Widescreen SNES Guide

Last updated: 22FEB2023 (see Changelog for details)

In this guide I’ll show you how to set up widescreen for many beloved SNES games. Not every game will work with this setup, but many do, including some of my personal favorites.

To enable widescreen, you must use the BSNES standalone emulator or the BSNES HD Beta core within RetroArch. For this guide we will focus on the BSNES HD Beta RetroArch core.

You will need a somewhat powerful machine to run the BSNES RetroArch core. For retro handhelds, I recommend something like the Retroid Pocket 3+ at the very least, but the AYN Odin or Logitech Cloud will work even better.

Table of Contents

BSNES core options
Super Mario World
Super Metroid
Steam Deck instructions

Changelog

BSNES Core Options

To start, you will need to install the BSNES HD Beta core on RetroArch, which you can find under Online Updater > Core Downloader.

Choose between 8:7 and 4:3 aspect ratio. By default, BSNES HD Beta will run games at a native 8:7 aspect ratio. If you prefer the traditional 4:3 aspect ratio found in CRT televisions, you will need to change this core setting manually. To do so, start up any SNES game using the BSNES HD Beta core, then enter the Quick Menu and select Core Options > Pixel Aspect Correction > ON. From there you can exit the menu and your changes will be saved for the entire core.

Mode 7 widescreen. Games that use Mode 7 technology will run those scenes in widescreen (generally 16:9) by default. So games like Super Mario Kart and F-Zero will naturally play in widescreen as soon as you boot up the ROM in the BSNES HD Beta core. Easy! I’ll list some of my favorites at the end of this section.

By default, Mode 7 graphics will upscale from 240p to 480p. This will cause slowdown if your system can’t handle it (like on the Retroid Pocket 3+, AYN Odin, or Logitech Cloud). To remove the upscale, go to Quick Menu > Core Options > HD Mode 7 Scale > 240p (1x). Alternatively, if you have a powerful device you can upscale the graphics even further than 2x/480p (you can also turn on HD Mode 7 Supersampling to smooth out the graphics).

Manual widescreen. For other games that are widescreen compatible but not Mode 7 titles, you will need to force widescreen mode within the settings. To do so, launch the game with the BSNES HD Beta core, then enter the Quick Menu and select Core Options > Widescreen Mode > Enable for all scenes. Below that there is an option for Widescreen Aspect Ratio, by default this will be set to 16:9, but some games will run better at a 16:10 aspect ratio.

Other notes related to manually setting widescreen:

• For some games, setting it to widescreen will duplicate the menu bar. A good example here is Super Punch Out!!, which otherwise plays well at a 16:9 aspect ratio. To fix a duplicate menu bar, try toggling OFF the widescreen background layers to find the one that fixes the issue. For example, the Super Punch Out!! menu bar can be fixed by going into Core Options > Widescreen Background Layer 3 > Disable Widescreen for this Layer.
• If you are having issues with your sprite disappearing, go to the Quick Menu and choose Core Options > Widescreen Sprites > Render Anywhere (Unsafe).
• Once you have the game adjusted to your liking, go to Core Options > Manage Core Options > Save Game File. This will save those settings for the game without altering the overall BSNES core settings.

Here is a list of some of my favorite games to play in widescreen and their suggested settings. If you test any games and find improved settings please let me know in the comments below and I’ll get them added to the list. Additionally, here is a link to a community compatibility spreadsheet for both SNES and Genesis widescreen games (background info here); the spreadsheet is based on this original list from GameFAQs.

F-Zero (runs at 16:9 by default, no additional changes required)
Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (16:9 aspect)
Pilotwings (runs at 16:9 by default, no additional changes required)
Super Castlevania IV (16:10 aspect, some pop-in on the sides)
Super Mario All-Stars (16:10 aspect, some flickering on the sides)
Super Mario Kart (runs at 16:9 by default, no additional changes required)
Super Punch-Out!! (16:9 aspect, disable widescreen for background layer 3)
Super R-Type (16:9 aspect, some flickering on right side)
TMNT IV: Turtles in Time (16:9 aspect, enemies magically appear from the sides)

Android notes:

If a Mode 7 game (like Super Mario Kart) shows black boxes at the top corners, you will need to manually load widescreen mode as well, via Core Options > Widescreen Mode > Enable for all scenes.

If using Daijisho as your emulation frontend on Android, I recommend setting the SNES emulator core to something that is not BSNES HD Beta — I would use Snes9x or BSNES depending on how powerful your device is. Then, when in the SNES menu, select your game and choose Edit Item > Custom Player > ON, and then under Custom Player choose “snes- RetroArch 64 -bsnes_hd_beta” (assuming you are using the latest RetroArch 64-bit version from their website, which I recommend using on Android). That means that non-widescreen games will boot with the regular SNES core and save system resources, and then your widescreen games will use BSNES HD Beta.

