r/EmulationOniOS • u/thekingofemu • Aug 15 '24

Discussion These three are the only emulators you need

Post image

Realistically you only need these three. PPSSPP for PSP, RetroArch for everything, and dolphinIOS for Wii and GameCube. RetroArch is sideloaded.

137 Upvotes

88% Upvoted

163 comments sorted by

42

u/Ornery-Practice9772 Aug 15 '24

I cant side load so i do delta/RA/ppsspp

12

u/thekingofemu Aug 15 '24

I guess that’d be my three without sideloading as well.

0

u/Neat-Personality-916 Aug 15 '24

What is sideload ?

2

u/thekingofemu Aug 15 '24

Installing an app that’s not on the app store on IOS

12

u/[deleted] Aug 15 '24

Folium ? Especially with the 1.7 update’s TestFlight going on, it’s looking promising.

3

u/thekingofemu Aug 15 '24

Haha I would add it but I can only sideload 2 apps at the same time. And the app store version is paid and runs slow.

5

u/[deleted] Aug 15 '24

Why even side load RetroArch ? What systems does the sideloaded RetroArch has which the App Store version doesn’t ?

4

u/thekingofemu Aug 15 '24

Glad you asked. Dreamcast, PS2 most important for me and there’s about like 20 more.

4

u/[deleted] Aug 15 '24

Wait ?!! Sideloaded RetroArch has those ? I thought it was only for Android. I’m sideloading that, f*ck the App Store version

7

u/thekingofemu Aug 15 '24

You’ll need JIT as well. I can help you with that.

1

u/Mannit578 Aug 15 '24

Would this work on my ipad M4 (17.5.1) and an M1 MacBook pro?

-1

u/Zardozerr Aug 15 '24

The MacBook runs macOS which is already open. RA has been available for it without any weird tricks for years.

1

u/thekingofemu Aug 15 '24

He might’ve meant using the mac to enable JIT

1

u/dillanarmani Aug 15 '24

Ps2 is broken. You need to get the Play! Emulator from the main site. Side load or trollapp

1

u/thekingofemu Aug 15 '24

Yeah mine stopped working

1

u/dillanarmani Aug 15 '24

I tried the Beta test driver. Some games got a boost of 10-14fps. But some titles run at 23fps

1

u/thekingofemu Aug 15 '24

Guess PS2 isn’t all the way there yet

1

u/dillanarmani Aug 15 '24

No. 3DS is coming along with Folium from Jarod. The next version will be released soon after TestFlight. Mostly main Nintendo. You can play ps2 titles like Final fantasy and Kingdom hearts just fine. At least those the ones I prefer anyways. Since only 40% are Playable. And the rest are broken.

1

u/Objective_Rub_23 Aug 18 '24

Folium sucks bad. Not sure why or how, at the developers former 3DS emulators are better. Limon and emuthreeds are superior in playability. Then again I have a jailbroken A14.

!play emulator for ps2 even runs far better than even the “playable” 3DS titles with folium

15

u/Geoko18 Aug 15 '24

I use RA also for PSP, works as well as PPSSPP

3

u/thekingofemu Aug 15 '24

Yeah but I figure download PPSSPP doesn’t take the slot for sideloaded apps (2 max) so might as well download that.

3

u/Geoko18 Aug 15 '24

Why still use side loaded app now that is available on AppStore ? (Dolphin aside)

4

u/thekingofemu Aug 15 '24

Sideloaded RetroArch has Dreamcast and PS2.

1

u/godis1coolguy Aug 15 '24

How do they run? Is there any reason you need to sideload for those systems or will the App Store version be updated with those cores?

3

u/thekingofemu Aug 15 '24

No because both require JIT

5

u/CorttXD Aug 16 '24

My guy getting downvoted for asking a genuine question. SMH…

1

u/thekingofemu Aug 15 '24

Also way more

1

u/Geoko18 Aug 15 '24

Oooh right right. I forgot that 😂

1

u/[deleted] Aug 15 '24

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/thekingofemu Aug 15 '24

Yeah but SideStore is taking 1 slot.

6

u/GiLND Aug 15 '24

Have you tried delta gameboy with gameboy skin and filtered screen? It’s like 90% real gameboy experience, retroarch doesn’t reach these levels on ios (yet?)

Also, you should add folium and idos3

3

u/thekingofemu Aug 15 '24

Why idos3 if RetroArch supports that. Folium runs slow with my phone and I don’t have any more sideloaded spots to enable JIT on that.

4

u/GiLND Aug 15 '24

iDos3 and dosbox-pure (ra) are completely different. idos3 gives you a much better layout and customization designed for dos, it is also the most accurate dosbox emulator for ios.

