How to Play Widescreen SNES Games

In this guide I'll show you how to set up widescreen for many beloved SNES games within RetroArch. Not every game will work with this setup, but many do, including some of my personal favorites.

Devices featured in this video:

Timestamps:
00:00 introduction
01:31 background and setup
02:51 Mode 7 games
05:12 widescreen hack games
08:25 widescreen patches (SMW and Super Metroid)
12:14 Daijisho tips
13:05 summary and conclusion

Theme song written by Jim Gray of Our Ghosts:

This video is for entertainment and educational purposes only.

#SNES #RetroArch #SteamDeck

[TheChooseAName]

3rd try, part 1
BSNES-HD dev here. Thanks for this guide. That should help people getting into it more easily. I'll probably link to it, if that is alright.

[MrMovees]

I’ve been loving playing all of my favorite retro games in a widescreen layout on my RP3+, and it’s still been getting daily usage in the month plus that I’ve had it!

[Bushidounohana]

As always, great work, Russ! I’m a filthy heathen that runs all retro consoles at 16:10. It feels close enough to the original for me while also better filling a widescreen. The pop-in on games like Mario Kart and artifacting in Link to the Past is just too distracting for me. I love, however, all the work that the community has done to offer so many options to tailor the gaming experience to individual tastes, and appreciate your efforts to compile all of these great resources into comprehensive, easy to use guides. Thank you for your work!

[OlGregDraws]

Just tested this on my Retroid Pocket 3. After adjusting the Mode-7 to 240p it worked great! No FPS dips when trying F-Zero & Super Mario Kart. Might try the extra steps for Super Mario World & Super Metroid next. Thanks Russ!

[mfreddy]

Between this video and the chd compression video, these have been super helpful. Thanks for making these. Keep em coming!

[mrcokez]

dude ive been wanting to play retroarch in widescreen for the longest but always ran into bugs and issues. You cleared up the air and made things easy and i can once again enjoy my childhood without the black bars. thank you sir

[KyleRuggles]

I got super metroid and super mario world wide screen on my rp3+ with the widescreen patches months ago, it has plenty of power.
Just gotta set mode 7 to 240p. Honestly I don't see much of a difference from 240p to 480p or anything above on either my Odin and the RP3+

LOVE this video, thanks bud.

[lapmagic]

60fps locked, widescreen high res Pilotwings show what an amazing product it is, teaching lessons today that many can aspire to.

[bobby]

Yo thank you!!! I've been getting DEEP in the emulation rabbit-hole on my new PC. Started by having an itch to play some Mario 64, next thing I know I have 20 emulators in a Launchbox frontend and am playing Mario Odyssey 2x upscaled with 60 fps and screenshot-mode mods. N64 was my first system, so I've been discovering some older titles for the first time too. Super Metroid is a standout. Didn't even realize I was running a "lower spec" core, or that decent widescreen was even possible. I know it's sort of a niche within a niche, but would love to see more content on how to take emulation to the next-level on a higher powered system.

[salitz]

I cannot for the life of me get this to work on my RP3+... guess I'll attempt on the Steam Deck. I wish Retro achievements would work too!

[teduardo]

just wanted to say that I love your channel and look forward to every new video

[sunnygalli]

Hey Russ, can we have a guide on transferring game saves between handhelds?

[turnedmyworld]

That's for this. It was super simple to get going on my Galaxy S10+ that I use as a dedicated Android handheld.

[mvanalst]

I’ve been waiting for this one! Thank you, Russ!

[mattb]

Thank you, Russ! I had heard of widescreen SNES games, but never experimented with it! This is great! I like the additional field of view so you can now see more of the level layout and obstacles ahead! Seems like most modern monitors and TVs are widescreen so this seems like an excellent way to play many classics.

I wonder if there is widescreen for Genesis games? Classic Sonic games would greatly benefit from widescreen!

[Jintenzo]

I never thought to change the aspect ratio to reduce the pop-in, thanks for pointing that out

[Nickel]

This is great Russ! I have been wanting to try this. Can you also do one for Genesis Plus GX Wide? Or a wide screen hacks tutorial overall?

[Guitario]

This video was soo helpful!
Thank you

[DonatelloEsq]

Awesome. Saved to my "modding" playlist.

[bloodofdepanta]

Thank you. I'll continue to ask for a windeck review and tutorial but this is fantastic in the meantime