RetroArch for iOS/tvOS nightlies available starting today!


Starting today, we will start offering nightly versions of RetroArch for iOS and tvOS on our buildbot!

In the past, harakari would grace us every month with a pre-compiled version that we then had to manually upload to our buildserver. Now, it’s fully automated, so both iOS and tvOS versions of RetroArch will be built with each nightly and stable cycle!

Where to get it

Our Downloads page links to the latest nightlies for iOS/Apple TV.

The iOS version requires you to have iOS 11 or later installed.

How to install


Installing sideloaded apps on iOS and tvOS devices is a bit more complicated than it is on Macs. If you want to use the binaries on our site, this is what you have to do:

Get a Apple Developer Certificate
Apple asks about $100 per year for individuals. You will then have to re-sign the .ipa file that you download from our site. You can read more on how to do this here.

NOTE: You can use the program https://github.com/xndrs/XReSign on your Mac to re-sign as well, just to list another option.

We’d like to be able to provide a more easy and convenient way to install RetroArch on iOS/tvOS in a legal way in a manner we approve of (no ads, no monetization, etc.).

iOS/tvOS notes

No Core Installer – The Core Downloader is useless for these versions. It will likely be hidden/removed altogether in the future since it currently serves no purpose as cores also need to be individually codesigned.

First-time asset extraction – On first startup, it will extract the assets from assets.zip. You will notice it starting up with low-res assets and telling you to wait until this process has finished. Fortunately, this will only happen once and will not happen again afterwards.

How many cores available at launch?

There should be over 84+ cores available for iOS and tvOS. Just like the ARM Mac version, we are far from done here, and you’ll see this core library rapidly expand as we add more and more cores.

More ARM Mac cores added

In the meantime, we have added even more cores for the ARM Macs. We are now up to 93 cores, up from the 75 we started with a few days ago!

RetroArch 1.7.8 (v3) released + big core updates! (bsnes HD, Flycast, Android, etc)

RetroArch 1.7.8 was a very ambitious release, and as a result, it is taking some time to iron out some of the kinks. Instaed of leaving you waiting for a month again to fix some crucial bugs, we’d rather release these point fix releases first instead so that we leave you with a rock-solid 1.7.8 in the end while we then shift our focus and attention to 1.7.9.

In light of that, we are releasing version 3 right now, which will be especially beneficial for Mac users. The future-proof Metal Mac version should now work flawlessly on Macs with an AMD graphics card (they previously produced heavy graphics glitches inside the menu). It has just been released! Grab it here.

If you’d like to show your support, consider donating to us. Check here in order to learn more.

For all other details surrounding version 1.7.8, we refer you to our original article here.

Changes

  • GLCORE: Ensure correct scaling of menu texture (with RGUI)
  • IPS: Soft-Patch any IPS size
  • METAL: Fix overlay issue – setup correct viewport before rendering overlay
  • METAL/STB: Fix font driver issue with AMD GPUs on MacOS.
  • MENU/RGUI: Correctly rescale menu when resizing window if aspect ratio lock is enabled.
  • OSX: Remove OSX suffix in window title
  • PSP: Fix audio conversion code
  • REMAPS: Fix analog remapping regression -analog remapping would break controls

bsnes HD – Released for Windows/Linux/Android, and soon iOS and Mac!

bsnes HD should now be available on Linux, Windows and Android for RetroArch users! It’s based on the latest version of bsnes, and it should be significantly faster than previous bsnes versions.

In this video, we show you some of the HD Mode 7 features that are unique to this version. They make for a fairly significant difference overall as we’re sure you’ll agree!

This core is not fully complete yet and might still have some omissions. Also, the ‘bsnes HD’ name is temporary, and we will be doing some house cleaning of the various bsnes cores we are maintaining soon. The plan is to have an improved Core Updater in later RetroArch versions that allows for better categorization and filtering in the future so that users can more easily manage their cores.

On Android for the first time!

This is the first time the latest version of bsnes will appear on Android, courtesy of Libretro/RetroArch! Our core version of this is called bsnes HD, and you can grab it from the Core Updater right now! Just make sure to update the core info files first (by going to Online Updater, then selecting ‘Update Core Info Files’). bsnes HD should be a fair bit faster than the other bsnes cores already available, plus it has enhanced overclocking features and the acclaimed HD Mode 7 features.

In this video you see it running on a Samsung Galaxy S10+ (Exynos model) with 3x HD Mode 7 scaling applied, and it runs at fullspeed all the way.

User and contributor harakari has reported that he can run HD Mode 7 at 4x scaling and still have games run at fullspeed on his iPhone XS Max, so if anything, expect even better performance on high-end iDevices!

Flycast – WinCE core now 30% faster on average and sound improvements!

The FlycastWinCE version should now be 30% faster on average for non-Windows CE games! We have figured out a way to have the Windows CE code additions no longer affect the main performance of the emulator. For that reason, after we have ironed out some of the final kinks, you can expect there to be only one Flycast core moving forward. On top of that, flyinghead has really gone to town with some much needed audio improvements on the AICA and DSP side. Witness this long standing audio sample bug that is now finally fixed with the game Resident Evil: Code Veronica. This and many other sound bugs (such as the audio samples continuing to be repeated during the battle loading scenes in Soul Calibur) have been fixed now.

