UberNES - What's new?

UberNES History

UberNES 2011 03/16/2011

  • Added new cycle-accurate emulation core, allowing more timing-sensitive games like Battletoads to be played without any issues

  • Added support for 15 more iNES mappers

  • Added support for N106 and Sunsoft FME7 sound chips

  • Improved support for 8 mappers including MMC3 and Konami VRCx

  • Added light gun support

  • Added Direct2D-based renderer which may perform better on Windows 7 machines then GDI and DirectDraw-based renderers

  • Added bilinear interpolating graphics upcaler

  • Improved quality of sound emulation


UberNES 2010 Revision 1 06/28/2010

  • Fixed gameplay stats and movie uploading

  • Improved movie checkpoint editor

  • Improved GUI acceleration feature
    • Each mappable action ("Load State", "Save State", etc) can be enabled/disabled independently
    • Fast-forward function can now be mapped to a controller button


UberNES 2010 01/06/2010

  • Added a "Player Profile" feature that displays all of the UberNES high scores and speed run times for players on the UberNES leaderboards

  • Added post-processing effects system, renderer can now apply various effects independently of the selected upscaler (i.e. hqx, NTSC)
  • Added screen curvature/fishbowl post-processing effect
    • Ray-traced rendering simulates curve of old CRT glass screens
    • Software-based implementation; works in GDI and DirectDraw
  • Added "oversampler" post-processing effect
    • "Native" NES output can be scaled to proper 4:3 aspect ratio
    • Can optionally crop edges of NES display to hide rendering artifacts
  • Added scanline post-processing effect
    • Variable-intensity scanlines can now be applied on top of NES display, regardless of selected upscaler
  • Render color depth can now be specified independent of desktop color depth
  • Added 16 and 32-bit color depth renderers for the GDI interface, which allows for much faster NTSC and HQX upscaling
  • Users can now fast-forward games they are playing

  • Redesigned NES database system, it is now much faster, easier, and more robust for users to create and re-scan their ROM collections

  • Improved performance and stability of NSF player

  • Emulation now consumes much less CPU

  • Improved joystick support


Version 3 revision 3 07/10/2008

  • Added time-trial support for 5 more games (10 total); users can now compete for best speed runs in the following games:
    • Bionic Commando
    • Duck Tales
    • Ninja Gaiden 2
    • Excitebike
    • Super Mario Bros. 3
  • Added history viewer to online high score and time trial leaderboards
    • All high scores and speed run times in UberNES are now timestamped
    • Interactive viewer graphs the history of each high score and speed run game
    • Game history is also displayed in plain text format that integrates seamlessly with graphical view

  • Rewrote video subsystem to provide more functionality and better performance
    • Added Scale2X, Scale3X, NTSC, and scanline scalers/filters
    • Hardware and software video scaling can now be independently controlled
  • Online movie gallery now alerts and signals new UberNES movies when gallery list is refreshed
  • Increased number of save state lots from 5 to 100


Version 3 revision 2 05/12/2007

  • Added support for iNES mapper 5 (MMC5)
  • Added time-trial support
    • When you play time-trial enabled games, UberNES will record your completion times
    • Upload your times to the UberNES database to compete with other UberNES users for the fastest times
    • Download the worldwide NES stats to see the fastest worldwide times
    • The currently-supported time trial games are:
      • Metroid
      • Super Mario Bros.
      • Super Mario Bros. 2
      • Mega Man 2
      • Castlevania 3
  • Added "Download all movies" feature to online movie gallery
  • In conjunction with this version, we are releasing a related project - our Nintendo Screen Saver
    • It's a stand-alone Windows screen saver that displays NES games
    • Games are played intelligently by using UberNES movie files as input sources
    • The screen saver can tap into the online UberNES movie gallery to quickly import a large amount of unique, quality gameplay footage.


