(TODO: Fix formatting and descriptions for some games, lol)

For best and consistent results, always use Proton as the runner with a supported launcher (Steam as a non-Steam application, or one with an umu backend - e.g. Lutris 0.5.18+, Heroic 2.16.0+, Nero, etc.) - these results may not be reflected properly in Wine for all users!

Introduction

Linux can play a variety of Windows- or Winbedded (Windows Embedded)-based arcade titles through Wine & Proton, but many require either a Configuration tool and associated patch for the game/platform, or a Frontend to work. For nearly all entries listed below, you'll need either one of the following:

- JConfig/RConfig/iDmacX

A Series of Per-Game Patchers & Configuration Utilities

• +++ Can run "standalone", meaning the game's executable can generally be run directly.
• +++ Less overhead, usually faster.
• +++ No special winetricks verbs required for the loaders to run.
• --- Proprietary tools with no public source or homepage.
• --- Mostly unmaintained, with some unresolved bugs in newer Wine/Proton versions.
• --- Some games relies on cracked executables, which could be considered warez and thusly cannot be directly linked to.
• --- Some loaders are more Proton-friendly than others.
• --- For lightgun games, requires also using DemulShooter for basic input.

- TeknoParrot

An All-In-One Frontend for Managing & Playing Arcade Games

• +++ Frequently updated with new cores and fixes.
• +++ Easier to access, uses a friendly frontend for setup and management of games.
• +++ Includes builtin mouse hook for Lightgun games without needing DemulShooter.
• --- Cores are mostly proprietary; only some cores (mainly ones that are also available as JConfig patches) and the main frontend UI are open source under GPLv3.
• --- Many cores are locked behind monthly subscription and require intermittent phone-home internet connectivity.
• --- TP cores are wrapped in custom DRM, which can introduce noticeable overhead and/or GPU bottlenecks that wouldn't happen when running the game standalone. Effects are inversely proportional to the age/apparent power of the GPU, primarily occurs on NVIDIA GPUs Turing or newer. Read more here.
• --- Builtin mousehook requires dotnet461, generally conflicts with DemulShooter.

This guide is mostly focused on Lightgun style games; however, due to limitations in how Wine handles mouse input, these will only work in singleplayer with one lightgun device - see this incessant rambling for more info, and this relevant Wine Bugzilla issue. For Lightgun games, you may also want to have the following:

- DemulShooter

A Lightgun Input Manager & Outputs Blaster

• +++ Can send force-feedback outputs in either Mamehooker* (requires vbrun6 & configuration)-format, or MAME Network format for Linux-native utilities, such as QMH or Hook of the Reaper
• +++ Open source.
• +++ Comes with patches to make some games standalone without JConfig or TP - see also DS Wiki
• !!! Needs to be started individually with certain commands for every game.
• --- Does not quite work with Wine's builtin Mono Runtime, requires .NET 2.0 (provided by either dotnet20sp2 or dotnet35sp1).

*for Mamehooker to work with compatible Lightgun devices, COM_devices_setup.reg needs to be installed into the prefix's registry.

It should also be noted that, currently, Lightgun shooters REQUIRE an X11 session - Wine's native Wayland session or running through XWayland will not capture any Lightguns' input properly when focused on the window.

Working Games:

Raw Thrills (Windows-based)

Requires JConfig (for specified games)

Should also be compatible with TeknoParrot, but not confirmed.

Warning

JConfig'd games seem to crash on boot (error code 1280) if a configured controller isn't present at runtime.

• Batman (Specular/Raw Thrills): Works w/ JConfigBTM & prepacked patched libusb0.dll. Run sdaemon.exe.
• H2Overdrive: Works w/ JConfigH2O. Run the packaged H2Overdrive.exe.

