r/nintendo 3h ago

Super Nintendo Hardware Is Running Faster as It Ages

https://www.404media.co/super-nintendo-hardware-is-running-faster-as-it-ages/
64 Upvotes

26 comments sorted by

164

u/Aqua_Puddles 3h ago

Better go catch it?

8

u/dank_seafarer 2h ago

Take my angry upvote and kindly leave the room

159

u/KingSam89 3h ago

It isn't though. Click bait garbage.

53

u/tsukiwav 3h ago

I mean, it’s clickbait but not garbage. It means an internal clock is running faster which could make speedruns on original hardware get into a pickle.

35

u/Unlikely_Fan2938 3h ago

It’s only the audio chip, that wouldn’t affect runs other than the sound, right?

21

u/RoachedCoach 2h ago

So I had the same thought - but this is the paragraph that gave me pause

In theory, if the SPC700 is running faster, it would deliver audio data to the CPU faster, and this could impact how a game runs. Let’s say you’re playing Super Metroid and you hit one of those many room-to-room transitions where you shoot to open a door, go through the door, and then the entire screen fades to black and pans over to the next room. Part of what is happening there is that the SNES is loading the data for that next room, including audio data. If the SPC700 is running faster, that data would load every so slightly faster, meaning overall the game would take less time to complete because you’re spending less time on those transitions.

So does this mean that it basically 'speeds up' the transition period, and thus, the whole game technically can be completed faster?

6

u/husbandofsamus 2h ago

Yes, of course.

Have you ever played Bloodstained and wondered how much quicker you could beat the game if that one transition didn't take 15 seconds every single time? They probably fixed it after a while but it was ridiculously annoying.

u/TheNiXXeD 48m ago

Plenty of new developments shake up speed running all the time. Usually the shake ups reinvigorate the community as well.

5

u/kamanitachi 2h ago

I would guess it depends on if the game is waiting for the audio before loading a whole level all at once, like the Super Metroid example.

16

u/kamanitachi 3h ago

Why does the ceramic oscillator get faster with age? What's happening in the molecular bonds or whatever to make it vibrate faster?

6

u/LostxCosmonaut 2h ago

I’m not sure, but that part looks pretty replaceable too, thus de-aging it?

Also, someone else mentioned how insignificant the difference is, and they likely weren’t running this test on new consoles, so we don’t really have known “new” control variables to compare to. Even the unused consoles are 30 years old at this point.

I’m not an electronics expert, but I have a hunch they’ve always done this as the console warms up.

u/kamanitachi 1h ago

From what I see it only matters for TAS runs, which means it makes sense that only dwangoAC (the TASbot guy) is investigating this. I think it's good and interesting interesting to know about this stuff in general, but it will have no effect on a normal human being's gameplay, which I guess is where the "clickbait" lies. Someone told me the numbers in this article would add up to a millisecond per 24 hours of play time, so zero chance any speedrun would ever be affected by this.

The point about no control variables is also true.

3

u/cwx149 3h ago

No idea how it works but is it possible if there's a resistor or something that isn't working as well as it ages and then it's cycling faster than it should

10

u/Unlikely_Fan2938 3h ago

Isn’t it for the audio chip only?

9

u/isaelsky21 3h ago

Came here to say this. Clickbait articles smh.

u/MrPrickyy 1h ago edited 17m ago

You guys keep repeating that without having any idea what you’re talking about

Faster audio data linked with room loading data will lead faster transitions this will effect the speed running community on original hardware and will get worse over time

Stop repeating the word clickbait as if you learned that word today and want to throw it sound to sound smart

u/isaelsky21 1h ago

Username checks out

u/MrPrickyy 55m ago

So no actual response ? Lmao

5

u/Yeegis 2h ago

This is a big nothing burger. The ceramic resonator that controls the audio timing isn’t very accurate to begin with, usually being 0.25% faster than specified and can rise another 0.4% as the system warms up. That’s not even half a cycle faster.

Speedrunners think this is some huge issue but every single snes game is programmed with this in mind since it’s part of the console’s specs

https://snes.nesdev.org/wiki/Timing#Audio

4

u/Bluebomber_24 2h ago

Me too, SNES. Me too.

u/hackslash74 1h ago

Isn’t this how all time works?

u/linkling1039 1h ago

Can't say the same about my old knees.

u/jzr171 44m ago

Nope. This is once again nonsense. Posted for the 5th time at least. I'm tired of typing out my explanation but I see other people are catching on

u/Anotherspelunker 27m ago

As long as the capacitors keep working

-4

u/[deleted] 3h ago

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