60 FPS NES Emulator On ESP32

July 22, 2026 by Bryan Cockfield 9 Comments

At least in theory, video games are more resistant to becoming lost media thanks to their digital nature — they’re easy to copy and emulators have saved many titles that are otherwise locked in corporate vaults. But emulators give us something beyond simple preservation: they can also be used to enhance games well beyond the capabilities of the original systems while still preserving the souls of the games, as this NES emulator manages to do.

The emulator is called Anemoia-ESP32, and as its name suggests is a re-write of the Anemoia emulator specifically built for the ESP32. By modern standards these little chips don’t pack much of a punch, but compared to original NES hardware they’re more than up to the task of gaming. This project aims to recreate the Nintendo Entertainment System experience as faithfully as possible, hitting 60 FPS in most instances, as well as maintaining full audio emulation. Running on an ESP32 enables some truly small handheld options that would be difficult to achieve with more traditional platforms for emulation. There are some PCBs available here as well, but aren’t required to explore this project with.

As far as extra features compared to original NES hardware, the emulator does support save states and has a number of other settings improvements. Installation is as easy as flashing any other firmware image onto an ESP32, which these days can even be done from the browser. No word on whether or not it will eventually support emulating dual Picture Processing Units, but we can hope.

Why The NES Put Out A Wobbly Picture

July 7, 2026 by Jenny List 13 Comments

The NTSC television standard is a masterpiece of mid-century engineering, to pack a color image into the transmission bandwidth of a monochrome one, and to do so while maintaining backward compatibility with earlier monochrome TV sets. In terms of its timings and choice of sync and carrier frequencies it’s elegantly thought out for maximum quality on a 1950s round-CRT color TV set.

The trouble is, that while the standards are exacting, the receivers are quite forgiving, and will display adequately even with substantially off-spec video. [Nicole Express] is here with an in-depth examination of a time when that was pushed just a little bit too far, explaining why the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) displayed wobbly color images.

We’re treated to a run-through of the NTSC standard itself, and a look at how some of the other consoles and home computers of that era either had similar problems, or managed to avoid them. The key lies in the exacting timing required to achieve perfect interlacing, and the NES’s use of a single crystal to provide all the clocks. The dot clock on adjacent frames was almost right, but not quite, leading to a side-to-side wobble that while barely perceptible, was exacerbated by some graphics. It’s a fascinating read.

We’ve looked at composite video in detail in the past.

NES image: JCD1981NL, CC BY 3.0.

The Bit79 Was A Famicom Clone That Took The “Family Computer” Name Seriously

July 6, 2026 by Tyler August 10 Comments

While the original name of what much of the world knows as the NES was the Nintendo Family Computer, or Famicom for short, it was very rarely used as a family computer. Sure, there was a basic cartridge and an add-on keyboard sold in Japan, but it was always a sideshow to the games.

Nintendo recognized that when they brought their Entertainment System overseas. Most of the various famiclones — which date back to the mid-80s — are the same. BIT in Taiwan had a different idea: their Bit 79 would be a full home computer. Picture a C=64 that plays Nintendo games, and you might not be too far off. [Inkbox] tells the full story in his latest YouTube video, and it’s a must-watch for anyone interested in the history of 8-bit machines that are totally unknown in the West.

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Graphics Upgrade For Nintendo Entertainment System

June 22, 2026 by Bryan Cockfield 24 Comments

Modern video game consoles rarely have expansion ports, but in the 80s and 90s it was practically guaranteed. With the speed that hardware was advancing it made sense to build in some way to upgrade a system’s capabilities throughout its lifespan. But while this gave us things like the Sega CD and N64 Expansion Pak, many ports ultimately went unused. Given this recent project from [decrazyo], one wonders if unused port on the bottom of the Nintendo Entertainment System could have been used to expand its graphical capabilities.

The basis of this upgrade is the fact that the Picture Processing Unit (PPU) on the NES has four pins that are grounded. These four pins tell the NES to display the background color if the pixel is transparent. Since they’re normally grounded, this means the NES can only display a limited background image, but there’s no reason these pins must be grounded. By using a second PPU configured to output graphics information and wiring it to these four pins on the first PPU, the NES can be given all kinds of new abilities, such as adding parallax effects to backgrounds, rendering more sprites, and showing more colors in the backgrounds.

Of course, the hardware requirements for this will require a donor NES to get the second PPU as well as the necessary memory chip for it, and we don’t recommend tearing apart perfectly good retro consoles for experimentation if it can be avoided. Presumably, you could use this open-source NES hardware alternative instead. But for those with the parts and the gumption, creating a demo or adding graphics features to homebrew games using this second graphics chip is within reach.

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Reverse Engineering A Rock Bottom NES Clone

June 1, 2026 by Jenny List 4 Comments

The NES was Nintendo’s smash hit console of the 1980s, the international version of their Japanese Famicom system. It wasn’t a particularly complex device, so it was the subject of many clones back in the day. More recently, it has enjoyed a new life thanks to “NES on a chip” systems. It’s one of these that [Poking Technology] has, real rock bottom for the console built into a cheap phone case.

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Game Boy? NES? Why Not Both!

June 19, 2025 by Jenny List 4 Comments

If you’re a retro Nintendo fan you can of course carry a NES and a Game Boy around with you, but the former isn’t very portable. Never fear though, because here’s [Chad Burrow], who’s created a neat handheld console that emulates both.

It’s called the Acolyte Handheld, and it sports the slightly unusual choice for these parts of a PIC32 as its main processor. Unexpectedly it can use Sega Genesis controllers, but it has the usual buttons on board for portable use. It can drive either its own LCD or an external VGA monitor, and in a particularly nice touch, it switches between the two seamlessly. The NES emulator is his own work, while Game Boy support comes courtesy of Peanut-GB.

We like the design of the case, and particularly that of the buttons. Could it have been made smaller by forgoing some of the through-hole parts in favour of SMD ones? Quite likely, but though it’s chunky it’s certainly not outsized.

Portable Nintendo-inspired hardware is popular around here, as you can see with this previous handheld NES

Bringing Achievements To The Nintendo Entertainment System

April 1, 2025 by Zoe Skyforest 10 Comments

Microsoft made gaming history when it developed Achievements and released them with the launch of the Xbox 360. They have since become a key component of gaming culture, which similar systems rolling out to the rest of the consoles and even many PC games. [odelot] has the honor of being the one to bring this functionality to an odd home—the original Nintendo Entertainment System!

It’s actually quite functional, and it’s not as far-fetched as it sounds. What [odelot] created is the NES RetroAchievements (RA) Adapter. It contains a Raspberry Pi Pico which sits in between a cartridge and the console and communicates with the NES itself. The cartridge also contains an LCD screen, a buzzer, and an ESP32 which communicates with the Internet.

When a cartridge is loaded, the RA Adapter identifies the game and queries the RetroAchievements platform for relevant achievements for the title. It then monitors the console’s memory to determine if any of those achievements—such as score, progression, etc.—are met. If and when that happens, the TFT screen on the adapter displays the achievement, and a notification is sent to the RetroAchievements platform to record the event for posterity.

It reminds us of other great feats, like the MJPEG entry into the heart of the Sega Saturn.

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