Comparison

Shadowgate vs BigPEmu

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

Head to head
About

Shadowgate

Step into a dark, ruined fortress and embark on a perilous quest to defeat an evil Warlock Lord. This classic first-person fantasy adventure game has been restored to its original glory from 1987.

Highlights
  • First-person fantasy adventure
  • Restored original graphics
  • Classic 1987 gameplay
  • Epic quest to defeat Warlock Lord
  • Explore a dark fortress
Features
Read full description

The wind whistles shrilly through the halls as you step gingerly over the threshold. You’ve just entered Shadowgate, a once shining fortress, now a dark smoldering ruin. Swallow your fear and take up your torch. In your hands lies the fate of your land... freedom and sunlight, or the dark domination of the Warlock Lord. Only you, the last of an ancient line of kings, can hope to stop the evil one from his dread purpose: the raising of the titan Behemoth and the destruction of all you hold dear. The original Macintosh AND Apple IIgs versions have been restored to their original glory! Come see where the world of first-person fantasy adventures started and experience the classic adventure as it appeared in 1987.

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

BigPEmu3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: BigPEmu at 94% against Shadowgate's 50%. BigPEmu also leads on rating (5.0 vs 3.6) and device support (3 vs 1). Shadowgate's advantage is price ($1.99 vs $9.99) and iOS requirement (6.0 vs 15). On ratings volume, ads and in-app purchases 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

Shadowgate costs $1.99 and BigPEmu $9.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

BigPEmu holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 3.6. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 14 and 26 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 50% of Shadowgate's written reviews are positive against 94% of BigPEmu's.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Shadowgate versus BigPEmu: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterShadowgateBigPEmu
Price$1.99 — better$9.99
Rating3.6 (14 ratings)5.0 (26 ratings) — better
Positive reviews50.0% of reviews94.1% of reviews — better
Number of ratings1426 — better
Update frequency—Every 4 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidFree — better
DevicesiPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS6.0 — better15
Further details — not scored
Size4 MB16 MB
Age rating12++9
DeveloperZojoiSwinecrafters LLC

Customer experience

Shadowgate

All ratings14 ratings
Positive64.3%
Neutral0.0%
Negative35.7%
Written reviews8 reviews
Positive50.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative50.0%

BigPEmu

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

In-app purchases

None

Shadowgate

No in-app purchases

None

BigPEmu

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Shadowgate free?
Shadowgate costs $1.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is BigPEmu free?
BigPEmu costs $9.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Shadowgate or BigPEmu?
BigPEmu is rated higher. Shadowgate averages 3.6 out of 5 from 14 ratings, while BigPEmu averages 5.0 from 26 ratings.
Do Shadowgate or BigPEmu have ads?
Neither Shadowgate nor BigPEmu shows ads.

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