Alternatives to BizHawk
A multi-system emulator built for tool-assisted speedrunning, with rewinding, frame stepping, memory search and input recording. The listings below can replace it for an important use case. Each note says what changes if you switch.
The original
BizHawk
A multi-system emulator built for tool-assisted speedrunning, with rewinding, frame stepping, memory search and input recording.
Replacements
Listings that take over the same core job as BizHawk.
RetroArch
One front end for dozens of emulators, with unified settings, shaders and a controller setup you only do once.
RetroArch is a multi-system front end with rewind, shaders and unified settings that also runs on macOS, Android and iOS, but it is aimed at play rather than TAS tooling.
Mesen
Cycle-accurate multi-system emulator with a serious debugger.
Mesen offers cycle-accurate multi-system emulation with a strong debugger and runs on macOS too, but covers fewer systems than BizHawk and lacks its TAS-focused tooling.
FCEUX
Full-featured NES and Famicom emulator with TAS and debugging tools.
FCEUX provides Lua scripting, frame-precise movie recording and a debugger for tool-assisted runs, available on macOS, but it emulates only the NES and Famicom.
Mednafen
Command-line multi-system emulator covering Saturn, PlayStation and more.
Mednafen is an accurate multi-system emulator under GPL-2.0 with macOS builds, but it is command-line driven with text-file configuration and no TAS-focused tooling listed.
ares
Multi-system emulator that prioritises accuracy and preservation over speed.
ares is a BSD-licensed multi-system emulator with accurate cores and macOS support, trading speed for accuracy, but it does not list BizHawk's TAS and memory tools.
MAME
Documents and recreates thousands of arcade machines, consoles and old computers, with accuracy as the point.
MAME covers thousands of arcade, console and computer systems with accuracy as its priority, but it needs ROM sets matching its exact version and has no TAS focus listed.
Also worth comparing
These listings name BizHawk as their own alternative, so the relationship runs both ways.
BlastEm
Cycle-accurate Sega Genesis and Mega Drive emulator.
BizHawk covers many systems with rewinding, frame stepping and TAS input recording, but runs only on Windows and Linux and its cores are less accurate than dedicated emulators.
bsnes
Accurate SNES emulator with HD Mode 7 and enhancement chip support.
BizHawk covers the SNES among many systems with rewinding, frame stepping and TAS input recording, but runs only on Windows and Linux with less accurate cores.
mGBA
A Game Boy Advance emulator that gets the accuracy right and still runs at full speed on weak hardware.
BizHawk covers a wide range of systems with rewinding, frame stepping, memory editing and TAS recording, but it runs only on Windows and Linux and individual cores trail dedicated emulators.
PCSX-Redux
A PlayStation 1 emulator forked from PCSX, built with debugging and reverse engineering tools.
BizHawk adds memory search, frame stepping and input recording across many systems, though it runs only on Windows and Linux and its cores are less accurate.
Project64
A Nintendo 64 and 64DD emulator for Windows with a mature plugin system and debugging tools.
BizHawk adds rewinding, frame stepping, memory search and TAS input recording across many systems on Windows and Linux, though individual cores are less accurate or performant than dedicated emulators.
puNES
A Qt-based Nintendo Entertainment System emulator that also plays NSF, NSF2 and NSFe music files.
BizHawk emulates the NES among many systems with rewind, frame stepping and TAS recording, but its dense interface suits speedrunning more than casual play.
SameBoy
Highly accurate Game Boy and Game Boy Color emulator.
BizHawk covers many systems with rewinding, frame stepping, memory editing and TAS recording on Windows and Linux, but its individual cores are less accurate than dedicated emulators.
SkyEmu
A low-level emulator for the Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS.
BizHawk covers Nintendo handhelds among many systems with rewinding and TAS tools, but runs on Windows and Linux only.
Snes9x
The portable Super Nintendo emulator that has been maintained since the 1990s and runs on essentially everything.
BizHawk is MIT-licensed and adds rewinding, frame stepping, memory search and TAS recording across many systems, but runs only on Windows and Linux with less accurate cores.
Stella
The reference Atari 2600 emulator, developed since the 1990s.
BizHawk covers a wide range of systems with rewinding, frame stepping, memory tools and TAS recording, but it runs only on Windows and Linux.
VisualBoyAdvance-M
A Game Boy, Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance emulator that continues the original VisualBoyAdvance.
BizHawk runs Game Boy and GBA among many systems with rewinding, frame stepping and input recording for speedruns, but only on Windows and Linux.
Ymir
Fast, accurate Sega Saturn emulator with high compatibility.
BizHawk covers many systems with rewinding, frame stepping and input recording for speedrunning, but runs only on Windows and Linux and its cores are less accurate than dedicated emulators.
Similar software
Related functionality, not a direct replacement.
DeSmuME
Long-running Nintendo DS emulator with high-resolution rendering.
OoT Randomizer
A seed generator that shuffles item locations in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.
Emulicious
A free multi-system emulator for Game Boy, Master System, Game Gear and MSX with debugging tools.
