iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Vitor Vilela @hackervilela.sneslab.net · 20h

SA-1 is a great option for specific games that requires a more impactful revamp. Things that used to run at 15 FPS, sloppy experience, ROM hacks, these are examples of situations where SA-1 suits it. My improvement hacks will always choose the best option for the best experience, always.

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Vitor Vilela @hackervilela.sneslab.net · 20h

Yes, I value a lot FastROM conversions. They re-use the existing SNES hardware, makes the CPU use the full 3.58 MHz power and makes it easier to create reproduction cartridges on hardware. With code optimizations, most of the games suits it well.

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Vitor Vilela @hackervilela.sneslab.net · 20h

Tuesday, time for a new video! Super Castlevania IV, for the SNES, has a lot of slowdown. My FastROM patch takes almost all of it away. Full comparison video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4s6... Patch: github.com/VitorVilela7...

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Vitor Vilela @hackervilela.sneslab.net · 27/09/2026

Hi all, the beta version of the JAPANESE Super R-Type SA-1 patch is now available for all Patreon supporters. If you'd like to early test the versions, learn more about the differences or just support my work, consider taking a look: www.patreon.com/vitorvilela/...

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Vitor Vilela @hackervilela.sneslab.net · 27/09/2026

Anyone has news about SmokeMonster? I miss his activity.

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Vitor Vilela @hackervilela.sneslab.net · 27/09/2026

I finished optimizing the game. The focus now will be polishing the remaining features, adding languages, full screen maps and wrap things up. Keep tuned in for updates.

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Vitor Vilela @hackervilela.sneslab.net · 27/09/2026

So in the end, the 18x doesn't mean that the game is 18x faster, but that you have real control on what happens on your city. You choose how fast you want and the SA-1 chip will do it for you. (+)

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Vitor Vilela @hackervilela.sneslab.net · 27/09/2026

You want to see action, results, want to see things growing as fast as possible. 18x is the best thing here. You can instantly grow your city or redo your city because the feedback is immediate. (+)

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Vitor Vilela @hackervilela.sneslab.net · 27/09/2026

The 18x speed up is also applied gradually as your city grow so you never notice that the game is having difficulty to continue simulation. - Fast, on the other side, you want things to run as fast as possible. (+)

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Vitor Vilela @hackervilela.sneslab.net · 27/09/2026

The 18x speed-up here is used so big cities at slow simulation still paces "slow" instead of "almost frozen" - the speed up is gradually applied as your city grows to keep consistency. - Normal is for who wants to their city progress but keep control of everything. (+)

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Vitor Vilela @hackervilela.sneslab.net · 27/09/2026

You will be able to pick 3 game speeds. Slow, Medium and Fast. - Slow is nice speed to see how things are going, but it starts being too slow when the city gets too big. The more structures, the slower the simulation is. (+)

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Vitor Vilela @hackervilela.sneslab.net · 27/09/2026

I want to be able to create cities with over 1M population and simulation stay in a fair speed. Want to people make their dream cities, to plan, re-create, to have fun. It's not just about adding more features, but enforcing how great the original game already is. (+)

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Vitor Vilela @hackervilela.sneslab.net · 27/09/2026

Because it's for the best experience possible. SimCity SNES should be the reference for the first generation city simulation games. (+)

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Vitor Vilela @hackervilela.sneslab.net · 27/09/2026

Sep 26 update. Both big and small cities are now up to 18x faster than the original game. This is a combination of both SA-1 speed + code optimization + code rewrite to take advantages of the chip as much as possible. Simulation continues to be the same as original game. But why? (+)

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Vitor Vilela @hackervilela.sneslab.net · 26/09/2026

Thank you Jake! I have seen that and I'm checking if I can adjust anything on beta 3 build to address that; will let you know soon :)

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Vitor Vilela @hackervilela.sneslab.net · 26/09/2026

Confess I never seen RAM usage getting 100% on Windows

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Vitor Vilela @hackervilela.sneslab.net · 26/09/2026

Sep 25 update: Just made simulation 11x faster than the original game for big cities and 13x faster for smaller cities. Bet I can do more. Let's make SimCity SNES fly like a rocket!

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Vitor Vilela @hackervilela.sneslab.net · 25/09/2026

Mas é isso mesmo. 6x significa que 1 mês de tempo que leva o jogo original no SA-1 passa se 6 meses. Mas não entenda como ruim. A velocidade lenta continuará inalterada pra justamente não afetar isso e esse 6x servirá como combustível para compensar as cidades maiores que demoram bem mais.

