As Super Nintendo Ages, Its Hardware Becomes FASTER: A Speedrunners Discovery

The hardware of the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) is reportedly functioning faster over time, as highlighted by 404 Media, referencing speedrunners who have taken note of the changes in how the 1990 device operates. This revelation has raised concerns within the speedrunning community, as an increase in console speed could potentially impact game completion times.

Last month, speedrunner Alan Cecil, known by the handle dwangoAC, shared an online survey and guidelines for users to provide details regarding the performance of their SNES consoles. His findings indicated that the console indeed runs faster as it ages. However, these changes are deemed too minor to significantly alter speedrun times.

The issue is tied to the SPC700 processor, which manages audio processing for the SNES. According to the manufacturer’s documentation, the chip is supposed to operate at a signal processing frequency of 32,000 Hz.

Cecil noted that developers of SNES emulators have observed that some SPC700 chips perform at slightly higher speeds. The emulation software typically operates at a marginally elevated frequency of 32,040 Hz to achieve greater accuracy.

As he reviewed forum discussions, Cecil began to identify a pattern: the SPC700 appeared to operate faster when measurements were taken from consoles that had been in use for a longer time. He concluded that consoles do indeed run faster as they age, with the highest recorded processing frequency of one SPC700 reaching 32,182 Hz.

Other researchers have pointed out that the performance of the SPC700 can also vary with temperature changes. While an increase in processor speed does not affect gameplay directly, it may accelerate the loading times of locations, but this boost is insufficient to reduce gameplay time by even a second.