Is the IrataJaguar emulator any good?

[zzip]

I noticed this in the Google Play store. It has a high rating, but also costs money.

 

I've never seen a Jaguar emulator that worked well and could play more than half my games reliably. Is this one any different?

[doctorclu]

Huh, have to check it out.

[Trebor]

Thread here:

 

"Been trying it out. Some stuff seems to work pretty well, other stuff not so much. Controls in the games that work seems very laggy, and some games have problems with sound. The emulator is far from being user friendly. I haven't done anything near comprehensive testing, but as I see it right now, the claims of 95% compatibility seem greatly exaggerated."

[doctorclu]

So I bought it and was quite amazed. On my standard off the shelf Android phone from 2016, the T-Mobile Galaxy Core Prime, I got this result:

 

Intro screen took 26 seconds to play. This is 9 second longer than the standard 17 seconds which means on a low end Android the emulation is running at 65% emulation.

 

The big problem with ANY game on a smart phone are the controls. You can set them up to a good configuration, like on the Lynx emulator, but the problem is controlling AND hitting a fire button. Just doesn't work well.

 

Still not sure why the volume rocker button couldn't be used for left and right and the man button at the bottom be used for firing?

 

Or it would be cool if other controls could be plugged up, like the Smartboy.

 

But for a Jaguar emulator, not bad and worth the $5 to try out.

[zzip]

So I bought it and was quite amazed. On my standard off the shelf Android phone from 2016, the T-Mobile Galaxy Core Prime, I got this result:

 

Intro screen took 26 seconds to play. This is 9 second longer than the standard 17 seconds which means on a low end Android the emulation is running at 65% emulation.

That seems kinda disappointing for nearly 25-year old hardware. I was emulating Jaguar at 100% a decade ago-- (for the games that ran, anyway). I would think today's smartphones are at least as powerful as a decade old PC.

 

The big problem with ANY game on a smart phone are the controls. You can set them up to a good configuration, like on the Lynx emulator, but the problem is controlling AND hitting a fire button. Just doesn't work well.

touch screen controls are crap, I have a blutooth gamepad with phone mount that I use for other Android emulators. The only way to play!

[doctorclu]

That seems kinda disappointing for nearly 25-year old hardware. I was emulating Jaguar at 100% a decade ago-- (for the games that ran, anyway). I would think today's smartphones are at least as powerful as a decade old PC.

 

 

touch screen controls are crap, I have a blutooth gamepad with phone mount that I use for other Android emulators. The only way to play!

 

Well, again my phone is a very minimal Android phone. What phone did you try it on?

 

And what is the model/maker of the gamepad? Got any pictures?

[zzip]

Well, again my phone is a very minimal Android phone. What phone did you try it on?

 

And what is the model/maker of the gamepad? Got any pictures?

I have not tried it yet, but if I do, it will be on a Galaxy S5- which is my old phone repurposed into a mobile game system.

 

I don't recall the make/model of the gamepad, but if you google "Android Gamepad" on Amazon, you will find lots of options, that's how I found mine.

[doctorclu]

I think I would tempted to go with something like this...

https://www.walmart.com/ip/GameVice-MFI-Certified-Game-Controller-for-iPhone-6-6-Plus-6s-6s-Plus/49984375?wmlspartner=wlpa&selectedSellerId=916&adid=22222222227038525519&wl0=&wl1=g&wl2=c&wl3=90377440712&wl4=pla-182529563792&wl5=9027611&wl6=&wl7=&wl8=&wl9=pla&wl10=113134359&wl11=online&wl12=49984375&wl13=&veh=sem

 

And once I found a Android phone that could run a Jaguar emulator at full speed I would be tempted to pick that up.

 

Bubsy Fractured Furry Tales on the go!!

[doctorclu]

So I've tinkered with the DSP and GPU being a seperate thread which seems to help the emulation run faster. I wish there was a way to turn off the sound (as it is far from perfect.)

 

Currently out of options for what I can stop/hault to free up processor cycles. Also I have a boost routine running Still probably managing 75% emulation speed.

 

And I need to get a better controller.

[doctorclu]

Got the 8bitdo bluetooth controller, plays well.

 

Taken the phone, turned off a bunch of apps, maybe got it to 80% speed.

 

Took another phone just like it, ran it at factory spec, probably got it closer to 90% speed.

 

Need to run some benchmarking tests.

[Jess Ragan]

I wrote a news post about IrataJaguar for the site. For whatever reason the management decided it wasn't worth posting... possibly because it didn't run as well as people were hoping it would.

 

Whatever happened to AtariAge news posts, anyway? Was that whole concept abandoned?

[Albert]

I wrote a news post about IrataJaguar for the site. For whatever reason the management decided it wasn't worth posting... possibly because it didn't run as well as people were hoping it would.

 

Whatever happened to AtariAge news posts, anyway? Was that whole concept abandoned?

 

No, not abandoned, and I apologize for that. I have just been ridiculously busy the past several months, and that will continue to be the case through the end of the year. After that hopefully I can figure out some way to manage news postings in the way I described initially.

 

..Al