Atari Jaguar emulation is something that has still to be fully realised in terms of there being a well-established emulator which is widely used. This is probably why you are here searching for the best Atari Jaguar emulator! This is not to say that the emulators out there already are not good, because that is certainly not the case.
Options are still fairly limited, but you can certainly get to play your Atari Jaguar favourites with the following selection.
1. Best Atari Jaguar Emulator For PC
There is an excellent new Atari Jaguar emulator called BigPEmu, which is already outperforming all existing Atari Jaguar emulators. It boasts a compatibility list that outranks all other current emulation, this is great news for fans of the Jaguar who were unable to play many titles with other emulators.
BigPEmu is from Rich Whitehouse, the same developer who built the Jaguar emulation for the recently released Atari50 collection which has received all round praise from the gaming media and audiences alike.
BigPEmu is a free standalone emulator which requires simply downloading and unzipping to your PC. Unfortunately, it is only available currently on PC, but we can hopefully see ports for other systems and hopefully even a BigPEmu RetroArch core soon.
It is full of features, including the ability to increase the CPU clock scale and Blitter chip speed settings, meaning you can get some of those slower 3D games moving along at a quicker pace.
So if you’re looking to play all the best Atari Jaguar games, then BigPEmu is your emulator of choice!
BigPEmu Features Include:
- Save States
- Fast Forward
- PAL/NTSC Modes
- CPU & Blitter Chip Speed Settings
- Video Options Including Filters & CRT Effects
- Audio Buffer Settings
- Controller Input Settings
2. Best Atari Jaguar Emulator For Mac & Linux
Atari Jaguar emulator, Phoenix, is, without doubt, the most compatible and best-performing Atari Jaguar emulator available at the moment. Although there is a slight catch, it is in Russian, so you may wish to obtain the English language patch which is available here, along with instructions on how to apply the patch. it is really simple to do though, you just take the language patch files and overwrite those that are in the Phoenix emulator directory.
Phoneix also includes not only Atari Jaguar emulation, but also 3DO, Sega Game Gear & ColecoVision, so it’s a great little package to try out.
If it’s just getting up and running easily and don’t mind the occasional issue with compatibility, then Virtual Jaguar core on RetroArch is probably your best bet.
Phoenix Atari Jaguar Emulator Features Include:
- Atari Jaguar, 3DO, Game Gear & ColecoVision Emulation
- Controller Configurations
- Image Filtering
- Save States
- Video / Image Capture
3. Best Atari Jaguar Emulator For Android
Although still not perfect in terms of compatibility and running at full speed on some games (the performance will depend upon the device you use), the best Atari Jaguar emulator for Android comes in the form of the Virtual Jaguar core for on RetroArch.
Not only will you benefit from the familiarity of RetroArch (assuming you already use it), but you will also from the ease of use and many features of RetroArch / Virtual Jaguar. It also uses a built-in BIOS which makes it even easier to get up and running.
The Virtual Jaguar core is currently only available via RetroArch Plus, which only works on Android 8.0 upwards, but means you have access to the much wider range of emulator cores, including Virtual Jaguar.
4. Best Atari Jaguar RetroArch Core
As mentioned above for Android devices, I would still recommend trying out Virtual Jaguar on RetroArch on other devices too as it is definitely the easiest way to try out some Atari Jaguar games with minimal fuss.
The Virtual Jaguar libretro core is still being evolved, so will likely end up being the emulator of choice for Atari Jaguar fans.
The Atari Jaguar was sadly Atari’s last official console. Since then the Atari brand name has been sold numerous times and various retro-inspired products have come and gone, but with none of that original Atari charm.
So why not go back and relive some of those authentic Atari games with emulators for the Atari Lynx, Atari 7800 and their hugely popular home computer, the Atari ST.
We have excellent recommendations for the best Atari Lynx emulator, the handheld that was a powerhouse at the time. The best Atari ST emulator guide show’s you the best way to play Atari ST games and finally go back even further with the best Atari 7800 emulator, Atari’s effort to combat the Nintendo NES.
Also, don’t forget the Jaguar was up against the giants of the previous generation Sega, with their Sega Saturn console, we also have the best Sega Saturn emulator guide so you can check out the best the Saturn has to offer.
If that’s too much Atari for you, then check our comprehensive emulator guide where you’ll find loads of emulator recommendations for other retro 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!).