Raw Thrills (Linux-based)

Requires TeknoParrot

Warning

BudgieLoader/ElfLdr2 will terminate early if either Feral's Gamemode or MangoHud are attached to the Proton process, as the normally harmless warnings emitted by these apps are interpreted by the frontend as fatal errors. Make sure your TeknoParrot runner is not using either of these helpers.

• Aliens Armageddon: Works. Careful with mapping mouse buttons, as pressing Side Mouse 1/2, aka Mouse 4/5 will cause controls and the cursor to lock up strangely, leaving only the side mouse buttons and the mouse left/right clicks to function, and the game will need to be force-closed from the TeknoParrot "running game" window.
• Target - Terror Gold: Works. Careful with changing the test mode settings, as the game could corrupt its system files and refuse to boot under certain circumstances! Recommend keeping a backup of the save folder just in case.
• Terminator - Salvation: Works. Does not seem to suffer from input bug above when mapping Side Mouse buttons.

Sega Ring- Systems

Requires RConfig v1.1, except for Lightgun Games which can alternatively use game-specific JConfig patches; see note.

Should also be compatible with TeknoParrot, but not confirmed

• Dengeki Bunko Fighting Climax Ignition: Works w/ RConfig (and bundled sv dir). Run ring_loader.exe. (May or may not be possibly unstable?) APM3 version might be more stable?
  • If native DirectSound is installed in the prefix, set WINEDLLOVERRIDES="dsound=builtin" for working sound.
• Operation G.H.O.S.T.: Works w/ game-specific JConfig* (and bundled sv dir) & prepacked patched executable. Run gs2.exe. Requires d3dcompiler_47 to start, xact for sound fixes and mitigating random crashes. Don't use JConfig's mouse handler, use DemulShooter instead (-target=ringwide -rom=og). For fullscreen, make sure gs2.ini has Fullscreen=1, and set env vars WINE_FULLSCREEN_FSR=1 WINE_FULLSCREEN_FSR_CUSTOM_MODE=1024x600 to use Proton-GE's FSR to fake the supported resolution and provide seamless upscaling (albeit with sharpening artifacts).
  • By default, title WMV doesn't show anything, subsequent videos do show but are stuttery; to fix videos playback, either:
    • Install wmp11 (w/ builtin quartz) to make videos show, with occasional hitching, or
    • Install directshow + lavfilters741 to make videos show with less hitching, and ffdshow (make sure wmv2/3 audio is enabled!) to make WMVs' audio work. If quartz is installed, set that to builtin.
• Let's Go Island: Works w/ game-specific JConfig* (and bundled sv dir) & prepacked patched executable. Run LGI_RingW_F_safe.exe. Don't use JConfig's mouse handler, use DemulShooter instead (-target=ringwide -rom=lgi). Disable JConfig's Direct3D9 Wrapper to prevent game window from minimizing at launch and stalling, and set env vars WINE_FULLSCREEN_FSR=1 WINE_FULLSCREEN_FSR_CUSTOM_MODE=1024x600 to use Proton-GE's FSR to fake the supported resolution and provide seamless upscaling (albeit with sharpening artifacts).
• Let's Go Island 3D: Works w/ game-specific JConfig* (and bundled sv dir) & prepacked patched executable. Run LGI.exe. Don't use JConfig's mouse handler, use DemulShooter instead (-target=ringwide -rom=lgi3d). JConfig's Direct3D9 Wrapper can be disabled entirely, as in-game resolution can be set and scaled in $GAMEDIR/data/Fraw/fwDataDB/fwDataDB_Application.txt (adjusting the Window/Render/Frontend sizes to match your desired size) with few ill effects.
• Sega Golden Gun: Works w/ game-specific JConfig* (and bundled sv dir) & prepacked patched executable. Run RingGunR_RingWide.exe. Requires d3dcompiler_43/47 + d3dx9. Don't use JConfig's mouse handler, use DemulShooter instead (-target=ringwide -rom=sgg). Disable JConfig's Direct3D9 Wrapper to prevent game window from minimizing at launch and stalling, and set env vars WINE_FULLSCREEN_FSR=1 WINE_FULLSCREEN_FSR_CUSTOM_MODE=1360x768 to Proton-GE's FSR to fake the supported resolution and provide seamless upscaling (albeit with sharpening artifacts) without getting a ERRO DIRECT3D error.
• Transformers Human Alliance: Works w/ JConfig* (and bundled sv dir) & prepacked patched executable. Run TF_Gun_R_Ring_dumped.exe. Don't use JConfig's mouse handler, use DemulShooter instead (-target=ringwide -rom=tha). Keep default resolution (1280x720).

