Reviving Retro — Ninjalerts CEO Unveils SNES Emulator on Bitcoin Blockchain to Preserve Classic Games
The chief executive officer of Ninjalerts announced on Monday that a functional Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) emulator has been successfully encoded onto the Bitcoin blockchain. The head of Ninjalerts emphasized that the inscription of the emulator on the Bitcoin network was motivated not just by a fondness for ’90s nostalgia but also to ensure the longevity of vintage video games.
Ninjalerts Brings SNES Gaming to Bitcoin Network
The individual behind the X account Trevor.btc, who is also the CEO of Ninjalerts, a service offering tailored NFT alerts and push notifications for various contracts and wallets, revealed that a Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) emulator has been successfully embedded into the Bitcoin blockchain.
“We inscribed SNES not just because it’s awesome and our project is based on 90s nostalgia,” Trevor said. “But also to address a very real issue — the preservation of classic video games.”
“A study that came out this summer found that almost 90% of classic video games are critically endangered,” the Ninjalerts CEO further explained. “We believe that Bitcoin is the best place to preserve these cultural digital artifacts for generations to come.”
Trevor has unveiled an 85-page Gitbook elaborating on the distinct capabilities of Bitcoin Ordinals, which the CEO of Ninjalerts contends would pose a significant challenge to replicate on Ethereum.
“We’re calling this approach ‘Art as an Application’ or more appropriately ‘PFP as an Application,’” Trevor explained on the social platform X. The Gitbook includes a segment dedicated to discussing the onchain version of the SNES emulator.
This emulator derives from webretro, a Webassembly iteration of Retroarch/Libretro with its Snes9x core. The Ninjalerts team crafted custom Javascript code to strip away superfluous functions and facilitate smooth incorporation into the Bitcoin Ordinals framework.
Players can play the emulated games via Ordinal-hosting markets or dedicated Ordinal inscription explorers. It also features two-player gameplay, custom controls, and Gamepad compatibility.
Moreover, the project’s codebase is fully accessible at all times via Bitcoin. “While not managed as a traditional open-source project, all of the code for our browser-based emulator is available on the Bitcoin network,” the Gitbook description notes. “This approach allows anyone to access, learn from, and utilize the code in their own projects.” Ninjalerts has also released a video about the SNES emulator.
What do you think about the SNES emulator being added to the Bitcoin blockchain? Share your thoughts and opinions about this subject in the comments section below.
