When comparing ZSNES vs SteamWorld Dig, the Slant community recommends ZSNES for most people. In the question“What are the best low-spec PC games?” ZSNES is ranked 61st while SteamWorld Dig is ranked 66th. The most important reason people chose ZSNES is:
ZSNES has been in development since the 90's, and in that time has been fixed to run the vast majority of SNES games smoothly. Due to it's "accuracy", it can run roms that most other emulators would break. Not because the emulation is broken, but because the roms are broken.
Specs
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Pros
Pro "Compatible" with most games
ZSNES has been in development since the 90's, and in that time has been fixed to run the vast majority of SNES games smoothly.
Due to it's "accuracy", it can run roms that most other emulators would break. Not because the emulation is broken, but because the roms are broken.
Pro Fast playback of ROMs
ZSNES is hand-optimized for x86, so it will run incredibly smoothly even on older computers.
Pro Built-in video capture
Gameplay can be recorded and saved as both raw or lossy files. Quality settings can be tweaked in zmovie.cfg file.
Pro Games can be saved at any point
Pro Multiplayer support
Games can be played with other people over TCP/IP network.
Pro Built-in support for cheat codes
ZSNES supports Game Genie, Pro Action Replay, and GoldFinger cheat codes.
Pro Built-in audio capture
Game audio can be saved to a .spc file.
Pro Can speed-up and rewind games
Pro Fun, steady progression
As you dig deeper, you receive new items that make progressing increasingly more fun, until you hit the end.
Pro Lovely art style
Pro World is permanently altered as you play through it
To navigate through the world of SteamWorld Dig, you need to dig through the earth, shaping out the tunnels and paths you need to pass through, requiring you to think twice about how to dig so you can get through the tunnel efficiently, and escape when you need to before you run out of power.
Pro Unlimited replayability with a procedurally generated world
Through the use of random generation the game is able to create a different experience not only for each person that plays it but for each time one restarts the game. Which lends to a bunch of replayability.
Cons
Con Laughably out of date
Not only was it abandoned over 10 years ago, the strides that other emulators have made in the same time is astounding.
Con Inaccurate compared to competition
ZSNES sacrifices emulation accuracy for speed (relative to e.g. Higan emulator). Sound emulation is a particularly large weakness.
Con Abandoned
While no official statement on discontinuing the software was made, last progress update was posted in 2007 and now seems highly unlikely that any further updates should be expected.
Con Nice digger, but not really metroidvania
It has stuff to unlock - but you buy most of those options, unlike a metroidvania game.
Also, down is always correct, unlike metroidvania.
Con Beginning of the game is somewhat tedious
Until a few upgrades are acquired and teleporters placed around the map for faster travel, it requires a bit of monotonous mining.
Con Boring
Con Combat mechanics are basic
Combat consists of hitting an enemy with ones pick or drill, which is time consuming and not really satisfying. It is much easier to just go around opponents, even if it takes more time.