Version 3 revision 1 03/10/2006

  • Added comprehensive movie support
    • A polished interface makes recording and playing movies easy - no matching of movie filenames to ROM filenames is required.
    • Movie files are highly compressed - 20 minutes of gameplay typically compresses down to about 5 KB.
    • "Checkpoints" can be added to movies, allowing the user to instantly jump to key points in movies such as boss battles.
    • You can view NES controller overlays as movies play, showing exactly which buttons are pressed.
    • A local movie gallery feature makes it easy to browse, playback and manage your gameplay movies.
  • Added online movie gallery
    • Using the online movie gallery feature, you can browse, download, and play the best movies from UberNES users around the world.
    • Currently, the movie gallery has many nice movies ranging from UberNES high score runs to start-to-finish completion movies of difficult games.
    • UberNES performs gameplay validation checks to ensure that all movies are legitimate gameplay sessions and not cheat/emulator enhanced.
    • You can submit your own NES movies using the built-in local movie gallery.
  • Added high score support for 5 new games (50 total); users can compete for worldwide high scores in the following games:
    • Marble Madness
    • Donkey Kong 3
    • 3D World Runner
    • Ms. Pac-Man
    • Elevator Action
  • Added more box descriptions to NES database


Version 3 07/06/2005

  • Completely re-wrote video emulation, result is much more accurate emulation - games such as Rad Racer, Marble Madness, Crystalis, and Final Fantasy 2 are now playable.

  • Added support for following iNES mappers:
    • 68 (Sunsoft Mapper 4)
    • 77 (Early Irem Mapper #0)
    • 88 (Namcot 118)
  • Added high score agents for 10 new games; users can now compete for the world high score in the following games:
    • Rad Racer
    • Tetris
    • Mike Tyson's Punch Out!!
    • Super Mario Bros. 3
    • Pipe Dream
    • Gun.Smoke
    • Donkey Kong Jr.
    • Xevious
    • Q*bert
    • Life Force
  • Added support for four-screen PPU mirroring

  • Added a new feature that displays all of the changes in the worldwide stats when a new revision of the stats is downloaded. This makes it very easy to see what the new high scores are, what games have been played recently, etc.

  • Added more box descriptions to NES database


Version 2 revision 4 04/02/2005

  • Added High Score trackers for 10 new games, bringing the total to 35 games that UberNES users can compete for the worldwide high score in. The new games are:
    • Contra
    • Dr. Mario
    • Zanac
    • Ninja Gaiden
    • Millipede
    • Dig Dug
    • Guerilla War
    • Stinger
    • Galaxian
    • Mega Man
  • Added "Top Scorers" section to Nintendo Hall of Fame:
    • You can now see who the top UberNES players are, as ranked by their scores in High Score-enabled games.
    • Players are ranked using a fair, normalized system that rewards players for both setting very high scores and coming close to existing high scores.
    • There are many different scoring categories, including:
      • Top Shooting Game Players
      • Top Platform Game Players
      • Top Puzzle Game Players
      • Top Racing Game Players
      • Top "Black Box Game" Players
      • Top Overall Players
  • Added much better full-screen support:
    • You can choose any resolution supported by your display device.
    • Effects like scanlines and image-stretching can be used in higher resolutions.
  • Improved speed and functionality of NES Browser

  • Added more box descriptions to NES database


Version 2 revision 3 02/05/2005

  • Added High Score trackers for 12 new games. You can now compete for the worldwide high score in the following games:
    • Castlevania
    • Super Mario Bros.
    • RC Pro-Am
    • Balloon Fight
    • Arkanoid
    • Burger Time
    • MetalStorm
    • Boulder Dash
    • Super Sprint
    • Defender 2
    • Bubble Bobble
    • Wrecking Crew
  • Expanded High Score feature to display top 10 scores and players for each game, rather than just the top overall score.

  • Modified Internet NES Stats structure; stats are now compressed and take less time to download

  • Added support for 512k MMC1 games, Dragon Warrior 3 and 4 are now playable.