Super Mario World

Super Mario World is special in that it needs to be patched to support widescreen. The process seems intimidating but it really only takes a few minutes, and after you are done you’ll be able to use this widescreen version in various devices running the BSNES HD Beta RetroArch core. Note that the patched version of Super Mario World requires more system resources than simply applying a widescreen mode, and so this game will not run at full speed on slower devices like the Retroid Pocket 3+.

• Acquire a ROM file for Super Mario World. It can be in either sfc or smc format.
• Go to this releases page and download the latest zip file, then unzip the file.
• Inside this folder you will find various BPS and BSO files, with example screenshots to help you decide which patch you want to apply.

There are four main ways to play Super Mario World, depending on your preferred width and pixel stretch. The best way to think about this is to consider how you prefer to play Super Mario World in the first place. If you usually play it with an 8:7 aspect ratio, then you will want to use one of the “raw” pixel presets. If you prefer the traditional 4:3 aspect ratio found in CRT televisions, then you will want to use one of the “par” options.

Personally, for 16:9 devices (like the AYN Odin) I use smw-widescreen-par so that my game plays in 16:9 but with the traditional pixel stretch for 4:3 CRTs. For 20:9 devices (like a smartphone or the Razer Edge) I prefer the smw-extrawide-par option to fill out more screen.

If you want to play SMW Widescreen at 16:10 with raw pixels (1:1):
 - use smw-widescreen-raw.bps and smw-widescreen-raw.bso
 - recommended if you like playing on emulator resolution

If you want to play SMW Widescreen at 16:9 with CRT pixel aspect ratio:
 - use smw-widescreen-par.bps and smw-widescreen-par.bso
 - recommended if you like playing on real hardware resolution

If you want to play SMW Widescreen at 16:9 with raw pixels (1:1):
 - use smw-extrawide-raw.bps and smw-extrawide-raw.bso
 - recommended if you like playing on emulator resolution

If you want to play SMW Widescreen at 18:9 / 2:1 with CRT pixel aspect ratio:
 - use smw-extrawide-par.bps and smw-extrawide-par.bso
 - recommended if you like playing on real hardware resolution

• One you have decided your preferred patch, we need to patch the Super Mario World ROM.
  • Head over to this page and drag-and-drop your ROM file into the “ROM file” section. It should provide you with CRC32, MD5, and SHA-1 codes for the game.
  • Drag-and-drop your desired bps file into the “Patch file” section. It should highlight your ROM’s CRC32 code in green and show a green checkmark. If it doesn’t, try a different ROM.
  • Click on the “Apply Patch” button and it should immediately give you a download pop-up screen for your new patched ROM. Save this wherever you would like. Once you have finished this patch, you no longer need the BPS file.
• Once you have a patched ROM file, it needs to be named similarly to the corresponding BSO file. For example, here is how I named my files:

Super Mario World Wide.sfc
Super Mario World Wide.bso

or

Super Mario World Extrawide.sfc
Super Mario World Extrawide.bso

Now, place these two files in your SNES ROM directory and boot the game using the BSNES HD Beta core in RetroArch. More information about this patch can be found here.

Super Metroid

Similar to Super Mario World, this game need special attention. Unlike SMW you don’t have to patch the ROM itself, you just have to add two additional files to the ROM location. Note that the patched version of Super Metroid requires more system resources than simply applying a widescreen mode, and so this game will not run at full speed on slower devices like the Retroid Pocket 3+.

• You will need a specific version of Super Metroid, known as “Super Metroid (JU) [!] (UH).smc“. This file has a CRC32 (cycle redundancy check) name of D63ED5F8. You can check your Super Metroid ROM’s CRC32 using this online tool; if your ROM is not the correct version, you will have to search elsewhere to find the D63ED5F8-labelled SMC file.
• Head to this page and download the BSO and BSP files. You can download them directly by right-clicking on these two links and selecting “Save As…”
  • Super Metroid BPS
  • Super Metroid BSO
• Once you have all three files, they need to be named similarly. For example, here is how I named my files:

Super Metroid Wide.smc
Super Metroid Wide.bps
Super Metroid Wide.bso

Now, place all three files in your SNES ROM directory and boot the game using the BSNES HD Beta core in RetroArch. More information about this patch can be found here.

Steam Deck instructions

There are a couple ways to add widescreen hacks to SNES games on the Steam Deck.

1. If you are playing the games within EmulationStation (either via EmuDeck or on its own), you can hover over the game in the menu, press SELECT > Edit Metadata > Alternative Emulator and choose “bsnes-hd”. Now the game will launch with the widescreen-enabling core, and you can enter the Quick Menu and go from there.
2. If you want to add the game to your SteamOS menu via EmuDeck and Steam ROM Manager, then you can add the game to the snes-hd folder in the EmuDeck ROMs directory. This will automatically launch the game in the BSNES HD Beta core.

---

Changelog

22FEB2023
– published guide
– added Steam Deck section