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Illustrated Week in Emulation cover for October 19 to 26, 2026, featuring Genesis and 32X, Nintendo DS, and Sega Saturn hardware.
The Week in Emulation, October 19 to 26, 2026: a hardware collage for Retro Replay’s weekly roundup.

The Week in Emulation: October 19 to 26, 2026

Emulation Blog, Retro Blog 🕰️ Leave a comment

October 19 to 26, 2026. Helios gave Sega 32X games a closer look at palette changes and DMA, while xemu issued two original Xbox releases in two days. Igir’s new version gives people sorting and patching large game collections more formats to work with. The four monitored categories carried 145 notices this week, but many were successive development snapshots of the same emulator.

32X, Mega CD, and original Xbox

Helios 26.1023 works on the awkward parts of Sega’s add-ons

A save state is only reassuring when loading it returns you to the same game. The Helios 26.1023 release repairs 32X save states, improves detection of palette changes during a frame, and fixes SH2 DMA behavior. Its Mega CD work includes storing and loading backup RAM from a file. For anyone moving between a long session and the next evening, that last change is more tangible than a longer list of internal fixes.

The Java-based emulator also adds an optional blending filter, a status bar, and an audio-delay display. The project describes further Mega CD changes as numerous fixes, without claiming that the whole add-on is finished. Its Retro Replay profile covers the systems it runs, and the source repository records the broader work.

xemu 0.8.138 and 0.8.139 arrive back to back

On an older graphics setup, starting an Xbox game can fail before its first scene has a chance. xemu 0.8.138 improves compatibility with older Vulkan versions and fixes a memory leak in a slower VGA path. Its graphics changes also address several rendering cases, including overlapping 2D blits.

The next day’s 0.8.139 release repairs vertex shader register carryover. The project’s issue list ties that fix to black menus in several early FIFA titles, incorrect shadows, and texturing problems in American Chopper 2: Full Throttle and Sensible Soccer 2006. Those are documented fixes for affected games, not a new compatibility guarantee for the Xbox library. The xemu profile has the project overview.

Collection work and a handheld hotfix

Igir 5.8.0 adds patch formats and speeds up file handling

Someone applying a patch to a large disc image spends plenty of time waiting for files to be read and written. Igir 5.8.0 adds BSDiff v4, Paper Mario Star Rod, and Xdelta3 LZMA patch support. The release also changes how it handles memory and input and output. In the project’s MacBook Air M2 measurements, several common reads improved, with the largest gains appearing in particular large-file and patching cases. Those figures are project benchmarks, so the gain on another collection will depend on its files and hardware.

Igir is a collection manager rather than an emulator, so it belongs here as a useful companion for people who maintain sets of game files. Its official site explains the commands, and its source repository carries the changes.

ColecoDS 11.1 fixes saves on older DS hardware

A player on a DS Lite or original DS could run out of memory while ColecoDS compressed a configuration or save state. The 11.1 hotfix addresses that failure and adds a built-in patch for a buggy Star Force image. It is a small release with a practical consequence: a save should finish instead of leaving the player wondering whether the last session survived. See the ColecoDS profile.

Another DS project from the same developer, DracoDS 1.9, adds support for a banked-ROM format, corrects a 6809 carry error, and reduces the chance of running out of memory while preparing a save state on older DS models. It emulates the Tandy Color Computer 2 and Dragon 32. The two releases share a hardware constraint, but they serve different computers and should not be treated as one project.

What the daily builds tell us

Supermodel, FinalBurn Neo, Dolphin, PPSSPP, and several other projects kept publishing snapshots. The dated list below keeps those notices together by emulator so one active codebase does not look like a dozen separate announcements. PCSX2’s 2.9.x numbers are development builds, and the ShadPS4 entries are prereleases. A version number in a discovery notice does not, by itself, identify a stable release.

The official Kronos release list did not confirm the 2.8.0 notice in the monitored feed at publication time, so we have kept it in the dated log without describing it as a confirmed stable release. Flycast Dojo 7.6 has an official build, although its release page supplies an automated changelog link rather than a detailed feature account.

Complete grouped dated log

These are the notices published between Monday mornings in Eastern time. Dates are notice dates, and repeated daily builds sit under one project. A version-looking notice does not establish a stable release. Project names link to Retro Replay profiles where one exists, with verified official destinations alongside them.

PC: 6 notices across 4 projects

Tools: 7 notices across 6 projects

  • Goliath: Oct 22: Goliath v0.41.1 Preview
  • RPCN: Oct 21: RPCN v1.12.1
  • Simple Launcher: Oct 21: Simple Launcher v5.8.4; Oct 20: Simple Launcher v5.8.3
  • Igir | official release or builds | source code: Oct 21: Igir v5.8.0
  • Playnite: Oct 20: Playnite v10.63
  • gbsplay: Oct 19: gbsplay v0.0.103

Arcade: 17 notices across 5 projects

  • Supermode Sinden profile: Oct 24: Supermode Sinden v0.3a-e048c09; Oct 22: Supermode Sinden v0.3a-4cfa19f; Oct 20: Supermode Sinden v0.3a-98fcbff
  • Supermodel profile | official release or builds | source code: Oct 23: Supermodel v0.3a-20261023; Oct 22: Supermodel v0.3a-20261021; Oct 20: Supermodel v0.3a-20261020
  • FB Neo profile | official release | homepage or notes | source code: Oct 23: FB Neo Git (2026/10/24); Oct 23: FB Neo Git (2026/10/23); Oct 22: FB Neo Git (2026/10/22); Oct 21: FB Neo Git (2026/10/21); Oct 20: FB Neo Git (2026/10/20); Oct 19: FB Neo Git (2026/10/19)
  • Supermodel Dojo: Oct 23: Supermodel Dojo (2026/10/22) d409fe7; Oct 22: Supermodel Dojo (2026/10/22)
  • Supermodel-VK: Oct 22: Supermodel-VK v0.9.2.4a; Oct 21: Supermodel-VK v0.9.2.3a; Oct 20: Supermodel-VK v0.9.0.3a

Console: 115 notices across 44 projects

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