Atari Jaguar, everywhere RetroArch runs.

The RetroArch core runs inside RetroArch and any other libretro frontend, on every platform listed above. The app is a standalone desktop program for macOS, Windows and Linux, built on the same core: a game library with box art, RetroArch shader presets, cheats, RetroAchievements, controller remapping, save states and LAN link play. New in v3.9.0.

See the app

Download a build from Releases (latest: v3.7.0, mostly Jaguar CD fixes), or let the installer do it. It installs the RetroArch core, the standalone app (new in v3.9.0), or both, checks every download against the release's SHA256SUMS.txt, and the same command updates whichever you already have. For the core it finds your RetroArch, picks the matching build, backs up the core it replaces and checks that the new one loads.

macOS, Linux, Raspberry Pi

curl -fsSL {{RAW_URL}}/tools/install.sh | sh

Windows (PowerShell)

irm {{RAW_URL}}/tools/install.ps1 | iex

Both ask what to install when run in a terminal. To skip the question, add --what core, --what app or --what both: curl -fsSL {{RAW_URL}}/tools/install.sh | sh -s -- --what both. On Windows, iex cannot take arguments, so set $env:VJ_WHAT = 'both' first, or run & ([scriptblock]::Create((irm {{RAW_URL}}/tools/install.ps1))) -What both.

install.sh (Linux, Raspberry Pi, macOS) and install.ps1 (Windows) take --dry-run / -DryRun to print the plan and change nothing, and --channel nightly / -Channel nightly. The app goes to /Applications on macOS, ~/.local/bin as an AppImage on Linux (--app-format deb for the package) and %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\VirtualJaguar on Windows. Until the first release with the app exists, asking for the app says so and installs nothing. On a Pi the core installer reads the word size from the RetroArch binary, not the kernel, because the core must match RetroArch (rpi4 is 32-bit, rpi4_64 is 64-bit). Nightlies build from develop (currently v{{CORE_VERSION}}) and are gated on compiling, not on the test suite.

Manual: libretro docs, with core options and controls. No BIOS files are required (README: BIOS). Wondering whether your game works? See Compatibility.

Jaguar CD

CUE/BIN, CDI and CHD. Boots through an HLE CD BIOS (default) or the real BIOS on emulated BUTCH hardware. Audio CDs and the Virtual Light Machine work. With no content loaded, the core starts at the CD BIOS insert-disc screen. A disc swap restarts the console. HLE CD titles are deterministic under run-ahead and rollback, and a state saved mid-load resumes the load. CHD needs a session-aware chdman; every release attaches one.

compatibility · v3.7.0 notes

Controllers

ST and Amiga mouse, the Tempest 2000 rotary, TR10 analog and driving, the port-1 lightgun, the Team Tap, the Pro Controller and the 6D flight stick. Dead zone, offset and response are tunable per axis. The 6D stick is a best attempt: no software that uses it is known.

input guide · v3.5.0 notes

Link play

JagLink and CatBox serial, at register level. Automatic mode rides a RetroArch netplay session with nothing to type. Direct TCP finds LAN hosts by UDP beacon. Doom deathmatch is validated. Ultra Vortek dials the emulated Voice Modem (press 911 at the title screen), and voice chat carries speech over it.

user guide · voice-modem.md

Savestates and run-ahead

Byte-identical replay under RetroArch’s run-ahead loop, checked by a harness. The format is v15. Older states still load, but older cores cannot read v15.

PR #327 · savestate-compat.md

RetroAchievements

Memory maps and achievement support, asserted in CI against the rcheevos mapping.

test_memory_map.c · test_rcheevos_e2e.sh

GameDrive and Memory Track

GameDrive 16 MB bank switching against RetroHQ’s GDBIOS bindings; GD-locked homebrew boots. The CD unit’s Memory Track save cartridge is emulated, so CD saves persist.

GameDrive notes · memory-track.md

HD textures

Dump every unique blit source as a hashed PNG, redraw it, drop it in a pack directory. Replacement is presentation only, so savestates and netplay stay bit-identical with or without a pack.

details · texture-dump.md

Patches, cheats and hooks

The frontend applies cartridge softpatches (IPS and friends). CD images are not softpatched. Your own vj_hooks.txt patches load behind a core option.

patching-a-game.md · rom-patches.md

Debugging

A GDB remote stub exposes the 68K, GPU and DSP as threads. A crash watchdog writes the failing subsystem into your frontend log. Series K and Model M boot ROMs are embedded, and a custom image is identified by checksum.

GDB stub · crash_detect.c

Source

GPLv3, descended from Shamus Hammons’ Virtual Jaguar. Hardware-referenced tests gate CI.

licence · why this core

Reports go in Discussions, confirmed bugs in Issues. Attach the frontend log: the crash watchdog writes the failure signature into it.