Zaxnes v0.4.0 is released. Zaxnes is a free, GPL-3.0 NES emulator that renders games in 3D: each frame's tiles and sprites are turned into extruded 3D objects, placed in a scene and drawn with a real camera, lighting and shadows. A 3D profile describes, per game, which patterns become which geometry, and carries Lua scripts that drive the scene while the game plays.

Zaxnes changelog:
Independent project, not affiliated with Geod Studio or Nintendo. NES is a trademark of Nintendo.
New
Widescreen. Games made for it, or patched for it, draw past the 256 pixels of the NES picture, in 2D and in 3D. Built-in widescreen hacks for Zelda II, Mega Man 1 to 6, Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros. 3, Castlevania, Ninja Gaiden III, Adventure Island, Excitebike, Final Fantasy, Blaster Master, Metroid and Metal Force (Korea), each in a plain and an advanced mode (objects and enemies shown in the margins). The hacks are found by the ROM's signatures, so other builds (Europe, Japan) of these games are covered where a pack exists. A WideScreen & Hacks screen per game shows how well the ROM fits, part by part, and offers each hack's options (No slowdown, Invincible, level select where the game has one).
RetroAchievements (softcore): sign in from the options, unlocks, challenges, progress and the list of a game's achievements, on the desktop and on handhelds.
Console mode on the desktop (F1 or Home): the handheld interface with the mouse, the keyboard or a pad; the desktop now opens on its ROM list.
Options per game over the global ones (render scale, shadows, palette, overscan, catch-up, Lua options...).
NES colour palettes: the palettes of the main emulators (Mesen's by default, FCEUX, Nestopia, FirebrandX, Sony CXA, PVM...), for all games or per game.
Remove sprite limit: Disabled / Always / Smart (default; Smart keeps the limit where a game relies on it, as Mesen does).
Overscan per side, for NTSC and PAL games, per game, cut (Fit) or cropped (Resize).
Movies: record, play back and annotate.
Save states with a thumbnail, a state screen on handhelds, and saves, states and movies named after the ROM.
Vulkan and DirectX 12 on the desktop (Graphics API option); OpenGL stays the default.
The 2D view is always seen head on; turning the camera pulls it like a rubber band, then switches to 3D.
Mapper 156 (Metal Force, Korea).
Faster
Emulation core: about 12-16 % faster (sound and cartridge reads), the same to the cycle and the sample.
Widescreen pictures composed three times faster; the 3D conversion of widescreen games back to its normal cost.
Rendering: fewer GPU stalls on handheld GPUs (opaque surfaces without discard, palette converted once per frame), the same pictures.
Handhelds: an Optimizations page in the options. New there: Pause the 3D in 2D and Catch-up: 3D of the shown frame only, both on by default on handhelds (no 3D work for frames nobody sees), and 3D at 30 fps (off by default).
Changed
Handheld and console controls: L1 the widescreen, R1 the hacks, R3 rollback; L2 in the game list opens WideScreen & Hacks.

Download: Zaxnes v0.4.0
Source: Here