The big news of December 2022 for Atari Jaguar fans is the release of BigPEmu, a brand new Atari Jaguar emulator by Rich Whitehouse, the developer of the Atari Jaguar emulation which is part of the recently released Atari 50 collection.
This standalone emulator is available for PC only, but initial assessments seem to be highly positive. From my own playtesting, BigPEmu has already taken the top spot in our best Atari Jaguar emulators article for its excellent compatibility with the whole official Atari Jaguar library of games.
A decent Atari Jaguar emulator has been a long time coming, so if you can, show some support for the developer Rich Whitehouse, via his Patreon page.
1. What Is BigPEmu?
BigPEmu is the latest Atari Jaguar emulator and is already widely considered as being the best Atari Jaguar emulator available. It is from the same developer who wrote the emulation for the Atari 50 collection, released on the Switch, PS5 & Xbox Series consoles.
BigPEmu is a standalone emulator with no need to run an installer to be able to use it. Simply download it from the BigPEmu official website, extract it to a folder, then you’re ready to go.
2. Does BigPEmu Need An Atari Jaguar BIOS?
No BIOS file is required with BigPEmu, simply load your Atari Jaguar game via the menu, and you are good to go. BigPEmu supports Jaguar games with the following file extensions:
- .j64
- .cof
- .from
- .jag
- .abs
- .zip
3. BigPEmu Game Compatibility
BigPEmu offers excellent compatibility, with all 50 official Atari Jaguar games rated as excellent compatibility:
AirCars
Alien vs Predator
Atari Karts
Attack of the Mutant Penguins
Breakout 2000
Brutal Sports Football
Bubsy in Fractured Furry Tales
Cannon Fodder
Checkered Flag
Club Drive
Cybermorph
Defender 2000
Doom
Double Dragon V: The Shadow Falls
Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story
Evolution: Dino Dudes
Fever Pitch Soccer
Fight For Life
Flashback: The Quest for Identity
FlipOut!
Hover Strike
I-War
International Sensible Soccer
Iron Soldier
Iron Soldier 2
Kasumi Ninja
Missile Command 3D
NBA Jam: Tournament Edition
Pinball Fantasies
Pitfall: The Mayan Adventure
Power Drive Rally
Raiden
Rayman
Ruiner Pinball
Super Burnout
Supercross 3D
Syndicate
Tempest 2000
Theme Park
Towers II: Plight of the Stargazer
Trevor McFur in the Crescent Galaxy
Troy Aikman NFL Football
Ultra Vortek
Val d’Isère Skiing and Snowboarding
White Men Can’t Jump
Wolfenstein 3D
Worms
Zero 5
Zool 2
Zoop
Many other homebrew games and ports are compatible with BigPEmu.
4. BigPEmu Download
A BigPEmu download is available from the BigPEmu website.
As of version 1.00, this is only available for the PC, but keep an eye on the BigPEmu website for any updates with regard to developments for other systems.
A lifelong avid gamer and computing enthusiast, Matt has decades of Retro Gaming experience. Now over 40 years old, Matt now even considers himself retro, but fortunately, nobody has developed a Matt emulator (not yet at least!).