Best 8bit and 16but console emulation software?

CerealExperimentsLain · May 28, 2021

I didn't see anything saying not to discuss emulation so if this is against the rules, Mods, I'm sorry, I missed it. That said, I'm just asking for software commendations. I'm not asking where to acquire ROMs, ISOs, or BIOS files.

Anyway, I've been long out of the emulation game and it seems my default go do, ZSNES is a weee bit out dated. I've seen YouTube stuff talking about emulators with run ahead where it precalculates potential future frames and such, but anyway, for things like NES, SNES and Genesis, what's the best emulation software to be looking at right now? The PC hooked up to my TV has a 3900X in it so CPU resources should be no issue. I want to see as little emulation lag as possible while it looks crisp and crunchy on my 4K TV.

GorujoCY · May 28, 2021

I've heard RetroArch is great among emulator enthusiasts. So im not sure if you can still apparently be able to post regarding emulators tbh, I've never seen someone do that as well. But anyway that's my recommendation, I unfortunately do not belong to that kind of enthusiasts.

And yes there is a legality mix around here when it comes to ROMs, BIOSs and ISOs file regarding games so it is understandable for topics or help about emulation being significantly lower or next to none

WaggishOhio383 · May 28, 2021

Retroarch is great if you can take the time to figure out how to use it properly. The interface can be a bit daunting at first, so I'd recommend looking up a guide to see how to get started setting it up. For NES, SNES, and Genesis emulation, I use the Mesen, BSNES, and Genesis Plus GX cores respectively.

And discussion of emulation is most definitely allowed on the forum. What isn't allowed is discussion of how to pirate games, BIOS, etc to use in emulators. All emulation discussion is done under the assumption that you're providing your own legally obtained ROMs/ISOs.

AndreiArgeanu · May 28, 2021

RetroArch is probably one of the best ones. You can emulate games up to the PS2 and Nintendo 64 and in my opinion it's really easy to use and has a really nice interface.