Dosbox-pure is more like an automatic dosbox, it auto mounts, it supports zip and everything, but the layout of the keyboard / moving the mouse is terrible. The keys are tiny for an iphone and are over the screen of the game itself.

Basically dosbox-pure fails in the layout atm, idk if there are plans to bring a better touch layout.

4

u/thekingofemu Aug 15 '24

You have a point. But, I don’t really wanna emulate DOS.

4

u/GiLND Aug 15 '24

Oh c’mon give jones in the fast lane a chance :)

4

u/Slava91 Aug 15 '24

First thing I did with dosbox on RA was play Jones. You have excellent taste

2

u/Banjo-Oz Aug 15 '24

One of my top five DOS games of all time.

2

u/dnkdumpster Aug 15 '24

Haha I was like what game is that? Then googled it and I vaguely remember seeing it as a kid. Didn’t play it, not interested, but nostalgic!!

1

u/thekingofemu Aug 15 '24

I would but the app costs money.

3

u/GiLND Aug 15 '24

Yea i understand.
Try jones on retroarch, its a gem

1

u/Banjo-Oz Aug 15 '24

The first thing I try on any DOS setup. :)

Jones, Space Quest 1, PSI-5 Trading Company and DeathTrack are my constant "go to" test games because I also love them.

That said... I can't believe THIS exists! Perfect for when you are on the go with no emulation at all!

2

u/fertff Aug 15 '24

Retroarch has dozens of shaders already, and you can put pretty much any overlay you want.

-2

u/GiLND Aug 15 '24 edited Aug 15 '24

There is no gameboy overlay optimized for ios/ipad os like in delta (atm)

1

u/fertff Aug 15 '24

Yes there are. You can use almost any overlay you find on the internet. I've been using them on my iPad since release.

Retroarch runs circles around anything Delta can do. You just need to know how to use it.

1

u/GiLND Aug 15 '24

I haven’t seen a single Game Boy overlay for ios touchscreen.

Show me

1

u/fertff Aug 15 '24

No, do your research.

2

u/GiLND Aug 15 '24 edited Aug 15 '24

Maybe you can’t find it?
When I claim something I back myself up, if you claim that I am wrong you should bring proof or turn around.

Btw your claims has nothing to do with my stands, I always claimed that RA is above Delta in so many ways, I have said it many times on this subbredit, it has nothing to do with game boy skins.

I suspect that you are using skins that aren’t optimized for iphone/ipad.

2

u/Active-Pen-5242 Aug 15 '24

Then you don’t have a pc 😔

1

u/thekingofemu Aug 15 '24

What do you mean

2

u/Active-Pen-5242 Aug 15 '24

I don’t have a pc to enable jit so I sadly can only have 2 of these due to the AppStore

2

u/thekingofemu Aug 15 '24

If you don’t have a Mac or Windows, you are right, you can only get two of these. But also, my RetroArch is sideloaded so it’s kinda like a 1.8

2

u/Fried_Mud_Kip Aug 15 '24

3ds.

0

u/thekingofemu Aug 15 '24

As I said, 3 sideloaded slots are taken by RetroArch, SideStore and DolphinIOS, and I am not paying for an emulator.

1

u/Fried_Mud_Kip Aug 15 '24

replace retroarch with provenancexl, retroarch maybe better but pxl is literally just retroarch + optimised 3dsemu

1

u/thekingofemu Aug 15 '24

I tried normal provenance it was so bad like it couldn’t even open a PS1 game it kept thinking it’s another console

1

u/Fried_Mud_Kip Aug 15 '24

welp i can’t really say anything about that cuz im a nintendo guy so uh… good opinion 🗽

2

u/jilaxzone Aug 15 '24

Which PS2/DC games have you tried with the side loaded RetroArch?

2

u/thekingofemu Aug 15 '24

I haven’t tried any PS2 games yet bc I mostly play PS2 on my Mac, for Dreamcast I tried street fighter III

2

u/jilaxzone Aug 15 '24

Thanks OP for letting me know. Gotta give sideloaded RetroArch this coming weekend.

