Comparison

Running Dino vs BigPEmu

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Running Dino

Embark on a prehistoric adventure, guiding a dinosaur through lush jungles. Dodge obstacles, collect delicious pellets for bonuses, and utilize special items for extra lives. Swing on vines and leap over hazards in this thrilling running game.

Highlights
  • Dinosaur running gameplay
  • Obstacle dodging
  • Pellet collection for bonuses
  • Collect special items for extra lives
  • Vine swinging
  • Jump over hazards
Features
Read full description

Run, run, run!! Running Dino takes you back – way back – to the days when dinosaurs sprinted through the jungle, swinging from the trees! Move Dino through the prehistoric wilderness, dodging
obstacles and eating all the way! Pig out on tasty, colorful pellets as you run along, and collect special items for bonuses, including a new life! Jump over skulls and idols, dodge treacherous hanging rocks, and swing on vines across chasms!  Run, run, run!!

About

BigPEmu

This application emulates the Atari Jaguar console, offering high accuracy and performance for its entire retail game library. It provides advanced features like saved states, movie recording, and customizable controller support, enhancing the classic gaming experience.

Highlights
  • Full retail library compatibility
  • High performance emulation
  • Accurate emulation
  • Saved states and movie recording
  • Jaguar CD support
  • Customizable controller overlays
  • Fast forward and rewind
Features
Read full description

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.

Screenshots

Running Dino4 screens
BigPEmu3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Running Dino at Free against BigPEmu's $9.99. Running Dino also leads on update cadence (fortnightly vs every 4 months) and ratings volume (160 vs 27). BigPEmu's advantage is rating (5.0 vs 3.9) and in-app purchases (none vs 1). On ads and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Running Dino is free to download; BigPEmu costs $9.99 up front. Running Dino sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. BigPEmu asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

BigPEmu holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 3.9. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Running Dino has 160 ratings behind it against 27, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 74% of Running Dino's written reviews are positive against 94% of BigPEmu's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Running Dino ships an update fortnightly, BigPEmu every 4 months. The most recent releases landed on November 1, 2026 and November 4, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard8 real differences · 2 level
Running Dino versus BigPEmu: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterRunning DinoBigPEmu
PriceFree — better$9.99
Rating3.9 (160 ratings)5.0 (27 ratings) — better
Positive reviews73.6% of reviews94.1% of reviews — better
Number of ratings160 — better27
Update frequencyFortnightly — betterEvery 4 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS4.1 — better15
Further details — not scored
Size25 MB16 MB
Age rating4++9
DeveloperBrainVault Games, LLCSwinecrafters LLC

Customer experience

Running Dino

All ratings160 ratings
Positive68.8%
Neutral13.8%
Negative17.5%
Written reviews110 reviews
Positive73.6%
Neutral15.5%
Negative10.9%

BigPEmu

All ratings26 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews17 reviews
Positive94.1%
Neutral0.0%
Negative5.9%

Bugs and requests

Running Dino

Reported bugs

7 issues
  • Jump button doesn't register sometimes despite sound playing
  • Double branch jumping fails to grab second vine
  • Ads cause game lag and speed inconsistencies
  • Dino character twitches while running
  • Game glitches on multiple devices
Show 2 more
  • Collectible letters obscure ground hazards
  • iOS 9 incompatibility

Requested features

8 requests
  • More game levels with endings
  • Difficulty settings or adjustable difficulty
  • Increased number of lives (5-6 instead of 4)
  • Better instructions and tutorials for new players
  • Ad-free version option
Show 3 more
  • Improved vine/branch swinging mechanics
  • More responsive button controls
  • Option to use custom music instead of in-game music

BigPEmu

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Running Dino

One-time1
  • Remove Ad$0.99
None

BigPEmu

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Running Dino free?
Running Dino is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is BigPEmu free?
BigPEmu costs $9.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Running Dino or BigPEmu?
BigPEmu is rated higher. Running Dino averages 3.9 out of 5 from 160 ratings, while BigPEmu averages 5.0 from 27 ratings.
Do Running Dino or BigPEmu have ads?
Neither Running Dino nor BigPEmu shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Running Dino or BigPEmu?
Running Dino ships an update fortnightly, and BigPEmu every 4 months. Most recently, Running Dino was updated on November 1, 2026 and BigPEmu on November 4, 2026.

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