Keeping up with living out the good ol’ days of console gaming, today we will take a look at on how to emulate and play your favorite SNES games on Windows 10!
Disclaimer: Before we carry on with this guide, we are obligated to mention that due to the illegal nature of the content circulated through ROM sites, we can not provide any links to game ROMs. This guide will simply inform and educate you on how to experience SNES games emulation on your Windows 10 PC using an emulator. We do not endorse or support piracy.
A Brief Note On The SNES
It goes without saying that the competition between SEGA and Nintendo in the 90s was at its fiercest during the 1990’s when the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) and the SEGA Genesis were the competing household consoles.
While we have already talked about how to emulate a wide range of SEGA consoles on your desktop, today we will look at how to relive the glory days of gaming on the SNES and revisit historic video games that forever shaped the industry!
Where SEGA had given birth to Sonic and other iconic video game legends, the SNES was easily one of Nintendo’s greatest victories in the world of console gaming. Paving the way for their existing IP’s such as Mario, The Legend of Zelda, Metroid Prime and so many other staples to the Nintendo name even today.
It’s no secret that the SNES had greater commercial success over the SEGA Genesis with 49 Million lifetime (global) sales as opposed to SEGA’s 30 Million lifetime (global) sales by the time both consoles had been discontinued.
The Best SNES Emulator For Windows 10
Today we are going to look at the SNES9x [Official Website], my emulator of choice since it has never let me down, has a similar user interface to KEGA Fusion, is constantly updated and has the best compatibility with every game I have thrown at it.
Keep in mind that unlike KEGA Fusion, SNES9x comes in a 32-bit and 64-bit OS variant. The emulator is available on Mac, Linux, AND Windows in 32 / 64 Bit versions for Windows and Linux.
How To Setup SNES9x To Play SNES Games On Windows 10
Once you have downloaded the emulator, you will first need to configure your controller. I am going to use the keyboard since I don’t have a third party controller at hand, but the steps are more or less the same regardless of the input device.
After downloading SNES9x from the link shared above, run it and choose Input from the Toolbar. Click on Input Configuration.
You will see a new box open up, when it does, you have to choose the joypad of your choice with Joypad #1 being for player 1, Joypad #2 for player 2 etc.
If you have a third party controller, like DualShock 4, make sure it installs with Windows 10, then you just have to press Enter followed by the corresponding key on the controller AND the menu. i.e. press UP on the controller after pressing enter on the UP box in the configuration.
It will take you some trial and error but eventually you will get the hang of it!
Once you are done, you will now navigate to File on the toolbar and choose Load Game. We’re close to playing SNES games on Windows 10!!
You now have to navigate to the directory where you have saved a ROM of a game and then load it by double clicking on it. You don’t have to extract the archive, you can even run it from its archive directly!
Once you have chosen your ROM of choice, the emulator will handle the rest! Other than the changed controller, and the brighter display, you won’t notice any difference of playing retro SNES games on your desktop from playing it on your old CRT TV back in the 90s.
If you wish to enter or exit full screen mode, you can do so by pressing ALT + ENTER Together. This is the best experience for emulating console games, and it works pretty well even on 16:9 / 16:10 displays too without stretching the pixels or making the game look blurry!
As you can see, this is indeed a fantastic emulator and definitely one for the bookmarks.
While there are plenty of other emulators on the internet for the SNES, I have stayed loyal to SNES due to the ease of use and comfort. Considering the similarities in User Interface is on par with that of KEGA Fusion and as such being familiar with one emulator meant being familiar with the other almost instantly.
If you found this guide to be of use, let us know in the comments section below along with your experiences with other emulators along with your favorite game on the SNES in the comments section below!