Mesen

Emulator
Emulates:	NES
Download:	Mesen website
License:	Free (GNU GPLv3)
Developer:	Sour

Mesen is a powerful and accurate NES/Famicom emulator that is super easy to set up and install.

Downloads

• Download the emulator from the Mesen website
• Download the Mesen Bezel pack (v1.5) from Mediafire

Setup Guide

• Extract the contents of the compressed file to a folder for your Mesen emulator.

Note: There should only be an executable to extract. (i.e. Mesen.exe)

• Open Mesen.exe to start the emulator and run the initial setup configuration wizard.

• Select "Store the data in the same folder as the application"

• Press the "CONFIRM" button to finish initial configuration.

Input Settings

• When Mesen loads select "NES" from the "Settings" drop-down menu.
• Once the "Settings" dialog box loads you should be guided to the "NES" section of the left task pane.
• Select the "Input" tab from the "NES" section.

Access "NES" section from the "Settings" drop-down via the menu bar.

• Make sure "NES Controller" is selected for controller port 1 and click the adjacent "Setup" button to configure the bindings for player one.

Controller Port 1 configuration.

• Next, select "NES Controller" for controller port 2 and click the adjacent "Setup" button to configure the bindings for player two.

Controller Port 2 configuration.

• Finally, select "Zapper (Famicom)" from the drop-down list for the expansion devices and click the adjacent "Setup" button if you wish to re-configure your Sinden lightgun bindings.

Expansion device configuration.

• Set each button to your preference (e.g. Bind "Keyboard Up" to "D-pad Up", "Left Mouse Button" to "Fire", etc.)
• Once you have set all the buttons for the relevant controller/device press "OK"

You can leave "Automatically configure controllers when loading a game" checked if you'd prefer the emulator automatically allocated the controller/device types that are used in each controller port/expansion device slot.

If you'd prefer the controller/device types you choose to remain static and permanent then uncheck this box.

Automatically configure controllers when loading a game.

• In the left task pane, select "Input" and check "Hide mouse pointer when using light guns."

Note: It's recommend to enable this feature as the mouse cursor on-screen can affect your judgement when aiming.

Enabling this is recommended.

Video Filters

You can apply different filter settings to make the original video output look sharper, more defined, or even close to an original CRT display.

• Head on over to the "Video" section of the left task pane and select the "Picture" tab.

Tweak around with these settings until your satisfied with the results.

More information on display settings can be find via the official documentation here.

Example of the "NTSC (Bisqwit) (NES-only)" filter.

Automatically Hide the Menu Bar & On-screen Messages

These next two settings are optional and are down to preference.

• Click on "Preferences" in the left task pane and you should be on the "General" tab.

You can enable "Automatically hide menu bar" if you prefer the menu bar auto-hides when in windowed mode, otherwise, it is enabled by default in fullscreen mode.

• Next, click on the "Advanced" tab

This feature can be enabled if you'd prefer not to see the emulator system message during game play.

Optional settings.

Run Games Fullscreen

When you load a game they will NOT load full screen, to bring it to full screen you have to press F11 To auto load a game full screen automatically it is best to launch the emulator and game from the command line.

To this create a batch file that will do everything for you once you click it.

To create a batch file do the following:

Within the Mesen folder right click in a blank space to bring up the menu and then highlight "new" then select "text document" this will create a new text file you can name as you wish.

Load the new text document and then type the following command adjusting the drive/file path to suit:

start C:\*Insert Messen directory here*\Mesen.exe "C:\*Insert NES rom directory here*\*ROM NAME GOES HERE*.nes" -fullscreen

Go to "File" then "Save As", Give the file a name of your choosing but it MUST end with .bat

e.g. gamename.bat

Select Save and you should have a fully executable batch file that will boot the game you have chosen full screen

Sinden Border

Mesen emulator requires a 16:9 Sinden border, despite the games being 4:3 aspect ratio.

Launch Script

Example Batch File text:

start C:\NES\Mesen.exe "C:\NES\ROMS\*ROM NAME GOES HERE*.nes" -fullscreen