Anyone who frequently uses emulators on Android or other platforms will be more than familiar with the name RetroArch. The popular modular multi-platform emulator container has just been updated to version 1.7.4, with its main new change being the fact that the app for 64-bit capable devices has also been released, making it possible for consoles like PSX or Gamecube to substantially improve their performance.
As clearly stated on the official website in the release note, one of the main cores (the name for each installable emulator as an independent module) that’s been affected is the Beetle PSX emulator, whose 64-bit version has considerably increased its performance. We can back up that claim after trying it out on a humble Huawei P10 with some surprisingly great results.
This new version is so important that some cores are exclusive for this new build. One example is the Dolphin emulator, which is included for the first time in RetroArch since it lacks a 32-bit version. Wii and Gamecube can now be emulated through the app and their performance is really promising as we can see in a few videos online.
That said, we can’t forget about or dismiss the 32-bit version definitively. It’s going to continue receiving the same updates as the 64-bit version. What’s more, many of the cores are still exclusively 32-bit, like Dosbox SVN, PCSX ReARMed, and Picodrive. While there are still alternatives for each one of these platforms (MS-DOS, PSX, and Megadrive/SMS/GG), it’s more than likely that you might get the best performance for certain games using the older version.
