NES Mini has poor sound emulation

People that have gotten the NES mini early such as Youtubers have already posted up videos on Youtube.  I watched a video of Mega Man 2 and someone had commented that the noise channel didn't sound right.  This made me curious so, I compared the video to NESguide's video and sure enough the guy was correct.  The noise channel emulation is definitely off.  Someone else had posted a video with a minute from all 30 games, and I can see evidence of the noise channel being off in many of the games on there.  This isn't the end of the world and casual players probably wouldn't even notice it. But if you are a diehard NES fan, and especially once it's pointed out to you, you really can't unhear it.  It's glaring and annoying and disrupts from the nostaliga.   I'm just bringing this up because it seems like everyone in the media is saying that the emulation is excellent, but nobody has mentioned about the sound emulation issues.



Here are a few examples of what I'm talking about:



Mega Man 2-  The sound of enemies being destroyed.  The sound when Mega Man takes damage.

Double Dragon II-  The sound of enemies being punched and kicked.

Punch Out-  The sound when an opponent blocks Little Mac's punches.





 

Comments

  • I've still never heard anyone else complain about the emulation issues I encountered with the original Wii Virtual Console.



    In Donkey Kong Country, the vines and characters disappear when the game is paused (like they are supposed to do), but the character and vine positions update as soon as you unpause so that they are at the same position they would be in if you had never paused it. Essentially, they continue moving invisibly while paused.



    During the ending of Ninja Gaiden the castle is supposed to break up into several pieces and slide out of view, but instead the image pieces duplicate and leave an intact image of the castle behind.



    To my knowledge these were never fixed. I'm very curious to see if they still have the Ninja Gaiden glitch.
  • Originally posted by: CZroe



    I've still never heard anyone else complain about the emulation issues I encountered with the original Wii Virtual Console.



    In Donkey Kong Country, the vines and characters disappear when the game is paused like they are supposed to do, but the character and vine positions update as soon as you unpause so that they are at the position they would be if you never paused it. Essentially, they continue moving invisibly while paused.



    During the ending of Ninja Gaiden the castle is supposed to break up into several pieces and slide out of view, but instead the image pieces duplicate and leave an intact image of the castle behind.



    To my knowledge these were never fixed. I'm very curious to see if they still have the Ninja Gaiden glitch.





    Emulation of NES and SNES have all but been perfected so there is no excuse for poor emulation. I guess they can do a half assed job because few besides hardcore gamers will notice.



     
  • I don't notice the sound issues in Mega Man 2 or in Punch Out but Double Dragon II is obvious. And I haven't actually played that game...I just noticed the sound was playing a lot longer then the dead enemy was on screen...
  • Some more examples, you can probably find one in every game :



    http://forums.nesdev.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=15073
  • Yeah, the NES mini has lots of emulation inaccuracies to the sound and video. It's funny, but most of the reviews on Youtube have praised the emulation while complaining about the controller's short cord length. The cord doesn't need to be long because you're supposed to have the Mini next to you while you're playing so you can suspend play and change to another game. Also, everyone is so excited about the small size of the Mini referring to the mini as the smallest console ever. It's so cute. It's so tiny. It's NOT a console. It's a freaking plug n play. I don't understand why a bunch of people keep referring to the NES Mini as the tiniest console ever. I've even seen some people compare the size of the Mini with other real consoles. It's hilarious. Why are they comparing the size of an NES plug n play to other Nintendo consoles? Makes absolutely no sense to me.



    I guess I need to commend Nintendo's marketing department because apparently they have convinced many people that the NES mini is actually a tiny console, when in fact it's just a plug n play device.
  • Originally posted by: Astor Reinhardt



    I don't notice the sound issues in Mega Man 2 or in Punch Out but Double Dragon II is obvious. And I haven't actually played that game...I just noticed the sound was playing a lot longer then the dead enemy was on screen...



    Perhaps the enemy was still flickering, but invisible due to the frame rate of the capture device being used.



     
  • Originally posted by: Ouendan



    Yeah, the NES mini has lots of emulation inaccuracies to the sound and video. It's funny, but most of the reviews on Youtube have praised the emulation while complaining about the controller's short cord length. The cord doesn't need to be long because you're supposed to have the Mini next to you while you're playing so you can suspend play and change to another game. Also, everyone is so excited about the small size of the Mini referring to the mini as the smallest console ever. It's so cute. It's so tiny. It's NOT a console. It's a freaking plug n play. I don't understand why a bunch of people keep referring to the NES Mini as the tiniest console ever. I've even seen some people compare the size of the Mini with other real consoles. It's hilarious. Why are they comparing the size of an NES plug n play to other Nintendo consoles? Makes absolutely no sense to me.



    I guess I need to commend Nintendo's marketing department because apparently they have convinced many people that the NES mini is actually a tiny console, when in fact it's just a plug n play device.





     There is a good chance the  unlicensed joystick accessory "the edge" has a home button, because  internally it is just a Wii classic controller.  
  • Originally posted by: mbd39

     
    Originally posted by: CZroe



    I've still never heard anyone else complain about the emulation issues I encountered with the original Wii Virtual Console.



    In Donkey Kong Country, the vines and characters disappear when the game is paused like they are supposed to do, but the character and vine positions update as soon as you unpause so that they are at the position they would be if you never paused it. Essentially, they continue moving invisibly while paused.



