Retro CDN:Screenshots

As the Retro wikis are largely centred around games and videos, we like to make use of screenshots to depict them. Screenshots are a form of direct capture from the device used to display or render the image - a means of showing exactly what the game or video looks like.

General guidelines

• Use PNG format images. PNG is a lossless, lightweight bitmap format supported by all modern image editor and web browsers, and can be optimised. See PNG compression for more information.
• Do NOT convert a lossy format, such as JPEG into PNG. This results in a bigger file and does not eliminate the JPEG artifacting.
• Do not ever upload BMP files. These are uncompressed and unsuitable for internet usage.
• If using an emulator, disable filters when taking the screenshot. (If the emulator has an unfiltered screenshot option, you can use that while keeping filters enabled.)
• Strive to upload images at the correct screen resolution. Details on this vary by platform and will be documented below.
• Our wikis will tolerate lesser quality images in the short term, but in the view of replacing them with the highest quality versions as soon as possible.
• In extremely rare circumstances it may be impossible to achieve clear screenshots. In this case, JPEG is accepted.

Where to upload screenshots

Screenshots may be uploaded to any of the Retro wikis, however in some cases it is much more preferrable to upload certain kinds of screenshots to the Retro CDN instead. This is usually the case for screenshots of games that do not fit within the scope of any wiki, or screenshots that can be useful for multiple wikis.

Please upload screenshots to Retro CDN if they are:

• Title screens for Sonic the Hedgehog games. These can be used for Bobs on both Sonic Retro and Sega Retro.
• Title screens for Sega games also released on NEC platforms. These can be used for Bobs on both Sega Retro and NEC Retro.
• Screenshots of games for non-Sega, non-NEC platforms, or non-Sega/NEC versions of games released on Sega or NEC platforms, such as Earthworm Jim for the Super NES or Rayman for the PlayStation.

Screenshots useful only for their respective wikis should be uploaded there (e.g. any other screenshots from Sonic games should go on Sonic Retro). If a screenshot should be moved to the Retro CDN, please upload it there and tag the original upload with "{{delete|reason=Moved to Retro CDN.}}" so a member of staff may delete it from its original location.

Square pixels

Chances are you are reading this guide on a display that uses square pixels. In many situations, video game consoles may not have been designed with square pixels in mind, rendering at a sub-4:3 or 16:9 resolution for performance reasons, and expecting the hardware to stretch the image accordingly. The Nintendo Entertainment System and Super NES usually render images internally at 256x224 (8:7), with the intention of the image being stretched to 320x240 (4:3).

When taking screenshots, always work in square pixels. Any appropriate stretching will be handled by the wiki software.

Video games

In the world of video games, screenshots typically come in two forms - those taken by specialised capture equipment (in the case of newer systems), and screenshots from the game running in an emulator for older games.

Sega

Sega Master System / Sega Game Gear

Game Gear screenshots should be 160x144.

For Master System, screenshots should be 256x192. (Some PAL games may use 256x224 or 256x240. Most games only display 248x192, blanking the left 8 pixels to ensure sprites scroll offscreen correctly.)

• MEKA: Disable "Include GUI" (Video > Capture) and press PrintScreen.

Sega Mega Drive / Sega Mega-CD / Sega 32X

Resolution should be 320x224, or less commonly 256x224. Some PAL games may use 320x240.

• Kega Fusion: Set "Options > Set Config > Extras > Output Stage" to Final. Go to Video, set the window size to 320x240 and disable all filters except Brighten. Borders need to be cropped manually in an image editor for the correct resolution. Kega Fusion is not recommended for 256x224 screenshots due to stretching.
• Gens/GS:
  • Disable Fast Blur (hotkey  F9 ).
  • Set Color Scaling to "Full". (Graphics > Color Adjust > Scale Colors) [requires r7_pre5 or later]
  • Other than the above options, screenshots are taken in their original resolution without filtering.
• Gens/GS II: Screenshots are always taken unfiltered.
• Regen: Go to Tools > Screenshot (unfiltered) or press  F5 . All screenshots are saved as 320x240 images even for NTSC and 256x224-resolution games, so borders will need to be cropped manually in an image editor.

