Several SNES (Super Nintendo Entertainment System) emulators are available, each with strengths and weaknesses. Some of the most popular SNES emulators include:
- ZSNES: ZSNES is one of the most popular and well-regarded SNES emulators. It is known for its high compatibility, speed, and accuracy. It is available for Windows, Linux, and macOS.
- SNES9x: SNES9x is another highly regarded SNES emulator known for its accuracy and compatibility. It is available for Windows, Linux, and macOS.
- higan: higan is a multi-system emulator that supports several classic gaming consoles, including the SNES. It is known for its high accuracy but may require a more powerful computer to run smoothly. It is available for Windows, Linux, and macOS.
- RetroArch: RetroArch is a popular front-end emulator that can run several emulation cores, including one for the SNES. It is highly customizable and has a large community of users and developers. It is available for Windows, Linux, macOS, and several other platforms.
There’s nothing like the unforgettable nostalgia boost you get from playing retro SNES games from the 90s, considering that gaming has changed leaps and bounds over the past 3 odd decades.
However, since SNES-style consoles are out of fashion these days and having your hands on a functioning model could prove to be a herculean task, playing games such as Super Mario or Donkey Kong could be a nightmare.
You’re now forced to use emulators to play classic SNES Emulator games and while there are quite a few choices to pick from, not all of them are able to provide the same experience you’d get from playing the game on an old-time console.
It is quick to move from one new release to the next in the ever-changing world of video games, thus leaving a slew of great releases in the dust.
Unfortunately, unless you use an emulator, many great titles are not easy to play anymore. A decent number of Super Nintendo (SNES) games have not been published in the West, translated into English, or sold in the U.S. And if you do have a duplicate, if your equipment is not in the best condition, it can be hard to get it to work properly.
Then, where do you turn? Emulators are a fantastic way to try yesteryear’s games, but not just anybody can do it.
A note on Emulators
In murky legal terrain, emulators have always existed. While games played by emulation are no longer sold, the original company also retains the copyright. In most countries, emulators are legal, but installing a game to play on an emulator is often not, and in most countries, distributing an emulator is considered an infringement.
Nintendo is particularly protective of its software, and while it has not gone after people downloading emulators, it has placed pressure on individuals to download games. This also makes emulators a prime target for malware spread, as few “official” distribution channels exist.
Retroarch (Best SNES Emulator)
RetroArch, a wonderful SNES simulator that comes with cross-platform support, is kicking off the list, enabling users to play SNES games on a number of different platforms. For emulators that run programs translated into dynamic libraries called Liberto cores, RetroArch is often defined as a front-end. In turn, the app provides the consumer with a polished GUI for a wide variety of retro games to enjoy, making it very easy to use. A variety of different controllers are supported by the emulator, and it provides some advanced features, such as shaders, netplay, and rewinding.
In addition, RetroArch will natively capture and stream the gameplay to popular streaming sites such as Twitch tv and YouTube. Since the simulator uses various Liberto cores to run games, it allows users to play many other games published on consoles such as Nintendo Wii, GameCube, Game Boy, 3DS, Sega Dreamcast, etc. but it also supports classic SNES games. This makes it the best emulator for RetroArch since it does not restrict users to games released for a single console.
- First, Windows PC, macOS, Linux, Android, Web, and many gaming consoles are available. Yeah, also, on your gaming console, you can install RetroArch if you like. For several, the cross-platform compatibility makes it a go-to emulator.
- The developers provided videos and compilation guides with instructions. They are really easy to follow.
- For multiple gaming consoles, like SNES, you can run emulators using what the developers call Liberto cores.
- For a large number of games, it offers assistance. You can play games as long as you’ve got the ROMs.
Higan
Higan, another great emulator that supports several consoles, including SNES, is taking second place. Higan (formerly referred to as Bsnes) emulates as faithfully as possible the original hardware, delivering a gaming interface that you can not find on any other emulator. However, Higan is a fairly challenging emulator due to the way the emulation operates and may not work well on low-end or older computers.
On the bright side, if SNES games are what you care for, the simulator is able to run every commercial SNES title ever released, making it the ideal pick. Higan is currently supported by 12 platforms, including Nintendo Famicom, Nintendo Super Famicom, Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, Sega Master Machine, Sega Game Gear, Sega Mega Drive, NEC PC Engine, NEC SuperGrafx, Bandai WonderSwan, and Bandai WonderSwan Color.
Higan is the product of Byuu, one of the major players in the emulation area. 12 different systems can run the current version, but the SNES was the one that started it all. Byuu is also the developer of the acclaimed bsnes emulator that formed the basis for higan, and you’ll want to catch higan if you’re searching for the most recent version of the heart.
- It is a multi-platform emulator that can be run on Windows, macOS, and Linux, all three major operating systems.
- Apart from SNES, it has support from 11 other systems. Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, Sega Game Gear, Nintendo Famicom, Nintendo Super Famicom, and so on are some of those systems.
- The simulator has the capacity to increase color reproduction. That’s one of the qualities I love, and so will you.
