The Best Emulators for Android
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- Опубліковано 8 лют 2025
- Hey all! In this video we go over the best emulator apps on android - both free and paid! For many of these apps, I've created a guide showing how to use the emulators.
N64 Emulation: • The Best Nintendo 64 (...
RetroArch tutorial: • How to set up RetroArc...
Lemuroid: • Lemuroid: Easy all in ...
Dolphin Forks: • Nintendo GameCube / Wi...
Launchbox Android: • LaunchBox for Android:...
Reset Collection: • Reset Collection Andro...
github.com/Ban...
github.com/Ban...
github.com/Lum...
Citra MMJ: github.com/wei...
Skyline (Need github account): github.com/sky...
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#Emulation #Emulator #AndroidEmulation #AndroidGaming #Android
Emulators on Android keep getting better and better!
Edit: I didn't mention Windows Emulation, but Exagear is available as well: ua-cam.com/video/wWuITjBcH4M/v-deo.html
Check out this app and plz plz plz make a small review video on it
Is there a reason you did not mention DIG as a front end? Do you not recommend it?
Is exagear only for PC games?
I can't use some .exe or apps?
Nevermind, I forgot I already have Laptop.
It's given to me by my aunt, but haven't used it that much.
@@bmanske1 Dig is a great frontend it's just not updated fast enough for my my liking. I prefer Launchbox/Reset over it, but frontends will largely come down to personal preference. Arc didn't make the list either.
Where's reicast?
And the best *Emulator UA-camr?* MR SUJANO!
True
The MMJ stands for "Subscribe to Mr. Sujano"
I said this prior to watching the video lol
Right
Exagear Windows Emulator 😀 Max Payne 3 on mobile 😄
I really love lemuroid , it is getting better and better (i use it for 16 bit games emulation). Drastic is still the king of DS emulation tho . Really looking forward for the future of melonDS
It's been a year... Things have changed drastically (no pun intended). I think that this is one topic that you should revisit each year!
I used to use lemuroid a lot, but the lack of a quick fast-forward option (have to go into the menu/settings) made me switch to Retroarch, which ended up being a great decision.
Retroarch is so hard to use bro how
@@SyndFire Yo! Anything that's easy to use was made so that one has to think LESS. Take that into consideration. And some things only seem hard until we've learned how to do it.
Take 1-2 hours max. And really really watch a few retroarch guides. I HIGHLY recommend checking out retro game corps guide on retroarch he goes through every single menu in reteoarch in detail and explains what it does. Saddle up partner; its rewarding once you've gor it all set up and know how to use it.
@@mathisblair2798 thank you I'll check it out
I'm just getting into this when I got my tab ultra 8. Does retroarch have good wii u emulator?
@@FunKaYxxD1sCO there's no wii u emulator on android
Xash3D, an android emulator for the Half-Life engine, is freaking amazing.
@PRIVATE Alpha woah, thank you for the insight
Technically it's not an emulator, it's just the game working on an engine that's compatible with android.
@PRIVATE Alpha But nonetheless it'd still an amazing piece of software.
That's a engine port. Not emulator btw
@PRIVATE Alpha thanks
Drastic is such a good emulator that not even DS emulators on windows are on par with it. (which goes to show poor state of DS emulation) Hopefully drastic can go open source so everyone can have fun, but it's been really so long since they announce going open source and free..
Newer version of Melon DS(stand alone PC ver) is the one close to drastic coz use Drastic bios(if I remember it right), I already try it with my Athlon 3000g +2x4gb 2400mhz ram, it's run everything (maybe? I test it with 20+ games even fans hack like Newer Super Mario Bros DS) At full speed some even can be upscale to 1080p/720p but some need use software rendering to run full speed or no glitch in visual.
Same, drastic is so good, I'm sad that it isn't available on other platforms yet.
Maybe one day we can get it on retroarch somehow, that would be a dream come true.
