CHANGELOG

Famicom Disk System games now also run on RP2040 boards.
New Overscan fix in menu setting for TVs that cut off the edges of the menu.
Optimized memory usage on RP2040 boards, freeing up about 57 KB of RAM.

General Info

Binaries for each configuration and PCB design are at the end of this page.

Click here for tested configurations.

See setup section in readme how to install and wire up

PSRAM with a non-Winbond flash chip

Applies to any release. Some RP2350 boards, notably the Waveshare RP2350-PiZero, ship with a flash chip from a manufacturer other than Winbond, such as Puya. These chips leave the Quad Enable (QE) bit in Status Register 2 unset from the factory, which makes the board lock up once the RP2350 is overclocked (#191). Boards without PSRAM are not affected.

This can be fixed permanently with the flash_config tool: flash FLASH_QE_SET_1.uf2 once via BOOTSEL, then flash the emulator as usual.

Two things to keep in mind: FLASH_QE_SET_1.uf2 must not be applied twice (recovery then requires erasing the flash with universal_flash_nuke.uf2 first)

See also PSRAM with a non-Winbond flash chip in the readme.

v0.52

New

• Famicom Disk System (FDS) games now also run on RP2040 boards. The FDS BIOS is still required.
• New Overscan fix in menu setting for TVs that cut off the edges of the menu. Rows leaves the top and bottom text rows blank, Rows and columns also the first and last columns. Games are not affected (#244). Thanks to chubunov.

Fixes

• The Controller Test screen showed a broken controller outline and a misaligned list of input sources.
• Seicross (Rev 1), Spy vs Spy and Bird Week (Japanese versions) started with a black screen.
• High Speed and Pin Bot showed scrambled graphics on the title screen and the pinball table. A smaller artifact remains when the table scrolls up (#245).
• On boards with PSRAM, games could overwrite their own tile graphics while clearing video memory at startup, which left wrong or missing graphics in, among others, 1942, Tokkyuu Shirei Solbrain, Ganbare Goemon 2 and Star Wars - The Empire Strikes Back.
• Ganbare Goemon Gaiden 2 showed scrambled graphics (#248). Thanks to szuping.
• Dragon Ball Z II, Dragon Ball Z III, Dragon Ball Z Gaiden, Rokudenashi Blues and SD Gundam Gaiden 2 and 3 could stay on a black screen. Their save data (EEPROM) is now supported, so saving works too (#246).

Other

• The settings menu shows more options at once: the color palette now appears only while one of the menu colors is selected.
• In the settings menu, SELECT jumps directly to SAVE.
• RP2040 boards: about 57 KB of memory freed.
• RP2350 boards without PSRAM: FDS saves are now kept in one file per game, as on boards with PSRAM. Existing saves are picked up automatically.

v0.51

New

• New Sprite Limit (8 per line) setting. v0.50 limited the number of sprites per line to 8, like a real NES, which makes some games flicker. Turn the setting off for less flicker. It is on by default, because a few games such as Felix the Cat need it.

Fixes

• Arkanoid on the custom PCB and the Adafruit breadboard setup (the piconesPlus_AdafruitDVISD_* binaries): the paddle was stuck on the right side of the screen and ignored the D-pad. Since v0.46 the emulator thought a Zapper was plugged into port 2, even when the port was empty or had a normal controller in it (#234). Thanks to PetersonL-tech.
• RP2040 boards: starting a MMC5 game (Castlevania III, Just Breed, ...) which was already in flash caused an out of memory panic. (#242). Thanks to chubunov.
• Games that use the sound chip's sample channel as a timer now work: Over Obj no longer shows a black screen.

Known issues

• Over Obj: a black bar appears in the middle of the screen during gameplay.

v0.50

New

• Mapper 196 is now supported, so Super Bros. 11 - Mario Adventures runs.
• MMC5 games such as Castlevania III, Just Breed and the Koei strategy games now run on RP2040 boards, not only on RP2350.

