The speedrunning group is attempting to wrap its head round a technological phenomenon that’s seemingly inflicting the SNES to run video games sooner because it ages.
Alarm bells rang in early February when Bluesky consumer Alan Cecil (@tas.bot) unfold the phrase that the Nintendo’s iconic console appeared to be working video games barely sooner now than when it left manufacturing traces within the Nineteen Nineties. It’s a concept that might imply the nearly 50 million SNES units offered could now function improved efficiency with video games like Super Mario World, Super Metroid, and Star Fox as an alternative of carrying down because the years go on.
The concept of a online game console — or any type of expertise — working extra effectively merely because of the passage of time sounds ludicrous, however Cecil’s findings counsel a single part could also be what’s setting the SNES aside from the remainder.
The Fastest Thing Alive
As defined in an interview 404 Media carried out with Cecil, official Nintendo specs say the SNES’s audio processing unit (APU) SPC700 has a digital sign processing (DSP) fee of 32,000Hz dictated by a ceramic resonator that runs at 24.576MHz. Retro console followers have documented that these particulars aren’t fairly correct, with recordings from the previous few many years exhibiting barely altered DSP charges relying on the bodily situations — corresponding to temperature — the SNES is recorded in. It means the console is commonly processing audio and sending it to the CPU at a unique fee than Nintendo has communicated, and because the DSP fluctuates, so too does the sport’s pace even when it’s in small, unrecognizable methods.
That’s all tremendous and good, however the place issues get fascinating is how that quantity has modified within the final 34 years. Cecil asked SNES owners to record data associated to their SNES models after noticing barely increased DSP charges that had been much more out of the peculiar than beforehand documented. The greater than 140 responses gathered to date present an plain development in elevated DSP charges in current measurements.
Some beforehand recorded common DSP numbers for the SNES’s SPC700 hovered at 32,040Hz in 2007 — Cecil’s findings increase that common to 32,076Hz. Factors corresponding to cold and warm environments do play a component in increased and decrease stats, too, however not by sufficient to change DSP in the best way wanted to yield these outcomes. In different phrases, it appears to be like just like the SNES is processing audio sooner as time goes on.
“Based on 143 responses, the SNES DSP fee averages 32,076Hz, rising 8Hz from chilly to heat,” Cecil defined in a follow-up Bluesky post match with a layout of the data. “Warm DSP charges go from 31,965 to 32,182Hz, a 217Hz vary. Therefore, temperature is much less vital. Why? How does it have an effect on video games? We have no idea. Yet.”
Any%
Cecil admits that, whereas fascinating, extra analysis is required to find out not solely how a lot sooner SNES models are processing sport audio however what precisely the trigger is. Data associated to how consoles carried out of their first decade available on the market, for instance, is restricted. For now, at the least on the floor, Nintendo’s second main residence console seems to be growing older fairly gracefully because it nears its thirty fifth birthday.
Regardless of what precisely is likely to be behind these weird circumstances, the prospect of a well-liked gaming console progressively inflicting video games to run sooner has made waves within the speedrunning group. An SPC700 progressively processing audio to the CPU faster than meant might, in concept, impression sport efficiency by shortening load instances in sure sections. Audio processing sooner in 2025 than it did in an similar speedrun from 1990 might doubtlessly ship greater than three many years of leaderboard rankings and data into query. Thankfully, how a wiser SNES may have an effect on a Super Mario World speedrun isn’t so easy.
Nintendo Consoles
Nintendo Consoles
APU speeds aren’t a one-to-one translation to visible sport pace. In actuality, even probably the most excessive circumstances associated to those new findings would probably solely shave off lower than one second of your common speedrun. How every sport may profit from altered audio processing can be up for debate, and there’s no indication of how considerably longer speedruns might be impacted on the time of this story’s publication. The speedrunning group’s analysis is in its infancy, however at the same time as additional experimentation is carried out, the consensus for now could be that gamers have little to concern.
While Cecil continues digging into what makes the SNES tick, Nintendo’s console is charging via its 30s and feeling higher than ever. For extra on the SNES, you may see the place the gadget landed on the listing of best-selling consoles of all time.
Photo by Dimitar DILKOFF / AFP.
Michael Cripe is a contract contributor with IGN. He’s finest identified for his work at websites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be certain to present him a observe on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).
