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SPECIFICTION
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crater vs Manic EMU

crater

github.com

Manic EMU

github.com

Side by side

FigurecraterManic EMU
Price fromFree$0.42/mo
Free planYesYes
Free trial——
Open source—Yes
macOSYesYes
LinuxYes—
iOS—Yes
Self-hosted—Yes
Plans published19
Spec score · Game Gear Emulators8.4 (#6)8.8 (#4)
Build requirementsBuilding crater requires a modern C11 compiler and SDL 2; the project says only OS X and Linux are tested.Building requires macOS with Xcode 26 or newer, iOS SDK 15 or newer, Swift 5.9 or newer, Git LFS and an Apple Developer account for capabilities such as iCloud.
DistributionThe GitHub releases page states that there are no releases, and the README describes building the program with make.The app is available through the App Store and sideloading channels including StikStore and SideStore.
LicenseCrater is distributed under the MIT License, which permits free use, copying, modification, distribution, sublicensing, and sale subject to its conditions.The upstream Manic EMU source is licensed under GNU AGPL-3.0, with separate notices for bundled cores and dependencies.
PurposeCrater is a Sega Game Gear emulator with an included Z80 assembler and disassembler, written in C.Manic EMU is an all-in-one retro game emulator for iPhone and iPad.
Save statesSave states are not yet supported.Premium supports unlimited manual saves plus 50 automatic slots, while the free tier provides three save states.

Plans

crater

  • FreeFree

crater pricing →

Manic EMU

  • FreeFree
  • SideloadFree
  • Sideload / GitHubFree
  • Premium Monthly$0.99 a month
  • Premium Monthly Plan$0.99 a month
  • Premium Annual Plan$4.99 a year
  • Premium Annual$5.99 a year
  • Premium Forever Access$9.99, paid once
  • Forever Access$11.99, paid once

Manic EMU pricing →

In their own words

crater

crater is a free Sega Game Gear emulator written in C, with a Z80 assembler and disassembler included. Games can be loaded from the roms directory or from a command-line path. Display controls include fullscreen mode, integer scaling in a window, and an option to force square pixels. Keyboard and joystick or controller input are supported; SDL controller mappings can be defined in gamecontrollerdb.txt. Compatible games can save cartridge RAM to a .sav file, with custom save locations or saving disabled. Save states and custom keyboard mappings are not supported. The assembler converts Z80 source into a Game Gear ROM image and is described as complete. The disassembler attempts to produce assembly but cannot distinguish code from data. Most games are described as playable with minor bugs, while audio, some uncommon CPU instructions, and advanced graphics features are missing. Building requires a modern C11 compiler and SDL 2; OS X and Linux are the tested systems.

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Manic EMU

Manic EMU is a free retro game emulator for iPhone and iPad, supporting more than 30 classic platforms across consoles, arcade, DOS, Symbian, and J2ME. It includes save states, auto-saves, fast-forward, cheats, shortcuts, filters, screenshots, and custom skins. Cloud import works with Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, Baidu, Aliyun, WebDAV, and SMB. The project says iCloud sync keeps games, saves, and settings encrypted in the cloud across devices. Manic EMU integrates RetroAchievements and supports local multiplayer and Netplay on eligible Libretro cores. The free App Store build limits fast-forward to 2×, save states and cheat codes to three each, and controllers to one player. Premium plans cost $0.99 a month, $4.99 a year, or 9.99 USD once for lifetime access, and include higher fast-forward speeds, more save states and cheat slots, and extra controller players. A free sideload build includes premium play features but does not provide iCloud save sync. The app does not include ROMs, BIOS files, or game data.

Visit github.com