(01-05-2018, 10:14 PM)MayImilae Wrote: [ -> ]The other Wii emulator.
Ok ok, serious answer. Emulators face different challenges and have different goals. So it's really hard to gauge a "best" metric when all possible qualifiers are pretty flexible!
But if I had to pick one... without any hesitation, it's Higan. It has achieved cycle accuracy in the console itself, which is on its own an astonishing feat that almost no other emulators ever achieve, and has moved on to building that accuracy for obscure and rare cartridge chips for the Super Nintendo. And behind it all is an incredible preservationist effort unlike any seen in emulation before, literally involving getting and scanning the PCBs and cartridges of every single SNES title ever made! Byuu is doing such incredible work!
Also Higan isn't just a Super Nintendo emulator! That whole project is so incredible I'm in awe that Byuu has been able to achieve all of this. I know he's had a lot of help with donations and such, but still, it's SO MUCH!
Thanks for your answers thusfar!
I always thought BSnes/Higan was really something special as well, although Byuu is kind of a controversial figure it seems
I really love RetroArch as well, with the shaders and "on-stop-shop" approach. The mednafen Saturn "port" is awesome, it's all I use for the system now (no more SSF..).
What's so controversial about Byuu? I haven't exactly kept up-to-date, but the only news I can remember involving him was when a bunch of his games for preservation got stolen in transit and a call went out for help; doesn't exactly seem controversial, so did I miss something?
Some people don't agree with his approach to programming or emulation related solutions. It can be seen as very NIH as a mindset when you get down to the technical details. As for other things, like the recent USPS incident, some feel he overreacted by initially calling it theft (or implying it was). In reality, it was the fact that he went public that it got a bunch of attention on Reddit and some people at the USPS noticed and helped get everything sorted, but some still feel the outrage was overblow (personally, with $10K+ in valuables, it was the right amount of outrage). His previously cold relationship with Retroarch and Libretro devs was a sticking point for critics as well, but last I heard they were on fairly good terms.
I can't speak about temperament/personality in-depth, but he's always been pretty friendly with me. As a fellow emu-dev, I've given him a few tips on Game Boy stuff (think I was even mentioned in one of higan's changelogs) and it was fun helping him out. I respect him like I do a lot of other folks in the emulation community, but byuu has a lot of eyes on him, and not all of them see things on the same level with him. Pretty sure he recognizes this, which is why on his own forums he has the user title "Polarizing Protagonist". For some, he's kinda become one of those figures you either love or hate, I guess.
There's probably a lot of drama I don't know about, but that's just the way I see it. I try not to get involved with that stuff.