CHANGELOG

New and improved mappers. Castlevania III is now fully playable — US version only on RP2350, Japanese version (Akumajou Densetsu) on both RP2040 and RP2350.

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

v0.38

New and improved Mapper support

• RP2350 only: Added support for Mapper 5 (MMC5 – Castlevania III US). Graphical glitches may still occur. These MMC 5 games are tested:
  • Castlevania III US
  • Gemfire (USA version)
  • Romance of the Three Kingdoms II (Japanese version)
  • Nobunaga’s Ambition II (Japanese/USA version)
• All platforms (RP2040/RP2350): Added support for Mapper 24 (VRC6A – Castlevania III/Akumajou Densetsu JP).
• Mapper 30 (NesMaker) now working.
• Fix HUD not displaying in Parodius DA! (Jap) - mapper 23
• Fix HUD not displaying in Fudou Myouou Den (Japan) - mapper 80
• Fixed missing hit sound effects in Battletoads and Battletoads & Double Dragon. #111
• Fix corrupt graphics in Punch Out! and Fire Emblem Gaiden (JP)

Many thanks to @szuping for testing the mapper changes.

Mapper fixes were developed with the help of Anthropic Claude.

Display & audio

• Added a new "Display Mode" option on HSTX boards, allowing selection between HDMI and DVI. When DVI is selected, external audio (when available) is enabled by default. DVI does not have audio over HDMI.
• Enabling External audio no longer forces DVI mode.
• Adafruit Fruit Jam:
  • Headphone detection now works correctly. Plugging in headphones automatically mutes the internal speaker; unplugging them re-enables it.
  • Removed the setting and pushbutton1 functionality for muting the internal speaker. Headphone detection now automatically mutes the internal speaker.

Fixes

• Updated the metadata and cover art pack with missing entries, including artwork for several Japanese titles. See the Downloads section below for the download link and instructions. Thanks again to @DynaMight1124

v0.37

• Added support for DVI (Video only) mode on HSTX boards (GPIO 12–19) as an alternative to HDMI (Video + Audio). This allows the emulator to work on displays that do not support HDMI but do support DVI. #171.
• SELECT + Button1: Force DVI mode (HSTX only). Useful if a DVI monitor shows no picture. This will restore the image.
• Enabling External audio also forces DVI mode.
• DVI mode is the default on the Murmulator M2. Other HSTX boards default to HDMI mode.

Fixes

• Some minor improvements to the menu and settings display.

v0.36

For RP2350 boards using HSTX instead of PicoDVI, HDMI audio is now supported via the new HSTX video driver — this was not possible before. Huge thanks to @fliperama86 for the awesome pico_hdmi driver and support.

HSTX boards with HDMI audio:

• Adafruit Fruit Jam
• Murmulator M2

Other RP2350 configurations that now use HSTX (GPIO 12–19) instead of PicoDVI:

• Breadboard
• PCB
• Adafruit Metro RP2350

All other boards continue to use PicoDVI.

To use HDMI audio, disable External Audio in the Settings menu.

• Add build-time ROM embedding: pass -DEMBED_NES_ROM=/path/to/rom.nes to CMake to embed a ROM into the firmware. Boots straight into the game without an SD card or menu. @fliperama86
• In-game BOOTSEL shortcut: SELECT + START + UP + A. @fliperama86
• Added option in Settings menu to enter BOOTSEL for flashing firmware.

Fixes

• Various fixes and improvements

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

Breadboard

PCB Pico/Pico2

PCB pico_nesPCB_v2.1.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)

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

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.