    During the ending of Ninja Gaiden the castle is supposed to break up into several pieces and slide out of view, but instead the image pieces duplicate and leave an intact image of the castle behind.



    To my knowledge these were never fixed. I'm very curious to see if they still have the Ninja Gaiden glitch.





    Emulation of NES and SNES have all but been perfected so there is no excuse for poor emulation. I guess they can do a half assed job because few besides hardcore gamers will notice.



     





    Where can i get perfect snes emulation? The current snes emulated audio bugs the crap out of me. Specifically wind sounds from secret of mana or FF6 and many Megaman X-X3 sounds.

     
  • Originally posted by: scottmog

     
    Originally posted by: mbd39

     
    Originally posted by: CZroe



    I've still never heard anyone else complain about the emulation issues I encountered with the original Wii Virtual Console.



    In Donkey Kong Country, the vines and characters disappear when the game is paused like they are supposed to do, but the character and vine positions update as soon as you unpause so that they are at the position they would be if you never paused it. Essentially, they continue moving invisibly while paused.



    During the ending of Ninja Gaiden the castle is supposed to break up into several pieces and slide out of view, but instead the image pieces duplicate and leave an intact image of the castle behind.



    To my knowledge these were never fixed. I'm very curious to see if they still have the Ninja Gaiden glitch.





    Emulation of NES and SNES have all but been perfected so there is no excuse for poor emulation. I guess they can do a half assed job because few besides hardcore gamers will notice.



     





    Where can i get perfect snes emulation? The current snes emulated audio bugs the crap out of me. Specifically wind sounds from secret of mana or FF6 and many Megaman X-X3 sounds.

     





    Higane/BSNES
  • Yep. I use a revision of BSNES before it switched to Higane, and the emulation is fantastic. It emulates the entire library with no issues. The greater accuracy comes at the price of being much slower than other emulators, but newer PC's have no problem.
  • It seems that the SoC is drastically overpowered but I still don't think it's in the Higane/BSNES class.  
  • This would drive me crazy.
  • I no longer buy Nintendo products of this sort because Nintendo is too possessive about their content. Sony's emulation and use of cross-platform compatibility for classics has more integrity. Nintendo is living in the dark ages. That and binding purchases to the system.
  • Originally posted by: Jeckidy



    I no longer buy Nintendo products of this sort because Nintendo is too possessive about their content. Sony's emulation and use of cross-platform compatibility for classics has more integrity. Nintendo is living in the dark ages. That and binding purchases to the system.

    DS and Wii system transfers. Besides, this thing has no relevance to those. They aren't selling individual games so it doesn't make sense to link it with individual purchases.
  • Honestly, I watched a bit from each game in that video and I couldn't tell the difference from a real NES. Everything sounded just about spot on to me... Oh well...
  • I see what you mean, those sounds from Mega Man 2 do seem very slightly lower pitched. I think I could deal with that though.



    If anything I'm annoyed by StarTropics' box art in the main menu. Why's it the Canadian art, would it have really been that inconvenient to get the US cover?
  • Heck, they could've scanned my StarTropics box.
  • Yeah, I'm hearing issues with the noise channel. Everything else seems fine though.
  • Wow! I just discovered another doozy. In the Mini, the sound when Mario grabs coins in Mario 3 sounds crackly, distorted, harsh, and ear-piercing (like fingernails on a chalkboard), as opposed to the NES which sounds crisp, clear and beautiful. I'll bet this applies to Mario 1 as well but I haven't verified that one yet.
  • This is sad, when software emulators solved this so many years ago. The downsampling needed is very hard but they have tons of cpu to do it well. Getting that SMB 3 coin sound good was a huge effort for me  
  • cant be as bad as the atgames genesis sound. ever tried playing sonic 2 on that piece of junk? sounds awful
  • RIP Double Dragon II Knee sound. I really didn't think it would bother me, but it definitely makes the game (and the device) feel a little more cheap. Overall I think this thing is awesome, but it's definitely got some questionable qualities. You can tell the sound is way off on the few games I've played already.



    You'll never beat the real deal IMO. Original is king.
  • Finally a more complete and accurate review video has been uploaded that wasn't just complaining about the controller's short cord length.  Sound emulation is discussed at 15:37.



  • But what about the palette numbers?  
  • The sound is definitely off in many of the games. And there are other little here and there things that are off too. I still really like it overall,but it would have been nice for it to have been more accurate.
  • Especially since it's coming from Nintendo...
  • The ones you love the most dissapoint you the most.
  • Originally posted by: CZroe



    I've still never heard anyone else complain about the emulation issues I encountered with the original Wii Virtual Console.

     



    I know !!! I always thought I was the only one complaining about the crap emulation of NES games on the
  • Originally posted by: bunnyboy



    This is sad, when software emulators solved this so many years ago. The downsampling needed is very hard but they have tons of cpu to do it well. Getting that SMB 3 coin sound good was a huge effort for me  

    Its sad when you , Mr.bunnyboy , can make a far better product on a small little budget and they have Millions and Millions of dollars for R&D , the best minds in video gaming yet can't even accomplish what you can . Talk about pathetic .....



    You alone are better and contribute more to gaming today than Nintendo . What a joke of a company they have become . Did you ever think you'd out do Nintendo ?



     
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