Nintendo Entertainment System

Provenance brings the Nintendo Entertainment System — and its Japanese counterpart, the Famicom — to your iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV. The NES defined an entire generation of gaming, giving us Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda, Metroid, Mega Man, Castlevania, Contra, and countless other classics. Now you can carry that legacy in your pocket, no jailbreak required.

Provenance is free, open-source, and available directly from the App Store. Just add your own ROM files and your NES library is ready to play.

Supported File Formats

Provenance supports all major NES and Famicom ROM formats:

• .nes — The standard iNES format, used by the vast majority of NES dumps
• .fds — Famicom Disk System images; the FDS was a Japan-only disk peripheral that hosted dozens of exclusive titles
• .unf / .unif — Universal NES Image Format, used for some unlicensed and homebrew titles

Famicom Disk System support means you can play FDS-exclusive games that never made it to cartridge in the West, including the original disk version of The Legend of Zelda and Metroid.

Features

Playing NES games in Provenance gives you access to the full suite of emulator features:

• Save States — Save and resume at any point, bypassing the NES era’s notoriously limited (or nonexistent) save systems
• Controller Support — Full MFi, Xbox, and PlayStation controller compatibility; on-screen touch controls also available
• Shader Support — CRT scanline and other visual filters to recreate the look of playing on a real CRT television
• Cheat Codes — Game Genie code support for NES titles
• Fast Forward — Speed through repetitive sections or grind-heavy sequences
• On-Screen Controls — Customizable touch overlay for playing without a physical controller

iCloud Sync with Provenance Plus

Provenance Plus adds iCloud sync for your NES save states and game library, keeping your progress consistent across every device you own. Start a playthrough of Mega Man 2 on your iPhone and pick it up on Apple TV without missing a beat.

How to Get Started

1. Download Provenance from the App Store — it’s free.
2. Add your NES ROM files to Provenance using iTunes File Sharing, the Files app, or a web server import.
3. Start playing — your game library appears automatically once files are imported.

For detailed setup instructions, visit the Provenance wiki.