Do I need the latest version of retroarch to run the newest version of the cores? Also is bsnes still the best snes core since higan now has a core?
No, the cores and frontend are independent. With a few exceptions, you can run any version of any core with any version of RetroArch (and this will typically be the case with other libretro frontends, as well).
That depends on what you mean by “best”. The up-to-date Higan core has some accuracy improvements but is slower. In all honesty, the accuracy improvements aren’t going to be detectable, but if your CPU is fast enough, you may as well use it.
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