Zaparoo vs PachNeko
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Zaparoo
Organize and launch your game library using NFC cards and your phone. Browse, manage, and control your games with custom layouts and on-screen remotes. Create custom scripts and manage game tags for a personalized gaming experience.
- Launch games with NFC cards
- Scan NFC, QR codes, and barcodes
- On-screen remote and keyboard
- Customizable game layouts
- Browse and search game library
- Create custom ZapScripts
- Manage NFC tags
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Save your games to NFC cards and launch them with a tap. Zaparoo App is the companion app for Zaparoo Core, the free software that launches games from NFC cards, QR codes, and barcodes on your MiSTer, PC, handheld, or media device. Use it to write cards, browse your library, launch games, and control what's playing. ZAP • Use your phone as a reader. Scan NFC tags, QR codes, and barcodes with your phone and launch them on your device (requires Pro) • See what's playing, with pause, stop, and playlist controls, and favorite, like, dislike, or save a game for later • Use the on-screen remote and keyboard to control your device • Rearrange the Zap page, hide what you don't use, add buttons that run any ZapScript, and add rows of games from a collection or deck. Each device keeps its own layout • On iPad, go full screen to leave the Zap page up as a display LIBRARY • Browse every system and folder on your device, or search across all of them • See artwork, descriptions, and release details. The system, year, developer, genre, and region each open a search for more like it • Favorites, Liked, Disliked, and Play later collections, plus Recently played and Top played • Build decks of games and cards, reorder them, play them as a playlist, or write them to a tag CREATE • Search your library and write a game to an NFC tag • Build custom ZapScript one step at a time, or edit it as text • Manage mappings for NFC toys and barcodes, and read, format, or erase tags with the NFC tools SETTINGS AND DEVICES • Find Zaparoo devices on your network, or add one by IP address, and switch between them in one sheet • Set playtime limits and a launch guard, and use profiles • Layouts made for both iPhone and iPad • Choose a light, dark, or system theme and adjust text size. VoiceOver and reduced motion are supported WHAT YOU NEED Zaparoo Core running on your device. Managing Core, browsing your library, and writing tags are always free. Using your phone as a reader (NFC, camera, barcodes, and shake to launch) is a one-time Pro purchase. Some features need a recent Core. Recently played and Top played need Core 2.12 or newer. Liked, Disliked, Play later, and decks need Core 2.18 or newer. Zaparoo is open source. Docs and support are at zaparoo.org.
PachNeko
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PachNeko is a colorful 3D pachinko machine filled with mechanical cats. Set the handle power, launch your balls and watch them bounce through the pins of a fully simulated board. Every ball in the white heso spins the reels. Three matching symbols: JACKPOT. Then the red mouth opens for the Fever, and in kakuhen the little right pocket pays twice as much. It is a game of chance, like a real pachinko: there is no secret right power, just balls, pins and luck. EVERY RUN • Start with 100 balls. • Reach 300 balls to adopt Bigsterion, your first companion. The next cats need 1,000 balls. • Adopt Poupoune, Astarourouh and Gisèle, then pet them, play with them and feed them in the cattery. FEATURES • A real-time 3D board with physics: pins, windmills, pockets and the heso. • Reach, Super Reach and Fever sequences on the cat-shaped screen. • The Academy: a guided first game that explains everything on the real board, at your own pace. • Short runs made for mobile. • Available in 8 languages. 7 DAYS FREE, THEN ONE PURCHASE • The whole game is free for 7 days, no sign-up. • After that, a one-time purchase (no subscription) unlocks PachNeko for good. It can be restored at any time. • Without the purchase, the game stays locked after the 7 days. No ads, no account, no tracking. Progress is saved on the device and the game works offline. PachNeko contains no betting, no real money, no cash prizes and no exchangeable items.
Screenshots
Verdict
Zaparoo and PachNeko are too close to call on the numbers: across 6 compared parameters — price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases among them — neither pulls far enough ahead to decide it. What separates them is feature set and interface, not measurable difference.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Zaparoo sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and PachNeko sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Zaparoo ships an update every 2 months, PachNeko monthly. The most recent releases landed on November 4, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Zaparoo | PachNeko |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (10 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 85.7% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 10 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Monthly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.5 | 15.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 55 MB | 253 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Wizzo Pty Ltd | Nicolas Dumont |
In-app purchases
Zaparoo
- Zaparoo Launcher$6.99
PachNeko
- Proposition de chat personnalisé$8.99









