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Screen Shaders and Effects
The screen options of each system are set in START → Settings → Systems → [system]. Each game can have its own, from Game Menu → Settings → Screen or with SELECT + Y while playing. The game stays visible while you change them.
| Value | What it does |
|---|---|
| Integer | Scales the picture by a whole number, so every game pixel has the same size. The sharpest option. On screens narrower than 4:3, NES and Super Nintendo use the next size up and lose a few pixels at the edges. |
| Original Ratio | Fills the screen's height and keeps the system's shape. |
| Stretch | Fills the whole screen. |
At Original Ratio, the NES, Super Nintendo and Mega Drive show in 4:3, as on a TV. On screens narrower than 4:3 (such as square screens), NES and Super Nintendo show in 8:7 with square pixels instead, and the NES hides 8 lines at the top and bottom, as a TV did.
In game, SELECT + Up / Down change the size. On Game Boy, Game Boy Color and NES, L1 / R1 do it too.
When the picture already has the shape of your screen (Game Boy Advance on a 3:2 screen), the Screen Size row is not shown.
A shader changes how the picture is drawn, for example to imitate an LCD grid or a CRT TV. SELECT + A / B switch to the next or previous shader while playing.
Game Boy Advance: Off, Sharp Bilinear, LCD1x, LCD3x, zfast LCD, Simpletex, Dot, LCD Grid V2, Grid V2 + GBA, AGB-001, AGS-001.
Game Boy Color: Off, Sharp Bilinear, Grid, LCD1x, LCD3x, zfast LCD, Simpletex, Dot, LCD Grid V2, Dot Matrix Color.
Game Boy: Off, Sharp Bilinear, Grid, LCD1x, LCD3x, zfast LCD, Simpletex, Dot, LCD Grid V2, Dot Matrix.
NES, Super Nintendo, Mega Drive: Off, zfast-crt, fakelottes, crt-pi, crt-easymode, crt-hyllian, crt-aperture, GDV Trinitron, CRT Geom Deluxe, crt-royale, Super Eagle, xBR-lv2, SABR. The CRT shaders come first, from the lightest to the heaviest, then the pixel art smoothers.
A few notes:
- LCD3x is the default on the Game Boys and zfast-crt on the home consoles.
- Most LCD shaders keep every game pixel the same width at any screen size, by blending only the screen pixels that sit between two game pixels.
- Grid V2 + GBA includes its own GBA colours: Color Correction then shows BUILT-IN.
- Simpletex draws the picture on a paper texture.
- Dot Matrix draws the original Game Boy's dots in your palette's colours. Dot Matrix Color is its Game Boy Color version.
- Heavier shaders such as crt-royale need a more powerful GPU. If a game slows down, try a lighter shader or set Frame Pacing to RESPONSIVE (Settings → Emulation).
Game Boy Advance and Game Boy Color. ON adjusts the colours to look closer to the original screen, which was less saturated than a modern one. Default: OFF.
Game Boy only. When ON (default), Game Boy games are coloured with a palette. There are 49: mGBA's palettes plus TWB64 Game.com, the default. SELECT + L2 / R2 change the palette while playing.
An overlay around the picture: the slot. bezel on Game Boy and Game Boy Color, and Watomsk's designs for every system.
| System | Choices |
|---|---|
| Game Boy Advance | OFF, GBA CLASSIC, GBA, GBA SP, GBA ALT |
| Game Boy Color | OFF, SLOT., COLOR |
| Game Boy | OFF, SLOT., GAME BOY, POCKET |
| NES | OFF, NES, NES SILVER |
| Super Nintendo | OFF, SNES, SNES ALT, SNES SILVER, SNES SILVER ALT |
| Mega Drive | OFF, GENESIS CLASSIC, GENESIS, MEGA DRIVE |
The row only appears when your screen leaves room beside the picture.
Game Boy, Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance. Matt Akins' effects, adapted with his permission.
| Value | What it does |
|---|---|
| Off | No effect (default). |
| Pixel Transparency | The screen's backing shows through the pixels, as on the original LCD. |
| Sunlight Shimmer | Pixel Transparency with a light reflection that moves as you tilt the handheld. |
Some games flicker sprites on and off every other frame to draw shadows or transparency. On the original screens this looked smooth; on a modern screen it can look like flashing.
| Value | What it does |
|---|---|
| Off | Each frame as it is (default). |
| Mix | Each frame is blended with the previous one. The flicker becomes a steady transparency. |
| Ghosting | Each frame keeps a fading trace of the previous ones, like a slow LCD. |
Mega Drive only. Many Mega Drive games used striped or checkered patterns (dithering) for water, shadows and glass, which a TV blurred into a see-through colour. ON blends these patterns the same way. It uses Sp00kyFox's GDAPT, with the author's permission. Default: OFF.
Game Boy Advance Video cartridges have their own Screen page:
- Shader: the Game Boy Advance list. Default: LCD3x.
- Upscaler: Off, Bilinear, FSR (default), Anime4K Fast, Anime4K. Upscales the video before the shader. Anime4K asks the most of the GPU.
- Color Correction, Screen Size and Bezel, as above.
They have no LCD Effect or Frame Blending.