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SpringusMcPingus
imagine being so poor you have to pirate a free program.
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Scott Bloom
Why? You can access the playtest for free on Steam or get it as a standalone from http://www.retroarch.com also free.
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JDOGGOKUSSJ2
this already free tho
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Jash Laker (SURParamour)
Bloated and overrated, too bad some cores aren't standalone.
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Tri Force
really bloated to have all in on emu most people that hate retroarch cant figure out the right settings or they have problems wich bios files are needed and where they go
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Jash Laker (SURParamour)
Yes, when it is in several hundred megabytes without any cores, or bios, it's bloated, that is before you get into any configuration. Also, people who can set bios files for several emulators, can do it with a, supposedly, easy all-in-one. So no, it has nothing to do with configuration.
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JaymeSplendid✓ᵛᵉʳᶦᶠᶦᵉᵈ ᵃᶜᶜᵒᵘᶰᵗ
Its not bloated at all nor is it all in one. Retroarch on its own doesn't have ANY emu's until you choose to download them.
This is one of the go to programs when modding many devices (NES Classic, PI etc) and when hooked up to a smooth frontend, a must have for those who build their own arcade cabs.
The cores by the way are the VERY SAME stand alone Emus you play anyway. Having multiple cores still takes up way less HD space than having many stand alone programs.
Bios, well you put them in the Bios folder. Any other EMU won't come with Bios anyway this would make the Emulator illegal as the BIOS are considered copyright and no different than ROMs so you'll still have to manually put the BIOS files into a folder anyway...
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Morla_TheAncient
what would you use instead?
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Jash Laker (SURParamour)
Anything else.
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GeoffBoyRD
any normal emulator. would be specific to the system, and much better coded
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Bowie
Except the cores are the standalone emulators converted to liberto libraries, meaning they are, for the most part, the EXACT SAME as the stand alone emulator, sometimes with even more feautres
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jeretto89
Which is the best emulator for the Sega Saturn?
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☕️ Stephanie Bogard 🇮🇹
SSF.
It's ugly, mostly badly translated from Japanese, inconvenient, but it's the most optimized, stable, and compatible Saturn emulator.
Unless I'm wrong, it's not in Retroarch.
It's constantly updated, and actually, a new update just came out today!
http://www.emu-france.com/news/67700-consoles-de-salon-ssf-v0-12-previewver-r22/
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Scott Bloom
Kronos.
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jeretto89
spent the week going through Saturn emulation. I found that Kronos but also Beetle core through retroarch to be the best
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JaymeSplendid✓ᵛᵉʳᶦᶠᶦᵉᵈ ᵃᶜᶜᵒᵘᶰᵗ
Be warned, Sega Saturn emulation is extremely CPU intensive believe it or not and is hardly 100% as it took many years to break its encryption and is fairly new.
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Bowie
Either Yaba Sanshiro or Mednafen
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Bowie
HEY STAFF! I think we have a bot account infestation on this page, might want to do some purging
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Adrian Fahrenheit Tepes
they have a playtest queue in the steam page. for anyone who wanna try the actual thing and have it in their account
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Tri Force
btw...
Minimum:
OS: Microsoft Windows 7
Processor: Intel Pentium 4 and up (CPU with SSE2 instructions required)
Memory: 32 MB RAM
yeah i wanna see win 7 on an pentium 4 with 32mb RAM xD
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Tri Force
suprised to see this here isnt that free anyway for pc´s and almost every system that can run homebrew ???
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GeoffBoyRD
its called emulation. IE been romming since GBA playing dragon warrior monsters and pokemon red. a specific emulator would be a better choice, than finding my old FF7 disc putting that into my pc, and playing. my ps1 emu can upscale do damn near HD, my 3ds emu can upscale to damn near 4k. ill take emu thanks
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Tri Force
dude guess that..dahhh..
i know that !
i have it on multiply devices for years and i love it
im just stunned why the this free software is uploaded here
and i dont think this should be here for more than one reason
btw if you set everything right retroarch can everyhting you say also i run citra and ps1 in 4k with it.
i use it on my arcade cabinet via retropie and so on heck it runs almost everything if you have all the bios files and so
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Bowie
Yes, yes it is
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Black IC
so, does this run ps2 games? need a better running emu than the pcsx2
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Scott Bloom
Are you kidding? If PCSX2 doesn't work for you, you need to upgrade your hardware.
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JaymeSplendid✓ᵛᵉʳᶦᶠᶦᵉᵈ ᵃᶜᶜᵒᵘᶰᵗ
It may be your hardware. PS2 Emulation pretty CPU intensive.
