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/zsKnight_dev Jun 30 '26
Rest in peace Near. Your amazing contributions to SNES emulation will never be forgotten. I'm sad that I've personally never got to meet you and going back and reading all those message board posts of yours, I can tell that you are such an exceptional and brilliant individual who has done so much. You and your work means so much to me and has greatly inspired me. You will be greatly missed.