ares

About

ares is a cross-platform, open source, multi-system emulator focused on accuracy and preservation. It supports a wide range of systems, including arcade, Atari 2600, WonderSwan, ColecoVision, NES/Famicom, Game Boy and Game Boy Color, SNES, Nintendo 64, Mega Drive/Genesis, Game Gear, Neo Geo, PlayStation, and many others, with some systems marked as experimental and not yet recommended for everyday use. On macOS, ares uses the hiro framework to look and behave like a native application, with Cocoa as its platform layer.

The app offers a set of features aimed at improving the playing experience. Dynamic Rate Control synchronizes audio and video output for systems whose frame rate does not match the host, while save states let you resume where you left off even in games without native saving. Run-ahead aims to reduce input lag, rewind and fast-forward let you skip cutscenes or recover from mistakes, and pixel shaders provide CRT-style or smoothed display filters. Optional color correction emulates the display characteristics of original hardware. Input Multi-Mapping through Virtual Game-Pads lets you configure controls once and have them adapt to each emulated system.

For developers, ares includes simple debugging tools such as trace logging to aid the development of original software for supported systems.