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Tri Force
there is a new ps2 core comming i think its pcsx2 and i dont think there is an better ps2 emu
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Bowie
No. The ps2 retroarch core sucks. I heard that Mednafen is the go to PS2 emulator but I never tried it, i just stick to pcsx2 because it works just fine for me
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RedFlameFox
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-V9sllX5oiQ
Great Emulator actaully, expecially for PS1 games.
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‍ ‍ ‍ ‍ ‍ ‍ ‍
the gog PC version works better
the loading times are instantaneous
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JorgeC
Retroarch is a pile of crap. Some emulators only works on Retroarch (Saturn) and it is a shame because the whole experience with retroarch is horrible.
For example, let's say you want to play some roms.

  1. you must install some module (?)
  2. then you open then module, pick the game and.... meh, it doesn't work. You must install the bios in the right folders. So you must close the program, go to some folders (that it doesn't tell you where is it, create some folders with the exact name of the module, and put your bios with the right name. If you fail at it, then it won't tell you but you won't be able to play any game.
  3. once the bios is right, you must open retroarch again, open the module (again), pick your game and at last you can play it... however, no. The default control is a mess, so you must go it back, configure the control, open the module it again, open the game and at last, you can play.
    And the GUI was designed to be used with a control instead of a mouse
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☕️ Stephanie Bogard 🇮🇹
Hey Jorge, I agree with everything you say.
And I suggest you take a look at Ares, it's a promising multi-emulator which won't require you to do all of these extra boring steps.
It won't be as complete as Retroarch, but still definitely worth adding to your collection.
I have tried them all, and it's really the easiest multi-emulator in the world at the moment, I think. Never found anything better.
My only gripe : megadrive emulation is still average. Lots of games are broken.
https://ares.dev/
Among multi-emulators, you also have Bizhawk. Bigger than Ares and a bit more complicated to use, but still much better than that bloated Retroarch monster :
https://github.com/TASVideos/BizHawk/releases/
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JaymeSplendid✓ᵛᵉʳᶦᶠᶦᵉᵈ ᵃᶜᶜᵒᵘᶰᵗ
Its not Retroarch, its the core(s) which are the exact same as the stand alone.
Sega Saturn emulation is extremely CPU intensive and is not even 100% as it is fairly new seeing how it took YEARS to crack the encryption on it.
Look at the recommended specs to run it, its crazy considering how old the console is.
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DetectorCaleta3
I don't know why many people hate Retroarch, it is wonderful and yes, it is very simple. What happens is that there are so many morons that they never read, they do not pay attention, they do not watch tutorials, they are complainers and they do not like to learn, in short, they are not useful for computing, much less they understand what emulation is. Retroarch is not an emulator, it is a frontend that incorporates many emulators or cores. Long live to Retroarch, long live the king!
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☕️ Stephanie Bogard 🇮🇹
No. Such people are not stupid, but they just don't like the UI of Retroarch.
The UI is extremely circumvented and requires you to open countless menus before launching a game, compared to the vast majority of emulators, including multi-system ones like Mame, Ares or Bizhawk.
People who can't afford to waste time or just want to have fun prefer the instant feeling of satisfaction they get with an individual emulator, rather than the enormous monster that Retroarch turned into.
If you use an individual emulator (Snes9x, Fusion, MAME, FBA, Duckstation, Dolphin, etc), you can literally launch a game in 2 steps.(once the emulator is already configured, of course, which is not a problem for me.)
How many steps needed to launch a game with Retroarch? 10?
Also, if you don't use the desktop version and that you have lots of roms, you have to scroll down veeeeery slowly through your list of games...
Meanwhile, the guy using an individual emulator will be already playing and having fun. lol
I'm only criticizing the UI, though.
Retroarch has the best shaders, the most up-to-date cores, very accurate emulation, but it's just frustrating and not fun to use at all.
Personally, when I use Retroarch (only for a few consoles which are badly emulated with other emulators), I always switch to desktop version, which is already much more acceptable. If they could improve and streamline it, Retroarch would become much more attractive.
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Cyber Nukem 3D
Isn't Yaba sanshiro a standalone emulator? There is another one named Kronos and yeah I agree that retroarch is horrible
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Bowie
Just about every core Retroarch has is a standalone emulator converted into a liberto library to work within Retroarch
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Bowie
Those steps you described? Yeah that's the steps you have to do for EVERY emulator. every emulator requires you to configure the controls, the ones that need bios files also need bios files in their solo version, it's the EXACT same steps. Also you can use your KEYBOARD to move through the menus just as easily, you don't need a mouse at all
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☕️ Stephanie Bogard 🇮🇹
That's not what he's complaining about at all, when you read carefully.
Yeah, most emulators require you to setup your gamepad and stuff.
But it's just that in Retroarch, it's extremely badly done and require LOTS of extra steps to achieve anything.
