Super Station One Eliminates CD Load Times on MiSTer FPGA
Lengthy loading screens on classic CD-based games may be a thing of the past for FPGA enthusiasts. A significant new software update for the Super Station One has enabled it to load disc-based games at speeds that are virtually indistinguishable from a modern SD card.
A breakthrough update for the Super Station One has effectively eliminated one of the last remaining relics of retro disc-based gaming: the loading screen. Developed by the team at Retro Remake, this MiSTer FPGA compatible console can now load CD-ROM games from its optional dock at speeds comparable to a solid-state drive, making for a seamless gameplay experience.
The Super Station One is a standalone console built to accommodate the popular open-source MiSTer FPGA platform, which recreates classic games consoles on a hardware level for maximum accuracy. While the MiSTer project has long mastered cartridge-based systems, the nuances of CD-based platforms like the PC Engine CD-ROM² and PlayStation have presented lingering challenges, including authentic, and often lengthy, loading times. This latest software improvement reportedly bypasses previous bottlenecks, allowing the system's optional 'SuperDock' accessory to serve game data from its m.2 SSD at an unprecedented rate. The result is that across almost all supported CD-based systems, loading times are now practically non-existent.
It’s been a few months and I have a new update on SS1 disk reading. We ended up improving disk reading to be on par with loading from an SD in almost all CD-cores.
— Taki Udon (@TakiUdon_) October 23, 2025
All CD cores except PS1 = indistinguishable from SD.
PS1 = edge cases where a game can be <1% slower. https://t.co/PHXf9nPrPO
According to the developer, the only core with any perceptible difference is for the original PlayStation, where in some rare edge-cases performance might be a fraction of a percent slower, occasionally causing a sub-second pause. For every other compatible core, the performance is said to be indistinguishable from loading directly from the MiSTer's primary SD card.
The Super Station One console is available from the creator's official website, with the standard edition priced at $225 (Approx. £180 / €210 / $225, based on current exchange rates; check local retailers for exact pricing). This latest advancement marks a significant quality-of-life improvement for the FPGA community, bringing modern convenience to the hardware-perfect replication of classic CD gaming.
