Heya

I've gotten back into the game as it's always bothered me that I couldn't get sub 5.

One of the things that also bothered me, is that every emulator I've used, on different pcs/laptops, and different rooms, also has some slowdown mid level. It's ever so slight, and happens for only a few seconds, but it happens all the time when running the game

I've tried Mesen Threepio, Nestopia and FCEUX back in the day, which was where I first noticed it. My screens refresh rate is set to 60.1, and the fps constantly shows 60. Vsync is turned off as I was advised that it should e off when running the game ( someone correct if I'm wrong)

It's really annoying and can distract when going for frame perfect jumps. Any ideas?

I think just go to the settings in the emulator

Go to the video menu and change the settings

Resolution, Hz frequency and any options related to the video section

In the meantime, close the active software on Windows.

Like antivirus, internet download manager, intel managment security

Or any unnecessary software running on Windows

So do you think it's machine related, ie too many apps running?

It's mad since it's just an NES emulator so any toaster should be able to handle it, but I've seen it for years

Mesen 0.9.9 is good emulator.

Also, if you want to finish the game in under 5 minutes, you should watch the gameplay videos of other record holders to find your own flaws and weaknesses.