I mean, in order to change some settings, you literally have to close your game, or even the emulator itself and restart.
Secondly, like I said in my other comment, in most emulators, you can literally launch a game in 2 steps. As easy as inserting a cartridge in the 90s.
With Retroarch, you have to click a bit everywhere to do stuff which should be done automatically, and it requires more like 10 steps to finally launch a game. It's extremely confusing, unnecessary, and it could be streamlined much better than that.
Desktop UI is 2000% better, though.
But it's still not as good as individual emulators.
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Jash Laker (SURParamour)
But none of them are in 100mbs and still need tons of configuration and "core" downloads.
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Bowie
EVERY emulator needs configs, all of them. The cores are the emulators themselves, sort of. You download a core like you would a solo emulator
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Jash Laker (SURParamour)
Read the the first part too, pls.
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Bowie
I did. I have no fucking clue what you meant by that so I ignored it
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Jash Laker (SURParamour)
That it's effin' huge, and yet it's still just a frontend that does nothing on its own.
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Bowie
So? the cores are tiny, much smaller in size than the stand alone emulators
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JorgeC
No if you will need to scroll in every single menu and without a mouse. And no, if some configurations must be done manually editing some text file.
It is the configuration of Duckstation in comparison
https://mk0ghacksnety2pjrgh8.kinstacdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Duckstation-keyboard-control-settings.jpg
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Bowie
You don't need to configure ANYTHING via a text file. AT ALL. again you DO NOT NEED A MOUSE. and how thew fuck are you comparing the configs for a single emulator to something that is a front end for SEVERAL DIFFERENT EMULATORS, that doesn't even make any sense
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Adrian Fahrenheit Tepes
afaik for so long, retroarch has psp style menu where you could totally navigate using directional pad. yes you CAN scroll use mouse but you could also hold DOWN to scroll down
or maybe you never use psp or vita before?
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JorgeC
That is exactly the problem, they tried to adapt the menu of the psvita to desktop. It was a dumb decision.
For example, we could use the mouse but it uses the right button to back?: WTF!. It is a desktop application, not a mobile game. It even shows the level of the battery!. And keyboard? Yes, we could use but only for navigation (up, down enter, back and nothing else much). But at least it doesn't show a touch screnn keyboard (never mind, the search feature has a touch screen)
For example, how about when we need to to write down some information. It shows a scroll!. And you can fast scroll by typing the first letter.
For files, select a file? nope, show the full path of a file? yes but using a marquee effect. And we can't even copy.
And there are several other dumb decisions: retroach /gamepad/ core map? WTF?.
It is the reason why it has a lenghly wikipedia with all the configurations and it is still incomplete.
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Adrian Fahrenheit Tepes
sigh, it is an emulator
emulator is invented to emulate a game just as how it was meant to be played but with another device. it means it is also meant to be played using the controller too, that's why they decided to make it like a console, which again, to EMULATE the whole thing like a game device
also, this emulator "portal" was created 10 years ago which at that time is a time where psp was still popular and vita was about to be released. you don't get to judge this decision, they've been making this emulator for so long now
and again, the emulator was also build to be used as a portable device (read: laptop) to emulate the portable-ness of the portable console, thus the design. you don't believe me? try to read the sysreq once again
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GreenMan36
Desktop? Bro its on PC, Android and a load of Chinese handhelds. Its not designed for desktop use but for use with a controller on billions of screens.
Also, duh, open-source. Fork it and fix it if you don't like something. If people find it enough of a problem, it'll be fixed by someone, the open-source way.
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Adrian Fahrenheit Tepes
IKR?
this guy is used to download a "packaged emulator"
even pcsx2 doesn't give you any link to get bios since it would be illegal for them and you need to actually find them yourself somewhere
edit: i'm talking about downloading emulator from the official site and afaik, any emulator only has the "raw program" without a bios config or anything. it's like building a pc, you don't build them completely but you need to build it part by part
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Bowie
Not every emulator needs a separate bios file though. It's only for emulators Sega Saturn and above I believe. Anything bellow the Saturn doesn't need one
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JorgeC
How to configure pcsx2 emulator?
install the program, download the bios, set the bios using the interface and add a game.
Or how do you configure the ps2 using Retroach?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-EnWeztB8wI
And it is the official video.
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GreenMan36
Bruh what do you expect? Shipping the original bios is piracy > Instant DMCA from a ton of companies, and if you ship a custom one you're forcing people to use a incomplete and unofficial bios.
Open-source is about choice. Find the bios you want and use it.
You think this is too much work? Try using Mame and playing some OG arcade games.
Also, its core dependent, a core could technically just ship it all and get taken down. Its a framework, its like saying HTML is bad because Google has ads. Don't blame the framework.