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Vitor Vilela @hackervilela.sneslab.net · 25/09/2026

Sep 24 update: I just made it 6.5x faster for big, developed cities and 12x faster for smaller cities. Not enough. Still working to the 10x for big cities.

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Vitor Vilela @hackervilela.sneslab.net · 24/09/2026

SimCity SA-1 now runs 5.93x faster than the original version. Still not enough for me. I'm rewriting the simulation now with SA-1 native opcodes to get the 10x speed up I promised. Also Japanese support is work in progress.

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Vitor Vilela @hackervilela.sneslab.net · 22/09/2026

Axelay (SNES) is a great shmup that slows down a lot. My FastROM patch takes almost all of it away. NEW comparison video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhdX... Axelay patch 1.1 is out: github.com/VitorVilela7...

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Vitor Vilela @hackervilela.sneslab.net · 22/09/2026

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Vitor Vilela @hackervilela.sneslab.net · 20/09/2026

New early-access release. Super R-Type SA-1 now supports the European version of the game. First SA-1 ROM hack for the PAL SNES. SA-1 runs a little slower here (10.64 MHz), but it has more time per frame (425,568 cycles). Anyways, zero slowdown. www.patreon.com/vitorvilela/...

patreon.com

Super R-Type SA-1, European version is now available for testing | Vitor Vilela's Laboratory

Hi, everyone! Happy to share the first game of the SA-1 Regional project, the one I promised on the announcement post: Super R-Type SA-1 now

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Vitor Vilela @hackervilela.sneslab.net · 20/09/2026

Accidentally published master cycles, here's the accurate info: NTSC: - S-CPU speed: 3.58 MHz - SA-1 speed: 10.74 MHz - Cycles/frame: 59,561 (S-CPU); 178,683 (SA-1) PAL: - S-CPU speed: 3.55 MHz (-0.9% to NTSC) - SA-1 speed: 10.64 MHz (-0.9%) - Cycles/frame: 70,928 (S-CPU); 212,784 (SA-1) (+19%)

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Vitor Vilela @hackervilela.sneslab.net · 20/09/2026

We saw it, thanks! Sadly shipping to Brazil makes it 5x more expensive 🥲 but we will keep an eye in case there's a re-seller that manages to import it cheaper (just like Cirno that is a roughly 2x price difference only)

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Vitor Vilela @hackervilela.sneslab.net · 20/09/2026

patreon.com

Super R-Type SA-1, European version is now available for testing | Vitor Vilela's Laboratory

Hi, everyone! Happy to share the first game of the SA-1 Regional project, the one I promised on the announcement post: Super R-Type SA-1 now

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Kaptajnen @kaptajnen.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Here's a reminder to all you #retrogaming and #romhacking enthusiasts out there If you haven't yet followed @hackervilela.sneslab.net yet, you definitely should Dude has been working his butt off with their ambitious SA-1 implementation #romhacks that vastly improve the performance of #SNES games

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Vitor Vilela @hackervilela.sneslab.net · 20/09/2026

Out of nowhere my wife got a big obsession on Daiyousei (and Cirno too) but I can't find any plush of her to gift Help me

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Vitor Vilela @hackervilela.sneslab.net · 17/09/2026

Announcing SA-1 regional builds. Contra III, Super R-Type, Race Drivin' and Super Mario World SA-1 patches are getting Europe (PAL) and Japanese versions releases among with the existing USA (NTSC) versions. More details on this open Patreon post: www.patreon.com/vitorvilela/...

patreon.com

Project SA-1 Regional Patches: expanding the enhancements to European and Japanese versions | Vitor Vilela's Laboratory

Hi, everyone! I'd like to share a side project that I always wanted to work in the past and finally I got the opportunity to put into practi

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Vitor Vilela @hackervilela.sneslab.net · 17/09/2026

realocate the code at all. Games like Super R-Type only changed on practice the header and the rest was only code realocation. Still I'm testing them under 50 Hz (PAL) mode to ensure no side effects are found.

