In gone days, phones were considered quite ineffective to play video games and you weren’t able to download your favorite video game on your mobile to have access to it for all the time.
It was mere a thrilling concept to use your mobile as a Playstation. Now it has become an undeniable reality and you can access almost every game from your Smartphone and tablet.
In preceding years, video games did not have so many levels and you were never on your knees to ask your friend to send you out more lives to continue the game. It doesn’t mean that the video games in those days were comparatively superior.
Best Android Emulators
Of course, some of them were better and a few were a lot better. So, when to think of them, you would feel that they were precious gems in old memories and still you would love to play them as they were a great source of pleasure for you in the past.
Below-discussed applications would surely let you recall those video games of classic era and you can enjoy playing them on your Android tablet or phone. Android devices with low space can’t handle games that take huge space, that’s why they play games on Facebook Online, but these classic games take very little space and you don’t need to worry about their size.
These applications are called emulators and you can use these emulators to play innumerable video games from the classic era, e.g. Snes, PSX, DS, etc. on your Android devices.
Now the question arises here that how the actual games can be obtained? You can search for the games on the internet and if you find, just download it as a ROM. Hence, the best emulators from the classic era have been discussed and listed below for you in two different categories.
One of them is the category of free emulators and the other one is the category of paid emulators. Check them out for your selection.
Free Emulators for Android Devices
1. MegaN64
MegaN64 is a demanded N64 emulator that functions very well. Although, some of its features are glitchy and have bugs, but they are just minor ones. You will find it a perfect N64 emulator that can be downloaded just now.
The base of MegaN64 is the most popular Mupen64 and the people who love to play it, would surely want to get this emulator. It is absolutely free, but in its free version, ads will definitely disturb you.
2. DraStic DS Emulator
Credit: Play Store
DraStic DS emulator is basically a Nintendo emulator that can run your game ROMs and supports Nintendo DS. You will find it fully compatible with controllers of the game and save states. You can even use cheat codes while playing the game.
It is available in two versions. You can download its pro version if you want an ads free game and if you are looking for its pocket-friendly version, go ahead for a free one.
3. My Boy! Emulator
My Boy is an extremely fast emulator that has been introduced for all sort of GameBoy Advance video games. It supports the cheat codes and saved states. This emulator also enables you to use fast-forward feature in the game.
So far, it is the only emulator that provides a complete support to the “link cable emulation”. You can get its pro version in only $4.99. Its free version is also available.
4. ClassicBoy
It will be an injustice to form a list of the best emulators and not to mention ClassicBoy that enables you to emulate a wide range of consoles. If you want to run retro games, you need to download lots of apps that seems so frustrating and time-seeking process.
ClassicBoy is the best alternative because it can be used to emulate Sega Genesis, NES, PS 1, GameBoy basic to the Advanced version and even Nintendo 64 games. It is available in Pro and Free versions.
The only con to use its free version is that you cannot enjoy the saved states feature in the free version. For that, you need a paid one.
5. Hataroid
Do you still remember Atari ST? Yes! I am talking about the same Atari ST that was launched 30 years back and you used to play it on your home computers. Now it is back and you can enjoy playing this game on your Android tablet or mobile phone. This emulator provides the full support to your hardware input such as your keyboard and mouse.
6. Nostalgia.NES
Nintendo Entertainment System broke all of the records of selling video games by selling its more than 61 million units around the globe. It is a speedier NES emulator that has a wonderful rewind function for the players.
You would step in the 8-bit territory and re-live your past when Super Mario, Zelda or Mega Man became the big names around the globe.
You can rewind the game to rewind a few seconds if you are dead while playing the game.
It is a multi-player game emulator where you can save game states, turbo buttons, hardware, and keyboards, etc. You can download this amazing emulator in two versions. One is the paid one that can be obtained in only $1.99 and no worries as its free version is also available for Android devices.
7. SuperRetro16
Now go ahead to re-live in 16-bit dominion by selecting SuperRetro16. All of your desired Super NES video games such as Super Mario Kart, Donkey Kong Country, etc can be played by using SuperRetro16. It can be used to enable the turbo mode of your Super NES video games if you want to fast-forward them.
It supports all shaders used to give visual effects and external controllers. This emulator also has two versions for the users. You can get its pro version in only $3.99 from Google Play Store. If you want to use its free version, it is also available.
8. MAME4Droid
You can use this emulator to run a wide range of classic games such as Marvel Super Heroes. The developer of this emulator advised the users that they should not use this emulator to run the games on an average smartphone because it may not run the game with accuracy.
Many games have so many glitches that there may be a compatibility issue. So, try this emulator if you are using a powerful smartphone such as Galaxy S4, etc. You can download it free of cost from Google Play Store.
9. AndroGens
Have you ever played Streets of Rage? Yes! This is what you can get back by using AndroGens emulator. It supports very well the Mega Drive and Sega Genesis games. It supports the hardware units connected to your system.
So, if you want to play this game on your PC or you want to connect Keyboard or mouse with your tablet, you can connect and enjoy to play this game. You can also use its saved states function even in its free version. It is available in Pro and Free versions. You can get its pro version in only $1.49.