@@IAMNOTRANA well my motto is play what I can play first than game that I can play later, while Drastic is great but the lack of news for 2 years (if my memory serve me right) about Drastic going to OpenSource so I who want play DS badly cannot wait even try use Bluestack but realize its pain in the ass to setup my Roms folder and when I hear Mr Sujano drop the news about MelonDS update a month ago, I am so excited for at last I can play DS game in my PC without use that horrible Desmume and Bluestack+Drastic anymore and what you know its run many of my game perfectly except Bangai-O and TrackMania who need use Software rendering if I try use OpenGL Bangai-O have visual glitch while TrackMania run half FPS.
Yeah, I agree. DraStic should really have a PC version, DraStic works godly both on my low-end device and high-end device (android). I've tried all the DS emulators available for Windows like DeSmuME, MelonDS, Ideas, No$GBA, and Retroarch's DeSmuME and MelonDS core but they all run at 25fps max and no matter how hard I try to configure the settings, off all the HD enhancer options, they would always work on 23/25fps.
What I really like about DraStic is the built-in cheats
Could you revisit android emulation please, its been 2 years and i think things may have drastically changed since then, great video
5:25 smooth CTA right there, Mr. Sujano 😎
I downloaded Redream after watching this video. That decision changed the trajectory of my life... Thank you.
lol glad to be of service
Thanks for the tips. Looking forward to trying out Lemuroid, I've always felt like Retroarch is convoluted
Best emulation channel ever!
Thanks!
Since I'm late and was recommended from a family member , I do enjoy the reliable sources and information for emulator's on Android. Thanks man.
I have enjoyed your very informative uploads, especially this one. You forgot on very special emulator. It's called Matsu player which has multiple emulating core like retroarch.
Thanku for the remake of thus video as everything since the original has drastically changed
Thank you as always very useful information. Love being able to hook my phone to my 8 bitdo pro 2 and play Nintendo 64 and PlayStation games during lunch. Ppsp is going to be my next emulator once I get a bigger sim card.
Great video, thanks. Also glorious beard
0:18 Mr. Sujano: "Somethings have changed"
Me: **Staring hard at his beard(s)**
I gotta say building a RetroPie and using RetroArch kinda bummed me out, but getting standalone emulators on my android has turned it around for me
I really hope they use different namespaces so we don't need to uninstall one version of Dolphin to try another (and possibly go between versions depending on game compatibility).
Not sure if you'll see this dinosaur of a message, but thank you so much for recommending duckstation. I just recently revisited it, and the optimization and lack of bugs make it 10 times better than what I was forced to use prior
And a side note: pairing a Bluetooth playstation controller + a cord that casts your phone to a flat screen makes this super ideal and revives so many of my childhood memories. I owe to to you for completing this experience with the right emulator
For PS1 I use FPse64. I like it that I can use a super ultra wide hack on all games and they don't look stretched while covering the full display of my phone. Duckstation was working fine, but for whatever reason it stopped working properly. I thought I messed up the settings, but clearing cache, uninstalling and reinstalling didn't fix it.
i use ePSXe 2.0 with open gl plugin and it is beautifull. it also has the widescreen fix for all games and it makes them look great on 480p, i will try duckstation soon to see what all the fuzz is all about but i wonder why nobody mentions epsxe as it is the best !
@@diegodylard5192 I have used ePSXe also, it's hard to decide between it and FPse64, they both work great. I didn't know ePSXe had the same WS hack.
Duckstation is like AetherX, they have the exact same interface and options. Maybe it is too robust for a ps1 emulator and I broke it somehow.
I gave up on FPSxe as it stopped working despite having already paid for the premium/adfree one. Mind it was on my old GPD XD (Duckstation not work in 32 bit 😅).
Everything else, I stuck to the RetroArch cores.
Other Emulator you might pick up
2:10 John GBAC Which support Gameboy Color/ advance, it has some ads but you can block them by internet access
Also, John NESS which supports NES and SNES because I use them to play retro games but some games have Glitch issues on this Emulator
8:58 you could we ePSX Emulator if you having troubles with Duckstation
But, it requires PS1 bios file
9:16 This Emulator is not recommended because old version was able to run and support Cue file or fan Translation games now this version doesn't support Cue file so don't waste you space on this Emulator it doesn't work on sega Saturn 💿
So you may not know this but John GBAC apparently is rumored to have stolen source codes from another emulator (i forgot what emu tho) but i guess it's a decent emulator i mean i used it for about a year before finding out the rumors
@@QP_lite but , at least it's work perfectly not like other Emulator who charge money to gave save slot or tons of ads
@@royalkumar795 yeah i guess you got a point, let's just agree to disagree
Thanks - Great Video
My favourite is Retroarch because the good selection of 8 and 16 bit systems. It get updates and not likely to get discontinued like a lot of the older good emulators that has been released on Android since the beginning of Android.
