You can even feed controller and serial inputs directly to the FPGA for lag-free controls, or you can connect via USB which has an extremely fast polling rate (and is always dropping). This also means that audio and video can be output exactly like a real system would, and with MiSTer that equates to zero-latency analog video output, or extremely low-latency scaling using MiSTer’s ever-evolving hardware HDMI scaler. So, traditional emulators usually take shortcuts where FPGA doesn’t. Perfectly emulating the real hardware of even simple consoles like the Nintendo NES requires an absolute monster of a traditional CPU to get similar results to low-end FPGAs.
Electronic PCBs are chock full of different chips and circuits operating in tandem at extremely precise timings. “ FPGA-based processing is extremely efficient at performing the task of hardware emulation, since it allows multiple operations to happen simultaneously in real time. He shared a more involved, but eloquent explanation:
I talked to him about his perspective on FPGAs and how he would explain their powers. One of the leading voices in the FPGA and MiSTer community is the man known as SmokeMonster.
(Also see Wikipedia for a more general and technical definition of what FPGA hardware is)
The short answer is that FPGA is programmable hardware that, when utilized well, typically provides a more accurate and efficient replication of the original hardware compared to software emulation. MiSTer FPGA Units with IO Board (top) and 8bitdo Bluetooth Adapter Photo via Martinův 8-bitový blog Why FPGA over Software Emulation?įor those that are relatively content with their emulation setups and the flexibility it gives them, it may be easy to question what the big deal is with FPGA setups. However, the most discerning retro gamers are increasingly looking at the world of FPGA for opportunities to bring the conveniences of emulation to a hardware that is closer to original console hardware. Many of us have been playing around with classic game emulators and ROMs for quite a while and a few years back, the Raspberry Pi scene did quite a lot to re-ignite strong interest the emulation environment. As more systems (and the games themselves!) climb in resale value and hardware ages and eventually dies, we begin looking for alternatives to balance our desire to play though history and manage our sanity. Many of us can’t help but dream about the possibility of one device that could output modern video signal and reliably play our full game library just as well as the original hardware. MiSTer FPGA: The Future of Retro Game Emulation and Preservation?Īs retro gamers, we all know the yearning to be able to play through a grand history of games from a variety of systems, but having to deal with the struggle of not only owning and maintaining an array of vintage hardware, but also having them constantly hooked up to our displays and audio systems.