Sega Saturn

• Mednafen: Press  F9  to take a screenshot.
• SSF: Turn off Enforce Aspect Ratio (Option > Screen).

Sega Dreamcast

Resolution should be 640x480.

• NullDC: In Options>PowerVR turn Palleted textures to act Versioned to result in best quality possible.

Nintendo

Nintendo Entertainment System / Family Computer

Resolution varies per game. This is usually 256x240 regardless of region, and many emulators crop eight rows of pixels from the top and bottom when running in NTSC mode, so be sure this is not the case before taking your screenshots.

• FCEUX: Go to Config > Video, and in Drawing Area, change NTSC to 0 and 239 and press  F12  to take a screenshot. By default, it is saved to the snaps folder in the location of FCEUX.exe.
• Nestopia: Disable all video filters and press  F12  to take a screenshot.

Super NES / Super Famicom

Resolution varies per game. For 512 pixel-wide resolutions, upload the screenshot as is, and the wiki software should resize it accordingly.

• bsnes/higan: Go to Tools > Capture Screenshot to take a screenshot, which aren't affected by video settings. Older versions of bsnes/higan should have "Enable NTSC gamma ramp simulation" unchecked under Settings > Configuration Settings.
• Snes9X: Press  F12  to take a screenshot.
• ZSNES: Not recommended as it does not render the bottom line of the screen correctly.

Nintendo GameCube / Wii

Resolution should be 640x480. The Wii natively outputs 640x480 and achieves 16:9 via anamorphic widescreen. 480p output is strongly recommended.

• Dolphin: In Graphics Configuration, set the Internal Resolution to "Native (640x528)", disable "Start in Fullscreen", "Render to Main Window" and "Enable Dual Core (speedup)", enable "Auto-Adjust Window Size" and "Dump at Internal Resolution", and set Anti-Aliasing and Anisotropic Filtering to "None" and "1x" respectively. Click the "ScrShot" button in the main window or press  F9  to take a screenshot.
• USB Gecko: This is an unofficial debugging accessory for the GameCube and Wii, which plugs into a GameCube Memory Card slot (though later Wii models do not have GameCube ports and thus USB Gecko cannot be used on them). It can perform functions such as memory viewing and editing, setting breakpoints, code searching, system logging, and taking screenshots. First, use a homebrew game loader to enable debug hooks (Swiss is the best option for the GameCube, but just about anything will do for the Wii), then use WiiRD to take native resolution EFB screenshots.

Wii U

TV = 1280x720, GamePad = 854x480

• Real hardware: While running a game, press the HOME button and select the Internet Browser. Navigate to the Retro wiki you are uploading to, and choose to upload a file. The browser will automatically allow you to select a screenshot of the suspended game's current state, either from the top screen (main TV) or the GamePad screen. Note that this produces a lossy JPEG screenshot at 1280x720, regardless of the game's actual resolution. Please mark the screenshot with the {{Replace}} tag so it can be replaced in the future.

Nintendo Switch

Resolution varies by game, which can be either 1280x720 or 1920x1080.

• Capture button: Press the Capture button on the left Joy-Con or Switch Pro Controller at any time to take a screenshot. If the screenshot is saved to a microSD card, it can then be inserted into a computer and accessed there. As of System Update Ver. 11.0.0, screenshots can be transferred to a computer via USB in System Settings > Data Management > Manage Screenshots and Videos > Copy to a Computer via USB Connection. Note that this produces a lossy JPEG screenshot at 1280x720, regardless of the game's actual resolution. Please mark the screenshot with the {{Replace}} tag so it can be replaced in the future.
• bitmap-printer: This module makes the Capture button save screenshots as raw bitmaps instead of JPEGs so they can be processed into optimised PNGs. However, screenshots will be restricted to 1280x720 regardless of the game's actual resolution.

Game Boy / Game Boy Color

Resolution should be 160x144.

