Open Source Emulators - Page 2
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ZSNES is a SNES/Super Famicom emulator for x86 computers. It runs on Windows, MS-DOS and Linux/FreeBSD and supports mode 7, sound, Super FX, and a lot more.
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Lakka
Linux distribution that transforms a computers into game consoles
Lakka is a lightweight Linux distribution that transforms a small computer into a full-blown emulation console. Built on top of the famous RetroArch emulator, Lakka is able to emulate a large range of hardware and has some useful features such as Braid-like rewinding, joypad hotplug, and video streaming. Lakka is easy to set up and use. Once installed on your SD card, you just have to put your ROM on the card, plug your joypad, and enjoy your favorite old games. We also support PS3 and XBox360 controllers so you don't have to buy new ones. We try our best to keep the hardware required to run Lakka as cheap as possible. The software is optimized to run fast even on low-end computers. The power can be supplied by any micro USB adapter like the one for your smartphone. -
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VirtualBox
Virtualization software for x86_64 hardware
VirtualBox is a powerful open-source full virtualization software that allows a user to run one or more “guest” operating systems simultaneously inside “virtual machines” on a single physical “host” machine. It supports a wide variety of host platforms (Linux, Windows, macOS, Solaris, etc.) and guest OSes, enabling, for example, running Linux on a Windows PC, running Windows Server on a Linux host, or even legacy OSes in a controlled environment. This flexibility makes VirtualBox ideal for developers, testers, sysadmins, or hobbyists who need different OS environments, want to test software across systems, or need isolation for development, sandboxing, or security experiments. VirtualBox offers both a user-friendly GUI as well as a command-line interface and headless mode, making it useful for desktop usage as well as server or automated environments. -
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ipasim
iOS emulator for Windows
ipasim (IPA Simulator) is a Windows-based iOS simulator designed to run IPA files directly on Windows without an actual iOS device. It helps developers and testers run iOS apps in a simulated environment. -
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MAME
A multi-purpose emulation framework
On December 24th, 1996, Nicola Salmoria began working on his single hardware emulators, which he merged into one program during January 1997. He named the accomplishment by the name of Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator, or MAME for short. -
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PCSX2
The Playstation 2 emulator
PCSX2 is a free and open-source PlayStation 2 (PS2) emulator. Its purpose is to emulate the PS2's hardware, using a combination of MIPS CPU Interpreters, Recompilers and a Virtual Machine that manages hardware states and PS2 system memory. This allows you to play PS2 games on your PC, with many additional features and benefits. The PCSX2 project has been running for more than ten years. Past versions could only run a few public domain game demos, but newer versions can run most games at full speed, including popular titles such as Final Fantasy X and Devil May Cry 3. Visit the PCSX2 compatibility list to check the latest compatibility status of games (with more than 2500 titles tested), or ask for help in the official forums. The latest officially released stable version is version 1.6.0. Installers and binaries for both Windows and Linux are available from our website. -
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Ruffle
A Flash Player emulator written in Rust
Ruffle is an open-source emulator for Adobe Flash Player, written primarily in Rust, and targeted at both desktop applications and web browsers via WebAssembly. Its goal is to enable legacy Flash content—animations, games, interactive media—to continue running safely and reliably after official Flash support was discontinued. On the web side, Ruffle is embedded into pages or installed as a browser extension; in the desktop version, it can open .swf files directly or embed them in applications. Because it’s built with memory safety in mind, Ruffle helps avoid many of the security vulnerabilities that plagued classic Flash (buffer overflows, use-after-free, etc.). It strives to support multiple versions of ActionScript (1, 2 and parts of 3) and a wide swath of the Flash API so as much content as possible works unchanged. -
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VisualBoyAdvance
An emulator for Gameboy and GameboyAdvance systems
An emulator for Gameboy and GameboyAdvance systems. -
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86Box
Emulator of x86-based machines based on PCem
86Box is a low level x86 emulator that runs older operating systems and software designed for IBM PC systems and compatibles from 1981 through fairly recent system designs based on the PCI bus. Easy to use interface inspired by mainstream hypervisor software. Low level emulation of 8086-based processors up to the Pentium with focus on accuracy. Great range of customizability of virtual machines. Many available systems, such as the very first IBM PC 5150 from 1981, or the more obscure IBM PS/2 line of systems based on the Micro Channel Architecture. Lots of supported peripherals including video adapters, sound cards, network adapters, hard disk controllers, and SCSI adapters. MIDI output to Windows built-in MIDI support, FluidSynth, or emulated Roland synthesizers. Supports running MS-DOS, older Windows versions, OS/2, many Linux distributions, or vintage systems such as BeOS or NEXTSTEP, and applications for these systems. -
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KernelEx is an Open Source compatibility layer with an aim to allow running Windows 2000/XP-only applications on Microsoft Windows 98 and Microsoft Windows Millennium operating systems.