Note

[*]Asterisks indicates that the game has a Service Menu app available, but using these requires that the game-specific JConfig patch be used (i.e. ones with a replacement executable) - doing this allows for more customization for each game, with the handicap that games not using the Direct3D9 Wrapper option will require an external app (like unclutter) to hide the mouse cursor. Alternatively, you can choose to use RConfig v1.1 (2021/12/15) and launch with ring_loader.exe, which allows keeping the original executable and all titles to hide the mouse cursor, but at the cost of the games being forced to run in Japanese and with the only selectable customization being Free Play.

Sega ALLS Platform

Requires TeknoParrot

• Scarlet Dawn: Crashes with JConfigSCD, works with TeknoParrot. TP DRM will cause performance issues/GPU performance bottlenecking on some hardware.

Sega Nu Platform

Requires TeknoParrot

• Luigi's Mansion Arcade: Crashes with JConfigLM, works with TeknoParrot. TP DRM will cause performance issues/GPU performance bottlenecking on some hardware.

Examu eX-Board Platform

Requires XB-Monitor+

• Suggoi! Arcana Heart 2 (eX-Board): If prefix has native DirectSound installed, it needs WINEDLLOVERRIDES="dsound=builtin" to fix sound oddities.

Taito Type X Series

Requires JConfig (for specified games, unless noted otherwise)

Warning

JConfig'd games seem to crash on boot (error code 1280) if a configured controller isn't present at runtime.

• Gundam - Spirits of Zeon: Runs standalone; needs quartz verb to fix demo videos not displaying and crashing. May or may not exhibit random crashes in some areas.
  • Using dgVoodoo as an upscaler requires also using DemulShooter's input hack, otherwise aim will be inaccurate (locked to the "640x480" area to the top-leftmost part of the screen)
• Haunted Museum: Runs standalone w/ default patched executable. Run game.exe.
  • Settings (mainly resolution) can be modified in HAUNTED.ini; going over 640x480 causes the HUD to render in a small window at the top left corner.
  • If native DirectSound is installed in the prefix, set WINEDLLOVERRIDES=dsound=builtin for working sound.
• Haunted Museum 2: Runs standalone w/ default patched executable (game.exe); For runners older than Wine 9.6, ir50_32.dll needs to be manually defined as a native DLL override.
  • Settings (mainly resolution) can be modified in HAUNTED2.ini; HUD scales well with custom/bigger resolutions.
  • If native DirectSound is installed in the prefix, set WINEDLLOVERRIDES=dsound=builtin for working sound.
• Gaia Attack 4: Runs standalone w/ default patched executable (game.exe), though an external ir50_32.dll also needs to be provided in the game's directory (can be repurposed from Haunted Museum 2) or the game may crash after playing/while loading certain FMV sequences. FMVs require the WMV9 codec installer it comes with to be installed, and smooth playback requires using a runner based on Wine 9.6 or newer.
  • Settings (mainly res) can be modified in MINIGUN.ini; HUD scales well with custom/bigger resolutions.
• Music GunGun! 2: Runs with JConfig for MGG2 and ONLY with one of the custom patched EXEs from this link from Sinden Wiki.
  • If native DirectSound is installed, set WINEDLLOVERRIDES="dsound=builtin" for working sound.
• Silent Hill The Arcade: Runs standalone w/ DemulShooter GUI for configuring machine buttons. Native quartz is needed for FMVs to display; for smoother video playback, install lavfilters741 with at least the LAV Splitter (x86) & LAV Video (x86) options enabled (all other installer defaults are OK).
  • Requires disabling ALSA MIDI Through Port and Wireplumber's ALSA MIDI Monitor for KSHG.exe to boot without crashing on startup; download and copy attached no-midi-through.conf to /etc/modprobe.d/, and attached 99-disable-alsamidi.conf to ~/.config/wireplumber/wireplumber.conf.d/.
  • If native DirectSound is installed, set WINEDLLOVERRIDES="dsound=builtin" to get sound in cutscenes.
  • Currently (as of Proton 9.x), there is double-audio playback in FMVs with embedded audio using the above setup.

