1

Android Video Game Emulators

Article source: [Link]

Contents
1. About emulation on Android (p.1)
2. Which emulators to use? (p.2)
3. Single-system vs. multi-system emulators (p.6)
4. RetroArch vs. ClassicBoy (p.6)
5. PlayStation 1: ePSXe vs. DuckStation (p.7)
6. Sega CD & PCE-CD: Important notes (p.8)
7. Teasing PlayStation 2, GameCube, etc. (p.10)
8. Extracting RAR & 7Z files (p.10)
9. The Dig front-end (p.11)
10. Transferring saves from Windows emulators (p.11)
11. Downloading large games... disappear? (p.13)
12. Using ROM hacks (p.13)
13. Cheating (p.14)
14. Setting up a Bluetooth gamepad (p.14)
15. Notes about a gamepad on Chromebooks (p.16)
16. Finding games (p.17)
17. Q: Help! My emulators can't save anymore! (p.17)

About emulation on Android

Nearly every video game emulator for Android is very easy to use. The UI and user flows are
standard with all of them. It’s not necessary for me to put together tutorials for each one. If
you’re accustomed to using emulators on Windows, then you will feel right at home on Android.
However, things do get a little tricky when you want to do more than just play your favorite
games. In this tutorial, I will walk you through important points pertaining to video game
emulation on Android.
 2

Which emulators to use?

Snes9x EX+ (SNES) Mupen64Plus FZ (Nintendo 64)

ePSXe (PlayStation 1)

In the Google Play Store, there are many video game emulators. Searching for, say, a Super
Nintendo emulator brings up at least ten of them. Most of the emulators have ads or require you
to pay. I want to save you the trouble of navigating this mess by presenting you with the list
below of the best emulators.
 3

Category System Emulator Name Cost? Notes

Nintendo GameCube/ Dolphin Free! See compatibility list:

Wii [Link]

Nintendo 64 M64Plus FZ Free with ads When you load a game, you
need to look at an ad for 10
seconds. If ads bother you, use
RetroArch.

M64Plus FZ Pro $3.99 US

Super Snes9x EX+ Free!

Nintendo

NES [Link] $3.99 US If you refuse to pay for

[Link], try the alternative
below or RetroArch.

[Link] Free with ads

Nintendo DS DraStic DS $4.99 US The #1 NDS emulator on

Android! If you refuse to pay for
nds4droid, try the alternative
below or RetroArch.

nds4droid Free! Not as good as DraStic DS.

Game Boy [Link] $4.99 US If you refuse to pay for

Advance [Link], try the alternative
below or RetroArch.

[Link] Free with ads

Game Boy [Link] $2.99 US If you refuse to pay for

Color [Link], try the alternative
below or RetroArch.

[Link] Free with ads

Sega Genesis/ [Link] $4.99 US Doesn't support 32X, and Sega

Sega CD CD games require some setup.
If you refuse to pay for [Link],
 4

try the alternative below or

RetroArch.

ClassicBoy Partially free Doesn't support 32X, and Sega

CD games require some setup.
'Partially free' means most
systems are free and some
aren't.

Saturn Yaba Sanshiro Free with ads Requires Saturn BIOS.

Game RetroArch Plus Free! Use the “Genesis Plus GX” core.
Gear/SMS

Sony PlayStation 1 DuckStation Free! Requires PS1 BIOS. See

section on ePSXe vs.
DuckStation.

ePSXe $4 US Requires PS1 BIOS and some

setup. See section on ePSXe vs.
DuckStation.

PlayStation 2 AetherSX2 Free! Based on PCSX2 - see

compatibility list. Their
homepage provides some tips
on improving performance.
Requires PS2 BIOS.

Play! Free! Only supports 20% of game

library - see compatibility list.
Requires PS2 BIOS.

PSP PPSSPP Free! If you need help boosting

performance, see performance
guide:
[Link]
[Link]?tid=5236

Arcade MAME MAME4droid Free! I have a dedicated MAME4droid

tutorial:
[Link]
lp/mame4droid
 5

RetroArch Plus Free! I explain arcade emulation with

RetroArch in the Windows
Retroarch tutorial.

NEC TurboGrafx16/ [Link] $3.99 US PC Engine CD games require

PC Engine some setup and require the
BIOS. If you refuse to pay for
[Link], try the alternative
below or RetroArch.

ClassicBoy Partially free PC Engine CD games require

some setup and require the
BIOS. 'Partially free' means
most systems are free and some
aren't.

Bandai WonderSwan/ RetroArch Plus Free! Use the “Beetle Cygne” core.
WonderSwan
Color

Multi-syst Multi-system RetroArch Plus Free! Supports over 40 systems! This

em 'Plus' version is for newer
devices (Android 8.0 or higher).
If you need help, see my
Android RetroArch tutorial.
CD-based systems require the
BIOS.

RetroArch Free! Supports over 40 systems! This

version is for older Android
devices (Android 7.0 or lower).

ClassicBoy Partially free Supports 10 systems (the most

popular ones). 'Partially free'
means most systems are free
and some aren't.

As you see above, the majority of the top emulators are free. The only emulators I recommend
paying for are DraStic DS (NDS), and possibly ePSXe (PS1) if you don't like DuckStation (a free
PS1 emulator). DraStic DS and ePSXe go for around $4-5 US. If you like standalone emulators
and you don't like RetroArch, the “.emu” series of emulators are an excellent, high quality option
(they go for $3-5 US). The .emu emulators are intuitive, feature-rich, and small in size.
 6

Single-system vs. multi-system emulators

Android offers many emulators dedicated to a single video game
system, but it also has a few emulators that support multiple
video game systems. Which one should you use? Well, I
recommend using both. Specifically, the multi-system emulator I
recommend is RetroArch (in the picture to the right, showing
some of its supported games).