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Mininet
Emulator for rapid prototyping of Software Defined Networks
Mininet creates a realistic virtual network, running real kernel, switch and application code, on a single machine (VM, cloud or native), in seconds, with a single command. Because you can easily interact with your network using the Mininet CLI (and API), customize it, share it with others, or deploy it on real hardware, Mininet is useful for development, teaching, and research. Mininet is also a great way to develop, share, and experiment with Software-Defined Networking (SDN) systems using OpenFlow and P4. Mininet is actively developed and supported, and is released under a permissive BSD Open Source license. We encourage you to contribute code, bug reports/fixes, documentation, and anything else that can improve the system! Links are virtual ethernet pairs, which live in the Linux kernel and connect our emulated switches to emulated hosts (processes). -
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SkyEmu
Game Boy Advance, Game Boy, Game Boy Color, and DS Emulator
SkyEmu is a modern, multi-system handheld emulator that supports Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, and experimental Nintendo DS emulation, with a strong focus on balancing accuracy, performance, and usability. It is designed as a low-level emulator that accurately reproduces hardware behavior while still offering a smooth and accessible user experience across a wide range of platforms. The emulator is highly portable, supporting desktop operating systems, mobile devices, and even web browsers through WebAssembly builds. SkyEmu includes advanced visual enhancements such as upscaling shaders, color correction, and screen effects that mimic original hardware displays. It also features extensive debugging tools, making it useful not only for players but also for developers working on homebrew or reverse engineering. With features like save states, rewind, fast-forward, and controller support, it offers a full-featured modern emulation experience. -
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SmartGaGa
Lightweight Android emulator optimized for FPS games on low-end PCs
SmartGaGa is a free Android emulator optimized for playing mobile games on Windows computers with minimal system requirements. Powered by Titan Engine and Turbo GPU technology, the software delivers smooth gaming performance even on machines with 2GB RAM and dual-core processors. The emulator supports popular FPS titles including Free Fire, PUBG Mobile, Clash of Clans, and Cyber Hunter, enabling players to enjoy mobile games on larger screens with keyboard and mouse controls. SmartGaGa runs Android Nougat natively and integrates Google Play Store for easy app installation, while also supporting APK sideloading for offline installation. The software features customizable keyboard mapping, allowing users to configure controls for optimal gameplay precision. Multi-instance support enables running multiple games or accounts simultaneously on a single PC. With enhanced OpenGL and DirectX rendering, SmartGaGa provides improved frame rates and visual quality compared to mobile devices. -
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MAME
MAME is a multi-purpose emulation framework
MAME's purpose is to preserve decades of software history. As electronic technology continues to rush forward, MAME prevents this important "vintage" software from being lost and forgotten. This is achieved by documenting the hardware and how it functions. The source code to MAME serves as this documentation. The fact that the software is usable serves primarily to validate the accuracy of the documentation (how else can you prove that you have recreated the hardware faithfully?). Over time, MAME (originally stood for Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator) absorbed the sister-project MESS (Multi Emulator Super System), so MAME now documents a wide variety of (mostly vintage) computers, video game consoles and calculators, in addition to the arcade video games that were its initial focus. The MAME project as a whole is distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License, 2 (GPL-2.0), since it contains code made available under multiple GPL-compatible licenses. -
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Proton-GE-Custom
Compatibility tool for Steam Play based on Wine
Proton-GE-Custom is an unofficial compatibility tool for Steam Play that builds on Valve’s Proton and Wine codebases to provide additional patches, fixes, and enhancements for running Windows games on Linux systems through Steam, particularly on Steam Deck and other Linux gaming platforms. Unlike the official Proton builds, this custom fork includes community-developed patches such as media foundation support, raw input improvements, AMD and Nvidia optimizations, and broader compatibility tweaks that help certain games launch and run more reliably or with better performance. It also incorporates a “protonfixes” system that applies per-game adjustments automatically, enabling environment variables or workarounds without manual user intervention. Because it packages its own versions of DXVK, VKD3D, and other components, this tool can resolve glitches or missing features in titles that struggle under standard Proton builds. -
