BizHawk vs Nexen
BizHawk
github.comNexen
github.comSide by side
| Figure | BizHawk | Nexen |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | — |
| Free plan | Yes | — |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | — | Yes |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | — | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 0 |
| Spec score · Sega Master System Emulators | 7.9 (#5) | 7.1 (#18) |
| Spec score · SNES Emulators | 8.0 (#9) | 7.3 (#20) |
| Spec score · TurboGrafx-16 Emulators | 7.9 (#12) | 7.2 (#21) |
| Debugging | The emulator provides memory viewing, searching, and editing across emulated hardware components. | Debugging tools include a disassembler, memory viewer, breakpoints, trace logger, code/data logger, and profiler. |
| Save states | EmuHawk offers 10 save slots with hotkeys and unlimited named savestates. | It provides unlimited timestamped saves per game, a visual picker, and 36 rolling checkpoints at five-minute intervals. |
| Supported systems | The project lists support for systems including 3DO, Apple II, arcade machines, Atari, Commodore, Nintendo, Sega, and PlayStation consoles. | The README lists NES, SNES, Game Boy and Color, Game Boy Advance, Master System and Game Gear, PC Engine, WonderSwan, and Atari Lynx as fully supported. |
Plans
In their own words
BizHawk
BizHawk is a free multi-system emulator for Windows and Linux, built around the EmuHawk interface. It is aimed at Tool-Assisted Speedrunners and combines playback with recording and debugging. The project lists systems including 3DO, Apple II, arcade machines, Atari, Commodore, Nintendo, Sega, and PlayStation consoles. EmuHawk provides 10 hotkey-operated save slots as well as unlimited named savestates, along with speed adjustment, frame stepping, and rewind. Users can record input as TAS movies and save screenshots, audio, and video. Debugging tools let users inspect, search, and edit memory across emulated hardware, while Lua or C#.NET can control the core and frontend programmatically. Keyboard, mouse, and gamepad hotkeys can be rebound, and an input mapper covers emulated gamepads and peripherals. The Linux build targets x86_64 and omits Mupen64Plus for N64. Current releases are unavailable on Android and iOS; macOS use is limited to older releases or technical workarounds.
Nexen
Nexen is a free, open source multi-system emulator for Windows, Linux, and macOS. It lists eight fully supported systems: NES, SNES, Game Boy and Color, Game Boy Advance, Master System and Game Gear, PC Engine, WonderSwan, and Atari Lynx. CPU and PPU emulation is cycle-accurate, with full coprocessor support listed for several SNES chips. Each game can have unlimited timestamped saves, a visual picker, and 36 rolling checkpoints at five-minute intervals. Movie tools support frame-by-frame recording and playback, rerecording, and imports and exports for BK2, FM2, SMV, LSMV, VBM, and GMV files. A TAS editor provides a piano-roll timeline, undo and redo, greenzone seeking, alternate branches, and Lua scripting. Debugging tools include a disassembler, memory viewer, breakpoints, trace and code/data logging, and a profiler. Nexen also lists rollback netplay and exports symbols, code coverage data, cross-references, and source maps to Pansy for the Flower Toolchain. Sega Genesis, Atari 2600, and Fairchild Channel F support remain in progress.