-EMU Xpress has finally been updated, and the creator (Lance McKay) has been keeping up with the news during the downtime. The news is ALL up now, and the look of the site has been altered slightly. Welcome back Lance!
-Handy was updated to version .20 on the 26th, for more info go to the Lynx page.
-A new SNES EMU called NLKSNES was released yesterday, it's homepage is http://moon.inf.uji.es/~nerlaska/english.htm. This new emulator has been written in 100% ASM by the guys of Nerlaska Software. It should be faster than any EMU out there, including SNES96. Unfortunately, much is still missing from this initial release, including H-DMA support, and mode7, and thus it is hard to compare it to the leading EMUs. It looks promising though, because Carlos (Lord ESNES) is helping the author out, and I'm thinking that Carlos might eventually use the ASM code in ESNES.....but that's just a guess on my part.
-I have taken the liberty of changing the site around a bit. The Super Pasofami (SPW) page has been taken off of the site, due to a number of factors....
-I have also added a separate page for SNES96, which I never had before. The reasons for that are....
-VGB-DOS .86 was released on the 20th (Must have missed it), fixing a few more bugs, and further optimizing the code. Goto the GameBoy page for more info..
-Nebula (aka Greg Fodor) send me a cool rotating SNES GIF, which I have put on the sides of the title, as you probably saw. I apologize to the Low bandwidth people, but I though that the site needed a bit more personality. Thank you Greg! Feel free to use it on your pages too, Greg wants it to "Spread Around" :)
-The compatibility sections have been replaced with links to the SNES Emulator Review. This site will soon be able to give you much more up to date info that I could have alone, and I am testing ROMs for the site too.
-I got rid of HyperBoy from the Gameboy section. I didn't feel it was necessary anymore.
-The SNES Emulation Hub does not take up all of my time, I also do midday updates for Jim Pragit, of the EMU News Service, and now I am also testing ROMs for a new site called the SNES Emulator Review. The site is located at http://emureview.ztnet.com, and I invite everyone to check it out. It is still in its early stages, and much of the information is not available yet, but if you'd please E-mail any of us with any comments and suggestions for the site, it would be greatly appreciated.
-SNES96 .7 is out!! Speed is drastically improved. This is now the fastest SNES EMU my a noticeable margin. "Battletoads: Double Dragon" and "Apple Seed" (j) work correctly for the first time (That I've seen) "Donkey Kong Country" is actually smooth, yet still running at full speed on my P100. Get this now!!
-GenEm .19 was released yesterday, but I was really busy, and fell asleep before I could update the site. A trial version for Windows 95 was also released.
-The Brain has updated the VSMC page, like he told me he would a week ago :) It isn't quite as encouraging as I had hoped, but he is making some progress on sound support, and he will eventually be releasing his sound code to the public so that other SNES EMU authors will benefit. The better news is that he has almost completely figured out the IRQ and NMI timing for the SNES, and thus almost all ROMs are working now. He will release a new version as soon as he gets some sound working in commercial games.
-Well, another relatively slow news day. Today is the SNES EMU Hub's 50th day online!! In 50 days, I've gotten over 15,000 hits, and the page keeps getting more popular. Thanks to all of the people who have visited regularly for your support.
-NESticle .32 is out!!!
-Parodius.com is back!! Thus, Archaic Ruins has returned as well.
-I promised someone twice now that I would put his ESNES frontend on the site, but I lost the message/file AGAIN! If you see this mail me.
-I admit that I should be shot for not updating the page in so long, but I've had a really hectic week, and there hasn't been any really significant news until now.
-EMU Xpress is back! This news is a few days old, but you didn't miss much, as the page hasn't been updated yet. Get there from the Links page.
-NES-Lord .55 was released, but isn't available locally yet. Support for Paso ROMs has been added, among other things.
-I noticed that the GenEm hopepage has moved. The new URL can be found at the GenEm section of the Genesis page.
-VGB-DOS version .85 has been released, and Hans De Goede has apparently "cleaned up" the DOS code. (From Node99) A link to the real homepage has also been added to the VGB-DOS section of the Gameboy page. You can get this file at Node99 as well, because the homepage hasn't been working for me.
-Gary Henderson sent me a beta version of SNES96 .7, and the speed is MUCH improved. I was able to change the frame skipping option from 4 frames to 3 frames, and still get a speed increase over version .65. Certain graphics routines are VERY fast, and Apple Seed (j), and Battletoads:Double Dragon are functional for the first time. This will be made available to the public very soon, and no, I will not send you a copy. The major problem is that Punchout causes the EMU to crash, and there are a few minor glitches which weren't present in .65. Once Gary fixes these problems, it will be put on the SNES96/97 homepage.
-I would like to apologize to Carlos Lozano (Lord ESNES), for statements I made on one of the Newsgroups. I was challenging someone's claim that ESNES was the "Best" SNES EMU, by saying that SNES96 could run DKC, and that ESNES had outdated Mode7 support. Carlos informed me that his Mode7 WAS up to date, and that he didn't want to be accused of taking Gary's code. Although I did not intend to insinuate that, I do apologize..
-Gary Henderson, the man behind the newer versions of SNES96, mailed me today about the future of the EMU, and of SNES97. The following are two excerpts from his letter....
