The Week in Emulation: September 28–October 5, 2026

dadmin Emulator News 📰, Retro Blog 🕰️ Leave a comment

September 28–October 5, 2026. This week brought a substantial shadPS4 release, a fresh DOSBox-X build, and a coordinated set of Gear emulator updates. The four discovery feeds carried 162 notices, many of them successive development snapshots of the same project. The dated log below groups every notice; the analysis here covers changes confirmed by project releases or source repositories.

The releases that matter

shadPS4 0.19.0 moves PS4 compatibility forward

shadPS4 0.19.0 is a tagged release, distinct from the daily pre-release builds that followed it. Its official notes describe a rewritten signal layer, video decoding and GPU fixes, and support for loading some DLC formats. These are broad emulator changes, though game compatibility still varies and the project does not promise that every title improved. The October 4 snapshot is explicitly a pre-release, so readers seeking the numbered release should use 0.19.0.

DOSBox-X 2026.10.01 tightens PC hardware behavior

The official DOSBox-X release includes fixes to virtual hard disk geometry, CPU LOCK-prefix handling, timer behavior, and Voodoo texture caching. It also adds an RPC debugger interface. For someone running an old DOS or Windows environment, the storage and timing fixes may matter more than a new menu feature: they affect the low-level assumptions older software makes about the machine. The separate October 3 Git notice is a development build, not another numbered release. See the DOSBox-X profile.

One developer, three Gear releases

Gearsystem 3.9.21, Gearboy 3.8.17, and Gearcoleco 1.7.3 each have a separate official release. Their shared changes include video recording, better fractional-DPI scaling, a CPU profiler, smaller save states, and new debugger trace events for missed frame and sprite budgets. This is a practical set of improvements for players who capture footage and for developers diagnosing timing problems. Read the Gearsystem, Gearboy, and Gearcoleco profiles, or the Gearsystem, Gearboy, and Gearcoleco release notes.

Tools, arcade, and development builds

Igir 5.7.0 adds WebAssembly versions of its native addons and removes the installation-time C++ build step. The maintainer says native binaries remain preferred where available for speed; the portable fallback mainly helps systems without a supported native build. Igir is a collection manager, so it belongs in this report without an invented emulator profile.

The official ES-DE 3.5.0 release brings per-system and per-game screen selection for dual-screen Android devices. It also offers non-blocking browsing events to reduce navigation stutter when companion scripts run, and an experimental check for installed RetroArch cores before launch. ES-DE is a frontend, so its release changes how a collection is browsed and launched rather than how games are emulated.

On the arcade side, HBMAME’s 0.289.3 change log records new homebrew and modified sets, including Donkey Kong test ROMs and several enhanced Ghosts’n Goblins variants. This is a catalog update within HBMAME, rather than a change to mainstream MAME. FinalBurn Neo also had daily development notices; use its profile and source repository to follow the project rather than treating every daily build as a stable release.

PCSX2 reached 2.9.96 in its development channel. The official release entry labels it a pre-release and lists only a Direct3D 12 cleanup for that build. It should not be described as PCSX2’s next stable version.

Complete grouped dated log

These are the notices published in the four monitored categories after the previous September 28 roundup and before this Monday morning (Eastern time). Dates below are notice dates in Eastern time. A version-looking title by itself does not establish a stable release: only the releases discussed above were independently checked for the claims made here. Project links lead to Retro Replay profiles where one exists; official links are included for projects whose destinations we verified.

PC — 7 notices across 4 projects

DOSBox-Staging profile: Oct 03 — DOSBox-Staging Git (2026/10/04); Sep 29 — DOSBox-Staging Git (2026/09/29)
Wine: Oct 02 — Wine v11.19
DOSBox-X profile · official release/homepage · source code: Oct 02 — DOSBox-X Git (2026/10/03); Oct 02 — DOSBox-X v2026.10.01; Sep 29 — DOSBox-X Git (2026/09/29)
MS-DOS Player for Win32-x64: Sep 30 — MS-DOS Player for Win32-x64 (2026/09/29)

Tools — 14 notices across 12 projects

myMCpp: Oct 04 — myMCpp v0.3.1
PadForge: Oct 04 — PadForge v5.0.0
GameEx: Oct 03 — GameEx v19.98
PadForge r3799: Oct 03 — PadForge r3799
Goliath: Oct 03 — Goliath v0.40.0 Preview; Sep 29 — Goliath v0.32.25 Preview
OpenROM: Oct 03 — OpenROM v3.7.5
DSAdvance: Oct 03 — DSAdvance v2.4
Gameplay: Oct 02 — Gameplay v0.99b
Igir · official release/homepage · source code: Oct 02 — Igir v5.7.0; Sep 29 — Igir v5.6.0
ES-DE · official release/homepage · source code: Sep 30 — ES-DE v3.5.0
Playnite: Sep 30 — Playnite v10.62
Swiss r2199: Sep 29 — Swiss r2199

