Cross-platform multi-console emulator supporting a number of 8-bit and 16-bit gaming consoles.
Linux, Windows, and web (WASM) are officially supported. Other platforms may work but have not been tested.
- Emulation for the following consoles:
- Sega Genesis / Mega Drive
- Sega CD / Mega CD
- Sega 32X / Mega 32X
- SG-1000
- Sega Master System / Mark III
- Game Gear
- Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) / Famicom
- Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) / Super Famicom
- Game Boy / Game Boy Color
- Game Boy Advance
- PC Engine / TurboGrafx-16 (No CD-ROM2 support yet)
- GPU-based renderer with integer prescaling and optional linear interpolation
- Configurable pixel aspect ratio for each console with several different options: accurate to original hardware/TVs, square pixels, and stretched to fill the window
- Support for the Sega Master System FM sound unit expansion
- Support for the Sega Genesis SVP chip, used in Virtua Racing
- Support for the most common NES mappers, plus a number of less common mappers
- Support for most SNES coprocessors (e.g. Super FX, SA-1, DSP-1, CX4, S-DD1, SPC7110)
- Support for both 3-button and 6-button Genesis controllers
- Support for keyboard controls and DirectInput gamepad controls
- Save states, fast forward, and rewind
- Some simple horizontal blur and naive anti-dither shaders for blending dithered pixel patterns, which were extremely common on these consoles due to limited color palettes and lack of hardware-supported transparency
- Optional CPU overclocking for Sega Master System, Game Gear, and Genesis emulation
- Optional 2-4x GSU overclocking for SNES Super FX games
- Can run the Titan Overdrive and Titan Overdrive 2 demos for the Mega Drive
- CPU: Published release builds require a 64-bit x86 CPU with SSE4.2 support (every x86 CPU made since ~2011 should have this)
- Builds from source have no particular CPU requirements
- GPU: Must support Vulkan (cross-platform) or DirectX 12 (Windows 10+)
- RAM: 300 MB free or so should be enough with default settings
- Some settings can significantly increase RAM usage, e.g. increasing rewind buffer length or loading CD-ROM images into RAM
The GitHub Actions workflow compiles release builds on every commit, which will stay available for 90 days afterwards: https://github.com/jsgroth/jgenesis/actions
Note that these builds are not always well-tested and may have bugs.
See BUILD.md
All code in this repository is licensed under the GNU General Public License v3.0 unless explicitly stated otherwise at the top of the file (for example, some shader files are MIT-licensed).
- Z80 User Manual: https://map.grauw.nl/resources/cpu/z80.pdf
- The Undocumented Z80 Documented: http://www.myquest.nl/z80undocumented/z80-documented-v0.91.pdf
- Sega Master System architecture: https://www.copetti.org/writings/consoles/master-system/
- Sega Master System / Game Gear documentation: https://www.smspower.org/Development/Documents
- YM2413 application manual: https://www.smspower.org/maxim/Documents/YM2413ApplicationManual
- Reverse engineering of the YM2413: https://github.com/andete/ym2413
- M68000 Family Programmer's Reference Manual: https://www.nxp.com/docs/en/reference-manual/M68000PRM.pdf
- Motorola 68000 Opcodes: http://goldencrystal.free.fr/M68kOpcodes.pdf
- Mega Drive / Genesis architecture: https://www.copetti.org/writings/consoles/mega-drive-genesis/
- Mega Drive official documentation: https://segaretro.org/Mega_Drive_official_documentation
- Sega Genesis hardware notes by Charles MacDonald: https://gendev.spritesmind.net/mirrors/cmd/gen-hw.txt
- Aggregating Community Research: https://gendev.spritesmind.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=2227