Taito NESiCAxLive Platform

Requires iDMacx86/x64 + bundled JConfig

Warning

JConfig'd games seem to crash on boot (error code 1280) if a configured controller isn't present at runtime.

Warning

Wine 8.0 and onwards seems to cause the keyboard input in iDMacx86 to stop responding. If you use keyboard mappings for gameplay or test/service/exit, you might want to use WineGE-7-43 in its own prefix to prevent issues until this is resolved.

• Senko no Ronde DUO (for NESiCAxLive): Works w/ JConfig for NESiCA games (and bundled sv dir) and Ring Unlocker. Import NESiCA registry file to prefix, run using NESiCA_Unlocker.exe to remove nags. DirectSound wrapper seems to crash Wine, but not using it makes SFX not work. Attract mode uses WMVs and letting it play while idle on the title will crash on normal prefixes; using the setup/workaround for Operation G.H.O.S.T. will allow FMVs to play without sound.
• Suggoi! Arcana Heart 2: Works w/ NESiCAxLive JConfig & iDmacDrv32. Doesn't seem to respect any custom resolutions, other than the NESICA/Type X toggle for HD mode (stretched 720p w/ borders) or not (native 480p), so D3D9/8 patch is useless. Saves only seem to commit on the first boot; subsequent boots reads fine, but can't save Test Mode settings/high scores. It's a DX8 game, FWIW.
  • If native XAudio is installed in the prefix AND you're using a modded bgm.xwb (e.g. created with Microsoft Cross-Platform Audio Creation Tool (XACT) v3.0), setting WINEDLLOVERRIDES="*XActengine3_5=builtin" is needed to fix music not playing.

Konami Arcade Systems

Requires JConfig (for specified games)

• Castlevania The Arcade: Runs standalone w/ DemulShooter, assuming data/shader files are patched properly*, but requires a 30fps cap if not using game's provided Vsync. WMVs can work with ([wmp11?] directshow|wmv9vcm) or (directshow|lavfilters741), otherwise will crash when playing FMVs.

*The Archive is your friend

Namco ES-series Platform

Standalone:

• Point Blank/Gunbullet X: Runs standalone w/ DemulShooter, copying its provided patch @ DemulShooter/Unity/PointBlankX to the game's root directory, right next to the main executable (PBX100-2-NA-MPR0-A63.exe).
  • For DemulShooter, make sure to also add winhttp native,builtin DLL override for FFB outputs to work.
  • This game uses a forced Vsync, so non-VRR users find it desirable to have a dxvk.conf file with d3d9.presentInterval = 0 next to the executable for best performance.
  • For runners older than Proton-GE9-22, vcrun2010 is required to fix I/O check lockup on boot, quartz to fix the game locking up on inserting coinage*, and lavfilters741 to be able to start the game after inserting coinage*.

*The latter two are necessary because PBX uses .avi files, which are actually just WMV2/Windows Media Video 8 video streams in disguise.

