(barring the nvidia shield and android devices of course)
For those unaware, Retroarch was recently ported to the 3DS. So far, the cores available range from SNES, GBA, GB, CPS1/CPS2/NeoGeo, NES, Mega Drive and more - but the single most impressive element is the SNES emulation via CatSFC (Snes9x).
Up to now the best benchmark for SNES emulation on a handheld was the PSP -. In two weeks however, the N3DS port of Retroarch has absolutely blown it out of the water.
On a N3DS (OG3DS is slower unfortunately), almost every single game on the SNES is 60fps with sound, special chips supported (SFX2 and SA-1 are a bit slow right now). It's simply the best experience of SNES on the go I've encountered via homebrew. It's absolutely fantastic. I've so far completed DKC2, DKC3, SMW, Link to the Past, most of Super Mario Kart and Pilotwings and there have been absolutely no issues apart from minor slowdown on the snow level in world 1 of DKC3.
But either way, pictures speak louder than words so here is a video I took. Make sure you watch it using the 60fps Youtube option:
https://youtu.be/U2vmzqte12k
It really does pose the question of why exactly Nintendo have left the Virtual Console to go to waste - it's clear that SNES runs fine on the N3DS, so why haven't they offered it? It's easy fucking money.
Anyhow. All you need for this is smealum's Homebrew Launcher (youtube app will do fine to launch it) and the newest retroarch nightlies.
ps: mega drive is at the same level too, via genesis plus gx.
To actually install retroarch (I presume you have already followed the instructions on Smealum's site to get the homebrew launcher), get the newest retroarch nightlies. - these contain all the emulator cores:
See? Download the newest nightly (todays is the 29th, at time of writing), extract with *.7zip or similar. Copy the 3DS folder into the root of your SD. Done. Bear in mind the GBA gpsp core requires a GBA bios file (gba_bios.bin) to run. That goes into SD:/retroarch/cores/system
For those unaware, Retroarch was recently ported to the 3DS. So far, the cores available range from SNES, GBA, GB, CPS1/CPS2/NeoGeo, NES, Mega Drive and more - but the single most impressive element is the SNES emulation via CatSFC (Snes9x).
Up to now the best benchmark for SNES emulation on a handheld was the PSP -. In two weeks however, the N3DS port of Retroarch has absolutely blown it out of the water.
On a N3DS (OG3DS is slower unfortunately), almost every single game on the SNES is 60fps with sound, special chips supported (SFX2 and SA-1 are a bit slow right now). It's simply the best experience of SNES on the go I've encountered via homebrew. It's absolutely fantastic. I've so far completed DKC2, DKC3, SMW, Link to the Past, most of Super Mario Kart and Pilotwings and there have been absolutely no issues apart from minor slowdown on the snow level in world 1 of DKC3.
But either way, pictures speak louder than words so here is a video I took. Make sure you watch it using the 60fps Youtube option:
https://youtu.be/U2vmzqte12k
It really does pose the question of why exactly Nintendo have left the Virtual Console to go to waste - it's clear that SNES runs fine on the N3DS, so why haven't they offered it? It's easy fucking money.
Anyhow. All you need for this is smealum's Homebrew Launcher (youtube app will do fine to launch it) and the newest retroarch nightlies.
ps: mega drive is at the same level too, via genesis plus gx.
To actually install retroarch (I presume you have already followed the instructions on Smealum's site to get the homebrew launcher), get the newest retroarch nightlies. - these contain all the emulator cores:
See? Download the newest nightly (todays is the 29th, at time of writing), extract with *.7zip or similar. Copy the 3DS folder into the root of your SD. Done. Bear in mind the GBA gpsp core requires a GBA bios file (gba_bios.bin) to run. That goes into SD:/retroarch/cores/system
