bsnes™ Usage Documentation


bsnes is a Super Nintendo / Super Famicom emulator that strives to provide the most faithful hardware emulation possible. It focuses on accuracy and clean code, rather than speed and special features. It is meant as a reference emulator to document how the underlying hardware works. It is thus very useful for development and research. And while it can be used for general purpose gaming, it will require significantly more powerful hardware than a typical emulator.

Modes of Operation


bsnes is capable of running both in its default multi-user mode, as well as in single-user mode.

In multi-user mode, configuration data is stored inside the user's home directory. On Windows, this is located at "%APPDATA%/.bsnes". On other operating systems, this is located at "~/.bsnes".

To enable single-user mode, create a blank "bsnes.cfg" file inside the same folder as the bsnes executable. bsnes will then use this file to store configuration data.

Supported Filetypes


SFC, SMC, SWC, FIG: SNES cartridge — ROM image.
BS: Satellaview BS-X flash cartridge — EEPROM image.
ST: Sufami Turbo cartridge — ROM image.
SRM, PSR: non-volatile memory, often used to save game data — (P)SRAM image.
RTC: real-time clock non-volatile memory.
UPS: patch data, used to dynamically modify cartridge of same base filename upon load.
CHT: plain-text list of "Game Genie" / "Pro Action Replay" codes.

Known Limitations


Satellaview BS-X emulation: this hardware is only partially supported. This is mostly because the satellite network it used (St. GIGA) has been shut down. Access to this network would be required to properly reverse engineer much of the hardware. Working around this would require game-specific hacks, which are contrary to the design goals of this emulator. As a result, most BS-X software will not function correctly.

Netplay: internet multiplay is not currently supported nor planned.

Contributors

• Andreas Naive
• anomie
• _Demo_
• Derrick Sobodash
• DMV27
• FirebrandX
• FitzRoy
• GIGO
• Jonas Quinn
• kode54
• krom
• Matthew Callis
• Nach
• neviksti
• Overload
• RedDwarf
• Richard Bannister
• Shay Green
• tetsuo55
• TRAC
• zones