This week in emulation (25 Aug – 1 Sep): RetroArch 1.7.4, DosBox 0.74-2, MAME 0.201 and much more!

Some scenes just never sleep and the emulation scene is certainly one of them as every few hours, there’s usually something worth checking out! This week brought about some noteworthy updates such as RetroArch 1.7.4, DosBox 0.74-2 (its first official update since mid-2010) and much more!

RetroArch 1.7.4 released

As many interested in emulation know, RetroArch is an emulator front-end that combines many emulators (which it calls cores) together. Apart from just being an easy way to manage and play your multi-platform game collections, it also has its own features such advanced audio mixing controls, a system to reduce input lag in all emulators, Discord integration and much more!

Now, you can show to your channels
on Discord which retro game you’re currently playing

The recently released RetroArch 1.7.4 brings about the following:

• A 64-bit (ARMv8/AARCH64) version for Android devices
  • This version brings about 64-bit exclusive cores (like Dolphin) and 64-bit cores for some other emulators. These 64-bit cores could result in significant performance improvements over their 32-bit counterparts as is the case with Beetle PSX!
• Discord Rich Presence Support
  • Now, you can show your friends which game you’re playing and which emulator you’re using!
• The desktop (WIMP) UI available on Linux and Windows got further improvements.
  • These include a grid view with thumbnails, the ability to create ROM playlists via drag-and-drop and RetroArch in-app updates to the latest nightly among other features.
• Many other features such as cheat code searching and creation interface with rumble features and others

DosBox 0.74-2 and MAME 0.201

After over 8 years, DosBox finally got an update in its release branch. 8 years ago, there wasn’t the PSVita and Windows XP was still king!

After over 8 years, DosBox got an update to its stable branch in the form of a maintenance release. DosBox is a massively popular emulator for MS-DOS and Windows 3.1/95/98 games and 0.74-2 brought along:

• A fix to the auto/max cycles algorithm on Windows 7 which may eradicate audio stuttering in some games.
• A 64-bit Intel Mac version has been made available which also brings improved performance
• The 64-bit dynarec core on Linux was patched and many compilation issues were fixed
• As this is a maintenance release, game compatibility should be identical to that found in version 0.74. However, version 0.75, which does include game fixes, will enter regression testing soon so you should be looking forward to that!
  • The full changelog of DosBox 0.74-2 can be seen here

Apart from DosBox, MAME also some saw love this week and version 0.201 brought along:

• Performance optimisations for BGFX video output
  • This brings about better peformance with cropped artwork and the performance hit when bringing up menus over emulated games on macOS has been eliminated
    

    If you’re a fan of PC-98 games, like the Touhou series, then recent MAME developments will surely interest you!

• Sound fixes for Amazing Maze, Twin Eagle, Targ and Spectar
• Further improvements to NEC PC-98 emulation which made more titles compatible
• Other improvements and more working arcade machines which include “The Burning Cavern” and “A Day In Space”

Other releases

Apart from updates to DosBox, RetroArch and MAME, this week also saw:

• The Dolphin August 2018 Progress Report
• J2ME Loader version 1.3.1 for the Play Store
• Exodus version 2.1
• Further updates to the Yuzu Switch emulator as it can now install and use updates for commercial games!

Conclusion

To read more about the releases in this article, simply follow the in-line links! Remember that retro games still hold copyright in many countries so think twice before pirating older titles especially if they’re not even a decade old.