A couple of newer and funny emulators worth checking out is J2me loader (Java mobile) and EKA2L1 (symbian mobile)
Contents timestamps:-
0:43 Retroarch
1:32 lemuroid
2:19 pizzaboy gbc
4:28 Drastic
5:07 citra
6:00 ngpemu
6:19 ppsspp
6:55 mastergear
7:30 nesemu, nostalgia nes
7:59 snes9x ex+
8:32 m64plus fz
8:56 duckstation
9:16 yaba sanshiro 2
9:43 redream
10:32 dolphin
12:26 ethersx2
13:19 play
13:46 skyline
14:25 egg ns
15:12 reset collection
15:51 launchbox
I believe Skyline will be one of my new favs on Android within a few years. I wanted to download Sonic Mania last night but I kept getting sent to bad sites. 🤦🏻♂️ I'll just wait a few more years for Switch emulation to get better.
Agreed 💯
Skyline and aethersx2
Are legends
DamonPS2 and EGG NS
Are trash
However I hope that in the future skyline will stay the same being free no ads no bs apart from the edge version though
@@AGoogleUser-e7v guess what happend to those they were the one to shutdown
@@AGoogleUser-e7v this aged very poorly, at least aether was very far in development
The very first App on android was invented back in 2007 by a Tech Nerd named "Appy McApp App"
You didn’t mentioned arc browser. A very good frontend. Great video 👍
I passed up Dig and Arc. They are good options too!
Duckstation enable PGXP + downsampling Really beautiful
Lemuroid is good, BUT it doesn't recognize all of the roms I have in my folder
I love Lemuroid, thanks for the recommendation
Keep up the stuff (no fluff) man!
Thank you for this very informative video. I was looking for the best 3ds emulator for my phone. Now i got one with citra mmj. Thank you😊
Man that old thumbnail had you without magnificent beard
thank you so much for taking your time to help us out!
Edit: I subscribed
ey u are almost far at 100k keep it up
Retroarch is very inspiring however its always got problems the stand alone emulators always work best. This is why we need a all in one front end loader. I was sold on launchbox but when athersx2 was left behind I'm now still on the hunt for one that just loads the game straight in to the standalone emulator from the front end loaders art interface. We can only dream.
Ppsspp is amazing. The majority of games I run through it have little to no lag, and it works perfectly with my Ipega Bluetooth controller. Also, Snes9x EX+ is pretty solid.
Isn't Retroarch technically a front end for emulators too? The cores are individual emulators aren't they?
That is true but RetroArch has emulator cores that aren't available as standalone emulators on Android.
@@thegamerfe8751 It's in the very first sentence of the description too lol.
It seems like just a frontend but its actually a modular emulation environment with online multiplayer support and server/client support for hosting.. Plus, a lot of the cores aren't available anywhere else and some cores add functionality (like ffmpeg for media playback). The extensive added functionality and downloadable cores are what makes it truly modular..
RetroArch has the best SNES and Genesis emulators in the form of cores: BSNES HD Beta & GenesisGX Wide respectively.
I got 60 PS2 games on my phone now. I never got to have my own PlayStation 2 when it came out. I was just out of highschool and poor af lol
I'm gonna hear you talking about retro arch in my dreams
Among the 6 emulation apps I use, my favs would be 🐬 MMJR2, Redream, Mame4Droid, AetherSX2, DuckStation, and Lemuroid. Lemuroid covers the most systems but I have a hard time revisiting old 16-bit games with Mame4Droid there.
Possibly important to note, the Emulation General/Gametech Wiki is a fantastic resource
Yes!
