(I had this one half-done three weeks ago, and only just now got a chance to wrap it up. Hopefully we'll be back to a monthly schedule on these from here on out.)

Arcade emulator MAME has been updated to version 0.153. This release brings big changes under the hood, with major revisions made to modernise the core, user interface, OSD layers, drivers, and devices. Be sure to read through the What’s New document for a detailed rundown if you’re at all interested in the project and/or its goals. As always, you can get more general information and source code from the MAMEDev website, and there’s a Mac-specific binary on the SDLMAME site.

Multiple system emulator MESS has also been bumped up to version 0.153, with the most notable additions being support for 1979 console Bandai Super Vision 8000, the UK Apple IIe models, Serbian computer Pecom 32, and two systems I’ve never heard of: the Samsung Gam*Boy I and AIWA MegaCD CSD-GIM. See here for the full list of changes, and here for 32-bit and 64-bit SDLMESS binaries.

Macintosh II A/UX emulator Shoebill is making great progress. Developer Peter Rutenbar is reporting that A/UX 3.0.0 now runs, although there are still some issues. 0.0.2 boasts modest speed improvements and bug fixes, and it removes the need to supply your own kernel. You can download it or grab the latest source code at GitHub. Keep an eye on the E-Maculation Shoebill thread if you're interested in the project. Next up will be A/UX 3.0.1 support (maybe).

Recommended reading this month comes in the form of an article on the challenges of pixel-perfect Gamecube and Wii emulation, with specific examples of how Dolphin has tackled these in the past and present.

Continue reading for more emulator updates, including 8086tiny, PPSSPP, QEMU, openMSX, FS-UAE, and more, plus a helpful app for opening OS X archives in Mini vMac.

PlayStation Portable emulator PPSSPP turned one this week, and to celebrate the developers released version 0.9.5. This adds post-processing shaders and fixes loads of bugs and emulation issues. Head over to the PPSSPP news page for more details, and download an unofficial Mac binary here (requires SDL).

Open-source virtualisation tool VirtualBox got both a major and a minor update in October. Version 4.3.0 added USB touch device emulation, SCSI CD-ROM emulation, and loads of other things, while 4.3.2 fixed bugs in the virtual machine, GUI, and more. See the changelog for more details.

Sappharad was on the forums recently updating us on the progress of his Mac port of multi-system tool-assisted-speedruns-focused emulator Bizhawk. The latest build is 1.5.2, with recent additions including TI-83 support and loads of bug fixes. There’s still no native user interface, but the main Bizhawk team is refactoring the code to make it easier for someone to do this (if anyone’s up for the task). See the MacScene forum thread here, grab the download here, or check out the Bizhawk Google Code page for more details.

ScummVM celebrated its 12th birthday in style with a super cool visualisation (embedded below) of the history of its codebase. Even if you don’t understand the slightest thing about coding and classes, this will give you a great feel for the scale of the project and the 58,000+ commits made by hundreds of coders. If you’re looking for a more narrative-based history, head over to Ars Technica for my big feature on the project from last year.

Continue reading for more updates, including OS X PPC guest support in QEMU and new versions of RPCEmu, zxsp, CocoaMSX, Mednafen, and more.

Apologies for the break in service. We should be back to roundups every 4-5 weeks from here on out. We could always do with volunteers to help carry the weight, though.

Atari 2600 emulator Stella hit version 3.8 in February, with major changes to the sound system and ZIP archive handling. 3.8.1 followed at the beginning of March, with a few bugfixes and support for TIA RSYNC writes. See the Stella news page for more details. As always, you can get a download link here.

After taking more than nine years to reach its first stable release, ResidualVM has already popped out another one. Version 0.1.1 fixes around 20 bugs in the engine code and a dozen in Grim Fandango’s game data. Get it from the ResidualVM downloads page.

Sega Saturn emulator Yabause got its first update in 14 months near the end of January. Version 0.9.12 (link to announcement post) includes major updates to both the software and OpenGL renderers, adds ISO support to the OS X port, and adds the debug interface to the Qt port. Grab it from the Yabause download page.

Four years to the day after its last release, Sega Master System, Game Gear, SG-1000, ColecoVision, and NES (those last two are newly-added) emulator CrabEmu has been updated to version 0.2.0. You’ll have to download it for the full (and lengthy) changelog, but there’s been extensive work done on the GUI and Master System core.

Continue reading for more emulator updates from the past two months, including new versions of FS-UAE, XRoar, DBGL, VirtualBox (of course), and more.