  • Added more Game Genie codes to online code database

  • Added more box descriptions to NES database

  • In conjunction with this release, a NES High Scores page has been created that displays the current UberNES high scores for some selected games


Version 2 revision 2 01/08/2005

  • Added High Score Tracking for competitive game playing worldwide:
    • When you play a classic game like Donkey Kong or Pac-Man, UberNES will now track your high scores
    • Upload your high scores to the UberNES Internet Database to compete for the worldwide high score.
    • Download the worldwide NES stats and see the best scores for each game. If you have the top score, your name will be displayed in the hall of fame.
    • UberNES will automatically set the world wide high score when you play supported games - it's like a single, worldwide NES that never gets turned off or reset.
    • 13 games are currently supported, including Donkey Kong, Pac-Man, Galaga, Tetris, Ghosts N' Goblins, Mario Bros, Gradius, and more.
  • Added exhaustive Game Genie code support:
    • No more wasting time entering codes by hand - you can quickly and easily import thousands of Game Genie codes from our unique online code database - all in 2 clicks from within UberNES.
    • Adding, editing, and deleting codes is seamlessly integrated into the NES browser.
  • Improved NES Hall of Fame layout; looks much nicer and displays more games, publishers, etc

  • Added option to load NES palette from file

  • Added more box descriptions to NES database


Version 2 revision 1 10/02/2004

  • Added support for following iNES mappers:
    • 75 (Jaleco/Konami VRC1)
    • 79 (Nina-3 AVE)
    • 228 (Action 52)
    • 232 (Quattro Games)
  • Fixed minor errors in APU square, noise channel emulation.

  • Added support for GDI display to eliminate the automatic anti-aliasing / blurring that DirectX sometimes does in higher-resolution windowed modes.

  • Added support for scanline display for higher-resolution GDI windows

  • Added joypad GUI acceleration: you can perform the most important UberNES functions with extra buttons on your joypad. Using your joypad, you can now browse and select games to play in the NES Browser, load and save NES states, power off the NES emulation, and more - you no longer have to use a keyboard and mouse to use UberNES. (Click the "Acceleration" options tab for more)

  • Added "Game Notes" section to NES Browser; you can now write down passwords, hints, and any other notes you want for each game in your database.

  • Redesigned NES Browser layout; it now displays more information and looks much better.

  • Added more box descriptions to NES database

  • In conjunction with this release, we have created a NES Box Art Collection that can be easily downloaded and used with UberNES, providing the user with nearly 300 NES Box Art images. To learn more and download this collection, visit The UberNES Box Art Collection.


Version 2 06/26/2004

  • Fixed CPU and various mapper bugs that make many more games playable/completely playable, most notably Dragon Warrior, Zelda 2, and Super Mario Bros. 3

  • Improved sound emulation quality; now it is much more clear-sounding

  • Added PAL emulation support

  • Added support for following iNES mappers:
    • 16 (Bandai)
    • 18 (Jaleco SS8806)
    • 19 (Namcot 106, partial)
    • 24 (Konami VRC6)
    • 32 (Irem G-101)
    • 33 (Taito TC0190)
    • 34 (Nina-1)
    • 64 (Tengen RAMBO-1, partial)
    • 65 (Irem H-3001)
    • 69 (Sunsoft FME-7)
    • 71 (Camerica)
    • 78 (Irem 74HC161/32)

  • Added Konami VRC6 expansion sound chip emulation

  • Added Top 10 players category to hall of fame - you can now submit your name when you upload your stats and see if you make the hall of fame for top UberNES players

  • Many/all Japanese and European games are now recognized by the internal database

  • Added more box descriptions and made various improvements to internal database

  • GUI is now more extensively multi-threaded for better responsiveness


Version 1 revision 2 04/14/2004

  • Added load/save state feature

  • Added graphical state browser for easy loading/saving

  • Added .ZIP support

  • Database contents can now be sorted by world statistics

  • Fixed minor sprite bug


Version 1 revision 1 04/03/2004

  • Improved sound, especially DMC and triangle channels

  • Improved emulation accuracy

  • Added support for following iNES mappers:
    • 10 (MMC4)
    • 11 (Color Dreams)
    • 21 (Konami VRC4)
    • 22 (Konami VRC2 Type A)
    • 23 (Konami VRC2 Type B)
    • 66 (GNROM)


Version 1 03/25/2004)

  • Initial release