TeknoParrot Required:

• Time Crisis 5: JConfigTC5 w/ patched RSLauncher is supposed to work, but doesn't boot. Could also directly run TC5\Binaries\Win64\TimeCrisisGame-Win64-Shipping.exe with launch arguments, but mouse aiming will horribly delayed. TeknoParrot is recommended. Needs vcrun2010 for RSLauncher to work. TP performance penalty is minimal.

Others

• Akuma Mortis - Immortal: Runs standalone without special prereqs; DemulShooter hack only provides outputs.
  • Game logic is tied to original 60hz target, so a frame cap (DXVK_FRAME_RATE=60) is necessary.
  • If prefix has native DirectSound installed, you may want to also set WINEDLLOVERRIDES="dsound=builtin" to alleviate sound delay.
• Friction: Runs standalone w/ DemulShooter, requires d3dcompiler_42.
• Mission Impossible (Sega Amusements): Requires running through TeknoParrot for the Disable Webcam patch, as running standalone will freeze on startup with a lot of v4l2-related errors when (presumably) attempting to call for supported Webcam devices.
  • Does not seem to work with DemulShooter for outputs as of now; TP may be inhibiting the game's ability to load BepinEx plugins.

Windows-exclusive Emulated Machines

• Model 2 Emulator v1.1a: Requires d3dcompiler_47 to not crash when starting a game.
  • If dinput8 verb is installed, set it to builtin for mouse aiming to work in fullscreen properly.
• CXBX-Reloaded 0007d20 (for Virtua Cop 3): No special requirements to run.
  • If dinput8 verb is installed, set it to builtin for mouse aiming to work in fullscreen properly.
  • May take a few tries to boot sometimes.
  • Aiming spans the entire screen, so enabling individual light guns' 4:3 Correction Mode is required for accurate aiming.
  • Sound effects can randomly stop at certain points.

Non-MAME Arcade Platforms which don't require Wine

• Sega Lindbergh: Refer to Lindbergh Loader for running all Lindbergh titles natively under Linux, either via the Flatpak or AppImage w/ 32-bit GPU libraries.
• Sega Model 3: Refer to Supermodel - or this lightguns fork for Linux
  • AUR Package for the latter available @ supermodel-sinden-git
  • Requires real X11 (not XWayland) to work properly.

---

Not Working:

• Aliens Extermination (Global VR): Supposed to run aliens dehasped.exe, but crashes with an EXCEPTION_ACCESS_VIOLATION (0xc0000005) after loading alut.dll (OpenAL Utility Toolkit?). No amount of changing between different OpenAL-related libraries seems to resolve this.
• Fast & Furious (Raw Thrills Windows-based): Requires JConfigFF w/ patched sdaemon.exe. Boots, but forced calibration utility doesn't recognize (simulated) wheel device.
• Jurassic Park (Raw Thrills Linux-based): Window opens, but closes before the game can run.
• Persona 4 Arena - THE ULTIMAX ULTRA SUPLEX HOLD (NESiCAxLive): Requires iDMacx86 + bundled JConfig w/ key 303108. Heavy WMVs use means FMVs will just show a black screen; game can be started, but crashes after selecting a character when starting arcade mode. TODO: game seems to have heavy reliance on WMV usage and generates quartz errors in the problem area, eventually leading to Syscall stack overrun. Is not solved by the operation G.H.O.S.T. prefix setup/workaround.

---

*For Bottles users, environment variables exported from the game's launch arguments don't take effect on .bat scripts; they only work when the target is a normal executable. Thankfully on batch scripts, these can be exported with "set ENVIRONMENT_VAR=value".

*EXTRA INTERESTING NOTE: Wine can start unix applications (absolute paths only) with start /unix /path/to/application (this is how HedgeModManager works!)

Did I Miss Something?

If you're having problems with any of the working games listed, make sure to run your game/Wine prefix with the env var WINEDEBUG=+loaddll and paste the full output of the Wine start command/your Wine manager's run logs wherever is most accessible to you (preferably in a reply here for everyone to see).