A series of updates have come to Saturn emulator Yaba Sanshiro over the last two weeks to bring its performance closer to real hardware on both Android devices and Windows. But Windows users may need to change the video rendering setting to avoid crashing the emulator, based on SHIRO!’s testing.
The Windows version can be downloaded from Yaba Sanshiro’s website. The free Android version is here while the paid “Pro” version, which adds some extra features for US$5, is here. It’s the lead platform for developer Shinya “DevMiyax” Miyamoto’s efforts, so other platforms typically lag behind the Android rendition. The iOS versions haven’t been updated since early January.
The flurry of updates started July 17 with version 1.20.25, the Android edition of Yaba Sanshiro’s first update in more than a month. It appears to be a major update improving the accuracy of CPU memory access, cache behavior, bus control and CD-ROM read and seek timings. It also made a few game-specific fixes. Miyamoto listed the following in the update’s “what’s new” notes:
- Overhauled emulation timing accuracy for much closer real-hardware behavior
- Refined CPU memory access, cache behavior, and bus control to match real hardware
- More accurate CD-ROM read/seek timing, bringing load and FMV playback closer to real hardware
- Techno Motor: fixed unresponsive controller input
- Virtua Fighter 2 (Europe): fixed a boot failure
- Tomb Raider (USA): fixed a crash on startup
- Crime Patrol: fixed a boot failure
- True Pinball (Europe): fixed a boot failure
A few days later on July 20, Miyamoto uploaded a video to YouTube showing off Princess Crown’s performance on Yaba Sanshiro’s Android version.
The next day on July 21, version 1.20.28 arrived. It was another Android-only update that mostly made small fixes to problems in specific games. It also added in-app news announcements. Its “what’s new” notes were as follows:
- Tenchi o Kurau II: fixed a progress blocker in Stage 3
- Jikkyou Oshaberi Parodius: fixed a boot failure
- Lupin the 3rd Chronicles, Dungeons & Dragons Collection: fixed boot failures
- Die Hard Trilogy, Cyberia: fixed boot failures
- Bubble Bobble feat. Rainbow Islands: fixed a boot failure
- Can Can Bunny Premiere 2: fixed a boot failure
- NHL Powerplay ’96, Madden NFL 97, Independence Day: fixed boot failures
- Added in-app news announcements
Three days later on July 24, version 1.20.29 came out with more game-specific fixes. But it also had a Windows version that changed Yaba Sanshiro’s rendering emulation on that platform to “a Vulkan-based asynchronous architecture, unifying behavior with other platforms.” It was the first Windows version update in more than two months. The update notes were:
- GunGriffon: fixed a freeze when starting a mission
- Mr. Bones: fixed characters disappearing
- X-MEN VS. STREET FIGHTER: fixed a hang during the opening movie
- Die Hard Trilogy: fixed a boot failure on Android
- Windows: rendering engine renewed to a Vulkan-based asynchronous architecture, unifying behavior with other platforms
Finally, the most recent update came three days ago on July 26. Another one for both Android and Windows, version 1.20.30 fixed more game-specific problems and added the option to receive push notifications about future emulator updates. Its notes are:
- Gungriffon: fixed no audio, gradual slowdown, and a brief black screen in the opening movie
- Bug!: fixed a freeze when starting the game
- Discworld: fixed an occasional freeze at startup
- You can now receive push notifications about new releases
Independent testing by SHIRO! found that the latest version of Yaba Sanshiro on Windows crashes immediately whenever attempting to open a game. That’s with the default video core, OpenGL. But after opening settings, going to the Video tab and changing the video core to the new Vulkan rendering option, games opened without issue. So Windows users may want to change that setting before attempting to play anything with Yaba Sanshiro version 1.20.30.
That same day, Miyamoto uploaded another video, this one showing off Deep Fear’s opening minutes running on Yaba Sanshiro.
AI likely assisted in the updates’ creation. Miymoto wrote in a social media post in March that he’d begun using AI for emulator development.
In a lengthy blog posted May 31, DevMiyax described how he rewrote Yaba Sanshiro’s VDP2 emulation to bring it closer to how real hardware works. In another blog post May 9, he discussed his rewrite of VDP1 emulation.
Yaba Sanshiro began development in 2014 as a fork of Yabause, an emulator that is no longer actively worked on, to bring it to Android devices. A PC version was released later that’s been occasionally updated alongside the Android version — most recently, it was updated in February 2025.
Its name was changed to Yaba Sanshiro 2 in April 2021 after Google blacklisted the original app for including Action Replay cheats.
The emulator wasn’t approved for the Apple App Store until August 2024 when Apple changed its policy regarding game emulators.
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