# BigPEmu

> Accurate Atari Jaguar emulator with extensive features and performance enhancements. (iPhone/iPad app by Rich Whitehouse.)

- Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/bigpemu/id6737359949 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`)
- Developer: [Rich Whitehouse](https://appshunter.io/developer/387779001)
- Category: Games
- Price: $9.99
- Rating: 5.00/5 from 26 App Store ratings · 17 written reviews indexed
- Age rating: 9+
- Requires: iOS 15 · 16 MB
- Languages: English
- Released: 2024-11-21
- Data updated: 2026-06-11
- Monetization: free
- User reviews in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/bigpemu/id6737359949/reviews.md

## What is BigPEmu?

BigPEmu is the first Atari Jaguar emulator to feature compatibility with the entire retail library, along with excellent performance and a wide variety of unique features:

• Fast.
The emulator runs the entire Jaguar retail library (with default settings) at full speed on most devices.

• Accurate.
It's the most accurate Jaguar emulator to-date, although it's still being improved all the time.

• Better than hardware.
Although the emulator defaults to settings which are catered toward compatibility and accuracy, it's capable of far more. BigPEmu enables you to play lots of Jaguar games at a full 60 frames per second for the first time ever!

• Saved states and movies.
Everything is completely deterministic, just like real life. That's right, I went there. This means that all "randomness" is also controlled by a preserved seed. BigPEmu can record movies from nothing but controller inputs, and play them back with perfect accuracy. You can even interrupt a movie's playback and start playing yourself at any point.

• Jaguar CD support.
In addition to supporting the entire retail disc library (along with Memory Track), complete hardware emulation means that the Virtual Light Machine is fully functional. Also featured is a virtual disc system with an audio loopback option, allowing the VLM to be used as a native audio/music visualizer.

• Excessive presentation detail.
There's native support for the Jaguar Game Drive's MRQ format in the software browser (as well as box art sourced from PNG files), support for global and per-game backgrounds, and even support for controller overlays! Everything about the touch overlay for the iOS port is fully customizable, from appearance to collision boxes.

• Extra device support.
Featuring emulated device support for analog controllers (both via external bank switching and the ADC), driving controllers, rotary controllers, and Team Tap. For native input devices, the iOS port supports any MFi "Extended Gamepad" type device as well as keyboards through Apple's Game Controller API.

• Glorious shaders.
The emulator comes equipped with a powerful, fully customizable postprocessing system. The system supports any type of effect you can imagine, from applying smoothing filters to simulating CRT displays.

• Per-game profiles.
Mapping the Atari Jaguar controller to anything other than a telephone with wings can get a little complicated, so you might want to switch your controller mapping up for different games. You can do that! With per-game profiles, you can automatically load up a new input scheme (or any other emulator setting) each time you load a game.

• Time travel.
Native fast forwarding and rewinding capability means you can speed forward through time or go back in time whenever you please.

• Flexible scripting.
BigPEmu features a powerful scripting system. The emulator comes with a variety of scripts to enhance popular Jaguar games in amazing ways, from analog controller support to native-resolution and stereoscopic rendering!

• The usual.
Enjoy all of the emulator niceties you've come to expect in modern times. Automatic preservation of EEPROM, PAL support, custom boot ROM images, native support for multiple display aspect ratios, resolution scaling, custom display cropping, extremely customizable input, and a whole lot more.


BigPEmu and Swinecrafters LLC are in no way affiliated with Atari. The name "Atari" and all associated game console names are the property of their respective owners.

## Key features

- Full retail library compatibility
- High performance emulation
- Accurate emulation
- Saved states and movie recording
- Jaguar CD support
- Customizable controller overlays
- Fast forward and rewind

## Recent user reviews (10 of 17)

All indexed reviews: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/bigpemu/id6737359949/reviews.md

### 5/5 — Best emulator I have ever used for IOS

*2026-04-09*

I am so impressed by the performance and functionality of this emulator. Everything runs perfectly smooth and there are so many customization options. It’s easy to use and an amazing way to preserve an obscure piece of gaming history.

### 5/5 — It's worth the money

*2026-03-19*

Other apps don't offer Jaguar CD support nor this level of individual care for archiving this old system

### 5/5 — Amazing app

*2025-12-10*

So I just love this app because it preserves one of the most underrated consoles of all time and saves you hundreds of dollars on eBay and retail! But every time I try to download and open Baldies it says it’s not supported even though you listed CD support, so I don’t know if there’s a specific website I should use

### 5/5 — The best

*2025-01-24*

I’m still not able to get Jaguar CD to work but everything else works flawlessly

### 5/5 — Perfection

*2024-12-23*

I’ve always ran into bugs using Jaguar emulators on Android and the Mac. This one is the smoothest of them all. So far no bugs. Now that I can play it on iPhone and iPad, I gave the Android away.

### 5/5 — Amazing

*2024-12-10*

It’s amazing to see a completely full-featured Jaguar emulator at all, never mind one running on mobile devices. The developer is exceptional.

### 4/5 — Dev support is amazing. Roms simply work

*2024-11-29*

After teething troubles on my part i reached out to the dev and got multiple responses via email which shows amazing dedication and love for their app! I was very impressed and after enabling energy saving mode (as they recommended) i havent seen any performance issues in any roms ive played so far which is great.