- Mega Drive video timings: https://gendev.spritesmind.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=519
- Genesis ROM header reference: https://plutiedev.com/rom-header
- Genesis - Going beyond 4MB: https://plutiedev.com/beyond-4mb
- SEGA Mega Drive / Genesis hardware notes by Kabuto: https://plutiedev.com/mirror/kabuto-hardware-notes
- Huge thread discussing and detailing the YM2612: https://gendev.spritesmind.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=386
- Genesis EEPROM games: https://gendev.spritesmind.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=206
- SVP documentation by notaz, as well as earlier documentation work by Tasco Deluxe: https://notaz.gp2x.de/docs/svpdoc.txt
- Mega CD official documentation: https://segaretro.org/Mega-CD_official_documentation
- ECMA-130 standard: https://www.ecma-international.org/publications-and-standards/standards/ecma-130/
- Thread discussing details of Mega CD emulation: https://gendev.spritesmind.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3020
- 32X official documentation: https://segaretro.org/32X_official_documentation
- SH-1/SH-2 programming manual: https://antime.kapsi.fi/sega/files/h12p0.pdf
- SH7604 hardware manual: https://segaretro.org/images/2/2c/SH7604_Hardware_Manual.pdf
- 6502 Instruction Set: https://www.masswerk.at/6502/6502_instruction_set.html
- 6502 Hardware Manual: https://web.archive.org/web/20120227142944if_/http://archive.6502.org:80/datasheets/synertek_hardware_manual.pdf
- Documentation for the NMOS 65xx/85xx Instruction Set: https://www.nesdev.org/6502_cpu.txt
- Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) architecture: https://www.copetti.org/writings/consoles/nes/
- NESDev NES reference guide: https://www.nesdev.org/wiki/NES_reference_guide
- A 65816 Primer: https://softpixel.com/~cwright/sianse/docs/65816NFO.HTM
- Super Nintendo architecture: https://www.copetti.org/writings/consoles/super-nintendo/
- fullsnes - nocash SNES hardware specifications: https://problemkaputt.de/fullsnes.htm
- Anomie's SNES documents: https://www.romhacking.net/?page=documents&category=&platform=&game=&author=&perpage=20&level=&title=anomie&docsearch=Go
- SFC Development Wiki: https://wiki.superfamicom.org/
- Game Boy CPU (SM83) Instruction Set: https://gbdev.io/gb-opcodes/optables/
- Pan Docs: https://gbdev.io/pandocs/
- Game Boy Complete Technical Reference: https://gekkio.fi/files/gb-docs/gbctr.pdf
- Gameboy Sound Hardware: https://gbdev.gg8.se/wiki/articles/Gameboy_sound_hardware
- The Cycle-Accurate Game Boy Docs: https://github.com/geaz/emu-gameboy/blob/master/docs/The%20Cycle-Accurate%20Game%20Boy%20Docs.pdf
- This contains some outdated/incorrect information but is still useful
- Game Boy Advance Architecture: https://www.copetti.org/writings/consoles/game-boy-advance/
- ARM7TDMI Technical Reference Manual: https://www.csd.uoc.gr/~hy428/reading/ARM7TDMI_Technical_Reference_Manual.pdf
- GBATEK - GBA/NDS technical info: https://problemkaputt.de/gbatek.htm
- Tonc - GBA programming guide: https://gbadev.net/tonc/foreword.html
- mGBA blog: https://mgba.io/tag/development/
- NanoBoyAdvance hardware documentation: https://nba-emu.github.io/hw-docs/foreword.html
- PC Engine / TurboGrafx-16 Architecture: https://www.copetti.org/writings/consoles/pc-engine/
- PC Engine Developer Documentation: https://archive.org/details/PCEDev
- HuC6280 opcode matrix: https://www.chrismcovell.com/PCEdev/HuC6280_opcodes.html
- TurboGrafx-16 Hardware Notes by Charles MacDonald: https://www.romhacking.net/documents/302/
- Screen Resolution, VDC Setup, and Sprite Limits
- Mednafen and Mesen as references for some poorly-documented edge case behaviors