I have
•AetherSX2
•Citra Official
•Citra MMJ
•PPSSPP
I play DS in my old phone before, haven't played in my new phone.
You are the best man thank's for apps information 😊
Such a magnificent beard, almost majestic
The difference between ppsspp and it's golden counterpart is that the free version does get you some unwanted glitches and some games might freez but the golden has little glitches so it's not just the flex
What type of glitches are you talking about?
Thanks so much Lemoroid! I can emulate sonic 3 thanks so much!
Hope we get an xbox emulator soon there's lot of nice game on xbox that I want to play I know ps3 emulator is too much to ask for now but an xbox emulator will be great,for now I'm using aethersx2 and it's by far the best phone emulator that I tried
I agree!!!
I just whipped out my GPD pocket again because I realized it will be weeks before my Steam Deck email comes through
HeY Mr Sujan😮.
I've used your Tips (in the past).
It would be cool if someone like "Robert Broglia" makes an Amiga Emulator (& they should update the UAE4droid).
All the best and have fun 😀
epsxe is a really great PS1 emulator, the compatibility is amazing. I haven't yet found a game that doesn't play and I've been using it for many years.
Compared to duckstation it's really mediocre and you also have to pay for epsxe on android. But ya it does work great just not as good ui as duckstation.
Duckstation is better and have more features
Duckstation is much more better and looks better when using the widescreen hack.
Try duckstation. I do have epsxe, it is faster, especially on weaker devices. That said, psx emulation is pretty easy on newer phones and duckstation really offers crazy amounts of customization both on pc and android
me too. i tried duckstation but some games dont work. maybe its my phone but epsxe works better for me
This was great, thanks man
Listening to your voice is a pleasure
nice bro thanks 🔥
You forgot to mention
J2ME Emulator for J2ME Nokia phones and
EKA2L1 for Nokia symbian Emulator
Both Emulator are great to run JAR java games and sis Symbian games
For me J2ME is the best android emulator. I love java games. :)
Following the EKA2L1 development on their Discord 😎
Also: Lemuroid DOES run on the Chromecast with GoogleTV while RetroArch doesn't, don't remember it it was because of the limited storage or the RAM
What do you think of DIG for an emulator front-end? I've been looking to add it to my device and it seems like a pretty good option. What are your thoughts on it?
It's great! There is also a new one called Daijisho
Snes9x EX+ Doesn't work for Hong Kong 97. What Emulator would you suggest for HK97?
0:19 Something has Changed yes Your Beard
Is emulation actually complicated for some people? It seemed really straight forward to me
*AetherSX2:* PS2
*Dolphin* *MMJR2:* GameCube, Wii
*DuckStation:* PS1
*Lemuroid:* N64, SNES, Genesis, NES, GB, GG
*Mame4Droid:* Arcade
*Redream:* Dreamcast
Since that been 1 years this video do you think you will do a updated version soon ? Do you have a recommandation for arcade and mame emulator ?
i HIGHLY RECOMEND GBCC for gameboy and it is perferct and is the most complex but easy to use emulator
I was skipping through a lot of the video because most of my games fwork in RetroArch from atari 2600 to PSP, but I didn't see anything for original Xbox.dd I miss it somewhere?
Very useful video. But with regards to the EggNS Emulator, if Yuzu is open source, then by the very nature of open source software, it should be available for everybody, so how can somebody steal what is supposed to be accessible to them in the first place?
You are the best ❤...thank you
OMG , the AetherSX2 is LEGIT!!! (PS2 emulator). I beat Dragon Quest 8 and Final Fantasy X on my phone.. insane.
If yall wanna install citra mmj you gotta edit the app first in the apk editor if you have a device so like 2gb ram
I use Dolphin, Aethersx2, and PPSSPP.
From what I know about Nintendo DS emu on android devices that tend to lag because I wanted to play Mario kart 64 DS version but it's a Mario kart DS ROM hack but it was lagging really bad.
