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Snes9x uses a standard set of key bindings to correspond to the buttons on an SNES controller. The standard key bindings are shown in Table 7-5.

Table 7-5. Snes9x key mappings

Key

Function

Escape

Quit the emulator

Pause, Scroll Lock

Pause the emulator

Up arrow, u

Up direction

Down arrow, j, n

Down direction

Left arrow, h

Left direction

Right arrow, k

Right direction

a, v, q

TL button

z, b, w

TR button

s, m, e

X button

x, ',', r

Y button

d, '.', t

A button

c, y

B button

Enter

Start button

Spacebar

Select button

Shift F1-F9

Save the game in one of nine different slots

F1-F9

Restore the saved game in the specified slot

Snes9x has support for joysticks, and by default will scan for /dev/js0, or you can specify the joystick device to use with the -joydev1 argument. You can also control the mapping for the eight different SNES buttons with the -joymap1 and -joymap2 options (for joystick 1 and joystick 2, respectively) followed by the eight different buttons in order. For instance, the default is 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7, which corresponds to A B X Y TL TR Start Select.

There are so many different options to Snes9x, in fact, that a couple of graphical frontends have been created to make the process of configuring Snes9x easier. Snes9express is an easy-to-use frontend that makes it easy to organize your SNES ROMs and experiment with different settings. You can download the latest version from www.linuxgames.com/snes9express or use the package that comes with your distribution. Snes9express supports skinning and even includes a skin that makes it look like the original SNES console (Figure 7-9).

Figure 7-9. Snes9express

Click Console → Preferences and give snes9express the path to your SNES ROM directory, and then you can click the ROM Selector button for a window to pop up with a full list of available games to run. Select the game you want to play and then click Power to start. The Snes9express window will disappear while the game is running, and reappear once you exit the game.

To change Snes9x settings from within Snes9express, click on the different settings tabs in the the main window. Sound, video, controller, and other settings can be configured in these tabs and the GUI makes it easy to toggle an option, or to change your joystick settings quickly.

Frozen Bubble

Some of the most fun games, the games that have the highest replay value, are often the simplest ones. Frozen Bubble is a puzzle game similar to Puzzle Bobble or Bust-a-Move. The object of Frozen Bubble is to remove all of the different colored bubbles that are arranged on the top of the screen (Figure 7-10). Your player is given a single colored bubble, and you aim from the bottom of the screen and attempt to hit a bubble at the top of the screen that has a matching color. If you hit a bubble with a matching color, it and all of the bubbles connected below it will disappear. If you don't hit a match, your bubble becomes another bubble to eliminate. You beat a level by eliminating all of the bubbles from the level. If you don't remove bubbles fast enough, the board shifts down closer to the bottom. Once a bubble hits the bottom of the board, you lose.

Frozen Bubble is a common game and should be packaged by your distribution. Otherwise, you can download and compile the source from the official site at www.frozen-bubble.org. Start Frozen Bubble from a menu or type frozen-bubble on the command line. You can choose one- or two-player games, and can even create your own levels from the included level editor.

The single-player game pits you against the clock. The controls are basic and easy to pick up. Left and right arrows adjust your aim to the left and right, respectively, and the up arrow launches your bubble. Take advantage of the fact that bubbles bounce from the side walls to get bubbles to hard-to-reach places. If your aim is good you can sometimes complete a level with a single well-placed bubble.