A cycle-accurate NES emulator written in Dart and Flutter. Runs on macOS, Windows, Linux, Android, and on the web.
▶ Play it in your browser, Download a build or visit nesd.jpj.dev.
Grab the file for your platform from the latest release:
| Platform | File |
|---|---|
| macOS (Intel + Apple Silicon) | nesd.<version>.macos-universal.dmg |
| Windows | nesd.<version>.windows-x64.zip |
| Linux (Debian, Ubuntu, …) | nesd.<version>.linux-<arch>.deb |
| Linux (Fedora, RHEL, …) | nesd.<version>.linux-<arch>.rpm |
| Linux (portable) | nesd.<version>.linux-<arch>.AppImage |
| Android | nesd.<version>.android.apk |
| Web (self-hosted) | nesd.<version>.web.zip |
<arch> is x64 or arm64. Nightly builds of main live in the
nightly release.
Play at https://nesd.jpj.dev/play/. A self-hostable Docker image is also available (see Self-hosting below).
Looking for Android testers!
Google Play requires 12 testers to opt in and actually use the app for 14 days before a new app can be published. If you'd like to help NESd get onto the Play Store, sign up in Discussions.
You'll need an Android device and a Google account.
Add my Flatpak repo (https://jpjonte.github.io/flatpak/jpj.flatpakrepo) and install NESd
(dev.jpj.NESd) from there.
Nightly builds (dev.jpj.NESd.dev) live in the same repo and can be installed next to the stable
release.
NESd's desktop builds are not signed, so your OS will complain the first time you open the app. It only happens once.
- macOS: right-click the app and choose Open. If macOS insists the app is damaged, clear the quarantine flag in the Terminal:
xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/NESd.app - Windows: SmartScreen shows a blue warning. Choose More info → Run anyway.
NESd does not come with any games. It plays .nes ROM files you supply yourself. Open one with Open ROM and it is added to your library.
| Action | Key |
|---|---|
| D-pad | Arrow keys |
| A / B | Z / X |
| Start / Select | Enter / Shift |
| Pause | Space |
| Fast-forward | Tab |
| Rewind | Backspace |
| Open menu | Esc |
| Load save state 1–9 | 1 … 9 |
| Save to state 1–9 | Shift + 1 … 9 |
All controls can be changed under Settings → Controls, including gamepads and the on-screen touch controls.
- Cycle-accurate CPU, PPU and APU emulation
- Runs on macOS, Linux, Windows, Android and the web
- Support for NTSC and PAL games
- Battery backed (SRAM) saves
- Save states, with thumbnails
- Rewind
- Fast-forward at 2x, 3x, 4x or unlimited, with audio
- Game Genie cheats
- Video filters (CRT and Smoothing) that can be stacked
- Expansion audio for MMC5 and Namco 163 games
- Customizable controls with multiple bindings per action
- Gamepad support
- Customizable touch screen controls
- Turbo A and B for both controllers, with an adjustable fire rate
- Load ROMs from file or ZIP archive, with a searchable file picker
- Debug overlay and debug tools: Display, Tile Viewer, Cartridge Info, APU Debug, Debugger and Execution Log
- A log viewer with search, copy and file export
NESd supports 3,404 games.
Supported mappers
- 0: NROM (346 games)
- 1: MMC1 (734 games)
- 2: UNROM (303 games)
- 3: CNROM (192 games)
- 4: MMC3 (796 games)
- 5: MMC5 (31 games)
- 7: AxROM (59 games)
- 9: MMC2 (9 games)
- 16: Bandai FCG (16 games)
- 19: Namco 163 (31 games)
- 30: UNROM 512 (39 games)
- 45: GA23C (151 games)
- 66: GxROM (17 games)
- 71: BR909x (30 games)
- 118: TxSROM (8 games)
- 176: 8025 (344 games)
- 206: Namco 108 (63 games)
- 256: VT03 OneBus (235 games)
NESd's web version is a static Flutter web app that can be self-hosted.
docker run -d -p 8080:80 ghcr.io/jpjonte/nesd:latest
Then open http://localhost:8080.
8080 is an example port, feel free to change it.
| Tags | |
|---|---|
latest |
latest release |
x.y.z |
specific version, e.g. 0.17.0 |
nightly |
latest main build |
services:
nesd:
image: ghcr.io/jpjonte/nesd:latest
ports:
- "8080:80"
restart: unless-stopped
Any static file server works.
- Download the web build (
nesd.<version>.web.zip) from the latest release - or
nesd.nightly.web.zipfrom the nightly release - or build it from source (
flutter build web --wasm --no-web-resources-cdninpackages/nesd).
Serve the directory as-is.
.mjs files must be served as JavaScript (Content-Type: application/javascript), otherwise browsers reject the WebAssembly runtime's module, and you get a blank page.
Serve index.html and flutter_bootstrap.js uncached.
Serve over HTTPS (or localhost): browsers only provide audio worklets in secure contexts, so on plain HTTP NESd runs without sound.
Contributions are very welcome! See CONTRIBUTING.md for the development setup and how to report bugs (please include the log).
Thank you to the following projects and people for their amazing work:
- The Nesdev Wiki for the invaluable documentation
- The Nesdev Forums for the in-depth discussions on hardware behaviors
- SourMesen for the excellent Mesen emulator
- Modern Vintage Gamer for the inspiration to write my own emulator
- NewRisingSun for the NES 2.0 XML Database of known ROMs
- Andrea Bizzotto for his excellent Flutter tips and tricks
NESd is released under the MIT License.
Nintendo Entertainment System and NES are trademarks of Nintendo. NESd is not affiliated with or endorsed by Nintendo, and ships no game ROMs or copyrighted Nintendo material.