• BGB: Right-click the emulator window and go into "Options..." (or press  F11 ), click the Graphics tab and disable "GBC LCD colors". During gameplay, right-click the emulator window and click "save screenshot" to take a screenshot. Screenshots are saved as bitmaps and must be manually processed into an optimised PNG.
• VisualBoyAdvance: Go to "Options > Emulator" and select PNG format at the bottom of the list. Screenshots can then be taken by assigning a key in Joypad Configuration (usually  F12 ), or clicking "File > Screen capture..." and simply giving the resultant PNG image a name and a directory for it to be saved to. The resultant image size should be 160x144 and the only processing needed is a run though pngpress.
• mGBA: Press  F12  to take a screenshot. Screenshots are saved as PNGs and the only processing needed is a run though pngpress.
• Game Boy Interface: Requires a GameCube, a Game Boy Player, an SD card reader (plugs into either a memory card slot or a serial port on the bottom of the console), and access to homebrew. The Standard edition has the ability to take screenshots by pressing Z on a GameCube controller during gameplay. Screenshots are saved as PNGs at native resolution as "GBIxxxxx" in the 'DCIM' directory on the SD card, though GBI will apply internal filters to the screenshots so it is strongly recommended to use PNG compression to remove the filters.

Game Boy Advance

Resolution should be 240x160.

• VisualBoyAdvance: Go to "Options > Emulator" and select PNG format at the bottom of the list. Screenshots can then be taken by assigning a key in Joypad Configuration (usually  F12 ), or clicking "File > Screen capture..." and simply giving the resultant PNG image a name and a directory for it to be saved to. The resultant image size should be 240x160 and the only processing needed is a run though pngpress.
• mGBA: Press  F12  to take a screenshot. Screenshots are saved as PNGs and the only processing needed is a run though pngpress.
• Game Boy Interface: Requires a GameCube, a Game Boy Player, an SD card reader (plugs into either a memory card slot or a serial port on the bottom of the console), and access to homebrew. The Standard edition has the ability to take screenshots by pressing Z on a GameCube controller during gameplay. Screenshots are saved as PNGs at native resolution as "GBIxxxxx" in the 'DCIM' directory on the SD card, though GBI will apply internal filters to the screenshots so it is strongly recommended to use PNG compression to remove the filters.

Nintendo DS / Nintendo DSi

Resolution should be 256x192 per screen (256x384 total).

• melonDS: Generally displays more accurate graphics than DeSmuME and No$GBA. Lacks a built-in screenshot ability, so  PrintScreen  is needed. Set the window size to 1x, screen gap to 0px, and internal resolution to "1x native (256x192)" (if using OpenGL for 3D rendering) before taking a screenshot.
• DeSmuME: Disable Unreastically High-Precision Color Interpolation (Config > 3D Settings).
• No$GBA: Go to "Options > Emulation Setup" and set "NDS Mode/Colors" to DS-Lite or DSi.

Nintendo 3DS

Top = 400x240, Bottom = 320x240

In 3D mode, the Nintendo 3DS produces two 400x240 top screen images; one for each eye in order to display 3D visuals on the top screen. We highly recommend that screenshots are taken with 3D visuals turned off for a lack of a better way to see them in 3D on other devices and for consistency.

• Citra: Go to "Emulation > Configure...", click on "Graphics", set Internal Resolution to "Native (400x240)" and Stereoscopic 3D Mode to "Off".
• HANS: Requires access to homebrew on a real 3DS system. Load a game through it, then press the HOME button at any time to take a raw screenshot, then use Screenshot Tool to export the raw screenshots to PNG. To access the exported screenshots, insert the system's SD card into a PC. Note that some games may not work with HANS, in which case another method must be used.
• Luma3DS: If custom firmware (CFW) is installed on a real 3DS system, then Luma3DS can be used for screenshots from v8.0 onwards. Press L + Down + Select at any time to access the Rosalina menu, then select "Take screenshot". Screenshots are saved as raw bitmaps in the 'luma\screenshots' directory on the SD card, so will require processing into optimised PNGs.

Sony

PlayStation

Resolution varies per game.

• pSX (psxfin): Requires a PlayStation BIOS in order to work. Press  F12  to take a screenshot at native resolution. The wiki software will handle image scaling.
• ePSXe: Should not be used as it produces inaccurate screenshots.

PlayStation 2

Resolution varies per game.

• PCSX2: Press  F8  to take a screenshot. Screenshots are saved as raw bitmaps, so will require processing into PNG. As rendering can vary between games, some screenshots may be saved at half their height, in which case the wiki software can handle scaling.

