The MiSTer project mainly uses the Terasic DE10-Nano development board, which incorporates a Xilinx Cyclone V 55800 field-programmable gate array (FPGA) as its core component.
This specific FPGA allows the MiSTer project to achieve its goal of recreating classic consoles, computers, and arcade games through software “cores” written in Hardware Description Language (HDL). These cores essentially reconfigure the FPGA’s internal logic to mimic the original hardware, offering unparalleled accuracy and cycle-perfect emulation.
It’s important to note that some additional functionality can be achieved with optional add-on boards for the DE10-Nano. These add-ons may require specific FPGA configurations, but the core functionality of MiSTer relies on the DE10-Nano and its Xilinx Cyclone V 55800 FPGA.
DE10-Nano
44 comments
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When it comes to the audio the Mister is slightly more muffled then GX, very slight difference, nothing to write home about.
I was hoping you would compare input latency 😭
Excellent vid! I was wondering what the input lag comparison would be like. It's awesome to see how close they are in emulation though.
High frequency percussion was louder on the sor2 level 1 on gx. Sounded subjectively nicer on the emu?
Now I wanna see this kind of video but for the Super NES.
Mister is quite powerful. Thank God for software & hardware emulation.
I was waiting for this video. Great work, thank you. I keep having that Mister itch that emulation doesn't scratch…
Edit: I wasn't expecting that different line of pixels on both emulation and Mister.
That's exactly why I'm suscribed, top notch content, and the only one daring to compare directly MisTer against emulators, on another topic, comparison between emulators to see which one it's the more accurate would be very cool too, Blastem Vs genesis GX, bsnes Vs snes9x, Mesen Vs Fceux…
You know, I always wonder what goes on in the boarding rooms of Sega or Nintendo. If they just took out a small chunk of their vast buying power to do re-releases of their older consoles in waves of 100K at a time to see how well they sold, they would make money hand over fist. Granted, things like MiSTer wouldn't have been so popular but the end goal is people want to play these things on original hardware and on newer TV's (and maybe older TVs as well, like myself) and they'll do it by any means (e.g. the emulation movement of the past 20 years). Why give room for piracy when you don't have to? The mini series, to me, was like listening to your girlfriend say she wanted flowers for her birthday and you printed a picture of flowers. Completely not the same thing, although they genuinely thought it was the same and thought it should be sufficient…No level of capitalist-mumbojumbo could convince me of why they do this. It's all greed. I digress, your videos hit the mark per the usual.
The GX emulator isn’t doing the same audio filtering a real MD or Mister would do. It’s often subtle, but you can certainly hear it in the Konami jingle. There’s also some minor gamma differences in the video between hardware, GX and Mister.
Audio can 100% match the console on GX if you use a bit of low pass filter. You should also change the audio option to "Nuked" as it's the most accurate one.
Did you use default sound settings for the core? Otherwise, please let us know what settings you changed for your setup.
I happened to pause during the Sonic 3 intro and all three frames were showing something different. I forget, is that just that you're manually controlling Super Sonic?
You are getting a little bit of shimmer on the mister as it not the corect aspec ratio, i some times just deal with it on mister but it does bug me so i tend to sort the aspect ratio out. think the slight sound diffrence on SOR is down to the low pass filter used but there very simlar.
The difference in sync during Splatterhouse could also be the difference between one running at 60.00Hz and the other running at 59.94Hz NTSC signal.
Great comparison. Listening through my calibrated headphones there's not much in it. MiSTer has a little more low end, but I'd put it down to GX settings.
Awesome comparisons! I was wondering more about the system lag. Hard Drivin' and Race Drivin' push the original hardware to its limits, and emulators often run it too fast. That may be an interesting game to further compare these.
Wow I loved this video!
I'm heavily into retro hardware, FPGA and software emulation.
It's really hard to quantify the difference between FPGA and Software emulation.
The short story is there's never been a better time to be into retro gaming!
A very accurate emulation on a pc require a beefy cpu, thus consuming a lot of power (watts). The Mister, on the other hand, not only does it emulates the original consoles extremely closely, consumes between 6.4 to 7 watts from the wall!
you got some shimmering on mister. your the resolution configuration is not good.
I think the MiSTer team really nailed the Genesis sound (I believe thanks to the help of MD Fourier). While I don't fault Analogue for giving its users options, for those freaks out there who care about ultimate accuracy, I think MiSTer's Genesis audio is a strong point for it. What's really awesome (and maybe a bit surprising for anyone who has followed Genesis emulation over the years) is how accurate the emulation audio is. That's a true accomplishment. To my ears, the GX audio has a bit more high-end frequency response, as I hear more extension of the audio into the 5+ kHz range. In contrast, the MiSTer sounds a little bit more muffled, which has the effect of also sounding a bit bassier, which I think is more true to the original Genesis hardware (sounds more like my model 1 Genesis). That said, both of them sound great and other than the slight difference in frequency response, they seem to be exactly the same.
