ScreenHunter_339 Mar. 11 16.11

Vietnamese hobbyist Trần Vũ Trúc, using mostly undisclosed programming wizardry, introduced this Firefox browser-based emulator that adds a pixelized 3-D effect to many of the NES’s best games.

It’s a classic gamer’s conundrum: You want to see your favorite platforming games from childhood with updated, modern graphics, but it just wouldn’t be the same without those neat retro visuals. A new browser-based Nintendo Entertainment System emulator from Vietnamese hobbyist and developer Trần Vũ Trúc has found a surprisingly effective middle ground with quasi-3-D graphics that cause the old pixel-based animations you know and love to “pop” into the foreground.

And the most amazing part? The emulator apparently does all of this on the fly, applying the effect to any ROM you may have sitting on your hard drive or on the cloud.

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Reports say that the 3DNES is, in a lot of ways, a glitchy mess; a lot of games flat out don’t work (yet) and there’s definitely some visual wonkiness for those that do, but as a proof of concept for what could be a great way to revitalize some of gaming’s best and most revered classics, it’s definitely a great first step. Besides, how considering many of these games were glitchy messes to begin with, the 3DNES does a pretty bang-up job, even applying a cool parallax scrolling effect to background.

So far, games that are definitely compatible with the system (with luck) include Mega Man, Contra, Zelda 2, Super Mario 3, Castlevania, and a few more featured in Trần Vũ Trúc’s YouTube videos.

Trần Vũ Trúc says he’s hard at work ironing out some of the 3DNES’ bugs and also mentions that a downloadable Windows version and another version compatible with Super Nintendo games are in the works. However, considering that ROMs and emulators occupy a legal gray area and that Nintendo is, as game companies go, on the litigious side, you might want to click this link to give the system a try before Trần Vũ Trúc gets hit with a cease and desist.

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Source: Hachima Kikou
Images: YouTube/Geod Studio