FCEUX

NES / FAMICOM EMULATOR

FCEUX

The all-in-one descendant of FCE Ultra: approachable for ordinary play and packed with debugging, Lua, movie-recording, and ROM-hacking tools.

Jump to download ↓Jump to setup guide ↓

Inside FCEUXFCEUX keeps ordinary play controls close at hand while exposing movie recording, Lua scripting, memory inspection, debugging, and mapping tools for advanced work.

Its broad toolset explains why the emulator remains familiar to ROM hackers and tool-assisted speedrun creators as well as players.

Screenshot reference: Pingvinus FCEUX page.

NESPrimary system

2006Merger project began

Open sourceProject model

WHY IT MATTERS

One home for many FCE Ultra forks

FCEUX brought together playback, rerecording, debugging, mapper, and development branches that had grown apart.

BEST FOR

Play, research, and development

It remains valuable for Lua automation, TAS work, debugging, ROM hacking, map creation, save states, recording, and ordinary NES play.

The people behind FCEUX

From Zeromus and Rheiny to a broad contributor team

The merger project began in 2006 under Zeromus and Rheiny. Before the first FCEUX release in August 2008, contributors including mz, adelikat, nitsujrehtona, maximus, CaH4e3, qFox, punkrockguy318, and Sebastian Porst had joined. Later contributors named by the project include xtalnix, gocha, AnS, feos, and rainwarrior, among many others.

FCEUX was never the work of one isolated author. It was a community effort to preserve useful ideas from FCE Ultra and its many forks while giving users one recognizable project.

Supported systems and capabilities

NES, Famicom, Famicom Disk System, and Dendy support
NTSC, PAL, and hybrid timing modes
Save states, screenshots, AVI recording, and movie tools
Lua scripting and tool-assisted speedrun features
Debugger, memory tools, map making, and ROM-hacking utilities
Windows, Linux/Unix, and macOS builds

History and legacy

FCEUX grew from an effort to reunite the fragmented FCE Ultra family. Its first formal release arrived in 2008, combining ordinary emulation with the movie, debugging, and development tools built across several specialized forks.

That combined purpose gave FCEUX lasting value. It became familiar to players, ROM hackers, homebrew authors, and tool-assisted speedrun communities, while continued maintenance kept the project useful long after many related forks disappeared.

Download and availability

OFFICIAL DOWNLOADS

FCEUX release page

The official project page provides Windows, Qt/SDL, macOS, source, and interim development builds. Stable release 2.6.6 remains listed, while active users may prefer the interim builds.

Open official downloads ↗

SOURCE CODE

Development repository

Source, issue tracking, build information, and current project activity are available through the TASEmulators repository.

View FCEUX on GitHub ↗

FCEUX setup guide

Setup note: Choose the current stable or interim build for your operating system and keep the emulator in a dedicated folder.

Download the correct build. Choose the stable or interim package for your operating system from the official page.
Extract or install it. Keep the emulator in a dedicated folder where it can write configuration and save files.
Configure input. Open the input settings and map the D-pad, A, B, Start, Select, and any controller hotkeys.
Choose video and audio settings. Start with defaults, then adjust scaling, full screen, filters, and latency only when needed.
Load a legal test image. Use homebrew or a personal dump to confirm timing, input, sound, and save behavior.
Explore advanced tools carefully. Debugging, Lua, movie recording, and memory tools are powerful but unnecessary for ordinary play.

ROM reminder: FCEUX does not include commercial games. Retro Replay links to emulator software and documentation, not copyrighted ROM collections.