Emutastic v1.8.1

What's New in 1.8.1

Fixes & Improvements

• SteamGridDB cover fallback — when ScreenScraper is exhausted, or a game simply isn't in the standard art sources, Emutastic now pulls a high-res cover from SteamGridDB. Add a free token in Preferences → EmuTV to enable it.
• EmuTV video previews — fixed live video previews disappearing in themes that load WebP art. A background image decode was triggering a refresh that stranded the playing video; it now follows the refresh and keeps playing.

Emutastic v1.8.0

What's New in 1.8.0

EmuTV — Big-Screen Couch Mode

A brand-new, controller-only front end built for the TV and the couch.

• Open it with the L3 + R3 + L2 + R2 chord from the library — the same chord quits a running game straight back to EmuTV.
• Save states from the couch — press Start on any game to browse and load your states.
• Built for a controller — D-pad/stick to navigate, A to play, B to go back, jump pages with L1/R1.

Quick Save & Load From the Controller

Save and load states straight from the gamepad, mid-game, with no overlay — and it works everywhere, not just in EmuTV:

• Save a state — hold L3 for a moment, then press R2.
• Load your latest state — hold L3 for a moment, then press L2.
• Configurable per console — assign different buttons for any system in Preferences → Controls. A quick on-screen toast confirms when they arm and fire.

ES-DE Theme Support

EmuTV reads themes made for EmulationStation Desktop Edition (ES-DE).

• Import any ES-DE theme — drop a theme folder into your EmuTV themes directory, or download one in-app.
• Built-in theme browser + catalog — browse and one-click-install themes from the official ES-DE themes list, with previews (press Y in EmuTV).
• Broad rendering — carousels (including wheel layouts), grids, text lists, game metadata, rating stars, and favorite/completed badges.
• WebP art supported — themes that ship WebP images render correctly.
• Bundled "EmuTV Default" theme with per-console icons and built-in save-state browsing.

A note on theme compatibility: EmuTV reads ES-DE themes, but ES-DE has a large and still-evolving spec — not every theme is fully supported yet, and some may render with missing or imperfect elements. Coverage improves with each release. The bundled EmuTV Default theme is always fully supported as a known-good fallback.

EmuTV Settings

• New Preferences → EmuTV tab — rebind EmuTV's controls (theme browser, save states) and view the full controller-combo reference.

Documentation

• The included README now documents every keyboard shortcut and controller combo — library, in-game, and EmuTV.

Emutastic v1.7.16

What's New

• Neo Geo .neo RetroAchievements support is now content-based — .neo cartridges are matched by their actual ROM data instead of their filename (via an upstream rcheevos change, rcheevos #517), so achievement identification no longer depends on a file keeping its original arcade name.
• Cloud Sync now runs automatically in the background at startup and right after you sign in, so your latest saves are downloaded before you launch a game.
• A "Syncing saves…" indicator appears in the status bar while a background sync is running.
• Memory cards are compressed before upload, so they take only a fraction of the space in your private saves repository.

What's Fixed

• Memory cards and console save files now back up through Cloud Sync. Previously only cartridge battery saves were covered; the cards and save data written by disc and handheld systems — GameCube, Dreamcast, PSP, Nintendo 3DS, Sega Saturn, Nintendo DS, Neo Geo, and more — are now included.
• The background save sync now starts reliably at launch; a startup timing issue could previously stop it from running, so the "Syncing saves…" status and the pre-launch save download now work as intended.

Emutastic v1.7.15

What's New

• Cloud Sync now runs automatically in the background when Emutastic starts and right after you sign in, so your latest saves are downloaded before you launch a game — no manual Sync Now needed first.
• A "Syncing saves…" indicator appears in the status bar while a background sync is running.
• Memory cards are compressed before upload, so they take only a fraction of the space in your private saves repository.

What's Fixed

• Memory cards and console save files now back up through Cloud Sync. Previously only cartridge battery saves were covered; the cards and save data written by disc and handheld systems — GameCube, Dreamcast, PSP, Nintendo 3DS, Sega Saturn, Nintendo DS, Neo Geo, and more — are now included, so your full progress follows you between machines.

Emutastic v1.7.14

What's New

PlayStation 2

• Add your PS2 games — PS2 disc images (.iso, .chd, and multi-disc .m3u playlists) are now recognized when you add them to your library, so PlayStation 2 is ready to use from import through play.
• BIOS in the Systems tab — PlayStation 2 now appears under Preferences → System Files with the common BIOS dumps listed, and a game will prompt you if a BIOS is missing instead of failing silently.

