The NES dedeu in 1983(4), (around the same time that the Apple II's came out.) It was
the first major game console to provide raster (sprite) based graphics instead of the vector based graphics like the
Vertex, and had a higher output resolution abolsihing the blocky graphics of systems like the Atari 2600.
It had a
(now modest) 32 color palatte,( 4 per sprite at a time.) This game system was the first system to bring arcade games to
the homes of many gamers.
Its popularity (unlike that of the Apple II's) lasted over 10 years! This spured
development of a redesigned version of the NES with a newer NES. IT had a sleek design with a SNESish look. It included a
more confortable controller, thanks to its a rounded edges. The NES's popularity pretty much died in the mid 1990's, thanks
to the arrival of 32-bit game systems, like the Sega Saturn.
Assesories for the unit (much like the SNES) included some game console firsts:
The NES Zapper - this device gave shot-up games more realizm by using a "gun" to shot opponents on the screen.
NES robot
- A robot that did nothing practical at all.
Power pad - A mat that let a user run, jump and have
limited interaction with game by steping on the large numbered sensors.
Power Glove - Pretty much the
first commercial Virtual Reality Device. The glove allowed you to control some 3-d games with your hand, and, probally
most cool of all, fight the champ himself with your fist in Mike Tusons Punch out!
The Emulators
There are 3 descent emmulators. All of them have acceptable game speed. There are others,
but, the don't support too many games.
iNES This windows based emulator runs familar well. It has better sprite control then PAS26b,
is multi-tasking friendly, runs alot of games (ver. 0.6, as I was told), has battery backup support, and uses and single file format (.NES.)
It has support to sound support, but you must register the product to enable that feature.
FamicomS Yet another windows based emulator. It does a great job emulating graphics for the most part,
and it has sound support as well, which I feel is much better then Pas26B's.
Only problem is that it uses .FAM file format. (Convertion tips will become avalible as soon as a fully working converter comes out.) And the program is in Japanise.
The packet for the this emulator comes with a translated version in enlgish of the program and some games, (Super MArio world among others)
Since hardly any games in in this format.
Pas26bThis Windows based emulator is the best NES emulator by far! Runs most
games, has a screen capture and game save option, and it includes a sprite editor. It has sound supprt, but the sound
emulation is not that good, and the text and document files are in Japanise!
(Translation patch avalible.) But most important of all, the emulator uses a split cartrage format, meaning the Rom
image of a cartrage is split into 4 files, instead of a logical one file.
NESANesa (not NASA,) is a DOS based
NES emulator. It uses the same cart format that INES uses, (.NES). It runs some games fine, but it has a sloppy graphics
control for others. So far, Metriod is the game that runs best on this emulator. (Note, the older version of the emulator
had a bad color pattle translation, meaning the colors where all screwed up. Its fixed now.)
Nesticle [Homepage]
The best NES emulator hands down! Has great graphical and sound emulation, though a bit buggy
at times. It also supports "game state save " to preserve a point it the game for later playing or as a tacticle procedure to
repeat a hard part in a game until you get it right. Another neat feature is the NES movie capturing ability to pretty much record
what you are seeing on screen to a file. You will need the ROM to play the movie clip and there is no support to convert it to a .AVI
format video clip. It is, however a good way to inspect your playing style to improve it or record the endings of video games.
Also in this release is Game Genie Cheat supprt where the codes can be saved to file for later use, joystick, gamepad and Gravis(c) GRiP(c)
controller.
Lord NES" No info yet.
FAmicon No info yet.
Is it worth all the trouble?
Of course! Be sure to get only the classics or you'll be just wasting your time on a crappy game. Also, be sure to get the "Rockfire"
gamepad if you want to be able to use a gamepad on the emulator
What works and what doesn't:
What works:
Just about any one, but you'll have to experiment on which emulator works best for what game.
What doesn't
Chances are that it will work on one of the emulators. It it doesn't, then you probally got
a bad copy or the game. So, be picky on what to games to download and use.
What's worth it and whats not:
What's worth it:
The classics.
What's not worth it:
Games that are not popular, otherwise you'll be wasteing you time with some crappy game that probally sold for $5!
Stuff to Download
Games
Blaster Master
Game Sites
Emulating Life - The BEST site for SNES games.
