SNES Consoles Gain Speed Over Time: APU Frequency Rises by 182 Hz After 35 Years

Alan Cecil, a security consultant and the brains behind TASBot, recently stumbled upon an intriguing discovery involving Super Nintendo consoles. He found that these classic gaming systems are actually running a bit faster nowadays, thanks to one of their chips. According to a report by 404 Media, this boost in speed is linked to the Sony SPC700 APU—an audio processing unit—that traditionally operates at a rate of 32,000 Hz. However, back in 2007, SNES emulator developers noticed that these chips were executing tasks slightly quicker at around 32,040 Hz, prompting them to adjust the emulators accordingly to avoid glitches in certain games.

The SPC700 coprocessor relies on a ceramic resonator, which vibrates at 24,576 Hz to determine its frequency. This component, like any complex piece of electronics, is sensitive to environmental factors such as heat, which can influence its performance.

In February, Cecil took to Bluesky using the TASBot account to share his theory and invite SNES enthusiasts to contribute data. The preliminary results are intriguing, showing that as these consoles age, their SPC700 chips appear to speed up. The highest frequency reported so far is 32,182 Hz—a minor increase from the original 32,000 Hz, but potentially impactful enough to mess with audio playback and disrupt some game titles.

Now, let’s dive into why this might be a concern for speedrunners. Although the SPC700 primarily deals with audio data, meaning your gameplay should remain unaffected if you mute the sound, the increased chip speed can lead to faster load times. This matters for speedrunning because, as soon as a stage ends and the screen goes dark, the console processes all the necessary data for the upcoming level, including audio. If the APU shuttles this data to the CPU more swiftly than planned, courtesy of the sped-up frequency, the load time shrinks.

While this could seem like an unexpected boon for casual players, it’s a potential disruption for speedrunning records and bots that depend on precise timing. For those using TASBot—where precision down to the millisecond is paramount—this acceleration poses challenges.

Cecil remarks, “We’re still figuring out the extent of its influence on long speedruns. All we know for certain is that it speeds up data transfer between the CPU and APU.”

He continues to collect data to understand the full implications as these consoles (along with countless others) age. Mastering how they evolve over time is crucial for emulating and preserving the beloved games of our youth.