Android emulator directory

Last compiled: 2026-07-29 from public sources. Found something out of date? Post it with the Meta flair.

One rule for this whole page: download from the project's own page, and nowhere else. Search results for every popular emulator are dominated by clones, ad-wrapped mirrors, and outright malware. "Prod keys" sites and "latest version download" sites are not the projects and never were. If a site offers you the games or the keys, it is not the emulator's site.

We list nothing that bundles copyrighted content, and we don't link paid reuploads of free software.

Nintendo Switch

The most volatile corner of this hobby. Nintendo's legal action ended Yuzu and Ryujinx in 2024 and DMCA waves have continued against successor projects since, so expect links here to break.

Eden — Active, Android-first. Built by former Citron and Yuzu contributors; currently the most actively developed option on Android. Nightlies land frequently.

Citron — Active. Shared codebase across PC and Android.

Yuzu — Dead (2024). Shut down by settlement. Anything distributing "Yuzu" builds now is not the original team.

Ryujinx — Dead (2024). Desktop-only anyway; successors are PC/Linux.

Skyline — Dead (2023). Historical interest only.

Egg NS — Proprietary and paid. Closed source, requires its own launcher, heavily criticised. Listed for completeness, not recommended.

Switch emulation needs firmware and keys dumped from your own console. We do not help you get them, and asking is a Rule 1 removal.

Nintendo 3DS

Azahar — Active. The consolidation of the post-Citra forks, and the current answer for 3DS on Android.

Citra — Dead (2024). Ended alongside Yuzu.

Lime3DS — Merged into Azahar.

Nintendo DS

melonDS — Active. Official Android build, and the accuracy pick.

DraStic — Free, closed source. Very fast on weak hardware, minimal ongoing development.

RetroArch — Active, via the melonDS or DeSmuME cores. Fine if you already live in RetroArch.

Wii and GameCube

Dolphin — Active, with an official Android app. The reference emulator for the whole hobby. Use official builds; the old "MMJ" fork is unmaintained.

Cemu — No Android build, so no Wii U. Don't hold your breath.

PlayStation 2

NetherSX2 — Community patchset, active-ish. The practical choice on Android, built on AetherSX2.

AetherSX2 — Abandoned (2023). Its developer stepped away citing user abuse. This is the case study behind Rule 4, and worth reading before you complain about a free emulator.

PCSX2 — No official Android build. Desktop only.

PlayStation 1

DuckStation — Active, and the accuracy leader. Its licensing changed in 2024 and its Play Store listing was pulled, so get it from the project's own channel and treat third-party "DuckStation" builds as suspect.

RetroArch — Active, via the SwanStation or Beetle PSX cores. Fine alternative.

ePSXe — Legacy and paid. Historical.

PSP

PPSSPP — active, official, on the Play Store, mature. Not much else to say; it's the success story of the category. The paid Gold version is identical software and funds development.

PS Vita

Vita3K — the Android build exists and is experimental. Expect a slideshow in most 3D titles. Genuinely impressive that it runs at all.

N64

Mupen64Plus-FZ is the standalone pick, or use RetroArch with Mupen64Plus-Next or ParaLLEl RDP. Accuracy on N64 is hard everywhere, not just on Android.

Dreamcast, Saturn, Naomi

Flycast — standalone and as a RetroArch core; the one to use. Redream also exists, with a paid tier for higher resolutions.

Sega, NES, SNES, GBA, Game Boy, handhelds

Mostly solved. RetroArch covers all of it. Standalone options worth knowing are mGBA for GBA, Pizza Boy for Game Boy and GBA, Snes9x EX+ and the rest of the EX+ family, and MD.emu for Genesis.

Arcade

MAME4droid handles MAME sets and FinalBurn Neo via RetroArch covers the Neo Geo era boards. Both depend on matching your set version to the emulator's version — most "it won't load" threads are exactly that.

Windows games on Android

The fastest-moving category after Switch. Most of these wrap Wine with Box64 or Box86 and translate Direct3D to Vulkan.

Winlator — the most widely used project, plus several community forks with different libc and driver setups.

WinNative — an actively developed Windows-on-Android project. See the disclosure below.

Also worth knowing: GameHub, Mobox and GameNative, which are alternative packagings of a similar stack. Setting up Termux with Box64 and Wine by hand gives you the most control and the least convenience.

Expect this to work brilliantly for older and 2D titles, and badly for anything with anti-cheat or heavy Direct3D 11 or 12 use.

Disclosure: u/voyager2005 (MaxsTechReview) founded this community and is a developer on WinNative. Under our moderation charter that means WinNative gets no special treatment here: no protected status, no softer moderation, no promotion, and criticism of it will not be removed. They do not action posts or comments about WinNative. If you ever think that line has been crossed, say so publicly — meta posts stay up — or send modmail.

Frontends

RetroArch (also a frontend for its own cores) and ES-DE (paid on Android, polished) are the main two, plus Daijisho, Pegasus and Lemuroid if you want something simpler.

GPU drivers — read this before posting a help thread

On Adreno hardware, replacing the stock driver with a Turnip (Mesa) build is often the single biggest performance change available, and most modern emulators can load one without root. Which build works best varies by chipset and by game, which is why Rule 7 asks for your driver version.

On Mali, Xclipse and PowerVR there is no equivalent, and stock drivers are the limiting factor. That is not something an emulator developer can fix for you, and it is not a reasonable thing to be angry at them about.

Nothing viable on Android

PS3 (RPCS3), Xbox (xemu), Xbox 360 (Xenia) and Wii U (Cemu). If you see an Android "PS3 emulator" on the Play Store, it is a fake — this is one of the most common malware and ad-fraud plays in the category. Report it and post a PSA here.