FCEUX 2.1.4

Who remembers the good old Nintendo Famicom? Or should I say Nintendo Entertainment System? NES? Whatever you're used to calling it, most veterans can agree that the Nintendo console represented an age when video games were about gameplay and not superfluous stuff like pixel shading, 60fps, and 4K resolutions. FCEUX, as it is unfortunately called, is an NES emulator and a fairly simplistic one.

You might ask why would someone need a dedicated emulator when today you can pick up and play an NES game online right in the browser window. I'm currently wondering the same thing. Of course, if you include the possibility of a complete global shutdown of the Internet, then having a collection of ROM's and a working emulator app might just save your fragile mind from unbearable boredom. With the way the political trends are evolving online, that might just happen.

In any case, running an NES ROM in FCEUX is as straightforward as it gets. What's not convenient however is the way you're forced to run these games. There is no way to resize the window, so you're stuck squinting at a 250x240 resolution. On the other hand, there are plenty of windows and tools that monitor the code in real time. I guess those are good for modders and what not, but I, for one, I'd like my Zoom and Antialiasing options, please.

Of course, the obligatory video capture option is there, ready to record your every ineptitude at playing Metal Gear 2. Beyond that, and the ability to freeze the emulation as an override pause function, there's nothing useful for the general public.

That being said, you can edit the controls and play any NES game without a worry, as long as you get over the sizing issue.

Features

• NES emulation
• Multiple code diagnostic tools
• Video capture
• Game controls editor

Final Thoughts

Just as I suspected, coming from its name, FCEUX is a modder's and a hacker's tool. It's clearly not intended for enjoying the vintage gameplay that comes with classic NES titles.