10. PPSSPP
As the name of the emulator suggests that it runs all of the Sony PSP video games and it is fully compatible with all of PSP video games. You can use its saved states function to save your victory levels and even the users who want to connect external hardware to control any PSP video game, can connect because this emulator supports it very well. It is available in two versions. One is PRO that is available in only $4.99 and the other one is Free.
11. Reicast
It has been designed basically to support all of the CD-based consoles of Sega. So, all of the crazy lovers of Dreamcast would be overjoyed to get Reicast. Although, it is not compatible with all of the video games, but it can be used to run a large number of popular games.
The complication here is that if you want to use this emulator, you need to put up your own BIOS and ROMs for it. Otherwise, you cannot play any game by using it. It is available free on Google Play Store.
12. My OldBoy!
The specialty of this amazing emulator is that it can run all of the Game Boy video games and Game Boy colored video games as well. By default, it supports saved states and multi-player function. Its pro version is also available in $3.99.
13. RetroArch
If ClassicBoy type of all-in-one emulator does not work very well due to any compatibility problem, you can try RetroArch that can run at least best games of classic times.
14. Spectaculator
A magic spill to get back the ZX Spectrum that was launched by Sir Clive Sinclair for the crazy video game players in 1982 and gradually, it became the most popular game of the classic era; this immensely popular game can be run by using this emulator.
So, be ready to go back to the golden era of 1982 when there existed only 8-bit video games. It is assuredly free for the users so hurry to get this app from Google Play.
Paid Emulators for Android
15. ePSXe
Do you remember Crash Bandicoot and Tekken 3? Very popular classic video games of 1st generation PlayStation. Now you will consider it sorcery, but you can get these wonderful games back now. You can enjoy playing these games by using the ePSXe emulator.
It can run all of the 1st generation games and all of the PSX video games. Now you can play your favorite games in partnership with your friends by using it in split-screen style. It supports all of the external controlling devices attached to the system. You can buy it in only $3.75.
16. FPse
Due to any reason, if ePSXe does not satisfy you, FPse can be used. It is the best substitute of ePSXe if you want to run 1st generation PS. It is fully compatible to all kind of external controlling devices and also has saved states feature.
It also supports memory cards. You can buy this emulator from Google Play Store n only $3.63 if you are crazy to refresh the 1st Generation PlayStation.
17. Neo.EMU
As the name of the emulator suggests that all of the Neo Geo arcade video games are supported by Neo.EMU. Although, it cannot run all of the arcade video games, but it is compatible for so many popular games.
For example, the crazy fans of King of Fighters, Metal Slug or Samurai Showdown can enjoy playing their favorite games by using this emulator. It shows very good performance even on an average Android phone. You can buy it in only $3.99 from Google Play Store.
18. PPSSPP – PSP
A great emulator to run PSP video games. Although, it is less famous emulator as compared to Sony PlayStation or Nintendo, but still it is great and works very well for you to run your PSP classic video games. If you are crazy to play PSP video games, it is the perfect pick for you. So try it out and get it in only $5.99 from Google Play.
19. My Boy! – GBA
If you rate all of the available emulators in Google Play, you would find My Boy! – GBA at the top of the list with highest ratings. It is just an amazing emulator with great stability and thus, it is compatible with almost all of the popular GBA games.
Although, you have to spend money to get it, but spending that money is nothing when you look at its features. It gives you fast forwarding option that can be used if you want to speed up any slow part of your GBA games. All GBA video games lover would surely want this emulator.
20. MD.emu
It is a hard nut to get a perfect emulator to run Sega Genesis video games on your Android devices and the only one that is according to your requirements is just MD.emu. It is an open source emulator to play Mega Drive, Sega Genesis, and Mark III.
It also supports the Master System video games. You can use it to play the Sega games of very early times. If you want to get it, you just need to spend $4.99 and that is nothing in return of its functions.
For those, who love to play Sega games from an early era, it is considered the cool emulator after testing and evaluation.
21. 2600.emu
If you want to play amazing classic games like Atari 2600, Pitfall and River Raid, etc. 2600.emu is aa good option. You can select it from Google Play in only $2.99 to play your desired 2600 video games.
22. DosBox Turbo
As the name of the emulator hints, it is for DOS OS and by using this, you can play all of classic DOS games such as Warcraft 2 and Doom, etc.
A magic spill in the form of DosBox Turbo to give you back the applications running on Windows 95 and the video games developed to be run on Windows 95. You can get this amazing emulator in only $2.99 from Google Play.
23. John GBC
Another amazing emulating app is here in the form of John GBC. It is basically a GBC and GameBoy emulator that is the most rated in stability and compatibility. It includes a fast forwarding option for the users to move ahead fast forwarding the slow part of the GBC video games.
You would find cheats and turbo buttons enabled in it. Undoubtedly, it is a fast emulator and there can be seen no outward problem while it runs. The fans of GBA era would love to have this. You can buy it in only $3.99 from Google Play.
So Guys! This is what we could evaluate from our personal experience of using the above-listed Android emulators for the game lovers.
The final verdict, we gathered from the above discussion is that we tried to let you know the best and high rated emulator apps so that you can play your dreamed classic era video games once again to refresh your memories.
If any high rated emulator is missing from our list, do let us know by leaving your comments below. It would be a ray of direction for the video game lovers and surely, for us too because we all would love to go back to 80s and 90s to enjoy our favorite games.
