Aging SNES Consoles Show Increased Speed: APU Frequency Jumps by Up to 182 Hz Over 35 Years

A fascinating discovery has emerged in the retro gaming community, all thanks to the detective work of Alan Cecil, a security consultant and the brains behind TASBot, the tool-assisted speedrun marvel. Cecil stumbled upon the fact that Super Nintendo consoles have picked up a bit of speed over the years, courtesy of one of their chips. According to a report from 404 Media, the culprit is none other than the Sony SPC700 APU—the console’s audio processing unit—which originally operated at a digital signal processing rate of 32,000 Hz. Interestingly, back in 2007, programmers crafting SNES emulators picked up on a slight discrepancy: these chips were running a tad faster than expected, clocking in at 32,040 Hz. This tweak in frequency had to be incorporated to prevent gaming glitches.

The SPC700 coprocessor’s frequency hinges on a delicate ceramic resonator vibrating at 24,576 Hz. However, given its sensitivity, factors like temperature and the surrounding environment can influence its performance. Fast forward to late February, with Cecil reaching out on Bluesky via the TASBot account. He called on SNES users to share their data, and the results were intriguing. There’s a noticeable trend showing that as SNES consoles age, their SPC700 chips seem to pick up speed. The highest frequency noted so far hits 32,182 Hz. While this uptick is below a 1% increase from the original, it might still meddle with in-game audio, causing a few titles to falter.

Now, let’s dive into what this all means for the gaming world, particularly speedrunners. Since the SPC700’s role is purely audio-centric, your average gameplay remains untouched, especially if you’re playing on mute. But for speedrunners, who depend on flawless timing, the marginally faster processing due to the increased frequency could shake things up. Every time a stage concludes, the screen goes dark, and the SNES hustles to load next-level data—which includes audio. If the APU hands over this data to the CPU a smidgen quicker, your load times shrink.

For most gamers, this could be a minor boon. Yet, it spells potential chaos for speedrun records and the automation precision of speed-running bots. Thankfully, this enhanced APU speed leaves human speedrunners unfazed.

Cecil reflects, “We’re still in the early stages of understanding the full impact on extensive speedruns. But we’re certain it influences the speed of data exchange between the CPU and APU.”

On the flip side, TASBot’s millisecond-perfect plays could see shifts, as every action must sync perfectly. Hence, Cecil is committed to pooling more data to observe long-term console behavior. As these components—across countless devices—age, grasping their evolving nature not only allows us to improve emulation techniques but also helps preserve those cherished games that defined our gaming youth.