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Retrobios
Complete BIOS and firmware packs for RetroArch, Batocera, Recalbox
Retrobios is a low-level systems programming project focused on recreating or emulating BIOS-like functionality for legacy or experimental computing environments. It is designed to provide a minimal firmware layer that initializes hardware and prepares systems to boot, often used for educational purposes or retrocomputing experiments. The project likely explores how early computing systems managed hardware abstraction, memory initialization, and device communication before modern operating systems take control. It emphasizes simplicity and transparency, allowing developers to study and modify core boot processes at a granular level. The architecture is typically close to bare metal, requiring knowledge of assembly language and hardware interfaces. It may also serve as a foundation for building custom operating systems or experimenting with low-level system design. Overall, retrobios functions as a learning and experimentation platform for understanding foundational computing concepts. -
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Denise
C64/Amiga emulator with shader and runAhead
Denise is a cycle accurate and platform independant C64 / Amiga 500/1000 emulator. My motivation for this project is understanding how it works and write clean and easy readable code. RetroArch SLANG shaders are supported by Denise. Features already known from the C64 emulation, such as runAhead, savestates, drive sounds, PAL encoding, dynamic rate control, G-Sync/FreeSync, Warp, just in time polling are also available for the Amiga. Denise supports SuperCPU, Final Chesscard, REU, GeoRam, EasyFlash, EasyFlash³, Gmod2, Retro Replay, Action Replay, Final Cartridge, Light Guns/Pens, GunStick, Mouse 1351, Mouse Neos, Paddles, fast loaders such as ProfDOS, PrologicDOS, DolphinDOS, ProSpeed 1571, Turbo Trans, 1571, 1581, drag'n'drop and command line support. GIT repo: https://bitbucket.org/piciji/denise/src/master -
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Unicorn Engine
Unicorn CPU emulator framework (ARM, AArch64, M68K, Mips, Sparc
Unicorn is a lightweight multi-platform, multi-architecture CPU emulator framework. Highlight features. Multi-architectures: ARM, ARM64 (ARMv8), m68k, MIPS, PowerPC, RISC-V, S390x (SystemZ), SPARC, TriCore & x86 (include x86_64). Clean/simple/lightweight/intuitive architecture-neutral API. Implemented in pure C language, with bindings for Pharo, Crystal, Clojure, Visual Basic, Perl, Rust, Haskell, Ruby, Python, Java, Go, D, Lua, JavaScript, .NET, Delphi/Pascal & MSVC available. Native support for Windows & *nix (with macOS, Linux, Android, *BSD & Solaris confirmed). High performance by using the Just-In-Time compiler technique. Support fine-grained instrumentation at various levels. Thread-safe by design. Distributed under free software license GPLv2. Another significant change on this version is the addition of some new APIs to allow better control on how the core engine works. -
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Vanced MicroG
Seamless Google account support for modified apps
Vanced microG is a lightweight companion app designed to enable the seamless functionality of YouTube Vanced and other modified apps that rely on Google services. It acts as a replacement for the Google Play Services framework, allowing users to log into their Google accounts and sync preferences without compromising privacy. Vanced microG is essential for running apps like YouTube Vanced, providing authentication and push notification support without requiring the full suite of Google services. With its minimal resource usage and focus on user privacy, Vanced microG is an indispensable tool for enhancing the functionality of modified Android apps. -
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Visual Boy Advance - M
Emulator for the Game Boy, Game Boy Color, and Game Boy Advance
Visual Boy Advance - M (VBA-M) is an open-source emulator designed to run Game Boy, Game Boy Color, and Game Boy Advance games on modern systems. It is a continuation and improvement of the original Visual Boy Advance project, with enhanced accuracy, performance, and compatibility. VBA-M supports multiple platforms, making it accessible across Windows, macOS, and Linux environments. The emulator provides a wide range of features for both casual players and advanced users, including save states, debugging tools, and customizable controls. It aims to faithfully reproduce the original gaming experience while offering modern conveniences. With active development and community contributions, VBA-M remains one of the most popular emulators for retro handheld gaming. -