Fixes

• On boards using the DVI output, two shades of grey were shown as black, so dimmed text was invisible. In Bio Hazard only the highlighted menu entry could be read. Boards using HDMI were not affected.
• A maximum of 8 sprites per line is now shown, as on a real NES. In Felix the Cat Felix now disappears into the magic bag before a bonus level instead of staying visible on top of it. Busy scenes in some games may flicker more, as they do on the console (#240). Thanks to magistr6x9.

v0.49

New

• Mapper 111 is now supported, so The Storied Sword runs.
• Mapper 263 is now supported, so Boogerman II - The Final Adventure runs instead of showing a black screen.
• Mapper 208 is now supported, so Street Fighter IV runs.

Fixes

Not tied to one game:

• Games that carry a newer cartridge header are now identified correctly instead of being run as whatever older cartridge type their number happened to match.
• Writing to one particular part of the screen layout no longer corrupts the stored colour palette.

v0.48

New

• USB drive mode: the settings menu can now show the SD card on your computer over USB, so you can add or remove games without taking the card out. Open the menu with SELECT from the game list, pick USB drive mode, then eject the drive on your computer or press B when you are done. It is not available while a game is running.
• On boards where controllers plug into the console's own USB port, that same port is the one you connect to the computer, so a USB controller cannot be used in this mode: press B on a controller in the NES port, or eject from the computer. The console restarts afterwards. On RP2040 boards the screen also goes black while the card is mounted; the menu explains this first and lets you back out.

Fixes

• Fixed a flickering band of wrong graphics across part of the screen in games that scroll between two name tables: Final Fantasy, Zelda II, The Addams Family and Super Xevious. The emulator kept drawing the wrong half of the map until partway down the frame.
• On HSTX boards the picture sat four lines too low, leaving a wide black band at the top and none at the bottom. It is now centered again (#225). Thanks to zZmiz.

previous changes

See HISTORY.md

Downloads by configuration

Binaries for each configuration are listed below. Binaries for Pico(2) also work for Pico(2)-w. No blinking led however on the -w boards.
For some configurations risc-v binaries are available. It is recommended however to use the arm binaries.

Standalone boards

(*) If you fitted this board with PSRAM and it has a non-Winbond flash chip, apply the flash_config fix before flashing the emulator.

Breadboard

PCB Pico/Pico2 and Pimoroni Pico Plus 2

PCB pico_nesPCB_v2.6.zip

3D-printed case designs for PCB:

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:6689537.
For the latest two player PCB 2.0, you need:

• Top_v2.0_with_Bootsel_Button.stl. This allows for software upgrades without removing the cover. (*)
• Base_v2.0.stl
• Power_Switch.stl.
  (*) in case you don't want to access the bootsel button on the Pico, you can choose Top_v2.0.stl

PCB WS2XX0-Zero (PCB required)

(*) If you fitted this board with PSRAM and it has a non-Winbond flash chip, apply the flash_config fix before flashing the emulator.

PCB: Gerber_PicoNES_Mini_PCB_v2.0.zip

3D-printed case designs for PCB WS2XX0-Zero:
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:7041536

PCB Waveshare RP2350-USBA with PCB

Binary

If you fitted this board with PSRAM and it has a non-Winbond flash chip, apply the flash_config fix before flashing the emulator.

PCB: Gerber_PicoNES_Micro_v1.2.zip

Readme

Build guide

Pimoroni Pico DV

SpotPear HDMI

For more info about the SpotPear HDMI see this page : https://spotpear.com/index/product/detail/id/1207.html and https://spotpear.com/index/study/detail/id/971.html

The easiest way to set this up is using an expander board like this: https://shop.pimoroni.com/products/pico-omnibus?variant=32369533321299

See also #127

Murmulator M1

For more info about the Murmulator see this website: https://murmulator.ru/ and #150

Murmulator M2

For more info about the Murmulator see this website: https://murmulator.ru/ and #150

Other downloads

• Metadata: PicoNesMetadata.zip

Extract the zip file to the root folder of the SD card. Select a game in the menu and press START to show more information and box art. Works for most official released games. Screensaver shows floating random cover art.