The market is saturated with NES emulators. And yet, programs like RockNES have found a way to maintain their popularity. RockNES is not the best NES emulator around. However, it offers enough features to satisfy the demands of the average NES enthusiast.
What is RockNES?
RockNES is an ancient NES emulator. It came out in 1998. Some people have called it the oldest NES emulator. This is difficult to prove at the moment. But even if it isn’t the oldest NES emulator, the program is still older than the majority of NES emulators on the internet today.
Compatible with Windows and Linux, the program is surprisingly stable. Admittedly, it has developed several bugs and errors over the years. But they have been patched, allowing RockNES to compete favorably with younger, faster, more accurate NES emulators.
When it first appeared, Zepper (The Developer) called it xNES. But the potential confusion with Unix compelled Zepper to change the name.
You can trust it to run games at full speed in an 800 X 600 window. RockNES will adjust the frame rate to match your computer’s performance. The quality of the sound is as high as you could ever hope to see in an NES emulator. You can even play NSF music.
If you want to save your progress, the program has a ‘Save State’ option that allows you to do just that. If you connect a controller, you can configure the controls to suit your playing style.
Features RockNES
- Friendly User Interface
- Save State
- 6502 CPU Disassembler
- Palette Ram Viewer
How To Install RockNES?
Step 1. Download RockNES from a source you trust
Step 2. Find the compressed folder in your downloads and extract it.
Step 3. Look for rocknesx.exe and run it.
Download RockNES Emulator
- Size: 1.8MB
- Platform: Windows
- License: Freeware
- Date: Sep, 23, 2007
How To Use RockNES?
1). You can load games by going to ‘File’ and ‘Open’.
2). You can also go to ‘Options’ and then ‘Folders’. Click the ‘Add’ button to add the directories with your games. Every time you go to ‘View’ and then ‘Refresh Game List’, the emulator will build a list of ROMs from the folders you added. You can play games by simply selecting items from the list RockNES has generated.
3). Go to ‘Game’ and ‘Save State’ to save your progress. The ‘Restore State’ option will restore the saved state.
4). F2 allows you to Quick-Save.
5). You can use F4 to load a saved state.
6). Go to ‘Options’ and ‘Input Devices’ to configure your controls
Conclusion
RockNES doesn’t get as much attention as it deserves. The program performs all the basic functions you expect from a modern emulator. This comes as a surprise to people that have never used it because RockNES is so old.
But despite coming out in 1998, it is very stable. The user interface is simple and easy to navigate. It doesn’t stop at letting you load ROMs. It will generate a list of ROMs, simplifying the process of accessing, selecting, and loading your favorite games.
The emulator is lightweight. It doesn’t have an installer. You can launch it by extracting the executable file and running it.