Roms & boxart are simple and straight forward to import and play and they simply work.  

I missed out on the Jaguar/Jag CD as a kid so thanks again for the ios port and id recommend adding this app to your library asap! 

Cheers❤️

### 5/5 — Your Atari Jaguar, but Mobile!

*2024-11-24*

This is an incredible piece of work. Not only does it just work with any of the games and demos I throw at it, it runs well enough to play games on my iPhone SE first generation, albeit maybe not quite at 60fps! If you want to make sure you can have a full Retro-Gamer package of Emulators on your Apple Mobile devices, you should definitely consider adding this to your homescreen!

### 5/5 — Best Jaggy-Emu

*2024-11-24, version 1.16*

Running the Windows version for years, finally it came to iOS and as goody to macOS on Apple silicon!

### 1/5 — Не пропадают кнопки для тачскрина при подключения геймпада

*2024-11-23*

Когда подключаешь геймпад , кнопки для игры с экрана остаются и они занимают пол экрана. Пожалуйста исправьте

## Frequently asked questions about BigPEmu

### What is BigPEmu?

BigPEmu is an emulator designed to run games from the Atari Jaguar console. It aims to provide accurate emulation with excellent performance, supporting the entire retail library of games.

### What are the key features of BigPEmu?

Key features include full compatibility with the Atari Jaguar retail library, high-speed emulation, accurate gameplay, saved states, movie recording, Jaguar CD support, customizable controller overlays, and fast forward/rewind capabilities.

### Is BigPEmu free to use?

Yes, BigPEmu is available for free. The application does not feature in-app purchases or advertisements, allowing users to enjoy the emulation experience without cost.

### What devices is BigPEmu compatible with?

The description mentions an iOS port supporting MFi 'Extended Gamepad' devices and keyboards through Apple's Game Controller API. It also supports various emulated input devices like analog and driving controllers.

### What are the benefits of using BigPEmu over original hardware?

BigPEmu offers enhanced features beyond original hardware, such as playing games at a full 60 frames per second, precise saved states and movie playback, and extensive customization options for controllers and presentation, which are not possible on original hardware.

## Version history (last 5 releases)

### 1.22 — 2026-05-03

• Added a new "cheat_codes" script module. When this script module is active, the user will be prompted to toggle any available cheat codes (provided by cheat_codes.json) any time a software image is loaded. Cheat codes are provided for every cartridge and CD title in the Jaguar's retail library. Many of these cheat codes were adapted from jguff's BigPEmu scripting work, you can find the relevant scripts (and more) here: https://github.com/jguffer/BigPEmu_Scripts
• Implemented the Blitter GPU interrupt. (mainly for developers; this functionality isn't used in any retail software)
• Lots of new scripting API functionality, as well as some minor fixes/additions for existing scripts.

### 1.21 — 2025-12-23

• Lots of new music/audio-related scripting functionality.
• Added some more rendering/utility scripting functions, including some concave polygon rendering functions.
• Minor audio recording module bug fixes.

### 1.19 — 2025-06-03

• Added some more unaligned read/write edge case handling. This addresses a problem in Theme Park, possibly among other things.
• Changed some undocumented RISC instruction behavior to match some of my local hardware tests. One of these changes is known to correct an issue with object directions in Defender 2000.
• Added a timing fix for Val d'Isere Skiing and Snowboarding.
• Added more Jaguar GD functionality. Filesystem functions are stubbed out,
• Fixed a few "undefined" Blitter cases. (not known to affect any existing titles)
• All kinds of new platform/framework functionality, propagated back from BigInstinct.
• Exposed a bunch of sound spatialization functionality to the scripting API.
• Exposed MOD and MP3 playback to the scripting API.

### 1.18 — 2025-01-27

• Added a script for Breakout 2000 touch control. The paddle is horizontally positioned to match the first active touch.

• Added an audio interpolation setting, along with a higher-quality bandlimited audio interpolator.

• Added an option to change the size of the state operation undo buffer.

• Added options for PvP damage scaling and infinite shotgun ammo to the AvP MP script.

• Fixed swipe velocity not being explicitly reset when entering the menu.

• Fixed script input callbacks having the potential to break movie recording/playback.

### 1.17 — 2024-11-29

• Added a script for Raiden touch control. Ship automatically travels to the touch point and auto-fires when held, with a 2-finger tap to trigger bombs.

• Added a script for Vid Grid touch control. Drag and drop!

• Added a script for Towers II touch control. (with an option to uncap the framerate) In-game menu cursor is touch-driven, 2-finger tap exits the menu.

• Added a script for Myst touch control. Hold to drag the cursor, tap to activate.

• Added some scripting functionality to allow setting custom read/write handlers for non-RAM/ROM memory regions.

• The iOS port now prompts the user to determine their battery/heat versus performance preference on first run. (since we can't just be energy-efficient without the iOS scheduler punishing us, and I'm not having any luck getting anyone to read the FAQ/user manual)

• The iOS port now has a separate "Connected Idle Time" setting, which defaults to 3.0 and is used instead of "Overlay Idle Time" when at least one external device is connected. (workaround for the same FAQ/user manual problem above)

• Added lots of random new scripting functionality.

• Fixed game thumbnails rendering at the incorrect scale in portrait mode.

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*Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-06-11.*