Snes9x Version History
The honest release timeline for Snes9x, checked against the project’s official changelog and GitHub releases — including what actually changed in each version, and which features arrived earlier than people think.
Snes9x has been in development for decades, and its release history is often misquoted — features get credited to the wrong version, and dates drift. The table below lists the releases that matter for anyone running Snes9x today, with dates verified against the project’s official GitHub releases and the changelog bundled with the emulator. If you just want the current build, go straight to the Snes9x download page.
Release timeline
| Version | Release date | What changed |
|---|---|---|
| 1.63 | July 9, 2024 | Mainly a bug-fix release. Highlights: the QuickSave 0–9 slot shortcuts were fixed; cheats gained the “Address:byte” input form; an ImGui overlay was added; a Win32 AVI audio bug was fixed; the Gtk port fixed its XDG config path; and the Mac port got a new cheat finder with MultiCart support restored. |
| 1.62.3 | March 30, 2023 | Hotfix release: restored backward compatibility with save states created before 1.62, and fixed the libretro core mishandling the new filesystem functions. |
| 1.62 | March 23, 2023 | Vulkan graphics output was added for the Gtk and Windows ports, and Vulkan can use libretro slang shaders. The Gtk port also gained proper fractional DPI handling. |
| 1.61 | March 5, 2022 | A brand-new macOS port, completely rewritten on modern APIs. Save banks were added, allowing up to 100 save states, and Gtk joysticks can now be hotplugged. |
| 1.60 | April 23, 2019 | A major release of the 1.6x line, shipped for Windows, macOS and as a libretro core. |
| 1.53 | April 25, 2011 | The final release of the 1.5x line. (Note: the date sometimes shown next to this version on GitHub is a later bulk re-upload date, not the original 2011 release.) |
Full release notes for every version are published on the official Snes9x GitHub releases page, which is the only current official download channel for the project.
Feature milestones (by version)
Some of Snes9x’s best-known features are frequently attributed to version 1.63. In fact, 1.63 was mainly a bug-fix release — these capabilities arrived in earlier versions:
- 1.54 — rewind support added (hold the R key; note the rewind buffer is set to 0 by default, so rewind must be enabled in the settings first).
- 1.56 — Windows began reporting HiDPI support; Windows controller hotplugging was disabled in favour of a menu option to reconfigure joysticks.
- 1.57 — the rarely used HLSL shader option was removed.
- 1.59 — slang shader support added for the OpenGL driver.
- 1.62 — Vulkan output added, with slang shader support for Vulkan.
Ready to play? Get the current release from the download page, then follow our setup guide hub to configure it.