Game Databases

• "Download All" button — the game-database list in Preferences → Cores/Extras now has a single Download All that pulls every disc database in one pass, instead of fetching them one at a time.
• More reliable downloads — databases fetched in-app now install correctly, improving automatic console and title detection for disc-based systems (Sega CD, Saturn, PlayStation, PlayStation 2, TurboGrafx-CD, 3DO, and CD-i) during import. If your auto-detection has been spotty, re-download the databases (or use the new Download All) to refresh them.
• PlayStation 2 database added — the PS2 disc database is now part of the downloadable set.

Emutastic v1.7.13

What's New

PlayStation 2

• PlayStation 2 support — Emutastic now plays PS2 games, powered by the LRPS2 (PCSX2) core. Your PS2 library appears under Sony, alongside PS1 and PSP. (A PS2 BIOS is required, the same as PS1 and Saturn.)
• Choice of renderers — Direct3D 11 is the default: rock-solid and accurate. There's also an optional experimental Vulkan (paraLLEl-GS) renderer. Direct3D 11 has a known limitation at very high internal resolutions — the framerate can't keep up — whereas the Vulkan renderer holds full speed and additionally avoids the brief shader-compilation stutter PS2 emulation is prone to.
• High-resolution rendering — render PS2 games well beyond their original resolution for a much sharper picture, adjustable on the fly from the in-game settings cog.
• Controller support — DualShock-style mapping out of the box, with the PS2 controller shown in Preferences.
• RetroAchievements — full achievement and leaderboard support for PS2 games.
• Core Options — every PS2 core setting is exposed in Preferences → Core Options for fine-tuning.

Emutastic v1.7.12

What's New

Nintendo 64

• Visual settings now follow the core. The in-game cog's Visuals menu adapts to whichever N64 core you're running — Parallel N64 shows its upscaling, and Mupen64Plus-Next shows internal resolution, anti-aliasing, and texture filtering. Switching cores no longer leaves you without graphics options.

Artwork

• Faster 2D box-art downloads on paid ScreenScraper accounts. Box-art fetching now uses your account's full thread allowance (up to 6) instead of downloading one at a time, matching how metadata and 3D art already worked.

What's Fixed

• Accurate FPS counter. The in-game readout now shows the framerate actually being displayed, not the emulator's internal rate — so on hardware that can't keep up with heavier cores you see the real number. When the core outruns your display, it notes the emulation rate too, so you can tell whether your CPU or your GPU is the limit.
• No more stutter on the first achievement of a session. Achievement badges are now downloaded in the background instead of on the render thread, so the unlock toast no longer causes a brief hitch the first time it appears.

Emutastic v1.7.11

What's New

RetroAchievements

• Just sign in — that's it. Connecting RetroAchievements no longer has a separate "enable" switch; entering your account under Preferences → Achievements is all that's needed, and achievements track automatically. (Previously you could be signed in but have achievements silently off because a second toggle was unchecked.)

What's Fixed

• System Files tab no longer lists file types it can't use — removed stale MT-32 ROM and SoundFont references.

Emutastic v1.7.10

What's New

Nintendo DS

• Visuals menu for DS games. The in-game cog now has a Visuals option for the Nintendo DS, matching the 3DS experience:

  • Internal Resolution (1x–4x) — renders 3D scenes at higher resolution for dramatically better clarity, especially on TVs and large displays.
  • Texture Scaling (xBrz) — smooths and sharpens game textures.

  Higher settings increase CPU usage, so if a game slows down, step back down a notch.

Emutastic v1.7.9

What's New

Nintendo DS

• Play touch-based games entirely on a controller. The right analog stick now moves an on-screen crosshair, and a new bindable Touch button (Preferences → Edit Controls → Nintendo DS, under "Touch Screen") presses it — so games that require tapping the touchscreen are fully playable without a mouse. Clicking the screen with the mouse still works as before.

In Game

• Controller hot-plug feedback. Connecting or disconnecting a controller during play now shows a status message with the device's actual name, right next to the FPS readout. The library's banner shows the same.

Interface

• Sharper power button in the in-game overlay — the old art rendered soft, especially on TVs and high-scale displays.

What's Fixed

• Fixed a long freeze shortly after launch. Warming the box-art cache spawned dozens of parallel image decoders that could lock the app for several seconds about 15 seconds after startup. It's now a single background worker — same warm cache, no freeze.
• Controller bindings that can't be resolved are now reported in controller-diag.log instead of being silently ignored, making "this button does nothing" problems diagnosable.
• Removed a duplicate "Controller connected" message that could race the named one in the library's status banner.