How SNES emulators got a few pixels from complete perfection • Hacker News Board

Re: How SNES emulators got a few pixels from complete perfection

#121

Post by lostgame » Thu, Apr 02, 2020, 1:21 PM UTC

naniwaduni wrote: post #83

tgsovlerkhgsel wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would assume that from a practical standpoint, the SNES emulation 'war' is lost for all practical definitions of it - pirates can run everything they want in more than sufficient quality using any of multiple options. So Nintendo doesn't have much to lose by letting the few geeks that want perfection for perfection's sake have it.

Third-party SNES emulator are more accurate than Virtual Console.

Wasn't Sony caught using an open-source PS1 emulator for their recently-released(ish) Playstation Mini?

Re: How SNES emulators got a few pixels from complete perfection

#122

Post by HeWhoLurksLate » Thu, Apr 02, 2020, 1:41 PM UTC

lostgame wrote: post #121

naniwaduni wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Third-party SNES emulator are more accurate than Virtual Console.

Wasn't Sony caught using an open-source PS1 emulator for their recently-released(ish) Playstation Mini?

Yes

Re: How SNES emulators got a few pixels from complete perfection

#123

Post by DCKing » Thu, Apr 02, 2020, 1:55 PM UTC

naniwaduni wrote: post #83

tgsovlerkhgsel wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would assume that from a practical standpoint, the SNES emulation 'war' is lost for all practical definitions of it - pirates can run everything they want in more than sufficient quality using any of multiple options. So Nintendo doesn't have much to lose by letting the few geeks that want perfection for perfection's sake have it.

Third-party SNES emulator are more accurate than Virtual Console.

It's worth noting that the Virtual Console SNES emulator doesn't really have a reputation for inaccuracy. For sure it's not as accurate as Higan/bsnes but by all accounts it's pretty decent. Of course it was made for running in different constraints. It runs many games very well on the New 3DS' 804MHz ARM11 or the Wii's 729MHz PowerPC G3. Bsnes won't run much in those constraints.

Re: How SNES emulators got a few pixels from complete perfection

#124

Post by scott_s » Thu, Apr 02, 2020, 1:55 PM UTC

scandinavegan wrote: post #95

smabie wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Especially Chrono Trigger! That game is amazing!

I really want it on the Switch! I played the emulated version on PC, and I know it's now available on both Steam (I heard that they fixed the broken early version) and mobile, but it would be very convenient to have it on the Switch. I read that due to licensing it's unlikely to show up in SNES Online, but I don't see why they don't release it as a separate game. They don't need to remaster or remake anything, just r…

The DS version is an excellent port - much better than the Final Fantasy ports to the GBA, because they didn't have to compromise on the resolution. It's selling for about $55 now.

(Yes, I know this is quite different than having it on the Switch, but I mentioned it in case you have a DS and wasn't aware.)

Re: How SNES emulators got a few pixels from complete perfection

#125

Post by DCKing » Thu, Apr 02, 2020, 1:58 PM UTC

lostgame wrote: post #121

naniwaduni wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Third-party SNES emulator are more accurate than Virtual Console.

Wasn't Sony caught using an open-source PS1 emulator for their recently-released(ish) Playstation Mini?

I don't think "caught" really is the proper word to use, when they credited the PCSX-Rearmed project in the menu of the Playstation Classic. It might be considered somewhat embarrassing they didn't make their own better emulator (I guess?), but it's not as if they were actively hiding it either.

Re: How SNES emulators got a few pixels from complete perfection

#126

Post by greggh » Thu, Apr 02, 2020, 1:59 PM UTC

greggh wrote: post #52

byuu wrote: post #47

Hi all, thank you for sharing this article here! It is technically a "laymen's" version of https://byuu.org/articles/edge-of-emulation (submitted here earlier), meant for a wider audience, but it does elaborate on some new discoveries such as the digital video output testing mode. In the off chance anyone is able to help with this, I've set up a Discord channel (#ars) for coordination here: https://discord.gg/Fx7TfKh…

I'm sure the answer is no, but I emailed a few people at NERD (Nintendo European Research & Development). Asked the obvious question about the documentation even existing anymore, and if there were any possibilities of it ever being made public. You've probably done that already, but I figured it was worth a shot. I'll update if I actually get a response.

The response was as expected. Nice people, but it wasn't confirmed if they have documentation or not, and I was told that if they do or don't the policy is not to make any of that public.

Re: How SNES emulators got a few pixels from complete perfection

#127

Post by blaser-waffle » Thu, Apr 02, 2020, 2:07 PM UTC

lostgame wrote: post #121

naniwaduni wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Third-party SNES emulator are more accurate than Virtual Console.

Wasn't Sony caught using an open-source PS1 emulator for their recently-released(ish) Playstation Mini?

I can't confirm it, but it wouldn't surprise me in the least. Throw some scripts in there at boot to do some env setup and then let 'er run. Probably plays nicer with COTS hardware, and no heavy back-end coding required.

Which is essentially the point of re-releasing that, or selling old Nintendo games on the Wii/Switch market -- easy cash grabs with little overhead effort.

Re: How SNES emulators got a few pixels from complete perfection

#128

Post by lostgame » Thu, Apr 02, 2020, 2:11 PM UTC

DCKing wrote: post #125

lostgame wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wasn't Sony caught using an open-source PS1 emulator for their recently-released(ish) Playstation Mini?

I don't think "caught" really is the proper word to use, when they credited the PCSX-Rearmed project in the menu of the Playstation Classic. It might be considered somewhat embarrassing they didn't make their own better emulator (I guess?), but it's not as if they were actively hiding it either.

Yeah, I meant 'caught' as in they were caught in that they couldn't do better.

Re: How SNES emulators got a few pixels from complete perfection

#129

Post by _v7gu » Thu, Apr 02, 2020, 2:17 PM UTC

willis936 wrote: post #116

sjwright wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t agree. Canonical status is bestowed by the artist/author, not the publisher, and certainly not a republisher. If Lord of the Rings is republished with page 527 arbitrarily missing, that omission doesn’t become canon.

Yes but if there was a second edition released by Tolkien, that would be canon. There could have been changes in page 527, such as Sam and Frodo run away to start a domestic life together, and it would be official. It would also cause quite a stirring and fracture the community. You see smaller scale scandals of the same variety everytime nintendo rereleases a poorly emulated title. Copyright needs to be fixed.

Canon is whatever your heart (or in the case of roms, the speedrunning community) declares it to be. I'd previously be arguing for authorial intent, but JK Rowling ruined it for everyone.

Re: How SNES emulators got a few pixels from complete perfection

#130

Post by armitron » Thu, Apr 02, 2020, 2:31 PM UTC

byuu wrote: post #47

Hi all, thank you for sharing this article here! It is technically a "laymen's" version of https://byuu.org/articles/edge-of-emulation (submitted here earlier), meant for a wider audience, but it does elaborate on some new discoveries such as the digital video output testing mode. In the off chance anyone is able to help with this, I've set up a Discord channel (#ars) for coordination here: https://discord.gg/Fx7TfKh…

Please don't use discord if you can avoid it, it's spyware.