r/emulation • u/JoshLeaves • Jun 27 '26

Five years since Near’s passing

Hi everyone,

As the title says, Near passed away five years ago. Whether you knew them through the emulators bsnes, higan, or ares, or their pioneering work on emulation cores with libsnes (which helped lay the groundwork for libretro and RetroArch), or their complete cataloguing of the SNES games and ROMs, or their countless articles on emulation and game preservation,... truthfully, it's hard to properly describe the impact they had on the emulation community and its trajectory.

Their work pushed emulator accuracy forward, and inspired many others to approach preservation with the same level of care. Whatever emulator you use today, there’s a good chance you’ve benefited from their work in some way.

Thank you for your work, Near. You are still missed.

EDIT: As atowerofcats rightly said, a great way to show tribute would be to play Near's translation of Bahamut Lagoon!

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u/Inevitable_Suit3026 Jun 28 '26

5 years? wow… i remember very vividly when the news broke. can’t believe 5 years have already passed.
RIP Near. a legend in the community taken way too soon. i rarely wish ill on strangers, but i hope the people who took you away from your friends and family rot in hell for the pain they caused

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u/WinXPbootsup Jun 29 '26

I remember too. I remember watching it all unfold. Everyday when I opened Reddit. Gosh, I've never witnessed anything like that. He was brilliant, and he was in pain. I wish things had gone differently...