- Every known commercial SNES title that has been published so far is sponsored.
- The user interface is excellent and classic when playing the Retro Mario Game.
SNES 9X (Best SNES Emulator)
Next up is SNES 9x, an easy-to-use simulator that needs no modification and enables users to play games directly after the first extraction. The simulator will run nearly all SNES titles without significant problems, and it runs reasonably well on comparatively aged hardware.
SNES9x is one of the best low-end hardware SNES emulators out there and it provides a great variety of functionality, including Performance Image Processing for improved graphics, save states to save games at the exact place you want them to save, easily forward to speed up games, along with a recording option that helps you to catch your gameplay’s .avi movies.
- On a Windows PC, macOS, and Linux, this thing will run.
- It comes with a multitude of features for graphics optimization. For example, it can help you de-pixelate, providing high-quality filtering to mimic the performance of interlaced CTR TV.
- For Super Nintendo play, it supports various formats that include: ‘.smc,’ ‘.sfc,’ ‘.swc,’ and ‘.fig.’
- This will allow us to save our gameplay.
- This enables us to take screenshots.
- This makes it easier to record gameplay.
- For gamepads, it has support.
BIzHawk
You should certainly take a peek at BizHawk if you’re a fan of speedruns and want to finish a game in the fastest time possible. The simulator has been developed primarily for Tool Aided Speedruns (TAS) development and works equally well for casual gaming.
The simulator provides support for multi-platform titles, including NES, SNES, Nintendo 64, Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Sega Genesis, Sega Saturn, PlayStation, Atari 2600, etc., meaning that with this emulator, you will be able to experience a lot more games than with any other.
- With native support, it is a multi-platform emulator.
- It enables mapping for controllers and hotkey mapping.
- There is also a rewinding function on the emulator.
- It has game recording support and Lua scripting.
- The simulator has the support and also speed control for rewinding and frameset.
- For Tool-Assisted Speedruns, BizHawk is designed to allow even the most inexperienced players to look like pro players.
ZSNES
ZSNES is another great Super Nintendo emulator that you can use with relative ease to run the most common SNES titles. While the production of the emulator stopped back in 2007, it is still quite capable and simple to use, which is why it is still quite popular among enthusiasts of emulation.
ZSNES has a decent variety of features, including video performance enhancement filters, save state support, and a fantastic list of recently played games that keep track of 10 of the most recent games you’ve played on the emulator. It is worth noting that ZSNES has proven security exploit and it is possible for a ROM to send you to a website and install unauthorized applications on your device, however by installing ROMs from reputable sources, the exploit can easily be avoided.
Development started on ZSNES in 1997, and although it became popular, it’s still in regular use among the least accurate emulators. It’s completely dreadful in its implementation compared to the emulators above. Yet there are a few great reasons for keeping a copy around.
You’re going to run into problems with high-accuracy emulators like bsnes or SNES9x if you want to try out any SNES ROM hacks, which are fan modifications of existing games. Since ZSNES was so popular when it became popular with SNES ROM hacks and ROM hacking software, many of them used the emulator to test their games. That means that many ROM hacks were not built with precision in mind but around ZSNESES’ peculiarities.
- It has the navigation of the old-school retro kind.
- The Interface was very easy and very intuitive.
- It focuses mainly on game speed.
- Multiple platforms are supported, including Linux and DOS.
Open EMU (Best SNES Emulator)
You can take a look at OpenEMU if you’re on a Mac and are looking for a multi-system simulator that runs on your system well. OpenEMU development began back in 2007 and it was originally just a port for the Nestopia NEX/Famicom emulator. Owing to the fact that it’s sort like a front-end for a variety of different emulators, the simulator is a lot like RetroArch, forcing you to download extra cores to play sports.
It is relatively straightforward to use and has a really clean UI that really complements the overall aesthetic of macOS.
- Cycle-accurate emulation of hardware is used.
- It has full-screen mode support, audio effects, USB gamepads, and joysticks (available with Emulator Enhancer shareware addon).
- It is a multi-platform emulator, meaning that various gaming platforms are supported out of the box.
- It comes with support for multi-monitor, rewind support, support for cheat code search, and screenshots support.
- It even autosaves the games regularly.
- It offers 100% bug-free compatibility.
Nestopia UE
Nestopia is an NES simulator with high accuracy that is able to play most NES games without any problems and includes features such as texture scaling and netplay. It is more or less dead in its original state, however, as its creators stopped production back in 2008, which is where Nestopia UE comes in. Nestopia UE (Undead Edition) is a key simulator for RetroArch that you can use if you don’t want to go through the RetroArch configuration hassle.
The emulator comes with some awesome features such as game-specific custom palettes, cheat support, mic support from Famicom, which make it a great choice out there for emulation fans. Nestopia UE is, as you would imagine, pretty easy to set up and has a user-friendly guide that helps you to install and run games in no time. The simulator also comes with support from VSync, but if you plan on using the function, brace for some input lag.
