The Acorn Archimedes is a range of classic personal & home computers, popular in particular in UK schools, succeeding the BBC Micro. The number of emulators is fairly limited when it comes to emulating the Acorn Archimedes, but the limited options are a blessing in this instance, making it an easy choice whether you are a Windows or Mac user.
Arculator
The recommended choice for Acorn Archimedes emulation for Windows PC users
For me, my go to Acorn Archimedes Emulator for PC is Arculator.
Arculator has been around since 2005 and is still in active development with its version 2.1 being released in Sep 2021. Arculator allows emulation of Archimedes 305 through to the A5000, utilising the ARM2 & ARM3 processors.
There are plenty of settings to tweak so you can customise your machine including being able to change the CPU, FPU, Memory, MEMC, OS & Monitor Settings. As well as the base system settings, Arculator has 4 podule expansions so you can emulator the likes of Hard Disc & CD ROM ‘podules’.
You can set up templates for multiple emulated machines and easily revisit them with the configuration manager which allows you to save presets and recall them at any time.
You’ll just need to get hold of some RISC OS ROMs to be able to use RISC OS with Arculator. These are not hard to find online, but one place you can check is 4corn.co.uk, an Acorn enthusiast site.
If you are looking for a great Archimedes emulator for Windows, then Arculator is where it’s at.
The Best Emulator For Playing Acorn Archimedes Games
Arculator a great choice for playing Archimedes games. Many games require different settings in Arculator, being able to configure each emulated system means Arculator is the most accessible emulator for playing Archimedes games.
The key feature in Arculator to get games running well is being able to select the ARM2 & ARM3 processors at the desired clock speed, making those more demanding games easier to run nice and smooth.
Arculator Features Include:-
- Easy to use UI when you can create a system to your specification
- Preset systems, simply select your desired Archimedes system and it’s ready to go
- Disc Drive Noise
- Gamepad / Joystick Support
- Monitor Emulation – Including High Res Mono Monitors
- ‘Podule’ Emulation including Hard Disc & CD ROM
- Video Rendering & Scaling Options
ArcEm
The best choice for Mac users wanting to emulate the Acorn Archimedes
One caveat up front, ArcEm does not appear to work on the more modern MacOS versions, due to it being a 32-bit application, so you’ll need to be running MacOS Mojave or earlier.
ArcEm is one of the most established Acorn Archimedes with it first appearing back in 2001, its last update was in 2015, which is the main reason you’ll struggle to run it on more modern versions of MacOS, but it’s the first choice on the Mac if you meet these criteria.
ArcEm is also available for PC & Linux, but this is really the only Archimedes emulator for the Mac you should consider.
ArcEm Features Include:-
- Emulate many Archimedes models with different system specifications
- Emulate up to 16MB RAM
- ARM2/ARM3 CPU Emulation
- Accurate Video & Clock Emulation
- Video Upscaling
- ADF Disk Image Support
As a retro gaming & retro computing enthusiast, I enjoy sharing help guides and about retro gaming in general, when I have the spare time to do so!