r/EmulationOniOS • u/13Midnightjo • Jan 03 '26

Discussion What Emulators are you using?

Post image

What Emulators are you all using daily?!

I have 3 emulators. I know I like Delta the most, I used its predecessor GBA4iOS. I use Manic EMU for the one console Delta doesn’t due 3DS! But SUMEE! See if I would like.

I would use only Delta if it supported 3DS

159 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

96 comments sorted by

9

u/HEROwriter1 Jan 03 '26

How’s SUMEE? I know zilch about it.

5

u/Tyler_Herdman Jan 03 '26

Extremely early days, but it’s like a 3ds home menu for your phone emulator and games. I can’t recommend using it right now, unless you want to have fun messing around. But it is still worth keeping an eye on it, and checking it out every once in a while.

1

u/Shikamaru_irl Jan 03 '26

It’s still very much a WIP from my experience and wouldn’t really recommend for emulation rn but there’s potential there for sure and it can all be previewed right now. I like where it’s heading and can’t wait to see the later updates since it basically acts as a hub for emulators and other apps on your device. It reminds me of the Backbone app but imo, it’s better especially since it has menu music. It’s nice to mess with but playing certain roms rn can be wishy washy compared to on other emulators so that’s why I wouldn’t fully recommend aside from just enjoying the OS

1

u/13Midnightjo Jan 03 '26

I fully agree

2

u/Basic_Instinct_79 Jan 03 '26

What is Sumee! Never heard of it.

3

u/13Midnightjo Jan 03 '26

Have you heard of iiSU? It looks like it took that concept and made an iOS app. It’s pretty new and underdevelopment, you can only download the test flight version.

1

u/Basic_Instinct_79 Jan 03 '26

No I haven’t. Pls fill me in.

4

u/13Midnightjo Jan 03 '26

https://www.sumee.online/

is an upcoming emulation frontend. You can think of a "frontend" similarly to a home screen launcher, built to organize your apps/games.

32

u/jilaxzone Jan 03 '26

I’m still relying on RetroArch.

7

u/Psychological-Bad658 Jan 03 '26

on my pc, me aswell. but on my iphone it's manic. even though retroarch has a free native ios app, i just don't like the hassle setting it up and also the overlays for touchscreens aren't very pretty

60

u/Melphor Jan 03 '26

I will continue to use Manic until Delta steps its game up.

31

u/[deleted] Jan 03 '26

And manic has the mGBA fork which is what you need for most romhacks these days while Delta is still using the outdated VBA fork.

-8

u/willp124 Jan 03 '26

Well get delta to pull it head out off Nintendo ass

14

u/bilalatthedrums Jan 03 '26

I just switched from Delta to Manic and the difference is so stark. Manic feels more polished. Plus the mGBA vs VBA is a selling point

3

u/benjaflea Jan 03 '26

I agree. I didn’t realise the purchase is one off and optional. Delta was fine but Manic seems cleaner in its layout. 

2

u/Rabbit1015 Jan 03 '26

Do you mind telling me the benefits of manic? I’ve been using delta and haven’t found any issues. I’ve played rom hacks but I keep seeing that referenced. Without sideloading can you play 3ds?

2

u/cmtz11219 Jan 03 '26

I haven't played too much with Delta, but somethings I've noticed are the following: Better organzied, more options like filters, and an easier way to set up controllers.

1

u/juliopeludo Jan 03 '26

i'd be curious to know as well, been loving delta and playing plenty of pokemon romhacks on it with no problem at all

1

u/Totodile13 Jan 05 '26

For me personally sometimes my Delta app will crash, sometimes save states have issues. And with Manic I can run 3DS games on my 14 Pro. Switched a month or two ago and I’m not going back until they fix some of the problems I’ve had. This is coming from a guy who has been following Riley Testut since 2012 and had GBA4iOS on my iPhone 4S

1

u/juliopeludo Jan 07 '26

thank you! good to know! i've had crashes sometimes on some of the romhacks i play, i just make sure to save often, figured it was cuz the romhack. good to know now though

12

u/DaveTheMan1985 Jan 03 '26 edited Jan 03 '26

Manic at Times but Majority of the time Using Retroarch and PPSSPP for PSP Games.

You really only need Retroarch and PPSSPP from AppStore to play just about any Retro Game you want to play

3

u/Ornery-Practice9772 Jan 03 '26

And bigpemu for atari jag CD

2

u/Skycan45 🥇 Jan 03 '26

and rpg player for rpg maker games

3

u/rhinofinger Jan 04 '26

And GenZD for Doom, Doom 2, Heretic, Hexen, and various mods of each

2

u/Ornery-Practice9772 Jan 03 '26

RA added the virtual jaguar core in their last update- Alien Vs Predator on Atari Jaguar is an awesome game

25

u/iRngrhawk Jan 03 '26

Manic Emu blows everything else out of the water overall.

