Old consoles are a endearing and memorable part of our childhood. From the SNES to the PlayStation, going through the Mega Drive or Game Boy, these platforms offered us a series of incredible and iconic games, which remain in the retina of many users and that, some of them are as good as the standards current.
Although we can find versions for mobile devices, there are not all of them, being using an emulator the only way to be able to recall those times and check, incidentally, how time has passed for those titles. If you want to know the best ROM emulators for Android I invite you to keep reading.
The first thing that we must bear in mind that each and every one of the applications that we show you in this article not include any romas otherwise they might not be available in the Google app store.
Another aspect that we must take into account is that the emulators they are picky by nature so the same works the first time that there is no way to make them work with the roms that we have available.
The best console emulators for Android
RetroArch
RetroArch has the ability to emulate a lot of different consoles. The application itself is the emulator to which we can add cores, each core being in a specific console environment. At first, the application is not simple at all and requires a somewhat high learning curve, so it takes time to get hold of it.
This application is ideal for those users who like emulate multiple consoles without downloading a bunch of different emulators. Best of all, this application is available for your download completely free, does not include ads or in-app purchases.
What's more, RetroArch is also available for Windows, macOS, and Linux, so if our smartphone is too small, we can continue playing on a computer with a larger screen and to which we can also connect a control knob.
Classicboy
ClassicBoy Gold is the spiritual successor to the original ClassicBoy offering support for the same consoles: Original PlayStation, Nintendo 64, NES, Game Boy, Sega Genesis, Sega CD, Game Gear, Sega Saturn, and others.
This emulator is compatible with the basic functions, such as the saving and loading states, control knobs via bluetooth…, various audio and video options, and much more. Through the in-app purchases, we can access the possibility of using gestures on the screen, automatic loading of roms, plugins and other things.
ClassicBoy Gold is available for your download for free and includes in-app purchases.
Nintendo emulators for Android
EmuBox
Another completely free emulator to enjoy classic console titles is EmuBox, an emulator compatible with Nintendo DS, SNES, Game Boy Advanced and Color and NES. It includes the classic emulator features, such as save and load states, fast forward function, support for external controls, and more.
You can also adjust the settings for better performance, which is ideal for low- or mid-range terminals. EmuBox is free, without in-app purchases but contains ads and at the moment, there is no paid version that eliminates the large number of ads it shows.
Dolphin emulator
Dolphin is the only decent emulator that allows us to enjoy games of GameCube and Wii in terminals managed by Android. However, it is still under development, so it is possible that we find some bugs during its use, although fortunately, it is becoming less common.
This emulator offers us most of the common characteristics of this type of application, such as saving and loading states. Dolphin Emulator is free At the time of writing, something that may change when the app exits the beta state it is in.
Emulator Image
Citra Emulator is one of the latest browsers that has reached the Play Store and allows us to play titles from the Nintendo 3DS. It has the usual features of emulators such as compatibility with control knobs, save and load the game ...
Additionally, it supports native 3DS features such as microphone, camera, and motion controls. The emulator works quite well with most games. It claims to be compatible with hundreds of titles and is, at the moment, the only quality option to enjoy Nitendo 3DS titles.
Citra Emulator is available for your download for free and includes in-app purchases.
DraStic DS Emulator
DraStic DS Emulator allows us to enjoy most of the titles that were released for the Nintendo DS. It has the basic functions such as the save and load states along with the virtual controls and includes the possibility of customizing the upper and lower screens if it were the physical Nintendo DS.
It is compatible with control knobs, works with most ROMs and claims to be very stable. There is no free version to test and its price in the Play Store is 4,49 euros.
My boy
My Boy is an emulator of the Nintendo advance, an emulator that is available in a free version with ads and a paid version without ads. This emulator includes the usual features they offer us include save / load statuses, fast forward mode, cheat codes, save file sync with Google Drive.
my old boy
From the same developer as My Boy, we find My OldBoy an emulator of the Game Boy which is also available in a free version with ads and a paid version without ads.
Like My Boy, My OldBoy includes the usual features of save / load statuses, fast forward mode, save file sync with Google Drive, cheat codes,
M64Plus FZ Emulator
Emulator of Nintendo 64 for mobile devices it is quite a complicated task since most of the available ones do not work correctly. The emulator of this console that offers the best results is M64Plus FZ, an emulator compatible with a large number of titles and which is based on the open source project Mupen.
Like other emulators, the M64Plus FZ Emulator application is available in a free version with ads and another paid version that has a price of 3,89 euros.
PlayStation emulator for Android
PPSSPP
PPSSPP is next to RetroArch, the best emulator of PSP currently available on the market. It has great stability, support for multiple ROMs and a large number of functions including the classic ones that allow us to save and load a game ...
PPSSPP is available in two versions: a free one with ads and a paid version where no ads are shown and that has a price of 4,69 euros.
FPse
FPse is one of the most popular emulators of PlayStation, an emulator that offers us a large number of settings that allow us to adjust the number of frames per second, increase or decrease the graphic quality to adjust to the capacity of the processor ...
As a good emulator worth its salt, it is compatible with controllers via bluetooth. The only but of this application is that no free version, although the version available in the Play Store is relatively cheap and suitable for all budgets.
FPse is available in the Play Store for 3,39 euros.
ePSXe
Another fantastic application to enjoy games of PlayStation and PlayStation One is ePSXe, an emulator that offers us compatibility with a large number of ROMs. It is designed so that two players can play together on a smartphone using control knobs, although for this it is better to do it through a tablet.
Some of the controllers compatible with ePSXe are Xperia Play, WiiMote, Sixaxis, Xbox 360, Moga, Ipega ... ePSXe for Android includes graphics enhanced by software in x2 / x4 and using two OpenGL renderers and tIt is also available for PC.
ePSXe for Android It has a price in the Play Store of 2,99 euros.
SEGA emulator for Android
reddream
redream is one of only two emulators of Dreamcast in the Google Play Store with Reicast. redream claims to offer a high compatibility index and there are very few games that resist it, something quite difficult to see in most emulators.
This application is designed to emulate Dreamcast games on high-end devices. If your device is mid-range or low-end, you should try your luck with Reicast. redream is available for free download and includes in-app purchases.
Recast
Reicast is the other emulator available in the Play Store that allows us to run titles of Dreamcast. This emulator is designed for a mid-range or low-end smartphone, as it offers better performance than redream, its basic requirements being a 2-core processor, 512 MB of RAM and an Adreno, Tegra K1 or Mali 400 graphics.
The Dreamcast Reicast game emulator is available for your download completely free and does not include ads or in-app purchases.
Nostalgia. GG-Pro
The developer Nostalgia Emulator, puts at our disposal in the Play Store an emulator of the Game Gear, an emulator that offers us the same features for saving and loading games, fast forward… It is compatible with bluetooth controllers and is available in a free version with ads and a paid version without ads.
Other emulators that this developer offers us allows us enjoy NES and Game Boy games.
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