nSide Balanced

What it does

Author and license

The core is authored by hex-usr and licensed under GPLv3.checked 8 Oct 2026

Compatibility

The page lists black lines and a missing aircraft shadow as issues in A.S.P. Air Strike Patrol, and says ROM hacks that rely on emulator quirks are incompatible.checked 8 Oct 2026

Compatibility limitation

The documentation lists black lines and a missing aircraft shadow in A.S.P. Air Strike Patrol, and says ROM hacks that rely on emulator quirks are incompatible.checked 8 Oct 2026

Controller support

Listed controller types include SNES joypad and mouse, plus a multitap for up to five players; lightgun inputs are not hooked up in this core.checked 8 Oct 2026

Display options

Core options include internal resolution, color emulation, blur emulation, scanline emulation, and a preferred Super Game Boy BIOS; scanline emulation currently does not function properly.checked 8 Oct 2026

Firmware

The documentation lists optional co-processor firmware files and Super Game Boy firmware for the system directory, and notes that special-chip games use split ROMs.checked 8 Oct 2026

Frontend features

It supports restart, screenshots, saves, states, rewind, netplay, core options, controls, remapping, and softpatching.checked 8 Oct 2026

MSU-1

MSU-1 support requires loading a correct .bml file, and the documentation recommends Snes9x for simpler access to that feature.checked 8 Oct 2026

MSU-1 limitation

MSU-1 support requires loading a correct .bml file, and the documentation describes this support as complex.checked 8 Oct 2026

Multiplayer

The multitap controller option allows up to five players in compatible games.checked 8 Oct 2026

Purpose

nSide Balanced is a fork of higan v106 that reimplements the Balanced profile.checked 8 Oct 2026

RetroArch features

The core supports saves, save states, rewind, netplay, screenshots, controls, remapping, core options, and softpatching.checked 8 Oct 2026

Rewind limitation

The documentation warns that rewind may cause graphical glitches during Super Game Boy emulation.checked 8 Oct 2026

Save files

Cartridge battery saves use the frontend's Save directory, and save states use its State directory.checked 8 Oct 2026

Scanlines

The documentation says scanline emulation currently does not function properly.checked 8 Oct 2026

Special chip games

The core uses split ROMs for special chip games, and some games may require co-processor firmware files in the frontend's system directory.checked 8 Oct 2026

Super Game Boy

It can use Super Game Boy ROMs and BIOS files for Game Boy and Game Boy Color content through its simplified Super Game Boy routine.checked 8 Oct 2026

Supported content

It can load files with .sfc, .smc, .gb, .gbc, .bml, and .rom extensions.checked 8 Oct 2026

Supported files

The core can load .sfc, .smc, .gb, .gbc, .bml, and .rom files.checked 8 Oct 2026

Unsupported features

The core does not support RetroArch or native cheats, rumble, sensors, camera, location, or disk control.checked 8 Oct 2026

Video options

Core options include internal resolution, color emulation, blur emulation, scanline emulation, and a preferred Super Game Boy BIOS.checked 8 Oct 2026