Comparison of Sega Mega Drive emulators
From Sega Retro
The following is a comparison of the most popular Sega Mega Drive emulators:
Emulation Capabilities
Key for 68000:
- S: Speed is (roughly) accurate
- D: Supports all documented instructions.
- F: Supports undocumented flag operations.
- A: Supports Address Error.
- M: Supports undocumented MOVEM read behavior.
- V: Properly emulates DIVS/DIVU cycle timing.
Key for Z80:
- S: Speed is (roughly) accurate
- D: Supports all documented instructions.
- U: Supports all undocumented instructions.
- F: Supports undocumented flag operations.
- R: Properly emulates the 'R' register.
- T: Properly emulates all instruction cycle timing.
Key for VDP (In addition to numeral rating)
- D: DMAs block Z80 68k bus access
- C: CRAM dot emulation
- S: DMA transfers with length=0 are correctly handled as length=65536.
- T: Emulates the Sprite Address Table cache.
- R: Emulates the $C0001C debug register.
Key for YM2612 (In addition to numeral rating):
- S: Supports SSG-EG
- C: Supports YM2612 debug registers $21 and $2C
- V: Supports YM2612 variants(YM2612, discrete/asic YM3438)
- D: Properly emulates low volume distortion
- T: Properly emulates IO timing
- B: Properly emulates busy flag
Key for PSG:
- R: Supports undocumented register behavior.
- L: Has proper Linear Feedback Shift Register emulation.
Emulator | 68000 | Z80 | VDP | YM2612 | PSG | Speed | Compatibility | Debugging Capabilities | Mappers Support | Overall |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
DGen/SDL | Incomplete | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | DGen/SDL has a 68k debugger | ? | 0 | |
Exodus | SDFAMV | SDUFRT | 4 DCST | 4 S | 5 | 0 | 5 | Yes, sophisticated | ? | 5 |
Genecyst | 3 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 3 | Partial | ? | 2 | ||
Genesis Plus GX | S | S | 4 T | 4 S / 5 SCVDTB | 5 | 4 | 5 | None | Full | 4 |
Gens | D | DU | 2 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 4 | Limited; replaces emulation screen when debugging. See DebuGens and Gens KMod for better debugging. | ? | 2 |
Gens/GS | D | DU | 3 S | 2 | 4 | Limited; replaces emulation screen when debugging. | ? | 3 | ||
Gens/GS II | D | SDUF | 3 ST | 2 | RL; has aliasing | 4 | 4 | None | ? | 3 |
Kega Fusion | SD | 3 S | 4 S * | 4 | 5 | 5 | None | ? | 4 | |
MESS | 1 S | 4 S | 4 | 3 | 3 | Yes | Full | 2 | ||
Regen | S | S | 4 | 4 S | 5 | 3 | 4 | Yes, buggy | ? | 4 |
- DAC / YM timers / Z80 speed emulation results in way too smooth playback, manifests as detuned samples in certain games. [1]
Operating Platform
Emulator | DOS | Windows | Mac OS X | GNU/Linux | BSD | BeOS | Dreamcast | Xbox | PlayStation 2 | PlayStation Portable | GameCube/ Wii |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
AGES | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
DebuGens | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
DGen | Yes (v.1.04a and lower) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | No |
Genecyst | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
GenEm | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
Generator | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | No |
Genesis Plus | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | As MEGADRIVE for PSP | Yes |
Gens | Yes (v.1.05 and lower) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | As Gens-X, Gens_xport and Xenesis | As PGen | No | No |
Gens/GS | No | Yes (r5 and later) | Not officially supported | Yes | Not officially supported | No | No | No | No | No | No |
Gens/GS II | No | Yes | Not officially supported | Yes | Not officially supported | No | No | No | No | No | No |
Gens Plus! | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
Gens Rerecording | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
HazeMD | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
Kega Fusion | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
Megasis | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
PSPGenesis | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No |
Regen | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
retroDrive | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
Triton | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
Emulation Support
Emulator | Mega-CD | Sega 32X | Sega Master System | Sega Game Gear | SG-1000 | SC-3000 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
AGES | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No |
DebuGens | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No |
DGen | No | No | No | No | No | No |
Genecyst | No | No | No | No | No | No |
GenEm | No | No | No | No | No | No |
Generator | No | No | No | No | No | No |
Genesis Plus | No | No | No | No | No | No |
Gens | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No |
Gens/GS | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No |
Gens/GS II | Yes | Yes | No (in progress) |
No (in progress) |
No (in progress) |
No |
Gens Plus! | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
Gens Rerecording | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No |
HazeMD | No | No | No | No | No | No |
Kega Fusion | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Megasis | No | No | No | No | No | No |
PSPGenesis | No | No | No | No | No | No |
Regen | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
retroDrive | No | Yes | No | No | No | No |
Triton | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
References
- ↑ https://i.imgur.com/nyqNZaR.png (Wayback Machine: 2024-02-12 12:20)