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Bowie
Oh wow, you have to copy some extra files, SOOOOOOOOOOO complicated
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Adrian Fahrenheit Tepes
do you read the video?
copy your BIOS and not "download your bios here"
try building the emulator yourself if you don't believe me. i bet you only watch the video but never build pcsx2 by your own
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John Hardie
Lies. Retroarch is the Daddy!
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.0.
exactly i love retroarch
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Dark Sorceress
great program love it , been using it for years emulates most systems well , its basically just extract it and download a core for whichever system you wish to emulate from theyre core list then click open rom and choose a game rom you downloaded and play , i use a xbox controller but it works with a ps4 also and many others , it emulates most systems but for the few that it doesnt support they have standalone emulators you can download
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Bowie
The STEAM version is different. It wont have the in app core updater and only has a very limited selection of cores
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Dark Sorceress
that sucks , looks like im better off using the regular version
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Bowie
Yeah definitely. The steam version is only good if you want to take advantage of couch co op and steam link
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JJ
Nice free servers to play online. No, wait, capcom classics? megadrive classics? not today, tomorrow.
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El oso del acoso sexual
Does this need some kind of advance setup or we just un-conpress it and it's ready to go?
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Dark Sorceress
yea prety easy to use , just download a core for it in the list it has then open your predownloaded roms and play basically , great program i use my xbox controller with it but you can use a ps4 or almost any other just fine and if you need help theres easy setup guides on youtube
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El oso del acoso sexual
Thanks :)
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Dark Sorceress
ur welcome : )
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El oso del acoso sexual
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Armor Blanche
How good is Saturn Emulation in this? That's the one emulation that I haven't gotten to run perfectly on PC.
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Bowie
Depends on what core you use. Some cores are better than others. Beetle-saturn is the most accurate but is very demanding and doesn't support upscalling. Yaba Sanshiro is faster and supports upscalling but might not be as accurate as beetle
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Afro Soul
It's pretty good so far. Just please make sure to get all of the different Saturn emus. just in case one emu doesn't work with certain games. I ran alot of puzzle games on Saturn emus. with no problems.
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Shawn Colton
If this were Arcade Punkz NEXT collection (over 2TBs of emulated games) then this would be treasure.
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8SweetPie8
Usually All-In-One things are tripping over themselves more then they get any one thing done as well as a dedicated tool. But this thing is pretty functional.
Even does some stuff that dedicated EMU's dont do.
They're kind of breaking the general rule with this one.
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Alexander Stormreaver
I partially agree, but the only exception from this rules is MAME
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TheGrimLordBStone
I must admit, I'm a bit surprised by this one. Have we run out of games in 2021 already? 😅
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El oso del acoso sexual
We have Nier Replicant coming at the end of the month so i'm hype AF about that one :D
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Shawn Colton
Uhhhh ... Retroarch is free. What's next? PKUNZIP? WinRAR?
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Temmie Plays!
yeah only it's not available yet on steam
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1118310/RetroArch/
it's not the same as regualr retroarch, tis is the definitive verison of the emulaiton
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Bowie
Definitive version? The cores they list on the steam page are terrible cores. Kronos? That's like the worst Saturn core, why would they include that instead of Beetle or Yaba Sanshiro? Also Messen? SNES9X is still the best SNES core. To me it makes no sense to have Retroarch on steam when you can just download it from their official page and download the cores you want from within Retroarch itself
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Temmie Plays!
I'd ask why they bothered to pay 100 dollars ot put the free to use software on steam, when they host it on their own site.
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Bowie
Ok, I get why this is on STEAM now: It's to facilitate couch gaming with apps like Steam Link. That makes sense considering the nature of the games themselves
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Temmie Plays!
that does make sense, the shitty remote play together haha
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Bowie
Yes, it's to take advantage of that feature though it meant sacrifices. The steam release wont have the best cores, it will only have the cores who's permission the Retroarch team managed to secure. It also wont have the in app core updater, every core will be free DLC to comply with Steam rules and regulations
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Bowie
Exactly, it makes NO sense to me.
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Temmie Plays!
i never said retroarch was
if you wanna emulate saturn, be my guest; for all 3 games that might be worth playing.
I use Doplhin, SNES9X and rarely ppsspp and yuzu ( rarely )
I never used retroarch, but as they had said the one on steam is the best version of it to get.
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Bowie
I use Retroarch to avoid having too many separate emulators. This way i just have one program to open, simple as that. With the exceptions of the cores that just don't work, such as Gamecube and PS2 though I still need to test the dreamcast one to see if I can get rid of my dreamcast emulator. And come on, the Saturn had plenty of good games
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Chris Alberto
someone must have req the damn thing so the admin is like --> you want it you got it
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April Fool's ?