In Emulators / NES ROMs

NSFs are basically NES ROMs with all information aside from the music engine and music data stripped from the file.

Basically, they're tiny files with all the music from a game in it.

There are tons of players available online, but the best I've found is NotSoFatso, a Winamp plugin.

NotSoFatso is available here:


After you download and extract the archive, just drag the .dll into your Winamp program folder. You can then associate NSF or NSFE files with Winamp, and play them just like a folder of MP3s or a CD.

There are tons of sites online with downloadable NSFs, but here's a couple databases to get you started:



Here are a couple configuration options that I prefer when using NotSoFatso. When you play a file, a control panel will appear. This is annoying. In the 'Config 2' tab in this window, uncheck all the "Auto Open Play Control" boxes, and the control panel will not pop up when you open an NSF. I also check "Subclass Winamp" at the bottom of this window, so Winamp's Prev/Next buttons can be used to scroll through songs like a CD. Close the options window and open an NSF. In Winamp's playlist window, right click the file, select "View file info" and click "Shadow -> Winamp". This splits the songs in the NSF file into individual tracks, so you can see track information, just like MP3 ID3 tags. Note that only the NSFE format supports this. The older NSF does not support track times, fade outs, and playlist capabilities.

I have a playlist with a bunch of Castlevania, Ninja Gaiden, and Megaman tracks on almost constant loop. I love it. Have fun.

I'll have to look into that. Currently I use VirtuaNES as my NSF player. Being a musician, I find this a pretty cool NSF player. You can only play one song at a time, but it has a keyboard on the screen that displays all of the notes that are played! Pretty cool stuff. I like the idea of making a sort of playlist with them, so I will check this NSF player out...

Is there any difference in sound quality between nsf and midi files?

Well an NSF file is exactly how you would hear the song from the NES game, because it's being replicated on a program that emulates the NES's sound hardware.

A midi uses midi instruments and are arranged by fans so they are often times incorrect or poorly arranged. Plus midi instruments vary from computer to computer, so a midi that sounds fine on one system may sound awful on another.

Many NES Games have "sound test" options where you can listen to the music or sound effects. Imagine listening to an NSF as listening to a playlist of all the music on the game. (Some NSF rippers also include sound effects, but I don't normally want to listen to sound effects.)

Thanks for the info.
Now I think I have to gat an NSF player somehwere.

Thanks for the info.
Now I think I have to gat an NSF player somehwere.



Like I said though, NotSoFatso works really well. It's a Winamp plugin though, so if you don't use Winamp, you're going to have to find a standalone player.

I use Winamp since version 2.1 or so.

Thanks for the link. Downloaded NotSoFatSo (what a name ) right away.

The plugin works perfectly.

Ah, the good old times...

they have a standalone player also,

Thanks for the link, but I like the winamp plugin.

I don't want so many different standaslone players on my system.

I found this today:



it's information on the NES sound hardware, and software you can use to make NSF files, I found it to be quite interesting.

Yeah, but you're not going to be ripping your own NSFs unless you have an intimate knowledge of assembly and an understanding of how NES Games work.

speaking of nes hardware, how much would it cost me to buy an expert set of hardware to hack NES ROMs? (i've tried getting it for free and there is none)