Author Topic: BizHawk emulator: Which system(s) does it emulate best?  (Read 23527 times)

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Offline TerraEsperZ

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BizHawk emulator: Which system(s) does it emulate best?
« on: April 12, 2015, 01:05:57 pm »
The old-timers around here probably know about my extreme reluctance in switching to a different emulator after years of using another. Well, the time has finally come where I'm willing to jump ship and start using BizHawk for its many debugging features. However, I need some help before fully committing to it.

BizHawk emulates many different systems but so far, I have no idea which systems it does better than existing emulators. So I need to know from those in the know if I should use it for the following systems or stick to a separate program in a few cases:

-NES (currently using FCEUX 2.2.2)
-SNES (currently using ZSNES 1.51)
-N64 (currently "not using" Project 64 1.6)
-GB/GBC/GBA (currently using VBA-RR 24 svn480)
-NDS (currently using NO$GBA 2.8 Debug version)

-SMS/GG (currently using Meka 0.73)
-GEN/SCD/32X (currently using Gens-RR 11c svn341)

-Wonderswan (currently using Oswan 1.7.3)

Some of the above I'm still using mostly because they are familiar (like ZSNES), others because they have great built-in functions like Map/Tiles/Sprites viewing and Lua support (VBA-RR, Gens-RR, Meka) and at least one because it's unique in having the debugging functions I need for a project (NO$GBA). But to be honest, being able to do as much as possible with the same program, the same interface, the same added functions would be a godsend.

I just want to know in advance if there are functions I might "lose" because BizHawk doesn't support them yet. The most important features I require are Map Viewing (basically see the content of the Background layers currently loaded in memory), Tiles and Sprites viewing, Lua support, and the last but most important, the ability to enable/disable graphical layers at will and the option to change the background color (typically the first color entry on the background palette) to allow easy separation between layers.

Thanks a lot in advance!
« Last Edit: April 12, 2015, 01:07:13 pm by TerraEsperZ »
Current project:
Mega Man: Powered Up (PSP)

Offline Maxim

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Re: BizHawk emulator: Which system(s) does it emulate best?
« Reply #1 on: April 13, 2015, 01:22:54 am »
I'm not actually answering your question but instead mentioning that Meka has been on a 0.8 branch for a few years without any official releases, but there have been lots of enhancements you're missing out on.

Offline TerraEsperZ

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Re: BizHawk emulator: Which system(s) does it emulate best?
« Reply #2 on: April 13, 2015, 10:15:47 pm »
That's nice to know. I'll admit I've only kept current my most used emulators, and I only installed Meka to try and map Ristar for the Game Gear.
Current project:
Mega Man: Powered Up (PSP)

Offline feos

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Re: BizHawk emulator: Which system(s) does it emulate best?
« Reply #3 on: April 18, 2015, 04:26:54 am »
For SNES and Genesis it uses the most accurate known open source cores: bsnes and GenesisPlusGX respectively. Both seem to have options to view entire VRAM screen per layer. NES core it uses it QuickNES by Blargg, which is abit more accurate than FCEUX, but does not support some games, and for the rest it uses NESHawk, which in fact it way more accurate than both of those, and even better than Nestopia currently. So I guess NESHawk would be your best bet for NES.

Anyway, you'd need to check all the options yourself. http://tasvideos.org/BizHawk.html