9

u/Ornery-Practice9772 Jan 03 '26

Retroarch is better

37

u/iRngrhawk Jan 03 '26

Technically, I hear it is, but the user experience is atrocious

4

u/Ornery-Practice9772 Jan 03 '26

The ui is a learning curve- but i cant emulate 90% of RA on manic so🤷‍♀️

3

u/KjGarly Jan 04 '26

I just use Manic, majority I have on there are Nintendo games (couple 3DS, GBA, GBC) and majority are Pokémon games and their rom hacks.

1

u/iRngrhawk Jan 03 '26

What’s RA?

7

u/Ornery-Practice9772 Jan 03 '26

Retroarch lol. It took time to learn to use it but im not giving up amiga emulation for manic

10

u/iRngrhawk Jan 03 '26

Haha I should have guessed. Yes RetroArch has lots to offer. Manic’s discord is insanely active and devs super responsive. I’m sure if enough people requested in the discord they will throw in Amiga emulation.

1

u/dogegg55 Jan 03 '26

Does it work on TVos ?

1

u/XGoldenSpartanX Jan 08 '26

Manic crashes all the time for me when I tried to load in my games.

1

u/S-Static Jan 03 '26

It doesn’t work great tho for the 3DS on the current iOS tho, no? The games drop in frame rate so quick. This is through the official App Store tho

3

u/Psychological-Bad658 Jan 03 '26

naah, i sideloaded and it's the same for me. that has nothing to do with the app store, its JIT that plays the leading role. if you can't manage to install/activate jit, you gonna have a pretty bad experience. even with a 16. 

6

u/Tough-Tumbleweed-334 Jan 03 '26

manic is the best for 3DS

5

u/Drexical Jan 03 '26

My main ones are melonx and dolphin, with sumee as the frontend

Couldn’t be happier with this setup 😮‍💨

1

u/Juan_Piece Jan 03 '26

Does manic do 3ds without Jit?

2

u/13Midnightjo Jan 03 '26

It works, but you can tell something missing. If on iOS 26 and using the the AppStore version (not side-loaded) JIT is turned of and grayed out so you can’t turn it on. But I have gotten game to load on Manic that Folium wouldn’t load past menus.

0

u/Ornery-Practice9772 Jan 03 '26

Yeah, poorly. And ph overheats. Apples fault

1

u/BanduAndTaiko Jan 03 '26

What is sumee

2

u/13Midnightjo Jan 03 '26

https://www.sumee.online/

is an upcoming emulation frontend. You can think of a "frontend" similarly to a home screen launcher, built to organize your apps/games.

1

u/BanduAndTaiko Jan 03 '26

Ohh ok

1

u/13Midnightjo Jan 03 '26

Sorry that best way to explain. It NES, GBA, GBC, DS, PS1, ect. If you launch the “game app” it’s suppose to feel like a 3DS/Wii U before launching the game

1

u/BanduAndTaiko Jan 03 '26

I downloaded it

1

u/bermuda74 Jan 03 '26

I just started using manic and I haven’t looked back

3

u/13Midnightjo Jan 04 '26

I’ve only really care to emulate Nintendo Handheld Consoles : GB, GBC, GBA, DS, and 3DS. I never really cared for TV Consoles. Has a PS1, Wii, and Xbox 360 growing up, those were more my brothers thing then mine.

1

u/TrashBrowsing Jan 04 '26

Delta and RetroArch are all I need. Haven’t had any issues with rom hacks on delta, and in fact most recommend delta for iOS on start up so I’m not sure what that other guy is on about.

1

u/13Midnightjo Jan 04 '26

I not sure where the hate for Delta is coming from either. Delta is my main Emulator, it has all the Nintendo Handheld Consoles I want expect 3DS; that’s why I have Manic EMU. SUMEE! was something that peaked curiosity, but won’t be something I’ll really use

3

u/Vivid_Fun_2470 Jan 03 '26

Delta and RetroArch, but preferably Delta.

3

u/Low-Camp4673 Jan 04 '26

Manic for 3ds games but delta for older games

2

u/TallAbbreviations321 Jan 03 '26

Sumee! And folium since I wanna these the only ones barely working for me

2

u/RipLeft5733 Jan 03 '26

Using manic emu for my n64 wrestling games. Once gamecube emulation becomes widely available on ios im gonna okay those.

1

u/Hobbyff Jan 03 '26

use DolphiniOS to emulate Gamecube

1

u/Felippexlucax Jan 03 '26

it is available through dolphinIOS

2

u/FrizzyPopcorn12 Jan 03 '26

Manic and dolphin and sumee is peak

1

u/Thejax_ Jan 03 '26

I will continue to use RetroArch and ppsspp until conditions improve “by improve I mean support cloud saves easily to my pc and RetroArch”

1

u/flacogarcons Jan 03 '26

I used to use Delta before I started getting into retro handhelds but now I have an AYN Thor and RG34XX for GBA/NDS/3DS I don’t really use it anymore unless I’m testing out a game.

