ArcEmu vs Cost Exchange
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
ArcEmu
Experience retro gaming on your Apple Watch, iPhone, and iPad. This emulator supports Game Boy, Game Boy Color, and Game Boy Advance cartridges. Enjoy features like multiplayer, cheats, and customizable controls.
- Game Boy, GBC, GBA emulation
- Multiplayer support
- Cheat codes
- Customizable on-screen controls
- Save State sharing
- iCloud support
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Turn your Apple Watch into a retro game console. Play Game Boy, NES, SNES, Genesis, and more on your wrist, with multi-touch controls and the Digital Crown. ArcEmu also runs on iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV. ▸ SUPPORTED CONSOLES Included for free: - Game Boy - Game Boy Color - Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) Available through in-app purchases: - Game Boy Advance - Pokémon Mini - Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) - Atari 2600 - Sega Mega Drive / Genesis - Sega Master System - Sega Game Gear - Sega SG-1000 ▸ MULTIPLAYER AND LINK CABLE Play home-console games online and locally with friends, or link Game Boy and Game Boy Advance games over the internet. Game Link Cable supports up to four players in compatible games. Online play requires a Game Center account. ▸ SHARE ROMs WITH A CODE Import your ROMs on iPhone, keep them in iCloud, and download them directly to Apple Watch or Apple TV. Share them through iCloud using a code, including with an Apple Watch configured with Family Setup. ▸ SCREEN AND CONTROLS Move and resize the game screen, choose an LCD or CRT filter, and set up the controls the way you like them. On Apple Watch, use multi-touch controls, customize the control layout, and assign actions to the Digital Crown. On iPhone and iPad, adjust button positions and transparency, and play in any orientation. Connect a controller and customize its button mappings, or use a second controller on iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV. ArcEmu also supports iPhone Duo. ▸ MORE FEATURES - Accurate, high-performance emulation - Fast-forward at 2×, 4×, or maximum speed - Slow motion at 0.5× speed - Cheat codes with a built-in database of popular codes - Touch-based light gun controls for NES and SNES - Custom Game Boy color palettes - Button hold/sustain - Accelerometer support - Gyroscope support on iPhone and iPad, with Digital Crown input on Apple Watch - Haptic feedback on iPhone ▸ YOUR ROMs AND SAVES Keep your collection organized with per-console folders, sorting, and search. Import ROMs from ZIP and 7-Zip archives, use automatic saving, and share save states between devices. Both ROMs and save states can be stored in iCloud. ▸ APPLE WATCH COMPATIBILITY - Apple Watch Series 4 or later - Apple Watch SE or later - Apple Watch Ultra or later ArcEmu does not include any games or ROMs. ▸ GAMES FEATURED IN THE SCREENSHOTS - Acorn Grove: https://gibbongl.itch.io/acorn-grove - Big2Small: https://mdsteele.itch.io/big2small - Hauntsfield: https://alliemackie.itch.io/hauntsfield - µCity Advance: https://skylyrac.itch.io/ucity-advance Cheat codes may cause unexpected behavior or affect game stability and save data. ArcEmu is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Nintendo, Sega, or Atari. All trademarks belong to their respective owners.
Cost Exchange
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You are the duty officer on an air-defence console. Contacts appear on the scope. You do not know what they are. Query IFF, wait three seconds, then read the returned data — speed, altitude, radar cross section — and INFER the threat yourself. The game never labels it for you. Then the real decision: which weapon? An IR missile costs $150k. A radar missile costs $350k. CIWS costs $5k. The laser is free but needs time you may not have. Fire the expensive one at a cheap drone and you win the engagement while losing the operation. A leaker that reaches the centre damages a facility. Lose enough facilities and the operation is over — no matter how much money is left in the vault. • Infer, don't be told — no automatic threat labels, ever • Four weapons with real trade-offs in range, cost and reload • Ammunition economy: every shot is a decision you pay for • Graded S to F on five criteria, with hard caps for downing a friendly • DAILY OPERATION — the same operation for everyone, one attempt a day • FREE OPERATIONS — endless seeded operations across four difficulty tiers No ads. No energy timers. No in-app purchases. Everything is unlocked. iPhone and iPad.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Cost Exchange at none against ArcEmu's 10. ArcEmu's advantage is device support (4 vs 2). On price, ads and iOS requirement 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
Both are free to download. ArcEmu sells 10 one-off in-app purchases. Cost Exchange asks for nothing beyond the download.
| Parameter | ArcEmu | Cost Exchange |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.9 (1.3K ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 94.6% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 1.3K — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 2 weeks | — |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, Apple Watch — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 16.0 — better | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 234 MB | 3 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Raffaele D'Amato | Burhanettin Uludag |
Bugs and requests
ArcEmu
Reported bugs
3 issues- Occasional crashes
- Graphical glitches with certain ROMs
- Save data not transferring properly between devices
Requested features
6 requests- Add cheat/GameShark support
- Improve volume controls
- Implement fast forward/slow motion options
- Allow multiple save slots per game
- Improve Game Boy Color support
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- Add joystick/button support for Apple Watch
Cost Exchange
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
ArcEmu
- Unlock All (Upgrade 4)$0.99
- Game Boy Advance$0.99
- SNES$0.99
Show 7 moreShow fewer
- Pokémon Mini$0.99
- Atari 2600$0.99
- Mega Drive / Genesis$0.99
- Game Gear$0.99
- Master System$0.99
- SG-1000$0.99
- Unlock All (Upgrade 3)$1.99
Cost Exchange
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is ArcEmu free?
Is Cost Exchange free?
Do ArcEmu or Cost Exchange have ads?
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