What Are The Most Accurate Cores?

Libretro Cores
#1

Could somebody please tell me the most accurate cores for the following systems? Please include handhelds. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Nintendo (all systems) Sega (all systems) Sony (all systems)

1 Like
#2

In the core downloader, press retropad-select on a core to bring up a description, which includes this sort of information.

5 Likes
#3

Nintendo

  • NES - Mesen
  • SNES - BSNES
  • Game Boy/Color - Gambatte
  • Game Boy Advance - mGBA
  • Nintendo 64 - Mupen64plus-next with Vulkan and Parallel RDP/RSP core options

Sega

  • Sega Master System - Genesis Plus GX
  • Genesis/Mega Drive - Blastem (Though Genesis Plus GX is still more compatible)
  • Sega CD - Genesis Plus GX
  • Game Gear - Genesis Plus GX
  • Saturn - Beetle/Mednafen Saturn

Sony

  • PlayStation - Either Beetle/Mednafen PSX or Duckstation (not swanstation)

With other systems you don’t have a choice. 32X roms will only work with Picodrive. Gamecube with Dolphin, etc. But that doesn’t necessarily mean these cores are considered accurate. Dreamcast will only run with Flycast in RA but Demul standalone is more accurate.

6 Likes
#4

Does not need to be the Most Accurate to Run the Games very well and sometimes better then an Accurate Core.

For Example the Flycast and Demul one as Demul need a Stong PC to run well

2 Likes
#5

I second that, i’ve seen ridiculous cases where something considered inaccurate was removed from a game’s emulation, and the game ending up being far more broken ever since. Accuracy is important from a preservation point of view, but providing an enjoyable gameplay experience is important too.

9 Likes
#6

Demul isn’t that demanding. It runs with ease on my 7 year old i5 CPU and my previous GPU (a GTX 960) but you can get away with a much less capable PC. IIRC, it was also running fine on my older Core 2 Duo with a far lesser GPU (a GTX 550 i think).

It’s also a Windows only application so it’s not like it can be tested on a crappy raspberry or phone. But any PC that isn’t more than 15 years old (and any cheapo DX11 GPU) should be able to run this.

2 Likes
#7

I kinda remember a 3Ghz cpu was a requirement, and even more for DC WinCE games, so most modern laptops will also have troubles running this, even if they are brand new from 2021.

2 Likes
#8

These old 3GHz cpu cores issued NOP’s/wait states half of the time. :wink:

2 Likes
#9

A 3GHz Pentium 4.

That was the requirement.

2 Likes
#10

My old core duo Q6600 overclocked at 3Ghz was barely able to run it full speed, not sure a modern mid-end laptop/NUC is a lot faster, those machines usually run at low freq since they can’t keep up with the generated heat.

1 Like
#11

Must Admit I have not used Demul for Ages instead using Flycast and Redream.

Mostly because those 2 keep getting updated and not heard of a Demul Update for awhile and Also No Fast Forward Button on Demul

Might give it a Go Again now

1 Like
#12

I notice quite a few glitches with Genesis Plus when playing Acme All Stars, especially on the Toy Stage. Clock would sometimes stuck during circling. On the other hand, Blastem has no core options to remove those annoying borders, except if you are playing it on a 4x3 vga monitor.

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#13

BlastEm uses the frontend option under Settings, Video, Scaling, Crop Overscan to crop borders. That setting used to cause issues with some cores, so it’s best to add it to a core override so it’s only enabled for BlastEm.

2 Likes
#14

You could also use shaders to do it, though i’m not sure which is the “correct” method if there is one.

1 Like
#15

The frontend option is better for BlastEm since enabling it also reduces latency by 1 frame in certain games like the Sonics.