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Vitor Vilela @hackervilela.sneslab.net · 17/09/2026

This is thanks to the recent improvements on "romcmp" tool that can analyze displacements and reallocations, making it possible to add support to them without re-analyzing the entire game. Currently, only Gradius III SA-1 supports both NTSC (USA/Japanese) version because the changes didn't (+)

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Vitor Vilela @hackervilela.sneslab.net · 17/09/2026

patreon.com

Project SA-1 Regional Patches: expanding the enhancements to European and Japanese versions | Vitor Vilela's Laboratory

Hi, everyone! I'd like to share a side project that I always wanted to work in the past and finally I got the opportunity to put into practi

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Vitor Vilela @hackervilela.sneslab.net · 15/09/2026

New Gradius III SA-1 comparison video, now features all demos and synchronizes the bosses as well. Once again, this is a new game and brings the real arcade spirit to the SNES #gradius-iii #sa1 youtu.be/Et3fXldDo5s

youtu.be

Gradius III (SNES) - Original vs. SA-1 Comparison (2026 Updated)

YouTube video by Vitor Vilela

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Vitor Vilela @hackervilela.sneslab.net · 15/09/2026

Do you mean the dialogue at opening or something else?

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Vitor Vilela @hackervilela.sneslab.net · 15/09/2026

From some tests I made, I can see benefit of improving some raster effects and overall loading times, which is nice but I'm sure the community will be able to make an even better usage of it.

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Vitor Vilela @hackervilela.sneslab.net · 15/09/2026

Yes, I think it's gonna be similar to SMW; A few slowdown spots will be fixed but the community will be able to use it on ROM hacks just like SA-1 Pack.

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Vitor Vilela @hackervilela.sneslab.net · 15/09/2026

Some other specific SA-1 carts can be used, the main caveat is that you have to change the SRAM chip yourself... Hope I can find out more ways to reduce SRAM load.

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Vitor Vilela @hackervilela.sneslab.net · 15/09/2026

Now imagine moving this to SA-1 at 10.74 MHz and using a proper RAM buffer. It's gonna be crazy. 10x faster at minimum.

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Vitor Vilela @hackervilela.sneslab.net · 15/09/2026

Super Metroid's graphics decompression algorithm is SLOW. I thought SMW was awful, but Super Metroid is worse. Way worse. It re-reads VRAM and then writes back to another VRAM address. Bounce $2116 back-and-forth.

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Vitor Vilela @hackervilela.sneslab.net · 15/09/2026

This (the move) is one of the main reasons I'm now able to focus on the SNES projects again. And I'm extremely happy with this decision. Please share with everyone that Vitor Vilela is back and for real. Stay tuned for more updates and happy SNES and happy ROM hacking!

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Vitor Vilela @hackervilela.sneslab.net · 15/09/2026

- More time to stay with wife, to focus on hobbies and work on projects again. - Better food options, infrastructure and safety; Getting things via internet reaches same or next day. Where I used to live, had to get shipped items on a parent's house due to the location.

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Vitor Vilela @hackervilela.sneslab.net · 15/09/2026

- Used to live 17km away from work, 1 hour and 30 min daily commute via subway + bus, both crowed lines. Now, I reduced to 5km; 35 min via subway, less crowed line. 20min if I had a car. - Saving about 2 hours per day; total 10 hours per week; ~40 hours per month.

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Vitor Vilela @hackervilela.sneslab.net · 15/09/2026

Important news. One month ago, I moved to new apartment at São Paulo city. I am living in a rented house and on a more expensive region. I used to live in Taboão da Serra, where the quality of life was inferior but the living costs were minimal. Sounds a risky move, no? But -- net effects:

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Vitor Vilela @hackervilela.sneslab.net · 12/09/2026

The new tooling makes SA-1 analysis way more aggressive. 64 GB pagefile to compensate my lack of RAM (current DDR5 prices on Brazil are too much for me right now) - but I'm super glad that it's working. Super Metroid SA-1 will happen.

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Vitor Vilela @hackervilela.sneslab.net · 12/09/2026

Gradius III and together my other SA-1 ROM hacks you can here them here: github.com/VitorVilela7... And I'm working on more now: SimCity SA-1 and Super Metroid SA-1. Stay tuned in for updates.

github.com

GitHub - VitorVilela7/SA1-Root: Project for accelerating SNES games using the SA-1 chip.

Project for accelerating SNES games using the SA-1 chip. - VitorVilela7/SA1-Root

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Yakumono @luigiblood.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Releasing now! Satellaview Super Mario Bros. 2 (BS Super Mario USA) MSU1 ROM containing all 4 episodes with full english dub on project.satellaview.org! #Satellaview #SNES Have fun!

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Vitor Vilela @hackervilela.sneslab.net · 12/09/2026

Gradius III SA-1 is one my most proud ROM hacks. Zero slowdown. Gameplay fluid as a rocket. You can either play it unlocked (60 FPS and harder) or play the Origin version (60 FPS with speed controls for fair difficulty). It's available for download and works on real hardware.

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