PlayStation Portable

Resolution should be 480x272.

• PPSSPP: Go to Game Settings > Window Size on the menu bar and select "1x". In the menu, go to Settings > Graphics and set Rendering resolution to "1x PSP", then go to System and enable Save screenshots in PNG format. Press  F12  to take a screenshot. Screenshots will be saved in the 'memstick/PSP/SCREENSHOT' directory.
• CWCheat: Requires custom firmware on real hardware. In the menu, go to Settings > Change buttons and set your command for "Screenshoot", preferably to a button that won't interfere with gameplay. Screenshots are saved in the 'PSP/PHOTO/capture' directory on the Memory Stick.

Microsoft

Xbox

• xemu: Set internal resolution scale to "1x" and window size to 640x480, then right-click the window during gameplay and click "Screenshot" to save a screenshot in PNG format.

Xbox 360

• Xbox One and Series X/S: While running a game, press the Xbox button, then press Y to take a screenshot at the current resolution. Screenshots will be saved as lossless PNGs to the console's storage, so will need to be copied to external storage (such as a USB stick) or to OneDrive so it can be loaded onto a computer. Once on a computer, the screenshots can then be run through pngpress. Keep in mind that this method can only be used for games that are backwards compatible on the Xbox One and Series X/S.
• Xenia: This emulator does not currently have a screenshot feature, so  PrintScreen  will be needed.

Xbox One and Series X/S

• Real hardware: While running a game, press the Xbox button, then press Y to take a screenshot at the current resolution. Screenshots will be saved as lossless PNGs to the console's storage, so will need to be copied to external storage (such as a USB stick) or to OneDrive so it can be loaded onto a computer. Once on a computer, the screenshots can then be run through pngpress.

NEC

PC-8800 series

Resolution should be 640x400.

• M88: Enable "Non-scanline mode" (go to "Control > Configure...", click the second tab, and check the sixth checkmark labelled "(F)"), then go to "Tools > Capture..." or press  Alt + F2 , then choose a save location. Screenshots are saved as raw bitmaps, so will require processing into PNG.

PC-9800 series

Resolution should be 640x400.

• Neko Project II: Go to "Screen > Screen option...", enable "Use skipline revisions" and set the Ratio to its highest value. Next, go to "Other > BMP save...", then choose a save location. Screenshots are saved as raw bitmaps, so will require processing into PNG.

TurboGrafx-16 / TurboGrafx-CD / SuperGrafx

Resolution varies per game. Possible horizontal resolutions include 256, 320, 336, 352 and 512. Note that the TurboNyma core for some of the emulators listed below renders 320, 336 and 352-wide resolutions as 341 pixels wide (or 373 pixels when "Show horizontal overscan" is enabled) regardless of actual resolution and is generally incorrect, so is not recommended for high-resolution games.

• Magic Engine: Go into the Config sub-menu and select "Video". Make sure none of the filters, audio bars or FPS counters are in the way. Press the  Backspace  key to take a screenshot. Screenshots are saved as PNGs in the same directory as Magic Engine.
• Mednafen: Set first and last rendered scanlines to 11 and 234 respectively. Press  F9  to take a screenshot.
• BizHawk: If using the PCEHawk core, set first and last rendered scanlines to 25 and 249 respectively. If using the TurboNyma core, set first and last rendered scanlines to 11 and 234 respectively. Using BizHawk is not recommended as its cores have specific issues:
  • PCEHawk has accuracy issues with some games. Most games will run fine, but a few (such as Wonder Momo) have noticeable issues. It also cannot render certain screen modes (such as vertical and four-screen modes) accurately, and is known to crash with horizontal resolutions of 512.
  • TurboNyma is not recommended either for the reasons mentioned above.
• Ootake: Not recommended. Right click the emulator window to display the menu bar, and select the options "1x" and "Non-scanlined" in "Capture > Size", set Gamma to 1.04 and Brightness to +20 under "Screen", enable "Non-Stretched" under "Screen" and disable "Show Overscan Area". Afterwards, press  PrintScreen  to take a screenshot. Screenshots are saved as raw bitmaps, so will require processing into PNG.

PC-FX

Resolution varies per game.

