# Best Atari 7800 emulator: A7800, the Gold Cartridge pick

Page: https://whichemulator.wtf/atari7800/ · Reference: WEM-ATARI7800-NAEX

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Atari 7800 ProSystem, Atari, 1986. Plays 2600 carts too.

## Recommended: A7800

whichemulator.wtf calls its recommendation for each system the Gold Cartridge pick. For the Atari 7800, the Gold Cartridge pick is A7800.

A7800 is MAME's 7800 driver reworked by the 7800 homebrew community, with better MARIA timing, POKEY sound and every controller the system supported. It is the most accurate way to play the 7800 and the one homebrew authors test on. It is MAME underneath, so the interface is plain, but there is very little to set up.

Runs on Windows · Mac · Linux. Open source. Download: https://github.com/7800-devtools/a7800/releases

**BIOS optional:** Neither A7800 nor the ProSystem core needs the 7800 BIOS. If you want the original boot behaviour, dump it from your own console.

## Alternatives

- [MAME](https://www.mamedev.org) (Windows · Mac · Linux, open source): A7800's parent, and fine if you already run MAME for everything. A7800 carries 7800-specific fixes and newer cart formats that MAME may not have.

## RetroArch cores

- ProSystem: Light and easy, but less accurate than A7800 on homebrew.

BIOS is optional for ProSystem.

## Hardware

- Colours: 25 per line / 256
- Resolution: 160×240 or 320×240
- Graphics: MARIA
- Sound: TIA (POKEY in some carts)
- Library: ~59 games

## Notes

### Why A7800

The official library is small, but the 7800 has a busy homebrew scene, and many of the best games for it are recent. Those games lean on bankswitching schemes, extra RAM and POKEY audio that older emulators don't handle, which is why A7800 is the one to use.

The last tagged release is from 2022 and still works fine. It runs 2600 games as well, but Stella is the better choice for those.

### What about ProSystem

ProSystem was the standard 7800 emulator for years and lives on as a RetroArch core. It is fast and simple, and good enough for the commercial library, but its original author stopped updating it long ago.

## Support the developers

- [Star on GitHub](https://github.com/7800-devtools/a7800)

## Questions the Ask API answers

- [Which Atari 7800 emulator should I use on Android?](https://whichemulator.wtf/ask?q=Which+Atari+7800+emulator+should+I+use+on+Android%3F&page=%2Fatari7800%2F&via=page)
- [Which RetroArch core should I use for the Atari 7800?](https://whichemulator.wtf/ask?q=Which+RetroArch+core+should+I+use+for+the+Atari+7800%3F&page=%2Fatari7800%2F&via=page)
- [Does Atari 7800 emulation need a BIOS?](https://whichemulator.wtf/ask?q=Does+Atari+7800+emulation+need+a+BIOS%3F&page=%2Fatari7800%2F&via=page)