Mesen

Mesen

Mesen is a free, open-source Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) emulator for Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS, and Web. It aims to be fast and accurate with good hardware compatibility.
Mesen image
nes emulator retro-gaming

Mesen: Free NES Emulator

A free, open-source Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) emulator for Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS, and Web, aiming for speed, accuracy, and hardware compatibility.

What is Mesen?

Mesen is a popular and user-friendly Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) emulator that allows you to play classic 8-bit NES games on modern devices. Developed as an open-source project by M. Bibaud, Mesen prides itself on accuracy, performance, and ease-of-use.

Some key features of Mesen include:

  • Accuracy - Mesen focuses on faithfully emulating the components of the original NES hardware for authentic gameplay and graphics.
  • Performance - The code is optimized to run full speed on many systems, with support for features like overclocking.
  • Save states - Quickly save your progress in a game and resume instantly from that point later.
  • Rewind - Roll back gameplay by frames or seconds to retry difficult sections without resetting the entire game.
  • Controller support - Use your preferred gamepads and other controllers to control games.
  • Enhancements - Visual filters, cheats, auto-fire, and more to augment the classic games.

With an active development community behind it, Mesen makes it easy to revisit NES classics like Super Mario, Zelda, Metroid and more on modern computers and devices. Its focus on performance, hardware accuracy, and usability has made it a popular choice among NES emulator fans.

Mesen Features

Features

  1. Accurate NES emulation
  2. Save states
  3. Rewinding
  4. Video filters
  5. Overclocking
  6. Cheats
  7. Controller support
  8. Netplay

Pricing

  • Free
  • Open Source

Pros

Accurate emulation

Good performance

Wide platform support

Online multiplayer

Open source

Cons

Limited to NES emulation

Less user-friendly than other emulators


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