SNES Consoles Speed Up Over Time: APU Frequency Boosts by Up to 182 Hz After 35 Years

Alan Cecil, a security consultant and the mastermind behind TASBot, a tool-assisted speedrunning robot, has unexpectedly uncovered a fascinating quirk with Super Nintendo consoles. As reported by 404 Media, the nostalgic gaming machines are getting a tad quicker over time thanks to one of their integral chips. The culprit is a piece of hardware known as the Sony SPC700 APU, an audio processing unit that traditionally operates at a 32,000 Hz digital signal processing rate. However, back in 2007, SNES emulator aficionados noticed these chips were actually running somewhat faster—32,040 Hz to be precise. This led them to adjust accordingly to avoid any gaming hiccups.

At the heart of this fascinating discovery is the SPC700 coprocessor, which leverages a ceramic resonator tuned to 24,576 Hz to dictate its frequency. Yet, like any finely-tuned electronic component, it’s also quite sensitive to environmental changes like heat, potentially altering its operation.

In an effort to gather more insights, Cecil took to Bluesky in February, using the TASBot platform to propose his theory and call for data collection from fellow SNES users. The early data paints an intriguing picture: as these beloved consoles age, their SPC700 chips seem to be operating at even higher speeds. The highest frequency observed so far is an impressive 32,182 Hz. While this uptick is less than a one percent deviation from the original 32,000 Hz, it could subtly influence game audio and disrupt a handful of titles.

Now, for most gamers, this increase in speed is barely noticeable—especially if you play with the sound turned down. But for speedrunners, whose craft demands meticulous timing, even slight shifts in loading times due to the faster SPC700 could make a significant impact. As the screen fades to black after each stage, the console prepares data for the following level, audio included. If the APU can feed this data to the CPU a bit quicker than expected, it directly chips away at loading times.

While this might seem like good news to casual gamers, it introduces a potential wrench in the works for speed-running records and bots. Thankfully, the boost in performance doesn’t adversely affect human speedrunners. Cecil comments, “We don’t yet grasp the full extent of its impact on lengthy speedruns, but we know it affects the efficiency of data exchange between the CPU and APU.”

TASBot playthroughs, on the other hand, could face challenges since precision is crucial to the millisecond. Cecil continues to amass data to build a clearer picture of how these vintage machines evolve with time. Understanding these changes could be vital for future emulation, helping us preserve the cherished classic games that so many of us grew up with.