What if my phone is not compatible 😢
Did you do a video on emulation for apple? I was thinking about getting an inexpensive apple product to try this
I'm glad to see Pizza Boy on this list
I'v Chosen Lemuroid for Gameboy Advance, and NES. Yet all i can find for Gamecube is Dolphin, Playstore says my device is'nt Supported. I have a Samsung Galaxy J7 Sky Pro
My top 3 favorite games: NBA Street Vol. 2, Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, and F-Zero GX. Hence, why MMJR2 is my fav. It used to be MMJ. I can play these games every single day and never grow tired of them. Great way to kill 15-20 minutes.
Glad your back
Hi!
I played The legend of dragoon cd1 ..whole cd!! but I got a problem 😔...I played it on Full Roid on my phone...but i don't know how to switch to cd2😭😭 Help me please 🙏🙏
i have problem with lumriod. I just played the game and when i retured it will ask again to download the core.
What's your opinion about the MyBoy and MyOldBoy emulators?
MyBoy has one killer feature and that's running multiple instances of GBA so you can actually trade Pokemons between yourself or easy access to multiplayer.
I love its options and settings, very straight forward emulator that I love to this day.
Thanks for your work :)
Please, make a tutorial for Bezel and overlay on retroarch... for android
On RG351 ratio is automatic (4/3 - 16/9)..., on my shield tv i'm lost... my settings is random and bad result...
Thanks a lot :) Your job is amazing :)
Free DS for android is actually a very good emulator that's good due to how easy it is to set up
On Pc retroarch but on Android the standalone versions because it has mostly better performance than the cores.
Do you ever do a compilation with the best emulators for Windows?
Soon!
You Are The Man! ✊️❤️
I use both duckstation and the free m64. Work great on my lower end phone ( moto g power)
Tip: if you decide to download lemuroid. DO NOT PLAY DS GAMES IN IT
Desume is old and unoptimized
And melonds is new and unoptimized
(Melonds is in early acces so take that in mind)
HELP:
I'm trying to play the old "Oregon Trail" on my simpsons arcade 1up android cabinet. I'm using retroarch & dos_pure core. Can't get it to work right. Game starts to menu but pops up a error wanting me to type something or exit. Any ideas?
Are any of these better than Duck Station cause, i've been using it for years and i'm not sure about moving from it...😅
The best front end is RetroX on android by far, no setup, its all automatic and as simple as just scanning your roms and it does the rest, and has beautiful themes, and video previews of games. Its not free, but well worth it
You missed ClassicBoy emulator. It is like reproach but in my opinion better!
Dolphin forks changed my perspective about the GameCube. This was a system I first got 18 years ago for $99. Didn't like GCN back then. Ranked it 10th or so. Dolphin changed all that. It's now my #1 over Dreamcast & PS2.
I'm currently running Daijishō frontend on my Samsung Note 9. nice setup, add paths to it, then when you try launch a game it suggests Emulator to use for that certain game. like PizzaBoy GBA free, ppsspp, duckstation, AtherSX2, Dolphin. All that I have right now, there is a free N64 one it recommends, but it has ads annoying. lol
So for the standalone emulators, for any one of them are you able to amp the quality or Fps?
i cant find citra on my app store and when i download it in the website it says apps not installed
Do you happen to know how to hide that you're using an emulator from a game on your phone? I don't want to play video games from when I was a kid so I watched like half of your video and it seems like that's all you were talking about and I'm having a difficult time finding information on how to hide and emulator or have Township not know I'm using an emulator because it restricts specific parts of the game that I enjoy if you use an emulator but I can't use game Guardian if I don't use an emulator because I am not going to root my phone and I need root access so if you have any suggestions for me I would greatly appreciate it!
Why doesn't my android box not find any ROMs??
The problem I have with retroarch and the PlayStation is no matter what core I use the game freezes for final fantasy 8 when I'm on the space station... Therefore I use EPSXE. I would use FPS but the cheat system is lacking as you can either set it for activate once or once every certain frames and it's just not the same as any other emulator out there...
Is there any way to access an extended options menu or at least a configuration file in Lemuroid? It looks like it's using bilinear filters in Final Burn and MAME, and that drives me bananas. Also, you can't shut off the copyright notice at the start of arcade games, and who wants to see that?!