The TASBot community has long struggled to achieve consistent frame-accurate speedruns on Super NES consoles due to hardware variability. However, researchers have now identified the culprit: a cheap ceramic resonator in the Audio Processing Unit (APU) that affects the console’s clock rate. By utilizing an external frequency counter, team member Allan “dwangoAC” Cecil discovered that his APU’s clock had degraded over time, causing lag frames and desynchronization issues.
This problem is imperceptible to casual players but poses a significant challenge for TASBot speedrunners. The fix, which involves replacing or modifying the ceramic resonator, has resulted in consistent frame-accurate speedruns on various SNES units. Researchers found that temperature was not as impactful as expected, and the distribution of clock rates was more variable than initially thought.
The solution highlights the importance of precise hardware consistency in speedrunning. The TASBot community’s efforts to develop a reliable and reproducible method for creating tool-assisted speedruns have led to new insights into the intricacies of SNES hardware.
Source: https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2025/03/this-small-snes-timing-issue-is-causing-big-speedrun-problems