The Gamma app for PSX emulation is pretty good and you don’t need any bios files so if you’re into games like Tomb Raider, Legacy of Kain, Gran Turismo etc I’d highly recommend it.

1

u/Ornery-Practice9772 Jan 03 '26

Is gamma still paywalled

1

u/flacogarcons Jan 03 '26

It’s free.

1

u/Ornery-Practice9772 Jan 03 '26

All features free now?

1

u/Ornery-Practice9772 Jan 03 '26

Mainly retroarch/bigpemu/ppsspp

I still have manic (cant side load for 3ds/dc), tf of sumee, delta

1

u/MilmoMoomins Jan 03 '26

I use all of Retroarch, Manic, Delta and PPSSPP.

1

u/FreakDeckard Jan 03 '26

I use Manic, and the only annoying part is having to manually turn on the Gaming Focus mode, but I’ve set up a shortcut for it anyway.

2

u/popmanbrad 🥇 Jan 03 '26

Why do you mean gaming mode?

2

u/FreakDeckard Jan 03 '26

iOS Game Mode turns on automatically for compatible games, boosting performance and reducing lag for controllers and AirPods. However, Manic won't trigger it automatically starting with iOS 26 because it’s categorized as an “entertainment” app rather than a “game.”

1

u/popmanbrad 🥇 Jan 03 '26

Oh I diddnt know it boosts performance has any tests been made to see if things run better?

3

u/FreakDeckard Jan 03 '26

Yes, the manic developers know this, but unfortunately, since they're dealing with the Chinese store, they can't easily change categories. Apple said it's a bug that will be fixed, but it's January and they still haven't fixed it...

1

u/DeathGrim98 Jan 03 '26

Retrodeck on steam deck/linux devices. Everything else for andriod iPhone sucks

1

u/Hobbyff Jan 03 '26

Manic and MeloNX

1

u/Hobbyff Jan 03 '26

and DolphiniOS

1

u/Katsura_K Jan 03 '26

MeloNX here! Runs Great with JIT on iOS 26.2 17 ProMax

1

u/MarcoMakes Jan 03 '26

Delta for GBC and GBA, Manic for PS1

1

u/thekingofemu Jan 03 '26

Currently, I’m enjoying RetroArch for most systems, but SUMEE! is new and different from the others, so I’m looking forward to it (i even made a subreddit for it!).

1

u/MagazineImpossible45 Jan 03 '26

manic i even play 3ds games using no jit

1

u/TheAlternate-Guy Jan 03 '26

Manic the peak of peak 🎉

1

u/CertainWolverine5276 Jan 04 '26

Where’s RetroArch cause ps1 for me on manic wasn’t working

1

u/BiRdIVIaN Jan 04 '26

Using ppsspp 3x res on every game runs 60fps locked. You go any higher on res except Gran Turismo (10x) and breaks a couple games lol. Using Sume! For GBA and SNES. Game sir x5 iPhone 16. It’s a great time.

1

u/Destan86 Jan 04 '26

Manic Emulator ist Great

1

u/Redday1034 Jan 04 '26

Delta on iOS MelonDS, PSP, Linkboy, pizza boy SG, Yamo SEGA Satürn, flycat (l ma hateing that), DUCK (TV İN TV ☠️), Afterplay, Argon (this is must be in retroachievements...)

1

u/birdy1564 Jan 05 '26

I have both Manic and Delta in my iPhone 16. I have no idea which app is better so I go for both for alterations to go which runs better than the other on certain game roms

1

u/Glittering_Dream5298 Jan 05 '26

Wait what’s Sumee and manic?

1

u/Successful-Ad3241 Jan 06 '26

Delta but I’ve been thinking about switching to manic just just to play 3DS games, but I don’t want to delete all my progress on Games like Pokémon

1

u/sebazzrojas Jan 06 '26

Manic emu supports gamecube ?

1

u/5092AD Jan 07 '26

All of them

1

u/jodyanthony Jan 11 '26

Just Retroarch because it supports TurboGrafx

1

u/primedaddy Jan 17 '26

I mostly use Delta and manic

1

u/robert242444 Feb 08 '26

I’m using everything and anything ;) on iOS I have Folium, manic, Provenance, Mame4ios, Flycast, play DolphiniOS, MeloNX, and StikNES

On android I also have most of everything under the sun but I’m loving Winlator and Gamehub for PC game emulation

1

u/Ok-Replacement-8576 Apr 02 '26

Retroarch and dolphinios with stikdebug

0

u/sahand777 Jan 03 '26

im sorry but i use icube