World-first – Windows CE Dreamcast games running on Android!

The Flycast WinCE core is now available for Android users!

  • 30% speedup in non-Windows CE games thanks to extensive optimizations made to the dynarec by flyinghead. No more performance reduction of non-Windows CE games.
  • Windows CE support further improved.

It is now possible to play Dreamcast Windows CE games on Android! Please be aware that this is very CPU intensive and that you should probably expect 15 to 25fps on high-end Android phones right now.

Note that Windows CE games could still be unstable on Android, and that you need a real BIOS for Windows CE to work. It won’t work with the HLE BIOS.

NOTE: We anticipate that after the final kinks has been ironed out, that we will merge the Windows CE parts of this core back into Flycast, and that the separate Flycast WinCE core will disappear from there on. So this separate core is only a temporary thing for now. We will let you know when this will happen. Video was recorded on a Galaxy S10+.

Mupen64 Plus Next – No more 10 second startup times on Windows!

Thanks to an important bug fixed by mudlord, Mupen64 Plus Next should no longer take up to 10 seconds to start up any game on Windows.

Mupen64 Plus Next is an up to date version of Mupen 64 Plus with the latest GlideN64 renderer.

More progress reports on other cores soon

Cores are often updated on a daily basis, and a lot of the times, all the amazing enhancements and improvements they receive go underreported because we’re so busy with development. We feel it is time to shine more of a light on these changes, so we will be doing more periodic updates on core updates as they come along.

RetroArch – In Development – Touchscreen Lightgun for iOS/Android (iPhone XS Max shown)

With the upcoming new RetroArch version, it will be possible to use your fingers as a lightgun on iOS and Android. Not only that, but it supports multi-touch too! (iPhone XS Max shown in this video)

What you see here in this video is a demonstration of all the cores that include support for this new feature. The device being used here is an iPhone XS Max, and it’s plenty powerful enough to even run the likes of Mednafen/Beetle Saturn!

Here is a list of the cores so far that support this (along with the systems they support) –

  • NES/Famicom (FCEUmm)
  • Super Nintendo/Super Famicom (Snes9x)
  • Sega Master System (Genesis Plus GX)
  • Sega Megadrive/Genesis (Genesis Plus GX)
  • Sony Playstation (Mednafen/Beetle PSX)
  • Sega Saturn (Mednafen/Beetle Saturn)
  • Arcade (MAME)

Play! Libretro core (PlayStation2 emulator) ready for download on the Libretro/RetroArch buildbot!

So without further ado, upstream versions of Play!, the PlayStation2 emulator, are finally rolling out on the buildbot today!

Currently, the core is available and has been confirmed to run on:

  • Windows (64bit and 32bit)
  • Linux (64bit and 32bit)
  • Android

How to download it

Inside the main menu, go to ‘Online Updater’.

You might want to make sure first you have the latest info files by selecting ‘Update Core Info Files’ first.

From here, go to Core Updater.

Scroll down until you have found ‘Sony – PlayStation 2 (Play!)’. Download it. Go back to ‘Load Core’, and load it. Now go load a backup image file with it.

NOTE: Play! does not require any BIOS for you to dump, it uses its own HLE (High Level Emulation) BIOS.

What is Play! ?

Play! is a Work In Progress PlayStation2 emulator. Thanks to the great efforts of Zer0xFF, who took three days out of his busy schedule to port the emulator to the libretro API, we can start rolling out this emulator to our buildbot soon!

It must be stressed that Play! is a Work In Progress PS2 emulator, and we mean that literally. Don’t expect every game to run perfectly, far from it. However, it has a solid foundation and already has working dynamic recompilers for all the popular architectures, its value which cannot be understated. The libretro core also already has working savestate support.

System requirements

This core will require OpenGL on the desktop and OpenGL ES3 on mobile devices.

Your system should currently be as powerful as possible in order to get the best possible results. As time improves, system requirements will probably reduce.

Game compatibility is entirely dependent on the state of the upstream #Play! emulator. So as Play! improves, so too will the libretro core!

Help PlayStation2 emulation get better by supporting Play!

#Libretro is currently a Patreon backer of the Play! project, and we are very grateful to Zer0xFF from the Play! project for getting this port up and running in less than 3 days! Good open source PlayStation2 emulation deserves to get more funding, and we are happy to do our part. We hope you will as well!

Example video – running on RetroArch Android on a Samsung Galaxy S10+

Some example videos

RetroArch – In Development – Touchscreen Lightgun for mobile devices!

With the upcoming new RetroArch version, it will be possible to use your fingers as a lightgun on mobile devices!

The first core you can see here with working support is Beetle Saturn, running at fullspeed in this video on an iPhone XS Max!

We will let you know which cores will support this feature as we get closer to the release of the next RetroArch version. Stay tuned!