ares
Multi-system emulator focused on accuracy and preservation
- Open SourceGitHub
- ares teamDeveloper
- 18 SystemsSupported
- 28 Sep 2026Page Updated
Details
- Developers
- ares team
- Source Code
- GitHub
- Page Updated
Supported Systems
Platform Support
- Windows
- macOS
Screenshots
Overview
ares is an open source multi-system emulator focused on accuracy and preservation. It is a descendant of higan and bsnes, the emulators written by Near, and is the successor to higan. It is developed by the ares team and released under the ISC licence.
It covers a wide range of consoles, including the NES and Famicom Disk System, SNES, Nintendo 64 and 64DD, Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, SG-1000, Master System, Game Gear, Mega Drive/Genesis, Mega CD, 32X, PC Engine, WonderSwan and Neo Geo Pocket, as well as the Neo Geo AES, MSX, ColecoVision and ZX Spectrum. Support for some systems, including the Atari 2600, PlayStation, MSX and Neo Geo, is still marked experimental.
ares deliberately trades speed for clearer code, so its cores run slower than those of speed-focused emulators. It has a native interface on each platform, save states, run-ahead, rewind, shaders and colour correction. Official builds are released for Windows (x64 and ARM64) and macOS, while Linux users build from source or use distribution packages.
Key Features
Preservation Focus
Focuses on accuracy and preservation over speed.
Wide System Support
Covers NES, SNES, N64, Sega consoles, Neo Geo Pocket and more.
Rewind and Run-Ahead
Offers rewind, run-ahead and save states.
Shaders
Includes shaders and colour correction for a better picture.
