The two original developers of ZSNES are finally back together! Introducing SUPER ZSNES! Re-written completely from scratch, this GPU-powered SNES emulator is here to bring you the following: some of what is familiar, some of what’s new, and then some of what goes beyond.
Key features:
- Far more accurate CPU and Audio cores than the original ZSNES
- GPU-powered PPU core to allow for hi-res Mode 7 and special per-game enhancement features
- Classic UI with falling snow, modernized with higher definition and improved UX
- Fast forward, rewind, save states, auto save history, save bookmarks, cheat codes, quick load, and more
- No Vibe Coding. Classic development style.
- Super Enhancement Engine, where the ZSNES developers are enhancing the games one at a time
This seems super bizarre in the face of bsnes. ZSNES as a name nowadays is basically nostalgia bait; base ZSNES – of the popular “big three” of bsnes, SNES-9X, and ZSNES – is the worst SNES emulator you can be using. Meanwhile, bsnes is fantastic (and even, for nostalgia pandering, has the falling snow as an option if that would break the bank).
“Who on Earth asked for this?”, is my question. “Classic development style” in the case of ZSNES was shitty, highly inaccurate HLE that worked just well enough for popular titles. It’s a honking heap of shit at this point that, in 99.99% of cases, you’d only use because you don’t know better. I have no idea what this new version does that’s remarkable enough to warrant its existence.
You clearly didn’t even care to read the website. It has an entirely different focus than bsnes: https://zsnes.com/#super-enhancement
The effects are kinda bizarre, btw :D
I did, and it seems super “whatever”, especially given it’s closed-source. “No vibe-coding, but fuck you if you want to verify that.”
I was a little worried this would be a continuation of the original codebase, because it’s so far behind that it would be easier to throw it all out and rewrite from scratch. Thankfully, it looks like this is a rewrite from scratch that’s only using the old name for nostalgiabait.
They are trying to bring something new to the table with hi-res Mode 7 and the Super Enhancement Engine, that actually sounds very cool. I’d still stick to bsnes for faithful 1:1 accuracy, but I’ll keep an eye on Super ZSNES to see what kinds of mods and romhacks will take advantage of it.
Users didn’t flock to zsnes because it was the most accurate, they used it because it completely nailed the user interface for loading, saving, input, and configuration.
What’s wrong in a nostalgia bait?
Nostalgia just isn’t what it used to be.