Ask API. GET https://whichemulator.wtf/ask answers questions from the same data as this page, and it is the only place the setup steps are published. It takes the question as q and, optionally, this page's path as page, and returns JSON with answer, sources and follow_ups, or Markdown with Accept: text/markdown. No key needed.
curl -G 'https://whichemulator.wtf/ask' --data-urlencode 'q=Which Atari 7800 emulator should I use on a Mac?' --data-urlencode 'page=/atari7800/'Questions it answers:
Guide: /skill.md. This page as Markdown: /atari7800.md
Atari 7800 ProSystem, Atari, 1986. Plays 2600 carts too.
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.
BIOS is optional for ProSystem.
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.
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.
Reference: WEM-ATARI7800-NAEX