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RetroArch emulator adds support for DOS games, and more

Enjoy your favorite legacy games on the go with RetroArch

Now you can play all your favorite DOS games right from your iPhone or iPad, thanks to an update to popular emulator RetroArch.

RetroArch was rolled out for Apple Devices in mid-May, and at launch, it allowed users to emulate over 38 different retro platforms. Now, it's added support for even more, including DOS.

According to the App Store page for RetroArch, support has been added for the following cores:

  • Cave Story (NXEngine)
  • Doom (PrBoom)
  • DOS (DOSBox-Pure)
  • Nintendo - DS (melonDS DS)
  • Nintendo - Pokemon Mini (PokeMini)
  • Palm OS (Mu)
  • SNK - Neo Geo Pocket / Color (Beetle NeoPop)

RetroArch supports various features, including Made For iPhone (MFi) controllers, shaders, advanced latency management, and even AI translations. It also supports netplay, cheats, and save states.

RetroArch is available for iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV and requires iOS 14.2, iPadOS 14.2, or tvOS 14.2, respectively. It can be run on the Apple Vision Pro, as well.

If you'd like to learn how to run RetroArch on your iPhone or iPad, AppleInisder has a handy guide that walks you through the process. Be warned, though — the interface is not that intuitive.



5 Comments

MacPro 18 Years · 19845 comments

The nostalgia market must be pretty small and getting smaller.  I can't see todays teens finding these games of any interest, Unreal Engine 5 and beyond surely has their attention.  Heck, it has mine, and I played Dark Castle on an Apple ][ back in the day.

beowulfschmidt 12 Years · 2361 comments

Hmmmm.  Might need to investigate.  I still have discs (actual floppy discs) for the original Gunship and Railroad Tycoon games.

argonaut 21 Years · 128 comments

This is a nice addition, but I would love to see an easy way to add Apple ][ emulation to it..:smiley:  
I think this is possible in RetroArch via MAME core, but from what I've read it looks complicated ...

Marvin 18 Years · 15355 comments

argonaut said:
This is a nice addition, but I would love to see an easy way to add Apple ][ emulation to it..:smiley:  
I think this is possible in RetroArch via MAME core, but from what I've read it looks complicated ...

The old systems can be emulated in browsers now:

https://www.scullinsteel.com/apple2/#oregon_trail_1 (select folder icon for other games)

https://www.retrogames.cz/play_1136-DOS.php (Railroad Tycoon)

Apps are better for reliable save states though. Maybe someone will port a Mac one to iOS:

https://www.virtualii.com/

argonaut 21 Years · 128 comments

Marvin said:

Apps are better for reliable save states though. Maybe someone will port a Mac one to iOS:

https://www.virtualii.com/

Thanks Marvin. I'd love to see Virtual ][ on iOS..