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Strato
Run Nintendo Switch homebrew & games on your Android device
Strato is an experimental Nintendo Switch emulator designed specifically for ARMv8 Android devices, aiming to bring Switch gaming and homebrew applications to mobile platforms. It builds upon earlier emulator efforts such as Skyline while incorporating improvements and optimizations tailored for mobile hardware constraints. The emulator focuses heavily on high-level emulation of Switch subsystems, including kernel services and GPU behavior, to achieve usable performance on smartphones. It leverages components inspired by established projects like Ryujinx and Yuzu, particularly in areas such as shader compilation and system emulation. Strato emphasizes accessibility by targeting Android devices directly, removing the need for desktop-class hardware for Switch emulation. Despite being experimental, it represents a significant step toward portable, on-device emulation of modern consoles. -
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Cemu Wii U emulator
Cemu is a Wii U emulator
Software to emulate Wii U games and applications on PC. Currently, the DRC (GamePad), Pro Controller, and Classic Controller is emulated. Wiimotes are emulated as well (including native support). Keyboard input + USB controllers as input devices are supported. GamePad touch input can be controlled via a left mouse click. Gyro functionality is emulated with limitations and can be controlled via the right mouse button. Cemu is currently only available for 64-bit Windows and Linux devices. The native Linux build is currently a work-in-progress. See Current State Of Linux builds for more information about the things to be aware of. You can download the latest Cemu releases from the GitHub Releases or from Cemu's website. Cemu is currently only available in a portable format so no installation is required besides extracting it in a safe place. -
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BizHawk
BizHawk is a multi-system emulator written in C#
A multi-system emulator written in C#. As well as quality-of-life features for casual players, it also has recording/playback and debugging tools, making it the first choice for TASers (Tool-Assisted Speedrunners). Screenshotting and recording audio + video to file. Firmware management, input, framerate, and more in a HUD over the game. Rebindable hotkeys for controlling the frontend (keyboard+mouse+gamepad). A comprehensive input mapper for the emulated gamepads and other peripherals. Programmatic control over core and frontend with Lua or C#.NET. Development builds are made automatically whenever someone contributes. Because of this, we recommend using a release for work that requires stability (such as TASing), and only switching to a dev build if there's a specific change or addition you need. -
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emuiibo
Virtual amiibo (amiibo emulation) system for Nintendo Switch
Virtual amiibo (amiibo emulation) system for Nintendo Switch. A virtual amiibo is detected by emuiibo based on two aspects: a amiibo.json and a amiibo.flag file must exist inside the virtual amiibo's folder mentioned above. If (for whatever reason) you would like to disable a virtual amiibo from being recognised by emuiibo, just remove the flag file, and create it again to enable it. While old emuiibo formats are supported and converted to the current format (see above), it is strongly suggested to, unless bin dumps might be indispensable, emuiigen be used, our PC utility designed to create and edit virtual amiibos. -
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Dolphin
Dolphin is a GameCube / Wii emulator
Dolphin is a mature, open-source video game console emulator that enables users to run Nintendo GameCube and Wii games on modern platforms including Windows, Linux, macOS, and Android devices. Originally released in 2003, it has evolved into one of the most advanced and widely used emulators, known for its high compatibility and continuous development over decades. The project is written primarily in C++ and focuses on accurately replicating console hardware behavior, including CPU timing, graphics rendering, and input handling, allowing games to run as close to original hardware as possible. Beyond simple emulation, Dolphin enhances the gaming experience by enabling higher resolutions, improved textures, and performance optimizations that surpass the limitations of the original consoles. It supports a wide range of input devices, including keyboards, gamepads, and real GameCube or Wii controllers through adapters and Bluetooth connectivity.
