Alan Cecil, a security consultant and the mind behind TASBot (Tool-Assisted Speedrun robot), recently uncovered an intriguing discovery about the Super Nintendo console: one of its chips appears to be slightly increasing the console’s speed over time. As highlighted in a report from 404 Media, this classic gaming machine employs a Sony SPC700 APU (audio processing unit) which is supposed to function at a digital signal processing (DSP) rate of 32,000 Hz. However, back in 2007, SNES emulator developers stumbled upon a curious fact—the chips were actually running a tad faster, at 32,040 Hz. This finding prompted developers to adjust their emulator settings to prevent game malfunctions.
The SPC700 coprocessor achieves its frequency through a ceramic resonator oscillating at 24,576 Hz. This component, while integral, is notably sensitive to external influences such as temperature and environmental variables.
Come February, Cecil took to Bluesky via the TASBot account to share his hypothesis and reached out to SNES enthusiasts for empirical data. Early findings from this data collection indicate a noticeable pattern: as these SNES consoles age, there’s a tendency for the SPC700 chip to operate at increased speeds. In fact, the highest frequency recorded to date is 32,182 Hz. While this uptick is under 1% from the original 32,000 Hz, it has the potential to disrupt audio processing in certain games.
When it comes to gameplay, the increased SPC700 frequency might not directly influence your experience—especially if you keep the sound off. However, if you’re a speedrunner or crafting a bot that hinges on precision timing, this slight uptick could be consequential. Why? Because during those brief screen blacks between stages, the console is busy loading essential data for the upcoming level, audio included. If the APU transmits information to the CPU faster than anticipated, it trims the loading time accordingly.
For casual players, this might sound beneficial, but speedrunners and bots could face unexpected challenges. Thankfully, human speedrunners remain largely unaffected by this minor performance bump in the SPC700.
“We still have much to learn about the potential impact on extended speedruns,” Cecil comments. “What we do understand is there’s at least some influence on how swiftly data is exchanged between the CPU and APU.”
Yet, this could pose challenges for TASBot’s playthroughs, since they require millisecond precision. Nonetheless, Cecil continues to amass data to grasp how aging impacts the consoles. As these devices—and countless others—continue to age, understanding their evolving dynamics will be crucial for emulating their functionality and preserving the classic games that were a hallmark of our formative years.
