Mesen

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

Setup Guide

Extract the Mesen zip file to your hard drive.

Open mesen.exe to start the emulator and run the initial setup config wizard

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

Press the "CONFIRM" button to finish installation

Mesen Config Wizard with settings set as described in guide

If prompted to update please note 0.9.9 is a beta release and as stated in the release notes any save states, settings etc. may not work with future versions. It is recommended to stick with 0.9.8 for now by clicking "Cancel"

Input Options

With Mesen open select "Options"

Select "Input"

Mesen Input menu highlighted expanded from Options

Set the following options:

Set the console type is set to "Famicom"

Set Player 1 & Player 2 in the dropdowns to "Standard Controller"

Set "Expansion Port" to "Zapper"

Click the "Setup" button next to Player 1

Mesen Input Settings with settings as described and Player 1 Config button highlighted

Set each button to your preference e.g. DPAD Up = Keyboard up etc.

Once you have set all the buttons press "OK"

Back on the input selection screen select the "Advanced" tab, you will see a tick box to hide the mouse cursor/crosshair. With the Sinden Lightgun it recommended to turn off crosshairs where possible

Select "OK"

Mesen Advanced Input Settings with settings set as described in guide

Video Filters

You can apply different Filter options to the screen to make it look more like a CRT

Open "Options" in the main Mesen menu

Select "Video"

Navigate to the "Picture" tab

Select your preferred filter

Mesen Video window with Picture tab, filter dropdown is expanded with available filter effect options

Autohide the Menu Bar & On-screen Display

Next we want to auto hide the menu bar when we are playing.

Mesen Preferences window with 'automatically hide menu bar' ticked and highlighted

Go to "Options" then "Preferences"

Tick "Automatically hide menu bar"

Also under the "Advanced" tab you may wish to disable the on screen display (OSD) and the game selection screen.

Once you have finished press "OK".

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