Nintendo - NES / Famicom (QuickNES)¶

Background¶

Nes_Emu, the core NES emulator library used by QuickNES, began as a very simple NES emulator sometime in 2004. It was based on the 6502 CPU core and APU sound core used in the Game_Music_Emu sound engine.

The QuickNES core has been authored by

blargg
kode54

The QuickNES core is licensed under

GPLv2

A summary of the licenses behind RetroArch and its cores can be found here.

Compatibility¶

Game	Issue
Burai Fighter	Softlocks when entering a level. Confirmed issue. MMC3 incompatible.
Family Circuit '91	Crashes on start. Unsupported Mapper 210.
Huge Insect	No enemies spawn. Mapper 3 confirmed issue. Unemulated bus conflict handling.
Skull & Crossbones	Crashes on start. Unsupported Mapper.

Extensions¶

Content that can be loaded by the QuickNES core have the following file extensions:

.nes

RetroArch database(s) that are associated with the QuickNES core:

Nintendo - Nintendo Entertainment System

Features¶

Frontend-level settings or features that the QuickNES core respects.

Feature	Supported
Restart	✔
Screenshots	✔
Saves	✔
States	✔
Rewind	✔
Netplay	✔
Core Options	✔
RetroAchievements	✔
RetroArch Cheats	✕
Native Cheats	✕
Controls	✔
Remapping	✔
Multi-Mouse	✕
Rumble	✕
Sensors	✕
Camera	✕
Location	✕
Subsystem	✕
Softpatching	✔
Disk Control	✕
Username	✕
Language	✕
Crop Overscan	✕
LEDs	✕

Directories¶

The QuickNES core's library name is 'QuickNES'

The QuickNES core saves/loads to/from these directories.

Frontend's Save directory

File	Description
*.srm	Cartridge battery save

Frontend's State directory

File	Description
*.state#	State

Geometry and timing¶

The QuickNES core's core provided FPS is 60
The QuickNES core's core provided sample rate is 44100 Hz
The QuickNES core's base width is 256
The QuickNES core's base height is 240
The QuickNES core's max width is 256
The QuickNES core's max height is 240
The QuickNES core's core provided aspect ratio is 4/3 when the 'Aspect Ratio' core option is set to 4/3
The QuickNES core's core provided aspect ratio is 8/7 when the 'Aspect Ratio' core option is set to 8/7

Core options¶

The QuickNES core has the following option(s) that can be tweaked from the core options menu. The default setting is bolded.

Settings with (Restart) means that core has to be closed for the new setting to be applied on next launch.

Allow Opposing Directions [quicknes_up_down_allowed] (disabled|enabled)

Enabling this will allow pressing / quickly alternating / holding both left and right (or up and down in some games) directions at the same time.

This may cause movement based glitches to occur in certain games.

It's best to keep this core option disabled.
Aspect ratio [quicknes_aspect_ratio_par] (PAR|4:3)

Configure QuickNES's core provided aspect ratio.
Show horizontal overscan [quicknes_use_overscan_h] (enabled|disabled)

Set this to disabled to crop out (horizontally) the potentially random glitchy video output that would have been hidden by the bezel around the edge of a standard-definition television screen.
Show vertical overscan [quicknes_use_overscan_v] (disabled|enabled)

Set this to disabled to crop out (vertically) the potentially random glitchy video output that would have been hidden by the bezel around the edge of a standard-definition television screen.

No sprite limit [quicknes_no_sprite_limit] (enabled|disabled)

Removes the 8-per-scanline hardware limit. This reduces sprite flickering but can cause some games to glitch since some use this for effects.

Audio mode [quicknes_audio_nonlinear] (nonlinear|linear|stereo panning)

Configure audio mode.

Stereo panning simulates stereo by using a panning method and some reverb effects to add some depth.
Audio equalizer preset [quicknes_audio_eq] (default|famicom|tv|flat|crisp|tinny)

Applies a preset to the audio equalizer.
Color Palette [quicknes_palette] (default|asqrealc|nintendo-vc|rgb|yuv-v3|unsaturated-final|sony-cxa2025as-us|pal|bmf-final2|bmf-final3|smooth-fbx|composite-direct-fbx|pvm-style-d93-fbx|ntsc-hardware-fbx|nes-classic-fbx-fs|nescap|wavebeam)

Specifies which color palette to use when decoding the NTSC video signal output by the NES.

Color Palette: default

Color Palette: asqrealc

Color Palette: nintendo-vc

Color Palette: rgb

Color Palette: yuv-v3

Color Palette: unsaturated-final

Color Palette: sony-cxa2025as-us

Color Palette: pal

Color Palette: bmf-final2

Color Palette: bmf-final3

Color Palette: smooth-fbx

Color Palette: composite-direct-fbx

Color Palette: pvm-style-d93-fbx

Color Palette: ntsc-hardware-fbx

Color Palette: nes-classic-fbx-fs

Color Palette: nescap

Color Palette: wavebeam

Turbo enable [quicknes_turbo_enable] (none|player 1|player 2|both)

Enables the use of the Turbo A and Turbo B buttons.
Turbo pulse width (in frames) [quicknes_turbo_pulse_width] (3|5|10|15|30|60|1|2)

Specifies both the width and spacing (in frames) of input 'pulses' when the Turbo A and Turbo B buttons are held down. For example, the default setting of '3' corresponds to a (60/(3+3)) = 10 Hz turbo frequency (10 presses per second).