Game · Consoles, homebrew & emulation

bsnes

bsnes is a console and retro computer emulator, available on Windows and Linux.

Completely free
Windows and Linux
Open source
No account

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Geographic availability: No geographic restriction found in our sources; availability is not checked country by country.

Technical details

Pricing: Completely freeconfirmed by Winget (Windows Package Manager), Flathub
License: GPL-3.0 — Open source (copyleft)confirmed by Winget (Windows Package Manager), Flathub
Open source: Yes
Commercial use: Yesconfirmed by Winget (Windows Package Manager), Flathub
Account required: Noconfirmed by Winget (Windows Package Manager)
Credit card required: Noconfirmed by Winget (Windows Package Manager), Flathub
Watermark: Not applicable
Ads: not documented
Platforms: Windows and LinuxEstablished by Linux: Flathub · Windows: Winget
Publisher: bsnes team
Latest version: 115 (20 March 2020)
Latest activity: 19 January 2026
Source code: github.com/bsnes-emu/bsnes

At a glance

bsnes is completely free: it is open source software, and every feature is available without paying or subscribing.

Its licence (GPL-3.0) is a copyleft open source licence: you may use, study, modify and redistribute it, including commercially; modified versions must keep the same licence.

Strengths

Open source code
No account needed
Commercial use allowed

About

bsnes is a Super Nintendo (SNES) emulator focused on performance, features, and ease of use. Unique features of bsnes: True Super Game Boy emulation (using the SameBoy core by Lior Halphon) HD mode 7 graphics (by DerKoun) with optional supersampling Low-level emulation of all SNES coprocessors Multi-threaded PPU graphics renderer Speed mode settings which retain smooth audio output Built-in games database with over 1,200 game entries Built-in cheat code database (by mightymo) with hundreds of game entries Built-in save state manager with screenshot previews and naming capabilities Customizable game mappings to support any game cartridges, including prototypes 7-zip decompression support Extensive Satellaview emulation, including BS Memory flash write and wear-leveling support Optional higan game folder support (standard game ROM files are also supported!) Advanced mapping system allowing multiple bindings to every emulated input Standard features of bsnes: MSU1 support BPS and IPS soft-patching support Save states with undo and redo support (for reverting accidental saves and loads) OpenGL multi-pass pixel shaders Several built-in software filters, including HQ2x (by MaxSt) and snes_ntsc (by blargg) Adaptive sync and dynamic rate control for perfect audio/video synchronization Just-in-time input polling for minimal input latency Run-ahead support for removing internal game engine input latency Support for Direct3D exclusive mode video Support for WASAPI and ASIO exclusive mode audio Periodic auto-saving of game saves Auto-saves of states when unloading games, and auto-resuming when reloading games Sprite limit disable support Cubic audio interpolation support Deinterlacing support Optional high-level emulation of most SNES coprocessors Optional emulation of flaws in older emulators for compatibility with older, unofficial software CPU, SA1, and SuperFX overclocking support Frame advance support Cheat code search support Movie recording and playback support Rewind support HiDPI monitor support Multi-monitor support Turbo support for controller inputs

Description from Flathub — AppStream (Flathub)

Sources and checks

Facts collected from Winget (Windows Package Manager) (credit card, account, source code, publisher, licence, free status, platforms, commercial use, version) — 6 November 2026
Facts collected from Flathub (credit card, source code, publisher, licence, free status, platforms, commercial use, version) — 6 November 2026
Last technical check: 6 November 2026
Description from Flathub — AppStream (Flathub)

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