Super ZSNES Revives One of the Most Famous SNES Emulators Ever Made
ZSNES, known and beloved as one of the greatest SNES emulators of all time, launched in October 1997 for DOS and survived on modern platforms with continuous updates until January of 2007. After 19 years of inactivity, the original developers behind ZSNES have now returned with Super ZSNES, a complete overhaul written from the ground up to utilize Unity and GPU rendering.
Super ZSNES launches with built-in improvements for certain games, ranging from HD textures and widescreen support to enhanced Mode 7 3D functionality and even enhanced audio. Games with enhancements supported at launch include Super Mario World, F-Zero, and Super Castlevania IV, with more developer-tailored enhancements to come in future versions.
One of the key enhancements, especially for games utilizing Mode 7 for faux 3D graphics like F-Zero, is enhanced Mode 7. Specifically, 3D enhancements under Super ZSNES utilize depth mapping, which adds legitimate depth to what were previously flat textures designed to sell the illusion of 3D graphics without going all the way.
Another great feature added by Super ZSNES is widescreen support, though it's not perfect and may never see a full-scale improvement thanks to the limitations of the original SNES games. In the screenshot above, you'll notice that the fireball-spitting gargoyle from Super Castlevania IV is effectively cut in half because certain game objects are only rendered within the SNES' original 4:3 screen space. Super ZSNES does account for this by noticeably darkening the extra screen space, but it can and does result in little immersion breakers and visual glitches.
By far one of the best improvements Super ZSNES has to offer over the original emulator and console, though, is the audio. One key feature of Super ZSNES, highlighted around 10:20 of the Modern Vintage Gamer coverage, is support for "Uncompressed Audio Replacement," which replaces the audio samples used for music in SNES games with their uncompressed equivalents. This results in a faithful but still noticeably elevated mix of the original music, one that proves highly effective in Super Castlevania IV.
As Super ZSNES is still in development, these features are still in a state of active development, and not available in all games. There's also a built-in enhancement suite for those who want to make the graphics or audio edits themselves. It's a remarkable effort from the original developers of ZSNES, bringing the emulator up-to-date with modern enhancements and features seen in other emulators. With enough time, Super ZSNES may wind up being the definitive way to play any SNES game short of full PC recompilation efforts.
Image Credit: Modern Vintage Gamer
