Ultimate Emulator / System
Nintendo Entertainment System
The 8-bit cartridge library, in your collection.
RazorNES plays the Nintendo Entertainment System's cartridge library on its original controller layout, with save states and online play, and needs no firmware. Which games run depends on the cartridge board each one was built on.
1985
Platform Nintendo
- Core
- RazorNES
- Firmware
- Not required
- Game files
-
-
.nes
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- Players
- Up to 2 on one PC
- Online
- Native Multiplayer
- Rendering
- Original resolution
01 / Current support
Where NES stands today.
Status describes the core, not every game. Compatibility is always title-dependent.
- Beta
- Included, broader qualification continues.
- Core
- RazorNES, a first-party core included with Ultimate Emulator. It is chosen automatically for NES games.
- Unrated
- No comparable per-core performance rating is claimed.
- Release note
- Cartridge compatibility varies by mapper.
- Cheats
- Free. In the Game Menu's Cheats section, choose + Add Cheat Code and enter a code you have. There is no built-in cheat list, and cheats are switched off in online multiplayer sessions.
02 / Your collection
The files it plays.
These are the NES game files RazorNES opens. Ultimate Emulator does not supply games; add them from your own collection.
Game files
.nes
Set up
03 / Firmware & BIOS
No external firmware required.
RazorNES is complete on its own. Systems shows NES as Not required: add your games and play.
04 / Input
How it plays in your hands.
Connect a controller and it is mapped automatically. Change the layout for every game, for this system only, or for a single game in Settings → Controllers.
NES in Ultimate Emulator
- Two controllers with the original layout: D-pad, A, B, Select and Start.
05 / Picture
The original picture, on a modern screen.
Window mode, Fit and Integer Scale, aspect ratio, pixel filtering and effects come from Settings → Graphics, for every system or for one game.
- Resolution
- Drawn at its original resolution, then scaled to your window with Fit or Integer Scale and your choice of pixel filtering and effects.
- Sprite Limit
- Reduce Flicker is the default; choose Original Hardware for the console's own limit. A choice of Original Hardware you made earlier is kept. It changes the picture only.
- Renderer
- Shown for information. The system's built-in engine chooses how it draws, with a safe fallback.
06 / Your progress
In-game saves and save states.
In-game saves
- Battery-backed cartridge saves are kept as one save file per game.
Save states
- Available for local play: Quick Save and Quick Load, saved states in the State Manager, Auto-Save and Auto Resume.
- Coordinated multiplayer sessions have their own state policy.
Rewind is not integrated with this core.
Learn more
07 / Play together
Together on one PC, or across two.
A system profile does not make a single-player game multiplayer. The game decides how many can play.
- On one PC
- Up to 2 players, one controller each, in games made for more than one player. No account needed.
- Across PCs
- Native Multiplayer, with ROM Mode. Each PC runs the game and the players' inputs are shared. Online sessions need Premium for everyone taking part.
08 / Honest compatibility
What to know before you play.
Current limits of the included core, as of this release.
Known limitations
- RazorNES runs games on the NROM, MMC1, UxROM, CNROM, MMC3 and AxROM cartridge boards. A game on another board is declined with a message naming the supported boards.
- NTSC timing only: PAL and Dendy versions of games are declined.
- Famicom Disk System images are not supported.
- Region
- NTSC. PAL and Dendy versions are declined.
09 / Gaming History
Why it mattered.
How NES works in Ultimate Emulator is this page. Why it mattered is in the Gaming History collection.