Alan Cecil, a security consultant and administrator of TASBot, a tool-assisted speedrun robot, recently unearthed an intriguing discovery about vintage Super Nintendo consoles. As reported by 404 Media, Cecil found that these beloved devices are running just a tad faster than originally designed, all thanks to one of their integral components. At the heart of this phenomenon is the Sony SPC700 APU, a chip responsible for audio processing with a digital signal processing rate set initially at 32,000 Hz. However, back in 2007, SNES emulator developers realized these chips actually operate slightly quicker at a rate of 32,040 Hz. To keep games running smoothly, they had to adjust their calculations accordingly to this unexpected quirk.
The SPC700 coprocessor sets its operating frequency with a ceramic resonator ticking at 24,576 Hz. This tiny, yet vital, component is sensitive to temperature and other environmental factors, which might just be responsible for its erratic behavior.
In an effort to get to the bottom of this, Cecil took to Bluesky under the TASBot alias to float his hypothesis, seeking input from SNES aficionados. The data gathered thus far suggests an undeniable trend: as these consoles age, the speed of the SPC700 chip increments slightly. The most extreme frequency recorded to date reached 32,182 Hz. While this increase is less than 1% above the original specification, it’s enough to impact in-game audio and potentially disrupt various games.
Although the SPC700’s primary role is audio processing, which theoretically shouldn’t interfere with the gaming experience itself unless sound is essential, it becomes a critical factor for speedrunners or anyone using bots that require precise timing. You see, when a speedrunner completes a level and the screen momentarily goes dark, the console utilizes this time to prep audio and other data for the following stage. Should the APU hand this information over to the CPU more swiftly than planned, loading times might just get a little snappier.
For everyday gamers, this quirk might not pose much of a problem. However, for speedrunners relying on specific timings for record-breaking runs, this could throw a wrench in the works. Fortunately, human players aren’t affected by this subtle uptick in speed.
“We’re still trying to grasp the full impact of this on extended speedruns,” Cecil explains. “What we do understand is that it somehow influences the speed at which data shuttles between the CPU and APU.”
On the bright side, while TASBot’s automated playthroughs could feel the impact more acutely due to their requirement for precision down to the millisecond, Cecil’s ongoing data collection might offer new insights. As vintage components soldier on with age, grasping their evolving characteristics will help not only in accurately emulating classic consoles but also in preserving the iconic games of our past.
