This feeling of nostalgia from my childhood forced me to replenish those sweet memories. So, I Googled if it is possible to play those retro games right now. And as tt turns out; I can use emulators app on my Android to play all my childhood classics without any extra hardware. Android has an excellent developing community, and I can get some great Emulators like GBA and PSP for my device. So, I downloaded all the Android game emulators available on Google Play Store, tested them with a variety of games and finally found out the best ones that all gamers must try.

What will you need?

To Play Retro Games on Android, you’ll need a – Android emulator and a ROM. In this article, we’ll mention the best Android emulator for each category. Now, where do we find these ROMs? Well, since offering ROM of a copyright games are illegal, no emulators come with pre-built ROMs. But you can easily find them with simple Google search like ‘Super Mario ROM for Android‘. We have covered this in detail here on How to Play old Retro Games (like Mario) on Android

Best Game Emulators for Android

#1 PPSSPP – Best PSP Emulator

If you are into more graphical and 3D gaming, then you must try the PSP emulator for Android, better known as PPSSPP. Considering the graphically advanced games and requirement of speedy execution this emulator was purposefully written in C++ by the developer. While most the popular games are supported on this emulator, but for more details about compatibility of individual games, you can check this community. The emulator also consists of advanced features like changing the rendering backend process which is necessary if we want to play games that require specific backend (Like OpenGL). Some additional texture filtering options are also provided to gain better control over the graphics handles of the emulator. All in all, if you want to enjoy awesome 3D graphics of PSP on your Android, then PPSSPP is the best application out there.

How it Works: Using PPSSPP to play PSP games is easy. All you have to do is to install PPSSPP from the official website, put your games (.cso and .iso are supported) in internal storage or sd card and start the Game by tapping on the game icon on the screen. Everything works smoothly for most of the games but if you feel that game performance is not up to the mark then you can always try frameskip option.

#2 My Boy – Best GBA Emulator

One of the most addictive gaming consoles is Game Boy Advance. And guess what, you can get the emulated games of GBA on your Android too. Due to the popularity of GBA gaming, we have the best emulation of GBA games in the form of My Boy GBA emulator. Almost all the GBA games are supported on this emulator with excellent FPS (Frames per second) which is just another way of saying lag-free gaming. A good thing about this emulator is that it saves your game state, so next time you can come to play this game, you can start from where you left. Another feature that game fans crave is the Cheats support and My Boy has support for all types of cheats like Gameshark. All other general customization options are available like BIOS emulation, layout editing, and button remapping etc.

How it Works:

Install My Boy on your Android device and open it. The first screen after launching the application will ask you to select the ROM destination. Choose your ROM and you are all set for Gaming as there is no need to configure anything unless you face any difficulty. You can change the settings from the settings menu just in case if you feel the need for it.

#3 ePSXe – Best Sony PlayStation Emulator

It’s no doubt that Sony PlayStation was one the most popular gaming console with over 100 million ships in its entire lifespan. ePSXe is a PlayStation one emulator which is perfect for playing the retro PS one games on Android. I tested the emulators in this category with continuous gaming and ePSXe stands out in the competition because of its stability. The emulator is being improved continuously making it more stable and better day by day. You can enjoy your favorite games for hours without any kind of a hassle and great options at your fingertips.

How it works: Install ePSXe from the Google Play Store & put your BIOS file as well as ROM in your device storage. Go to preferences and select BIOS file destination and ROM destination. After all this initial setup, you have to run the BIOS using “Run BIOS” option in the menu. Now you can choose any game from the list and start playing. There is something called as BIOS simulation available in this emulator but using a separate BIOS file will avoid all problems.

#4 MegaN64 – Best MegaN64 Emulator

We all love Mario, right?  It’s impossible that we are talking about Nintendo emulators and we forgot to mention Mario. If you are a big fan of Nintendo 64 Mario games, then MegaN64 is an excellent choice as an N64 Android emulator. The emulator contains all the necessary video options like frameskip, rendering resolution, and some texture filters. Along with these options, the emulator also supports some video plugins which are already present inside the emulator. The plugin support is not only limited to video tweaking but also has some great audio hacks.

How it Works: Download MegaN64 for your Android. Now put your ROM in your storage and start Mega N64. Select your desired ROM and that’s it, you are in the game.

#5 Snes9X EX+ – Best SNES Emulator

Remember the 16 bit SNES video game console? We can try all our hundreds of classic SNES games on our Android with Snes9X EX+. This emulator brings back the childhood memories with very good emulation speed. It is not possible to recognize whether we are playing on the original console or an emulator. There is an autosave mode inherently present inside the emulator. Just put the Game in internal storage or SD card and strat playing.

How it works:

There is nothing complicated here, just put the Game in internal storage or SD card and start Snes9X EX. Select the game and start playing it. Remember that you can change the screen layout anytime according to your taste.

Wrapping up

Once you start exploring the world of emulators you will come to know that you can almost play all the childhood games on your Android device. Download all the emulators right now and buckle up, its GameTime! Also Read: 25 Best Android Apps Not in the Play Store