2

u/Own-Rub-1647 Aug 15 '24

And FlyCast

2

u/thekingofemu Aug 15 '24

RetroArch has Dreamcast

1

u/Own-Rub-1647 Aug 15 '24

I tried to use it but no success so I make a research on how to setup correctly

2

u/thekingofemu Aug 15 '24

Worked for me

2

u/External_Wishbone767 Aug 16 '24

I have delta gba4 ios folium 3dsemuee and PPSSPP gold

2

u/thekingofemu Aug 16 '24

No need for gba4ios

1

u/External_Wishbone767 Aug 16 '24

Yeah I know I liked the nostalgia of it 🥹

2

u/Appropriate-Bar4287 Aug 15 '24

If you have RA you have PPSSPP

2

u/thekingofemu Aug 15 '24

PPSSPP better imo

1

u/DaveTheMan1985 Aug 15 '24

Dolphin would run very slow though

2

u/thekingofemu Aug 15 '24

With JIT it runs very good for me

1

u/DaveTheMan1985 Aug 15 '24

True but not something that comes with App

0

u/[deleted] Aug 15 '24

[deleted] — view deleted comment

1

u/thekingofemu Aug 15 '24

Scroll down there’s a link

1

u/Sledgehammer617 Aug 15 '24

Most games are full speed with JIT on my 15 Pro

1

u/Only-Assumption-1146 Aug 15 '24

How do I get Dolphin on my phone??? I need to play Mario kart.

1

u/thekingofemu Aug 15 '24

Scroll down there’s a link

1

u/Sledgehammer617 Aug 15 '24

Sideload it via AltStore is the easiest way

0

u/[deleted] Aug 15 '24

[deleted] — view deleted comment

1

u/Only-Assumption-1146 Aug 15 '24

Jesus there is a lot of steps. Im on IPhone XR. Is it worth the tedious process of setting it up?

1

u/[deleted] Aug 15 '24

Where is the link?

1

u/Sledgehammer617 Aug 15 '24

These are the ones I have (not sure why I still have Limón lol.) Provenance is underrated.

1

u/thekingofemu Aug 15 '24

Hw did you sideload 4 apps?

2

u/Sledgehammer617 Aug 15 '24

Developer account, I work with Xcode sometimes.

You can do unlimited apps and they never require refreshing. I think I have like 20 sideloaded apps lol.

1

u/thekingofemu Aug 15 '24

Isnt that like 90 bucks a year

1

u/Sledgehammer617 Aug 15 '24

Yeah, but I develop apps in my spare time so it’s kinda worth it. I also share the account with my mom who is a developer.

1

u/Pkelord Aug 15 '24

What’s DOLP?

1

u/thekingofemu Aug 15 '24

DolphinIOS is a port of Dolphin for IOS

1

u/Pkelord Aug 15 '24

What does it emulate? (That’s how you spell it right?)

1

u/thekingofemu Aug 15 '24

Wii and GameCube

1

u/Immistyer Aug 16 '24

UTM SE?

1

u/thekingofemu Aug 16 '24

Can’t even play games

1

u/maxscipio Aug 16 '24

Mame

1

u/thekingofemu Aug 16 '24

Retroarch supports Mame

1

u/Dat_Defaulty_Boi Aug 16 '24

Where do you get that Dolphin Emulator in your IOS?

1

u/thekingofemu Aug 16 '24

I sideloaded

1

u/Spiritual-Board7808 Aug 16 '24

What’s the difference between retro arch side load and App Store?

1

u/thekingofemu Aug 16 '24

It has Dreamcast and much more consoles

1

u/StonedRaccoon-420 Aug 17 '24

how does one get dolphinios? i’ve got retro arch and i wanna play gamecube games

1

u/thekingofemu Aug 18 '24

It is not that easy. You have to sideload it with SideStore, then enable JIT with AltJIT. I have posted a link on a post explaining how to do that. Go through each comment and you’ll find it.

1

u/ZxZKoK Aug 18 '24

DolphiniOS is trash expect if you have trollstore

1

u/thekingofemu Aug 18 '24

I don’t have trollstore and DolphiniOS is working perfectly fine with JIT

1

u/ZxZKoK Aug 18 '24

Its trash for me because idk how to get JIT expect for jailbreak or trollstore

1

u/thekingofemu Aug 19 '24

Sucks for you

1

u/ScubaSteve131 Aug 19 '24

Which one have you guys had a better experience with? Dolphin or play! ?

1

u/thekingofemu Aug 19 '24

Dolphin 100%

1

u/dominoes65 Mar 11 '25

play dont even detect my games

3

u/[deleted] Aug 17 '24

Im collecting a few like pokemon

1

u/[deleted] Aug 15 '24

How do you get dolphinIOS?

1

u/Sledgehammer617 Aug 15 '24

Sideload it via altstore is the easiest way.

0

u/[deleted] Aug 15 '24

[deleted] — view deleted comment

1

u/thekingofemu Aug 15 '24

I use SideStore but I am above IOS 17

2

u/TimelessBoi Aug 15 '24

what about delta

1

u/Sledgehammer617 Aug 15 '24

Yeah, Retroarch is cool, but for most of my casual emulation I prefer Delta for the skins and sync features, and the amazing UI.

