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
    • This core is currently not well-optimized - full-speed 32X emulation requires a CPU with decent single-core performance
  • Sega Master System / Mark III
  • Game Gear
  • Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) / Famicom
  • Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) / Super Famicom
  • Game Boy / Game Boy Color
• 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 2x CPU overclocking for Sega Master System and Game Gear 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

TODOs:

• Support multiple Sega CD BIOS versions in GUI and automatically use the correct one based on disc region
• Support 24C64 EEPROM chips (used only in Frank Thomas Big Hurt Baseball and College Slam)

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.

This project requires the latest stable version of the Rust toolchain to build.

This project requires SDL2 core headers to build. SDL2 is used for windowing, audio playback, and reading keyboard/gamepad/mouse inputs.

Linux (Debian-based):

sudo apt install libsdl2-dev

Windows:

• https://github.com/libsdl-org/SDL/releases

GUI:

cargo run --release --bin jgenesis-gui

CLI:

cargo run --release --bin jgenesis-cli -- -f <path_to_rom_file>

To view all CLI args:

cargo run --release --bin jgenesis-cli -- -h

To build with maximum optimizations (better runtime performance + smaller binary size at the cost of longer compile time):

cargo build --profile release-lto

...After which the executables will be in target/release-lto/.

If you are building solely for your own personal usage, you can additionally set the flag -C target_cpu=native to tell the Rust compiler that it can use any CPU instruction that your computer's CPU supports, which may slightly improve performance:

RUSTFLAGS="-C target-cpu=native" cargo build --profile release-lto

• 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