No$SNS emulator (Best SNES Emulator)
The No$SNS simulator is one of its most excellent debugging capabilities features. This includes an assembler, a disassembler, and even a system that allows you to test code on a real SNES. These features will be extremely useful when you’re interested in homebrew or ROM tricks. For individualizing your experience and teaming up with unique peripherals, No$SNS is an excellent option.
- It just got simpler and a lot more exciting to play nostalgic games.
- Now, instead of thinking about problems with malware and licensing, you can choose a quality SNES emulator from any year to explore games.
- That being said, with SNES or any other site, we don’t promote any illegal activity, so play at your own risk.
SNES 9X++ (Best SNES Emulator)
You can certainly try out SNES9x EX+, the Android port for SNES9x if you’re looking for a great SNES emulator for your Android smartphone. All the standard features you would expect from any SNES emulator are included in the emulator, including save/load states, on-screen buttons, support for a number of file types, and support for gamepads.
- Granted, the simulator looks a little old school, but there’s no point in moaning about the UI because it works very well.
- What’s also cool is that SNES9x EX+ is totally free and ad-free with no in-app purchases, unlike some other SNES emulators for Android.
- Bear in mind that only machines with a processor clocked at 1GHz or more would perform well on the simulator.
Nes. Emu
If the architecture of SNES9x EX+ bugs you, you can also check out NES.emu, another fantastic Android NES emulator that runs very well on virtually all Android devices with a processor of at least 1 GHz. A lot of fun features are included in the emulator, including backup and save state support, hack support, multi-touch on-screen buttons, and many more.
- In addition, NES.emu also provides Bluetooth/USB gamepad and keyboard support, which guarantees that you can attach a retro-style controller to your Android smartphone and enjoy a real NES experience on the go.
- The emulator also enables you to play the landscape orientation of NES games, which separates it from SNES9x EX+, which only allows portrait orientation.
LDPlayer (Best SNES Emulator)
LDPlayer is an emulator for Android which focuses on gaming performance. It supports the normal collection of gamer-oriented features running Android Nougat 7.1, including strong controls for keyboard mapping, multi-instance, macros, high FPS, and graphical support. This is one of the few emulators on the list that gets active updates to boost compatibility.
- A large variety of games are sponsored, including Garena Free Fire, Among Us, Clash of Clans, and many others.
- LDPlayer has improved the performance of League of Legends: Wild Rift in the new releases, including default keymapping for various champions and other custom functions.
- Besides that, for using TikTok, Ins, LDPlayer is also a well-rounded emulator.
SNES mini (Best SNES Emulator)
Without owning a vintage SNES, there is one fully legal and secure way to play SNES games. It’s Nintendo’s own Retro Version SNES.
In the SNES Classic Version, Nintendo didn’t create an entire SNES. Instead, they switched to the same architecture that almost every microcomputer uses to power their adorable micro-console: Linux on an ARM processor, like the one found on most smartphones. A custom emulator called Canoe was designed by Nintendo as well. The Canoe simulator is far from the most compatible, or even the most accurate. It doesn’t even properly imitate any of the games included in the SNES Classic.
- In the SNES Classic Version, Nintendo didn’t create an entire SNES.
- Instead, they switched to the same architecture that almost every microcomputer uses to power their adorable micro-console: Linux on an ARM processor, like the one found on most smartphones.
- A custom emulator called Canoe was designed by Nintendo as well.
- The Canoe simulator is far from the most compatible, or even the most accurate. It doesn’t even properly imitate any of the games included in the SNES Classic.
- But it is serviceable, has low overhead, and has the benefit of being the basis for a price-capable micro-console.
Main uses of Emulators
Emulators have three main applications. The first one is the most prominent and it is for gamers. Players should use emulators on their machines to make those games easier to play. They don’t have to rely on their devices’ battery power, and the presence of macros and other tricks assist the operation. In most cases, these little tricks (in most games) are not illegal, but nobody ever has a problem with them. LDPlayer, Bluestacks, MeMu, KoPlayer, and Nox are among the best Android emulators for gaming.
The second most prevalent cause of usage is growing. Developers of Android applications and games like to test apps and games on as many smartphones as possible before launch. The Android Studio simulator is usually okay for this kind of task. Xamarin and Genymotion, however, are also excellent for this kind of usage.
Productivity is the final principal form. This is not quite as popular since Chromebooks on anything other than a computer are cheaper and easier for using Android applications because most usability platforms are cross-platform. Any game simulator functions to an extent as a productivity emulator. However, ARChon and Bliss should pursue others with hyper-specific use cases and little expertise.
A bit of a disclaimer, finally. No emulators are running the new versions of Android at this time, except for those made for developers. Fortunately, most applications and games on older versions of Android still run, so this shouldn’t be a big deal. Most emulators, though, run between Android 7.0 Nougat and Android 9.0 Pie.
Conclusion
Super Nintendo Emulators for Windows PC are not missing. The six that I described here are the best in the industry. There are some that even your Android device will get for you. However, because of the big screen, improved controls, and beefed-up hardware, playing games on your PC has a different level of attraction!