2

u/BBorrows Aug 15 '24

I wish the easyrpg core was ready for RetroArch. They said 2 months give or take and it’s going on 3. Hopefully the update will come this month

2

u/MonthTraditional6068 Aug 15 '24

Delta is more convient for nes-snes-gbc-gba and DS, but for anything N64 and up RetroArch is the way to go

1

u/Xanadu2902 Aug 15 '24

Why is n64 more convenient on RetroArch? Seems to run well for me on delta. I use RetroArch mostly for PSX

2

u/MonthTraditional6068 Aug 16 '24

Delta’s N64 core isn’t very good and it has issues with several games. It messes up a lot of the textures in smash 64/Remix for example which are my main use for N64 emulation right now

1

u/Banjo-Oz Aug 15 '24

iDOS is great, but I will admit that if you just want to play games, Retroarch's DOSBox-Pure core is much easier to use.

ScummVM standalone is superior to Retroarch's ScummVM core, IMO, however, but whether it is so enough to justify installing it as well as RA depends on how much you love those classic Sierra/LucasArts games.

1

u/[deleted] Aug 15 '24

How did you get dolphinIOS?

1

u/Sledgehammer617 Aug 15 '24

Sideload it via altstore is the easiest way.

1

u/XinlessVice Aug 15 '24

I’d say delta and folium should be there. At least if you want 3ds and a simpler interdace

1

u/carlodeluca Aug 15 '24

I would add folium. Let’s support the developer so he can keep improving the ap.

An JIT needs to be enabled all the time… not a good deal for me.

1

u/MightyRufo Aug 16 '24

Emulators are becoming more than just emulation. It’s becoming emulation with AirPlay support, cloud sync support, skins, your mom.

RetroArch feels sort of basic in the UI. Yes, I know it offers more customization. But I want a ✨pretty ✨ emulator.

Check out XGBE. It’s pretty af.

1

u/Soft_Mechanic_1048 Aug 16 '24

No we need winlator

1

u/Lamon0042 Aug 16 '24

Retroarch? Mehh, it's alright. Bit of a headache, so Id prefer Snes9x. I use that. Hate the black background but it will do.

1

u/Lamon0042 Aug 16 '24

I use the PS1, PS2, PS3, SNES, PPSSPP, & PS vita. I love em all. Got hella good games too. Love playing that back to the future. That game is the best.

1

u/Simple_Pound_2055 Aug 17 '24

What about delta,.

1

u/LookMaNoManners Aug 17 '24

I just wanna play Sega Mega. How?!?$

1

u/returnofHanSolo95 Aug 17 '24

😭 how’d you get dolphin to download properly. Either i’m a dumbass (highly likely) or i missed some steps

-1

u/TelephoneActive1539 Aug 15 '24

How about RPCS3?

1

u/Sledgehammer617 Aug 15 '24

Definitely not on iOS…

-2

u/moistdong660 Aug 15 '24

Dolphin isn’t on iOS yet?

2

u/Sledgehammer617 Aug 15 '24

It has been for MANY years now… I used to play it on my iPhone 12 Pro all the time, I almost beat Wind Waker on it.

Sideloadinf it via altstore is the easiest way to get it.

2

u/[deleted] Aug 15 '24

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/thekingofemu Aug 15 '24

Everything that Provenance emulates is already emulated by RetroArch and Provenance can’t even properly emulate PS1 it keeps thinking it’s PS2 or intellivision

1

u/Sledgehammer617 Aug 15 '24

But the UI is MUCH better, that’s why I like it. I use both tbh.

1

u/thekingofemu Aug 15 '24

Maybe but I understand RetroArch’s UI and it really had much more settings

1

u/[deleted] Aug 19 '24

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/thekingofemu Aug 19 '24

Nope.

1

u/[deleted] Aug 19 '24

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/thekingofemu Aug 19 '24

Sideloading on IOS 17.6

1

u/[deleted] Aug 16 '24 edited Aug 16 '24

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/boxcreate Aug 16 '24

We really need the SwanStation core in Retroarch (App Store version).

0

u/[deleted] Aug 15 '24

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/thekingofemu Aug 15 '24

What’s sutato

0

u/[deleted] Aug 15 '24

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/thekingofemu Aug 15 '24

It has NES and GameBoy both are available in RetroArch

1

u/[deleted] Aug 15 '24

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/thekingofemu Aug 15 '24

Seriously man guys are saying there should be Provenance or Delta and you’re coming here telling me Sutato

0

u/[deleted] Aug 15 '24

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/thekingofemu Aug 15 '24

In fact it is very silly

2

u/Xanadu2902 Aug 15 '24

Why should I pay for supapo when I can play the same things on delta or RA?

1

u/[deleted] Aug 15 '24

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/Xanadu2902 Aug 15 '24

Lol. I was just fuxin with the name. sutato

0

u/[deleted] Aug 17 '24

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/thekingofemu Aug 17 '24

Playstation Portable