Essgee vs MasterGear
Essgee
github.comMasterGear
fms.komkon.orgSide by side
| Figure | Essgee | MasterGear |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | — | Free |
| Free plan | — | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | — | Yes |
| Linux | — | Yes |
| Android | — | Yes |
| Self-hosted | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 0 | 4 |
| Spec score · Game Gear Emulators | 7.1 (#25) | 9.0 (#3) |
| Purpose | Essgee is an emulator for several 8-bit consoles and handhelds, mostly made by Sega. | MasterGear emulates 8-bit SEGA consoles and computers, including MasterSystem, GameGear, SG1000, SC3000, SF7000, Mark2, and Mark3. |
| Save states | The emulator provides eight save-state slots. | Users can save and reload emulation states, although a state file is not guaranteed to work across different hardware versions. |
Plans
MasterGear
- MasterGear Windows/LinuxFree
- Windows/LinuxFree
- Android$4.99, paid once
- MasterGear Android$430, paid once
In their own words
MasterGear
MasterGear emulates 8-bit SEGA consoles and computers, including MasterSystem, GameGear, SG1000, SC3000, SF7000, Mark2, and Mark3. It runs on Windows, Linux, and Android. The maker says hobbyists can use it to debug software without rare development hardware. Documentation reports support for about 98% of the maker’s SMS, GG, SF7000, SC3000, and SG1000 cartridge and disk images, while noting compatibility is not complete. Emulated hardware includes the Z80 CPU, console video processors, SN76489 sound, and Mark3 YM2413 FM sound. It can save and load emulation states, but state files are not guaranteed to work across versions on different hardware. Other listed features include automatic GZIP ROM handling, MIDI soundtrack logging, a built-in debugger, cheat support, and NetPlay. Windows and Linux are free; the Android plan costs 430.00 USD once. Game ROM images are not included, and source code is not publicly available.