The speedrunning community is buzzing with excitement over a peculiar phenomenon that seems to be making the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) run games faster as it ages. In early February, Alan Cecil, a user on Bluesky known as @tas.bot, sparked a discussion suggesting that the nearly 50 million SNES units sold might now be performing better than when they first rolled off production lines in the 1990s. This theory implies that classics like Super Mario World, Super Metroid, and Star Fox could be running at an accelerated pace compared to their original speeds.
The notion that a video game console could improve its performance over time seems far-fetched, but Cecil's research points to a specific component that might be the key to this unexpected boost: the audio processing unit (APU) SPC700. According to an interview with 404 Media, Nintendo's official specifications claim the SPC700 has a digital signal processing (DSP) rate of 32,000Hz, governed by a ceramic resonator running at 24.576MHz. However, enthusiasts have found that these specs aren't entirely accurate, with recorded DSP rates varying slightly based on environmental factors like temperature. As the DSP rate fluctuates, so does the game's speed, albeit in subtle, often imperceptible ways.
The intriguing twist comes from how these numbers have evolved over the last 34 years. After noticing unusually high DSP rates, Cecil called on SNES owners to record data from their consoles. Over 140 responses have been collected, revealing a clear trend of increasing DSP rates in recent times. Previously, the average DSP rate was around 32,040Hz in 2007, but Cecil's latest findings indicate an increase to 32,076Hz. While temperature can influence these rates, the changes are not significant enough to account for the observed increases, suggesting that the SNES is indeed processing audio faster as time progresses.
Cecil shared further insights on Bluesky, stating, "Based on 143 responses, the SNES DSP rate averages 32,076Hz, rising 8Hz from cold to warm. Warm DSP rates go from 31,965 to 32,182Hz, a 217Hz range. Therefore, temperature is less significant. Why? How does it affect games? We do not know. Yet."
While the findings are fascinating, Cecil acknowledges that more research is needed to fully understand how much faster the SNES is processing game audio and what might be causing it. Data from the console's first decade is scarce, but it's clear that Nintendo's second major home console is aging gracefully as it approaches its 35th anniversary.
The implications of this phenomenon are significant for the speedrunning community. An SPC700 that processes audio faster could potentially shorten load times and affect game performance, raising questions about decades of leaderboard rankings and records. However, the impact on speedruns is likely to be minimal, with even the most extreme scenarios shaving off less than a second from average times. The exact effect on individual games remains uncertain, and ongoing research suggests that speedrunners have little to worry about for now.
As Cecil continues to investigate the inner workings of the SNES, Nintendo's iconic console seems to be thriving in its 30s. For more on the SNES, you can check out its ranking on the list of best-selling consoles of all time.
