The Speed of the SNES Appears to Increase with Time
Hear Ye, Hear Ye! The Darn SNES is Speedin' Up!
Listen up, Nintendo enthusiasts! It's time to unravel the weird mystery of why your ancient Super Nintendo consoles are behaving like teenagers on coffee – they're speeding up as they age!
The speed demon squad, known as the TASBot team, hopped on the scene, a group within the speedrunning community. If anyone can spot vintage equipment running a tad faster, it's gonna be these speedrunning legends. Over time, they issued a plea to collect some good ‘ol data from SNES owners, asking them to test the DSP sample rate on their consoles, whether they're fresh out of the box or have been basking in the glory of your living room for decades.
According to Ars Technica, this crew of investigators has nailed down the root cause to the SNES' Audio Processing Unit. This babies were supposed to operate at a steady 24.576 MHz, with a sample rate of 32,000 Hz. But, speedrunners and emulator developers had long suspected that 32,040 Hz was a more realistic figure for what actual consoles were churning out the DSP sample rate at. Recently, they noticed that the average speed has sped up yet again. testing modern consoles has revealed an average reading of 32,076 Hz.
Things get even wilder when you check out the range of submitted readings – from 31,976 Hz to 32,349 Hz. This points to the possibility that the SNES' ceramic resonator might degrade over time, leading to the speedup. TASBot team members also tested temperature changes, but only recorded a 32 Hz variation, from a frozen SNES to one at room temperature.
Now, degrading hardware components ain't exactly a shocker to our readers, what with our numerous articles on corroded traces and leaky batteries. But, for the speedrunners, the hardware itself potentially shifting over time? Man, it's like stepping on quicksand – what's reality, bro?
[Cheers to s7726 for the tip!]
Now, before ya get your knickers in a twist, this ain't some official confirmation that Nintendo is messing with the speed settings. However, it's an interesting find that could shake up the retro gaming community. So dust off your old SNES, run a test, and see if you're speedin' up like the rest of us!
Gadget enthusiasts might find it intriguing that the TASBot team, investigating the speed increase in old Super Nintendo consoles, discovered that the DSP sample rate, initially set at 32,000 Hz, has shifted to an average of 32,076 Hz in modern consoles. This change could potentially be due to degradation in the SNES' ceramic resonator, implying that the hardware itself might change over time, which is a thought-provoking concept for the retro gaming community.
