Mega-Pi vs Provenance
Mega-Pi
github.com
Provenance
provenance-emu.comSide by side
| Figure | Mega-Pi | Provenance |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | — | $3.33/mo |
| Free plan | — | Yes |
| Free trial | — | Yes |
| Open source | — | Yes |
| macOS | — | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | — |
| iOS | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 0 | 4 |
| Spec score · Sega CD Emulators | 6.8 (#17) | 8.4 (#7) |
| Maker | The GitHub profile identifies the repository owner as Alexsander Loula and lists Sao Paulo, Brazil. | Joseph Mattiello is identified as Provenance's creator and lead developer. |
| Purpose | Mega-Pi is a bare-metal Sega Mega Drive/Genesis emulator designed to run on Raspberry Pi. | Provenance is a free, open-source multi-system retro game emulator frontend for Apple platforms. |
| Save states | Save states are stored on the SD card, and the README says save operations check SD-card status and confirm sector programming before returning. | The emulator provides save states with visual thumbnail previews and a screenshot browser. |
Plans
Provenance
- FreeFree
- Monthly$3.99 a month
- Annual$39.99 a year
- Lifetime$99.99, paid once
In their own words
Mega-Pi
Mega-Pi is a free, bare-metal Sega Mega Drive/Genesis emulator for Raspberry Pi hardware. It targets Raspberry Pi 3 and 4 and runs without an operating system such as Linux, which the project associates with near-instant boot and very low input latency. The emulator uses the Picodrive core and Circle bare-metal C++ framework, assigning orchestration, video, audio, and input work across four ARM cores. It scans .bin, .md, and .gen Genesis or Mega Drive files, plus Sega CD/Mega CD .cue files with .bin tracks and compressed .chd files. Sega CD emulation includes the Sub-CPU, PCM audio, CD audio, and rotation/scaling graphics hardware. Video uses 2× integer nearest-neighbor scaling to 640×480, with 44.1 kHz stereo through the Pi PWM sound engine. USB gamepads and keyboards are supported, and save states reside on the SD card. Running it requires a FAT32 card, boot files, a kernel image, game files, and USB input devices; Sega CD also needs regional BIOS files.
Provenance
Provenance is a free, open-source retro game emulator frontend for Apple platforms, available for iOS and macOS. It supports more than 38 console systems, including systems from Atari, Nintendo, Sega, and Sony. Its library can display automatically downloaded box art, screenshots, release details, ratings, and scanned manuals. Listed emulation features include save states, cheats, fast forward, shaders, visual filters, controller support, RetroAchievements, and multiplayer. Apple integration includes native tvOS, Apple TV TopShelf, Siri Remote, Spotlight search, Siri shortcuts, and iCloud sync; Apple TV supports MFi, Xbox, and PlayStation gamepads. Nearly all CD-based cores support CHD disc images, and the native Mednafen core has a custom CHD implementation. The source is published on GitHub under the BSD license. Installation options include the App Store, sideloading with AltStore or SideStore, and building from source. The free plan includes emulation features when sideloaded or built from source. Plus adds iCloud sync and priority support.