"Jerremy, the original author of Snes96, and I disagree on how some things should be implemented so I'm still working on Snes96. Jerremy then tends to move all new features (eventually) to Snes97."
"Snes96 is very much alive. Version 0.7 will be out in a few weeks with the CPU emulation rewritten in assembler - unfortunately, the screen redrawing is taking more time than I first thought so there is only going to be a 20% overall speed increase."
I hope this info clears up any questions about the status of these two great EMUs.
-I have been reading in various places on the net, that people think SNES96 .65 is the fastest EMU, so I though I must be missing something. Sure enough, if you put the command -f 4 -m 3 after the ROM name, the thing HAULS!! Apparently I was used to EMU's having frame skipping as the default, but SNES96 was not skipping any frames. This speed boost makes SNES96 .65 the fastest SNES EMU (for now), and I have been playing Donkey Kong Country 1 and 2 for a while today. I hope this helps some of you out there with slower systems, (P90 and below)
-I would personally like to thank everyone who has visited the site over the past 6 weeks, As you can see, I've now gotten over 10,000 hits, and I honestly never expected this much interest. I am happy that everyone seems to have positive comments about the site, and you are the reason that the SNES Emulation Hub is still up. Please let me know if you have any suggestions for the site, as it continues to be my goal to become the best SNES emulation site on the web. Once again: Thank you for your support!
-The last link on my links page, "EMU Xpress" has apparently been having problems with his ISP, and he is planning to bring the site back as soon as he can, I will keep the link on my page anyway, even though it is broken. Thanks to the EMU News Service for getting the info.
-I stumbled across some more ROM sites today, and I've added them to the ROMs page. In fact, 9 new ROM sites were uncovered, and I now have links to 21 SNES ROM sites!!
-I've added two more ROM sites to the SNES ROM page....enjoy.
-SNES Professional has been terminated, and the Paradox team has joined the SNES97 team in an attempt to make the ultimate free SNES EMU.
-Node99 is back, at a new home, and in a smaller form, (For now) Check the Links page.
-ESNES .12a was released today!!! Real time saving/loading has been added, some key CPU bugs were squashed, and mode7 and H-DMA were improved. God love ESNES!!
-Archaic Ruins may finally be back to it's old self. Chris has made the first major update to the page in about a month, and has even changed the graphics. Hopefully Archaic Ruins is finally out of its rut.
-NESticle Update!! Version .31 is out, and fixes a few problems which caused a number of games to stop working in the last version. Network play has also been improved. As stated on the NESticle page, "It's feeding time, devour it whole!!!" <<Not yet available locally>>
-For those of you who follow arcade emulation, MAME version .20 is out, but I don't support arcade emulators on this site, so goto Atmospherical Heights if that's your interest. Sorry
GenEm will be continued my Markus Gietzen, and it will still be free!!!! There isn't a new version yet (.17 is the latest), but we should expect a speedier version soon. Based on DarkSun #3, and my chats with Jim Pragit, the next version should yield a 30%-40% speed boost, but no real advances in emulation. Good enough for me!!! Check out Markus' GenEm Homepage for more info as it becomes available. There will be ports to MacOS and BeOS as well.
-I will be changing my compatibility sections soon, so that It will be a little easier for me to update. All compatibility info for all SNES EMUs will be on one page, so that you will see the name of the ROM, and then how it runs on each EMU. This should be better because you can easily compare the EMUs' performance with your favorite games. Expect it done by the end of the week.
-I added the Compatibility section, but all that's there is a complete listing of my ROMs. Consider it a preview of what's to come!! I'll be adding info starting tonight perhaps.
-lee.hyde@ndirect.co.uk (Lee), is officially honored, because I've now linked his ROM site to the ROM page. It's called the SNES Pool, and it has A LOT of ROM links. Unfortunately, most of the unique ROMs are on some BUSY ftp sites, so be patient!! http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Alley/9095/ If you have a page with SNES ROMs, no matter how many (5+ recommended), or know of any not listed in my SNES ROM page, let me know.
-DarkSun issue 3 is in circulation, but not yet available on it's homepage for some reason. Included are some lengthy chatlogs about the rise/fall/and rise again of NESticle, and rumors of a multi platform EMU. Interesting stuff.... The Dark Sun homepage is http://www.parodius.com/~wild/emumag.htm, if you want to see if it's been made available yet..
-A big thanks goes out to lone.eagle@cryogen.com for informing me that my ftp://regra.com/br link was not correct, and that the directory at regra has changed. This link now works again.
-My buddy Jim Pragit just released Version 1.4 of his GameMenu universal frontend utility, you can download it NOW from my Utilities page. The program now supports longer descriptions, has some bug fixes, and has screen clearing, it is compatible with almost every DOS based EMU. For a list of compatible EMUs goto Jim's GameMenu Page.
-The binaries have been updated to there new versions, and all missing ones were added.
-Slack@mailbox.neosoft.com (Loki), found the real URL for Rudy's emulation page, and it has been updated. I now have 9 active ROM sites for you to check out.
-NESticle isn't dead!!!!!! Version .3 is out with tons of fixes!! This is no joke!!!!!! As stated on the NESticle page, "It's feeding time, devour it whole!!!"
-I split the What's New page into monthly sections, which should help with load times, I'm going to leave a few days of April's news on here too, until it isn't important.