.
Improved audio resampling.

12/25/2009

More accurate MMC3 emulation. Fixes Kirby's Adventure pause screen, Mega Man 5 level intro screen, etc.
Fixed bug in input handling which caused joypad 1 input to be used for both joypad 1 and 2.
Select and Start are now usable in menus.

Merry Christmas!

12/21/2009

nemulator 2.0 beta 2 contained a bug that caused glitches in the background while scrolling. 2.0 beta 2a corrects this.

12/19/2009

Joystick support (non-analog joysticks only, see nemulator.ini)
Menus: On the game selection screen, use A to select a game, B to bring up the menu. In-game, press start+select to bring up the menu.
Fullscreen mode configurable via nemulator.ini
Configurable reset and menu delay behavior (thanks to Alexander Rojas for the suggestions!)
Fixed bug that caused crashes when quitting while in fullscreen mode

7/7/2009

nemulator 2.0 development started in 2008 simply in order to switch from DirectDraw to Direct3D (both to fix compatability issues with Vista and as a learning experience). Along the way, it morphed into what you see today. The GUI is the primary feature of nemulator 2.0, but there are a ton of changes under the hood including improved mapper support, an improved sound engine, and many bug fixes.

2003-2008

nemulator development started in 2003 and was worked on, sporadically, through 2008.