BigPEmu vs Holani

BigPEmu is an Atari Jaguar emulator for Windows, Linux, iOS and macOS. Its maker says it can run every game in the Jaguar retail library, and that default settings run the library at full speed on almost any x64-capable processor. Jaguar CD support covers the retail disc library, Memory Track and VLM, with a virtual disc system and audio loopback option. Players can save states and record deterministic movies from controller inputs. Visual options include customizable postprocessing shaders, native HDR and per-game profiles, alongside fast-forward and rewind. Input support covers analog, driving and rotary controllers, Team Tap and other devices recognized by the host system. Network features support JagLink games and synchronized states for two to eight players. Scripting includes tasks such as breakpoints and memory access. The desktop download is a zip archive that runs without installation and has an in-app update option. The maker notes that imperfect timing can make some software run too fast at default settings.

Holani is a free, open-source Atari Lynx emulator for Linux and Windows, released under GPL-3.0. Its cycle-stepped 65C02S emulation began from the design idea of chips’ 6502. The project can also operate as a library for other frontends and links to a libretro core for official games and homebrews. Holani-retro works with libretro frontends such as RetroArch, providing save and load states plus RetroArch cheats. Holani-gtk is a GTK4 frontend for loading cartridges and overriding ROMs. Holani-min provides a command-line interface with button mapping, display filtering, mute, and Comlynx options; multiple instances can connect through Comlynx. The project also lists holani-debug, an Atari Lynx debugger. Holani embeds the Free Lynx Boot ROM and BLL uLoader blobs, so no BIOS is required. GTK builds require Rust, Cargo, and GTK4; Windows libretro use requires the Microsoft Visual C++ 2015 Redistributable.