Arcade — 13 notices across 6 projects

Mame NEHT: Oct 04 — Mame NEHT v0.160
Supermode Sinden profile: Oct 04 — Supermode Sinden v0.3a-188c0a9; Sep 30 — Supermode Sinden v0.3a-8b4de23
FB Neo profile · official release/homepage · source code: Oct 04 — FB Neo Git (2026/10/05); Oct 03 — FB Neo Git (2026/10/04); Oct 02 — FB Neo Git (2026/10/03); Oct 02 — FB Neo Git (2026/10/02); Sep 30 — FB Neo Git (2026/10/01); Sep 30 — FB Neo Git (2026/09/30); Sep 29 — FB Neo Git (2026/09/29)
pfeMame: Sep 30 — pfeMame v3.9.1
HBMAME · official release/homepage · source code: Sep 30 — HBMAME v0.289.3
Supermodel profile · official release/homepage · source code: Sep 29 — Supermodel v0.3a-20260928

Console — 128 notices across 42 projects

KytyPlus: Oct 04 — KytyPlus v3.9
PS5PCEM: Oct 04 — PS5PCEM v0.3.3
KytyPS5 profile: Oct 04 — KytyPS5 (2026/10/04); Oct 03 — KytyPS5 (2026/10/03) feeced8; Oct 02 — KytyPS5 (2026/10/03); Oct 02 — KytyPS5 (2026/10/01); Sep 30 — KytyPS5 (2026/09/30); Sep 30 — KytyPS5 (2026/09/29) af4edc2; Sep 29 — KytyPS5 (2026/09/29)
Seta GX profile: Oct 04 — Seta GX v0.4
Mupen64-RR Lua profile: Oct 04 — Mupen64-RR Lua v1.5.0-4; Oct 02 — Mupen64-RR Lua v1.5.0-3
Xenia profile · official release/homepage · source code: Oct 04 — Xenia Git (2026/10/05); Oct 03 — Xenia Git (2026/10/04); Oct 02 — Xenia Git (2026/10/03); Oct 02 — Xenia Git (2026/10/02); Sep 30 — Xenia Git (2026/10/01); Sep 30 — Xenia Git (2026/09/30); Sep 29 — Xenia Git (2026/09/29)
Vita3K profile · official release/homepage · source code: Oct 04 — Vita3K Git (2026/10/05); Oct 03 — Vita3K Git (2026/10/04); Oct 02 — Vita3K Git (2026/10/03); Oct 02 — Vita3K Git (2026/10/02); Sep 30 — Vita3K Git (2026/10/01); Sep 30 — Vita3K Git (2026/09/30)
ShadPS4 profile · official release/homepage · source code: Oct 04 — ShadPS4 Pre (2026/10/05); Oct 03 — ShadPS4 Pre (2026/10/03); Oct 02 — ShadPS4 v0.19.0; Oct 02 — ShadPS4 Pre (2026/10/02); Sep 30 — ShadPS4 Pre (2026/10/01); Sep 30 — ShadPS4 Pre (2026/09/30); Sep 29 — ShadPS4 Pre (2026/09/29)
SharpEmu profile: Oct 04 — SharpEmu Git (2026/10/05); Oct 03 — SharpEmu Git (2026/10/04); Oct 02 — SharpEmu v0.0.5-nexus; Oct 02 — SharpEmu Git (2026/10/02); Sep 30 — SharpEmu Git (2026/10/01); Sep 30 — SharpEmu Git (2026/09/30)
rpcs3 profile · official release/homepage · source code: Oct 04 — rpcs3 Git (2026/10/05); Oct 03 — rpcs3 Git (2026/10/04); Oct 02 — rpcs3 Git (2026/10/03); Oct 02 — rpcs3 Git (2026/10/02); Sep 30 — rpcs3 Git (2026/10/01); Sep 30 — rpcs3 Git (2026/09/30); Sep 29 — rpcs3 Git (2026/09/29)
PCSX2 profile · official release/homepage · source code: Oct 04 — PCSX2 v2.9.96; Oct 02 — PCSX2 v2.9.94; Sep 30 — PCSX2 v2.9.93
PCSX-Redux profile: Oct 04 — PCSX-Redux Git (2026/10/05); Oct 03 — PCSX-Redux Git (2026/10/04); Oct 02 — PCSX-Redux Git (2026/10/03); Oct 02 — PCSX-Redux Git (2026/10/02); Sep 30 — PCSX-Redux Git (2026/10/01); Sep 30 — PCSX-Redux Git (2026/09/30); Sep 29 — PCSX-Redux Git (2026/09/29)
Hades profile: Oct 04 — Hades Git (2026/10/05); Oct 02 — Hades Git (2026/10/02)