Not a ROM site, but a Nesticle format Game Genie Patches
A Nesticle NES movie site.
PC Equivilents
Bomber Man - Game play is not that bad. It even comes with the Qbasic source code, so
it is not problem to find a way to cheat.
Castlevania - I received a copy from Alan(that IS your name, right?). Though the PC version
uses the 16 color EGA mode, the graphics, colorwise, seem inferior to the NES version that uses only 4 colors from a
pallete of 32. Why, I don't know. The sound (assuming the adlib worked without all that hissing) sounds ok.
Get it now while you can.
Double Dragon 2 - Ha Ha ha ha. You call this a game?
Double Dragon 3 - I played games from the Double Dragon series, and let me tell you something, this game is
no game from the Double Dragon Series.
Mario Brothers - A good VGA version of an arcade classic, but not
a perfect duplicate of the NES version. Still good though.
Mario PC - A recreation of the popular "Super Mario Brothers" game with
high color graphics and unique game control.
Mega Man 1 - This Pc version is NOT like the NES version. It has only 4 robots to fight, and they're not from the
ones from Mega Man 1 for the NES. The Sprite for megaman looks screwy. There's no adlib sound, but it does have VGA graphics.
(Remeber, F3 and F4 increase or decrease game speed. Just hold the key down for like 5 seconds.)
Mega Man 3 - (Big thanks to all that emailed me a copy.) This PC version has more robots to fight, but still, not Adlib or Sound Blaster sound,
and worst of all NO VGA GRAPHICS!! And the sprite of MegaMan still looks screwy.
Ninja Gaiden 2 - The VGA graphics makes it look better then the NES counter part, but the
sprite sizes are laughablely small.
Street Fighter 1 P-U-R-E C-R-A-P. Don't even think about getting it.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turles 1 - (Big thanks to all that upload the game to me!) The frame rate is half of the NES's frame rate, (15 compared to 30),
makeing the animations choppy. There's Adlib sound, but I was not able to test it, but what sucks is the same color pallete. This works in two ways. In one way, it makes the
some monstors look better, on the other hand, some monsters look worse. The sprites for the Turtles are a little smaller then their NES counter part.
But, the best thing of all is the fact that you can save you game! If anyone has a saved game, please E-MAIL me a copy.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2 - Compared to the NES ver., it's has choppy moment, and does a poor job of utilizing
the PC's full graphical potential for that time. Just like TMNT 1.
Running an Emulator Tips
SPEED!
If the game runs too slow, try decreasing the screen size (INES and PAS26b only) or lower the frame rate
(Pas only.)
If it is STILL to slow, tinker around with your computer hardware by overclocking you CPU and eliminating as may wait
states as possible. You'll need I program to do this. More on this later. My friend was able to speed up his video
board by 20%!
It sounds weird.
If the sound is too weird, try changing the instrument the emulator is sending the Fm instructions to. (PAS26b only)
No joystick?
As I said before, if you want perfect gamepad support, get the "Rockfire" controller. It
tames even the worst keyboard layouts. Or, you can get the console cable. This device allows you to use you SNES,
Genesis, etc. controller on you PC! Fully programable!
If the game does not have joystick support or if the joystick
support is lame (2-buttons), these are your only real alternatives.
They say it will run, but I been having no luck. :(
Is the image legitimate?
Try converting it to another format and try it on ther other emulators.
I want to try to using it on another emulator, but I can't convert the image. :(
Format conversion tips and utilities.
The best one I have seen is NESImage.I have been emailed on how to use it. Here are so tips to answer most of your questions.
iNES to Pas:
NESImage s mario2 That's it! No extension needed for the Mario2 Rom. Just make sure it has the .nes extension on it though.
Pas to iNES:
NESImage j mario2 Just make sure all the files related to that rom has the same name. The compiler will look for the other files needed
to create the iNES image.
Remember, for all of these to work, don't use an extension, and do NOt switch the order of the switches (the s and the j)
with the filename, or you will get an error.
And one last note, your pas files may be broken up into the same number of files as your other pas type files or maybe contain a few less files.
Don't panic! This is perfectly ok, because not all the games where created the same.
This web page was made by "hand" with Microsoft's Notepad
Comments? Suggestions? Need help??? Email me! I read all messages daily!
Brief histoy
Thanks Peter Coolings for some info or the NES.
