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NESticle is a Nintendo Entertainment System emulator, which was written by Icer Addis of Bloodlust Software.<ref name="motherboard">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Released on April 3, 1997, the widely popular<ref>Wu, Lori. Game and Game Console Emulation: The Preservation of Video Game History (prospectus). Stanford University. Pg.10. 2002.</ref> program originally ran under MS-DOS and Windows 95. It was the first freeware NES emulator,<ref>Carroll, Martyn. ed. "Emulation Nation." Retro Gamer. Issue 1. Pg.65. January 2004.</ref> and became commonly considered the NES emulator of choice for the 1990s.<ref name=arstechnica>Kuchera, Ben, ed. "Accuracy takes power: one man’s 3GHz quest to build a perfect SNES emulator". Ars Technica. 9 August 2011.</ref> Initially offering few features and only supporting a handful of games, development proceeded rapidly and to expand usability such that NESticle is today credited with introducing the concept of recordable playthrough for emulation,<ref name=turner>Turner, Benjamin. "Smashing the Clock Template:Webarchive." 1UP.com. Pg.2. 10 August 2005.</ref> as well as providing the capacity for users to create their own graphical hacks<ref>Visyak, Matthew Edward Terrorism/Capitalism (thesis). Allegheny College. Pp.10-13, 25. 2 May 2005.</ref> via an integrated graphics editor.<ref name="ragan">Ragan, Jess. "Singing the Brews: The History & Philosophy of Homebrew Game Development." 1UP.com. Pg.8. 20 March 2006.</ref> In pioneering this heightened level of access for users, and providing the tools for fans to hack and remix familiar classics, NESticle has been credited by Spin as representing a milestone toward the development of video game music as a genre.<ref name=Schone>Schone, Mark. "The Cartridge Family." Spin. Pg.86. September 2004.</ref>
While the emulator is no longer updated and has become obsoleteTemplate:Citation needed as other emulation projects have developed and improved, NESticle remains frequently listed among prominent top tier emulators<ref>Sulaiman, Hazimin. "Emulators to revive classic arcade games." New Straits Times. 24 October 2002.</ref><ref>Castro, Radford. Let Me Play: Stories Of Gaming And Emulation. 2004. Template:ISBN.</ref> and it is still regarded as a good choice for emulation on older (486 and earlier) computers.<ref name=kohler>Kohler, Chris. Retro Gaming Hacks: Tips & Tools for Playing the Classics. O'Reilly Media. Pg.165. 2011. Template:ISBN.</ref>
In January 2022, the source code for a Super NES version of the emulator, SNESticle, was released by Addis<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> after a programmer attempted to reverse-engineer the code, which had been released in a GameCube game, Fight Night Round 2. In February of that same year, Addis began work on a follow-up to NESticle, an experimental macOS-based application based on transistor-level simulation of the NES chipset, called metalnes.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
DevelopmentEdit
NESticle offered its initial release as NESticle v0.2 on April 3, 1997. Its name is a portmanteau of "NES" (the console it emulates) and "testicle". The program originally ran under DOS and Windows 95, offering few features and only supporting a handful of games. It was one of the first freeware NES emulators, and soon became more popular than shareware rivals such as iNES.
NESticle was coded in C++ and assembly using Microsoft Visual C++ 4.10. Part of the emulator's appeal was performance: its system requirements capped at around 25MHz<ref name=arstechnica/> enabling it to run on modest Pentium and 486 DX2 PCs. Its GUI was colorful and easy to use, featuring numerous utilities that allowed user to view, edit, and save custom graphics, palettes, and the like. Within two months of its April release, NESticle could take screenshots mid-game, pause and resume progress at any point using save states, edit in-game palettes and graphics, play games online, save audio output, and record and playback gameplay movies.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> NESticle, as its name implied, also had a dash of lowbrow and morbid humor. The mouse pointer, for instance, was skinned with a bloody, dismembered left hand extending its pointer finger.
The source code for NESticle was illegally copied from Addis's computer by a code cracker who accessed its network shares with Samba.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Because of the incident, Addis decided to discontinue NESticle. August 1998 saw the final NESticle release, version x.xx, and support for the emulator was discontinued. This version featured noticeably improved emulation, especially audio emulation (the triangle wave was correctly 4-bit quantized, the 50% pulse wave had the correct duty cycle and the noise was corrected). It was also DOS only. NESticle eventually became obsolete as other emulation projects continued to develop and improve. Nevertheless, it continues to be noted years after its obsolescence for its speed, particularly on lower-end computers.<ref name=kohler />
InfluenceEdit
As one of the more popular early emulators, NESticle's influence on the emulation scene has been far-reaching. Its innovative development of 'NES movie' playthrough recording,<ref name=turner/> and its use as a tool for homebrew graphical hacks<ref name=ragan/> enabled it to influence the development of even tangentially related fields such as the video game music genre,<ref name=Schone/> and console case modding.<ref>Grant, Christopher. The Nintendo PC casemod; NES HTPC. Joystiq. 28 February 2006.</ref> The emulator has been noted as an influence in the gaming backgrounds of video game collectors like Pat Contri (known as "Pat the NES Punk"),<ref>Kohler, Chris. "The Quest for the Golden Nintendo Game." Wired. 12 September 2011.</ref> Destructoid's Samit Sarkar,<ref>Ryan, Alex. Destructoid Discusses! Did someone say emulation?. Destructoid. 7 July 2008.</ref> and indie video game musicians, The NESkimos.<ref>North, Dale. Pre-PAX Primer: Destructoid interviews The NESkimos. Destructoid. 17 August 2007.</ref>