NxEmu profile: Oct 04 — NxEmu Dev v0.8.0-747-6f2e5d9; Oct 03 — NxEmu Dev v0.8.0-742-e24d42f; Oct 02 — NxEmu Dev v0.8.0-732-8f76ef6; Sep 30 — NxEmu Dev v0.8.0-724-3bce413
Gearcoleco profile · official release/homepage · source code: Oct 04 — Gearcoleco v1.7.3; Sep 30 — Gearcoleco v1.7.2
GearSystem profile · official release/homepage · source code: Oct 04 — GearSystem v3.9.21; Sep 30 — GearSystem v3.9.20
Gearboy profile · official release/homepage · source code: Oct 04 — Gearboy v3.8.17; Sep 29 — Gearboy v3.8.16
Dolphin profile · official release/homepage · source code: Oct 04 — Dolphin Git 2609-59; Oct 03 — Dolphin Git 2609-54; Oct 02 — Dolphin Git 2609-33; Oct 02 — Dolphin Git 2609-11
PPSSPP profile · official release/homepage · source code: Oct 04 — PPSSPP Git (2026/10/05); Oct 02 — PPSSPP Git (2026/10/02); Sep 30 — PPSSPP Git (2026/10/01); Sep 30 — PPSSPP Git (2026/09/30); Sep 29 — PPSSPP Git (2026/09/29)
Azahar profile · official release/homepage · source code: Oct 04 — Azahar Git (2026/10/05); Oct 03 — Azahar Git (2026/10/04); Sep 29 — Azahar Git (2026/09/29)
prosper: Oct 03 — prosper v0.2.3
RetroDECK: Oct 03 — RetroDECK v0.10.10b
DuckStation profile: Oct 03 — DuckStation v0.1-11894; Oct 02 — DuckStation Git (2026/10/03); Oct 02 — DuckStation Git (2026/10/02); Sep 30 — DuckStation Git (2026/10/01); Sep 30 — DuckStation Git (2026/09/30); Sep 29 — DuckStation Git (2026/09/29)
Ruzu: Oct 03 — Ruzu v0.1.1-rc4; Oct 02 — Ruzu v0.1.1-rc3
Xenia Edge profile: Oct 03 — Xenia Edge Git (2026/10/04); Oct 02 — Xenia Edge Git (2026/10/03); Oct 02 — Xenia Edge Git (2026/10/02); Sep 30 — Xenia Edge Git (2026/10/01); Sep 30 — Xenia Edge Git (2026/09/30); Sep 29 — Xenia Edge Git (2026/09/29)
Nextendo: Oct 03 — Nextendo v1.8.12; Sep 30 — Nextendo v1.8.11; Sep 29 — Nextendo v1.8.10
VisualBoyAdvance-M profile: Oct 03 — VisualBoyAdvance-M Git (2026/10/04); Oct 02 — VisualBoyAdvance-M Git (2026/10/03); Oct 02 — VisualBoyAdvance-M Git (2026/10/02); Sep 30 — VisualBoyAdvance-M Git (2026/10/01); Sep 30 — VisualBoyAdvance-M Git (2026/09/30)
Pureikyubu profile: Oct 03 — Pureikyubu Git (2026/10/04); Oct 02 — Pureikyubu Git (2026/10/03)
Citron-NEO profile: Oct 03 — Citron-NEO Git (2026/10/04); Oct 02 — Citron-NEO Git (2026/09/30); Sep 29 — Citron-NEO Git (2026/09/29)
BizHawk profile: Oct 03 — BizHawk Git (2026/10/04); Sep 30 — BizHawk Git (2026/09/30); Sep 29 — BizHawk Git (2026/09/29)
FCE Ultra GX: Oct 02 — FCE Ultra GX v4.0.2
Snes9x GX: Oct 02 — Snes9x GX v5.0.3
x360ce: Oct 02 — x360ce v4.24.60.0
ShadPS4-QtLauncher: Oct 02 — ShadPS4-QtLauncher (2026/10/02); Sep 29 — ShadPS4-QtLauncher (2026/09/29)
Visual Boy Advance GX: Oct 02 — Visual Boy Advance GX v3.0.3
NESd profile: Oct 02 — NESd v0.21.3; Sep 30 — NESd v0.21.2; Sep 29 — NESd v0.21.1
Coffee GB profile: Oct 02 — Coffee GB v2.1.7
Flycast profile: Oct 02 — Flycast Git (2026/10/02); Sep 29 — Flycast Git (2026/09/29)
CEMU Graphic Packs profile: Sep 30 — CEMU Graphic Packs v987; Sep 29 — CEMU Graphic Packs v986
NgpCraft Emulator: Sep 30 — NgpCraft Emulator v3.8.3
Ymir profile: Sep 29 — Ymir Git (2026/09/29)
mGBA profile: Sep 29 — mGBA Git (2026/09/29)