I'm really glad we have excellent options from both ends of the spectrum, as I will be using both to enjoy my retro games in the future. Emulation is greatly convenient for my modern displays, and MiSTer is super convenient for my CRTs. Both have reached "good enough" status for me. Extremely minor timing issues don't bother me as long as there are no graphical glitches or improper audio (like those old At Games Genesis systems).
Can't wait for the next comparison video!
The very slow desync issue is actually a natural process. If you were to run two original Genesis consoles next to each other, the same would happen. This is because the crystal oscillator in each console (or any electronic device) is slightly different due to microscopic manufacturing defects and temperature variation. I know some emulators can run too slow or fast, but It looks like the MiSTer and Genesis GX Plus are both identical cycle-to-cycle.
2:20 The change is quite drastic. MiSTer sounds muffled – either or – GX has higher treble. I prefer the higher frequency of GX.
3:00 Dithering looks much better in GX, MiSTer has imperfections, vertical lines running through and the pixels are clearly misaligned.
4:05 Horrible scrolling lag on the MiSTer, look at those trees…
How comes you don't have a desync when emulators run genesis at 60 Hz, and Mister at 59,6 Hz? There must be a desync, maybe you didn't let the games running long enough
Been waiting for a video like this. But do you remember if you turned on the low pass filter in genesis plus gx? Wondering if that's why the audio is so different.
İ think, if you dont have a pc or some hardware that can emulate retro systems, mister is a good standalone hw forretro gaming, but to be honest fpga emul isn't any different that soft. emulation
An interesting comparison. I'm honestly surprised that it came down to pixel peeping to see the differences between hardware based emulation and software.
Been a longtime fan of Genesis GX on Retroarch but since I got a MiSTer it feels so good just like the Mega Sg and sound if definitely better.
Great video, and glad to see the performance is so similar. Thanks! 💪🏻
I was surprised to see how in Splatterhouse, the Japanese text at the right side of the screen looked so much crisper in Genesis Plus GX. I wonder why that happened.
Hello I'm new to your channel and I really appreciate the passion that you put into the mister and all the games that you put into it I did enjoy watching this new episode was just my first episode keep up the great work hope to see more great future episodes very soon
Just use original hardware? You can buy a megadrive for like £30
The F are you talking about when you're saying "they're both sound great and I cannot tell the difference"? I'm sitting here while wearing full-sized Hi-Fi monitor headphones set and Mister is ATROCIOUS in comparison to GX, sheer quality and depth of sampling-wise. It's IMMEDIATELY very clear right at the very start when Bare Knuckle II plays, and it gets even more obvious that it's worse, further on. Mister is absolutely ear-bleeding GARBAGE that clearly lacks the proper MegaDrive/Genesis' Yamaha sound chip's recreation, which GX does VERY well (though still slightly worse than what the legendary Steve Snake was able to achieve with K-GEN '98 and Fusion in the past). Mister immediately and very clearly loses to GX when it comes down to quality and accurateness of the sound.
Isn’t the sync part based on what you’ve set your refresh rate in Retroarch to(or maybe some other related setting, like audio buffers/drivers etc)? There’s also the Blastem emulator which is suppose to be the more accurate one.
Also, the audio differences is definitely down to there being a filter on the MISTer to closer match the output of the original hardware. FM emulation is in a really good spot ATM so I doubt it’s more accurate on the MISTer. Also, like I said in another post there’s four different FM settings in the Genesis Plus. The chip from both the Genesis 1 and Genesis 2 by Nuked and MAME. All sound slightly different. The Nuked ones used to be better but apparently the MAME ones have caught up lately.
Mister took a major hit in the sound department for sure !!!!
Its sounds muffled!!!!
What about input lag? Did you feel anything different?
I can't remember what the default settings for sound are in MiSTer but there is a low pass filter that GX Plus might not be using by default. I found GX Plus to sound a bit thinner with just a bit of electronic tinnyness. Having played it on a Model 1 for many years I'm definitely going to be biased towards what the MiSTer is doing, just off how it sounds.
You make a mistake youse Kega the best Emulator.
I can hear a difference with low grade headphones. Mister sounds like a Megadrive Model 1. Boomy/bassy low end and muffled highs.
There's a low pass filter in Genesis Plus GX that can be set to remove the spiky Genesis signature sound. Setting it to 50% corresponds to the Genesis first model darker sound (I don't like it much), while setting it to 30% corresponds to the sound of later revisions.
Test the Regen Emulator.
This Sound is amazing
I find the mister audio more muffled over the GX audio. This can be replicated on the GX putting the audio filter at a higher percentage.
Hi, very good and accurate comparison. I have used Kega Fusion emulator years ago, but that didn`t drove me to play Sega games. There was just no motivation for me, or fun, and the picture was too small and a bit ugly. Now, I came to wish to have the hardware Genesis, so exacly what I did, and also got RAD2X for hdmi (filtering on of course). So, everything is working fine and I`m pleased, but what I`m interested to know, is the difference in that situation. From my point of view, there is, with Sega hardware advantage, and also espetially with upscale feature. Is it special? Oh yes, it is. Also, there is a huge price difference`$.