Vitor Vilela is a Brazilian programmer and ROM hacker known for his work in Super Nintendo Entertainment System games.

Vitor Vilela
NationalityBrazilian
Occupation(s)programmer
ROM hacker
Known forEnhancing Super Nintendo Entertainment System games via the SA1 chip

Career

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The SA1 chip

Vitor says he got a Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) as a gift from his father at age 7, and the first game he ever played was Super Mario World. Over time, he became interested in how games worked. He initially began editing levels of the aforementioned game using Lunar Magic, and by age 13 or 14, he already had significant knowledge of SNES programming. Later, he decided to study computer engineering professionally.[1]

In 2019, Vitor became known for using the SA1 chip, which improves the speed of SNES games, in Gradius III, making it faster.[2][3] In January 2021, several websites noticed his work on other games, such as Super Mario World, Super R-Type, Contra III and Super Castlevania IV.[4][5][6][7] In February, Vitor managed to increase the speed of the game Race Drivin' from four to thirty frames per second.[8][9][10] In March, he posted a video showcasing Super Mario World in widescreen,[11] and, later in the same month, increased the speed of Axelay.[12] In May, he had access to a rare demo cartridge that contained the SA1 chip.[13] The following month, Vitor showed an image of Super Mario World in ultra widescreen, saying that the widescreen version would be released soon, on his Twitter.[14][15][16] This version was released on the 21st.[17][18][19]

References

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  1. ^ ShmupsBR: Entrevista c/ Vitor Vilela - O cara que consertou Gradius 3!. ShmupsBR (in Brazilian Portuguese). August 28, 2019. Event occurs at 1:21—3:46. Retrieved July 23, 2021 – via YouTube.
  2. ^ "Random: Someone's Working To Fix SNES Shooter Gradius III's Slowdown Issues". Nintendo Life. May 7, 2019. Retrieved July 23, 2021.
  3. ^ Orland, Kyle (May 10, 2019). "28 years later, hacker fixes rampant slowdown on SNES' Gradius III". Ars Technica. Retrieved July 23, 2021.
  4. ^ "Programador brasileiro 'conserta' jogos do Super Nintendo; confira vídeo". Exame (in Brazilian Portuguese). January 6, 2021. Retrieved July 23, 2021.
  5. ^ "Programador brasileiro conserta um dos maiores problemas do SNES". Tecmundo (in Brazilian Portuguese). January 5, 2021. Retrieved July 23, 2021.
  6. ^ "How One Man Is Fixing The SNES' Biggest Weakness". Nintendo Life. January 5, 2021. Retrieved July 23, 2021.
  7. ^ "One Developer Is Fixing SNES Game Lag After 30 Years". ExtremeTech. Retrieved July 23, 2021.
  8. ^ Stephen, Bijan (February 23, 2021). "SNES hacker speeds up a game that originally ran at 4 frames per second". The Verge. Retrieved July 23, 2021.
  9. ^ "Hacker Rewrites Crappy SNES Racer To Improve Its Framerate Sevenfold". Kotaku. February 22, 2021. Retrieved July 23, 2021.
  10. ^ "Random: Talented Hacker Bumps The Frame Rate Of SNES Race Drivin' From 4fps To 30". Nintendo Life. February 23, 2021. Retrieved July 23, 2021.
  11. ^ "Vídeo mostra Super Mario World otimizado para rodar em widescreen". Jovem Nerd (in Brazilian Portuguese). Retrieved July 23, 2021.
  12. ^ "Super Coder Speeds Up Yet Another SNES Classic". Nintendo Life. March 31, 2021. Retrieved July 23, 2021.
  13. ^ "A Rare SNES SA1 Demo Cartridge Has Been Found And Preserved". Nintendo Life. May 10, 2021. Retrieved July 23, 2021.
  14. ^ "Random: SNES Hacker Working On Widescreen Support For Super Mario World". Nintendo Life. June 17, 2021. Retrieved July 23, 2021.
  15. ^ "Super Mario World Widescreen launches next week". PCGamesN. June 3, 2021. Retrieved July 23, 2021.
  16. ^ "'Super Mario World' goes widescreen next week thanks to a fan". NME. June 4, 2021. Retrieved December 23, 2021.
  17. ^ "Super Mario World recebe mod em widescreen 16:9". Canaltech (in Brazilian Portuguese). June 22, 2021. Retrieved July 23, 2021.
  18. ^ Vinha, Felipe (June 22, 2021). "Brasileiro cria mod de Super Mario do SNES para rodar em widescreen". Tecnoblog (in Brazilian Portuguese). Retrieved July 23, 2021.
  19. ^ Porter, Jon (June 21, 2021). "Super Mario World receives the widescreen emulation mod it deserves". The Verge. Retrieved July 23, 2021.

Further reading

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