• Magic Engine: Go into the Config sub-menu and select "Video". Make sure none of the filters, audio bars or FPS counters are in the way. Press the  Backspace  key to take a screenshot. Screenshots are saved as PNGs in the same directory as Magic Engine.
• Mednafen: Press  F9  to take a screenshot.

SNK

Neo Geo Pocket Color

Resolution should be 160x152.

• NeoPop: Lacks a built-in screenshot ability, so  PrintScreen  is needed. Set the window size to 1x before taking a screenshot.

Arcade

As arcade displays can vary considerably, so can the resolutions of arcade games, and newer arcade systems may allow changing the resolution mid-game.

• MAME: Produces lossless PNG screenshots by default. Press  F12  at any time during gameplay. If no explicit screenshot directory has been specified in MAME's configuration file or frontend, then MAME will save screenshots to a "snap" folder in its current directory, with the current game's internal name as a subdirectory and then the resultant image named with a number. For example, the first screenshot taken of Fantasy Zone will be 'snap/fantzone/0000.png'.
  • Some games may force custom screen scaling and/or position parameters at boot, causing resampling artifacts. Press  Tab , choose "Slider Controls", and manually set the Stretch and Position parameters to 1 and 0, respectively.

Home computers

IBM PC-compatibles

As PC displays can vary considerably, so can the resolutions of IBM PC games.

• DOSBox: Press  Ctrl + F5  to take a screenshot in PNG format. Windows users should check the 'capture' folder, while Mac users should look in '~/Library/Preferences/capture/'.

Windows PC

As PC displays can vary considerably, so can the resolutions of Windows games. For the most part, we recommend screenshots are taken in the original, "standard" resolutions - 4:3 or 16:9.

While modifications may allow a game to reach higher resolutions than originally intended, we highly recommend that screenshots are era-appropriate. That is to say, if the game came out in the mid-1990s, 640x480 is likely to be more appropriate than 3840x2160 (4K), a resolution more common 20 years later.

• Steam games: In Settings > In-Game, enable "Save an uncompressed copy of my screenshots", then click the "Change folder" button to set an external uncompressed screenshot folder. Then, during gameplay, press  F12  or whatever hotkey you have set to take a screenshot. DO NOT use the "SHOW ON DISK" button in Steam's screenshot manager to find your screenshots - those ones are JPEGs. Instead, find the screenshots in the external folder you set up as they should be lossless PNGs there. Note that taking screenshots this way requires the Steam overlay to be running, and is incompatible with older, software-rendered games.
• FRAPS: In the FRAPS window, go into the "Screenshots" tab and set "Image Format" to PNG, set an output folder, then go into a 3D accelerated game and press  F10  to take a screenshot. This only works with full-screen games, and as FRAPS does not indicate which program it will capture, it is recommended that you only keep one game/emulator open at a time.
• Built-in screenshots: Some games have their own ability to take in-game screenshots, which may be in various lossless formats. Be sure to read the game's instruction manual (if any) for more information. If the game in question produces lossy JPEG screenshots, please use another method.
• PrintScreen: If all else fails, use the  PrintScreen  key on your keyboard to take a screenshot, then paste into an image-editing program and save as a PNG. The specific rules vary between operating systems (and in the case of Linux, desktop environments), though this fallback can even fail in some games.
• Sonic Mania: This game's base resolution is 424x240. Go to "Options > Video", set Screen Filter to "None", Window Size to "1x", Window Border to "Off" and Full Screen to "Off". Press  Alt + PrintScreen  to capture a screenshot to clipboard, then paste into an image-editing program. Steam's method may also be used if applicable (see above), but enabling the in-game dev menu will prevent the use of  F11  and  F12  as hotkeys.

Amstrad CPC

The Amstrad CPC has three "official" display modes:

• Mode 0: 160x200, "20 columns", 16 colours
• Mode 1: 320x200, "40 columns", 4 colours
• Mode 2: 640x200, "80 columns", 2 colours

(combinations of modes can also occur)

However these do not define the size of the screen, but the drawable area within the screen. There is a border area which needs to be taken into consideration, as while most games do not utilise it, through programming tricks, some games can and do.

Taking into account this border area, screenshots should be 384x272 for modes 0 and 1, and 768x544 for mode 2.