Game Emulators Page 2 of 17

Old dedicated video game platforms from childhood can often be disproportionately expensive for what is oftentimes just a desire for a nostalgic escape from the moment. That’s where emulation comes into play. From multi-system emulation systems such as RetroArch to specialized and high performance emulators such as higan, there are many modern methods to play the games of your childhood without having to break the bank in order to get old hardware.

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  1. Citra icon
     27 likes

    An experimental open-source Nintendo 3DS emulator/debugger written in C++. At this time, it only emulates a very small subset of 3DS hardware, and therefore is only useful for booting/debugging very simple homebrew demos. Citra is licensed under the GPLv2. Refer to the license.

    Discontinued
    Citra screenshot 1
    Best alternatives are RetroArch iconRetroArch15 alternatives
  2. OpenEmu icon
     63 likes

    Open Emu is an open source project to bring game emulation to OS X as a first class citizen, leveraging modern OS X technologies such as Cocoa, Core Animation and Quartz, and 3rd party libraries like Sparkle for auto-updating.

    OpenEmu screenshot 1
    Best alternatives are RetroArch iconRetroArch41 alternatives
  3. ScummVM icon
     122 likes

    ScummVM is a program which allows you to run certain classic graphical point-and-click adventure games, provided you already have their data files.

    • Game Emulator
    • FreeOpen Source
    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Windows Mobile
    • Android
    • iPhone
    • Symbian S60
    • BSD
    • Snapcraft
    • Flathub
    • Haiku
    • AmigaOS
    • MorphOS
    Myst: Masterpiece Edition (Windows/German)
    Best alternatives are RetroArch iconRetroArch12 alternatives
  4. Batocera.linux icon
     20 likes

    Batocera.linux is an operating system specialized in retrogaming available for your pc and different nano computers like the Raspberry and the Odroids.

    Batocera.linux screenshot 1
    Best alternatives are Bazzite iconBazziteandLakka iconLakka15 alternatives
  5. RPCS3 icon
     32 likes

    RPCS3 is an experimental open-source Sony PlayStation 3 emulator and debugger written in C++ for Windows, Mac and Linux. RPCS3 began development in May of 2011 by its founders, DH and Hykem.

    • Game Emulator
    • FreeOpen Source
    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • AppImageHub
    • Flathub
    • FreeBSD
    RPCS3 screenshot 1
    Best alternatives are OpenEmu iconOpenEmuandXenia iconXenia5 alternatives
  6. Mame icon
     89 likes

    MAME stands for Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator. When used in conjunction with images of the original arcade game's ROM and disk data, MAME attempts to reproduce that game as faithfully as possible on a more modern general-purpose computer.

    Mame screenshot 1
    Best alternatives are RetroArch iconRetroArchandOpenEmu iconOpenEmu19 alternatives
  7. DeSmuME icon
     71 likes

    DeSmuME is a freeware emulator for the NDS roms & Nintendo DS Lite games created by YopYop156. DeSmuME is also known as YopYop DS is written in C++ for Microsoft Windows and can play Nintendo DS homebrew and commercial nds roms.

    DeSmuME screenshot 1
    DeSmuME screenshot 2
    DeSmuME screenshot 3
    Best alternatives are RetroArch iconRetroArchandmelonDS iconmelonDS6 alternatives
  8. An open-source Nintendo Switch emulator, Ryujinx was originally created by gdkchan in C# for accuracy and performance before being forked by GreemDev.

    Ryujinx (GreemDev) screenshot 1
    Best alternatives are Ryujinx iconRyujinxandCemu iconCemu12 alternatives
  9. Ludo icon
     19 likes

    Ludo is an Emulator Frontend able to run retro video games. Ludo does not emulate the consoles itself, but does it through emulator plugins called libretro cores. Libretro cores are well known emulators (like Snes9x or Genesis Plus GX or PCSX) stripped from their user interface.

    Ludo's user interface is distraction free and configuration is always optional.
    Best alternatives are RetroArch iconRetroArchandLutris iconLutris28 alternatives
  10. Lakka icon
     33 likes

    Lakka is the official Linux distribution of RetroArch and the libretro ecosystem. Each game system is implemented as a libretro core, while the frontend RetroArch takes care of inputs and display.

    • Game Emulator
    • FreeOpen Source
    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Cubieboard
    • HummingBoard
    • Raspberry Pi
    • Nintendo Switch
    • Odroid
    Splash screen
    Best alternatives are RetroArch iconRetroArchandSteamOS iconSteamOS30 alternatives
  11. CDRomance icon
     26 likes

    Download Free Game ROMs. ISOs for your emulators to play on any platform, Windows/PC, MAC, Linux, Android. We focus on CD/DVD based Systems like Sony PlayStation (PSX), PS2, PSP, Gamecube.

    Example page pt. 2.
  12. Vita3K icon
     9 likes

    Vita3K is the world's first functional experimental open-source PlayStation Vita emulator for Windows, Linux and macOS.

    Vita3K screenshot 1
    Best alternatives are RetroArch iconRetroArchandPPSSPP iconPPSSPP4 alternatives
  13. Cemu icon
     23 likes

    Software to emulate Wii U games and applications on PC.

    Cemu screenshot 1
    Best alternatives are Dolphin Emulator iconDolphin Emulator4 alternatives
  14. Discover a lifetime of gaming, the ultimate retro gaming experience with Antstream Arcade. Dive into a vast collection of over 1300 classic games, with new titles added every week.

    • Game Emulator
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Online
    • Android
    • iPhone
    • Android Tablet
    • iPad
    • Epic Games Store
    • Playstation
    • Xbox
    Antstream Arcade screenshot 1
    Best alternatives are RetroArch iconRetroArchandDuckStation iconDuckStation55 alternatives
  15. Vimm’s Lair icon
     14 likes

    Dedicated to nostalgia for many of the greatest game consoles ever made. Thousands of games, full-color manual scans, ratings and reviews, and much more. Whether you’re looking for some videogame nostalgia or just curious, you’re sure to find everything you need.

    Legal Warning
    Vimm’s Lair screenshot 1
    Best alternatives are CDRomance iconCDRomanceandThe ROM Depot iconThe ROM Depot22 alternatives