For example, if the SNES emulator isn't performing to your liking,

RetroArch gives you the option of multiple cores (multiple
emulators) to choose from for each system. But RetroArch is not
very user-friendly, so the single-system emulators are better in
that regard. Try both and see which one you like the best.

One arena where RetroArch beats single-system emulators is

with tablets and Play Store supported Chromebooks.
Single-system emulators are designed for smartphones; they
don't fare well on a large screen. RetroArch is designed for everything, so that'll be your go-to
emulator on those devices.

RetroArch vs. ClassicBoy

ClassicBoy [[Link] is a
rising competitor to RetroArch. It's a simpler multi-system
emulator with a nice, visual design. By default, it comes with
support for PlayStation 1, N64, Game Boy, Game Boy Advance,
NES, Genesis, Sega CD, Game Gear, Master System, and
arcade games. Additionally, it has a plugins section where you
can download support for additional systems such as Nintendo
DS, Saturn, NeoGeo Pocket Color, Wonderswan Color, and PC
Engine/CD.

ClassicBoy is a free emulator that doesn't have ads. However,

there's a catch. It does have 'ads' in the sense that it teases you
with support for SNES and other systems, but enabling support
for those systems requires payment. This isn't so bad,
considering the large number of systems it supports for free. For
SNES, you could just use Snes9x EX+ (which is free) and avoid
paying for SNES support with ClassicBoy.
 7

RetroArch is still my top recommendation. But yet, if you find RetroArch intimidating, ClassicBoy
would be a better alternative for you with its friendlier, more visually appealing design.

PlayStation 1: ePSXe vs. DuckStation

DuckStation [[Link] is a
relatively new and promising PlayStation 1 emulator. In this guide I keep recommending ePSXe
[[Link] but what about DuckStation?
Firstly, DuckStation is 100% free (ePSXe
costs around $4 US). Its emulation quality is
excellent - it's possibly better than ePSXe.
Swapping CDs (ISOs) is just as easy as with
ePSXe. Although it's not
Chromebook-friendly.

Here’s a screenshot of DuckStation running

Final Fantasy VII. The graphics were
upscaled (this isn’t DuckStation’s default).

But yet, ePSXe still has a better interface; it's easier and friendlier to use. It's
Chromebook-friendly. ePSXe does require some setup:

ePSXe and DuckStation are both good emulators with their pros and cons. It's up to you to
decide which emulator would be better for your needs.
 8

Sega CD & PCE-CD: Important notes

There are a few different types of formats that people have prepared ripped Sega CD/Mega CD
and TurboGrafx-CD/PC Engine CD games as. They consist of one or more BIN files (the game's
data), audio tracks, and a CUE sheet. The CUE sheet is a simple text file with a programmatic
list of the audio tracks. ROM websites deliver games in one of four formats:

1. A binary BIN/CUE: As of the early 2020s, this is the new popular format. It looks like
this when you open it:

All files are BIN files. When you look at the CUE sheet, the BIN files are organized as the
audio tracks:

2. A standard BIN/CUE: This is how video game ISOs (for any CD-based system) are
normally ripped as. It looks like this when you open it:
 9

When you look at the CUE sheet, the audio tracks are listed even though there are no
actual audio files present:

3. An ISO/MP3: This used to be the most popular format for most of the 2000s and 2010s
when the Internet was slower. Converting the audio tracks to MP3 significantly reduced
the file size of Sega CD games. It looks like this when you open it:

4. An ISO/WAV: This is an ISO/MP3 with the audio tracks converted to WAV. This format
renders the game compatible with any Genesis emulator (that supports Sega CD).

I need to point out that not all of the above formats are compatible with emulators on Android.
ISO/MP3 is not supported at all. ISO/WAV will load, but the CD audio may run fast as if in fast
forward. BIN/CUE ('binary' or 'standard') are the formats that are 100% supported.

With a properly prepared ISO, the next steps are easy. All you do is copy over the proper BIOS
and configure it with the emulator you're using. Every emulator does it a little differently. It might
require you to place the BIOS in the emulator's root folder. Or it might require you to configure
the BIOS in the settings. When the BIOS is properly configured, all you do to play your game is
load its CUE sheet as if it were a ROM.
 10

No Perfect Sync on Android

Sega CD/Mega CD games have an annoying little string attached. Some Sega CD
games require something called “Perfect Sync”, or else they freeze at the Sega logo:

In particular, I know Shining Force CD and Popful Mail require Perfect Sync in order to
work. Genesis emulators on Windows allow you to enable/disable Perfect Sync to work
around this problem. Android's Genesis emulators (the ones that support Sega CD) do
not offer Perfect Sync. Hence, there are quite a few games that will not work. However, I
know that RetroArch must have some kind of auto Perfect Sync feature because every
Sega CD game I've tried on it works.

Teasing PlayStation 2, GameCube, etc.

Browsing through my recommended Android emulators
[[Link] you're going to see Dolphin which supports
GameCube and Wii. You'll see emulators for PlayStation 2, Sega Saturn, and Dreamcast. If you
poke around the Play Store, you'll even find emulators for PlayStation 3. Don't get excited - they
probably won't work! The Play Store is teasing us.

The modern smartphone is fast, but it's not that fast. These emulators are intended for high-end
Android devices. For the rest of us, the highest our average Android devices will support is
PlayStation 1 and N64; maybe even PSP if we're lucky.

Extracting RAR & 7Z files

ROM websites like to distribute their ROMs & ISOs compressed in ZIP, RAR, or 7Z files. The
best free app for uncompressing these files is ZArchiver (you can find it in the Play Store).
Although keep in mind that emulators support running ROMs from their ZIP file. It's RAR & 7Z
files that you need to decompress in order to run them with emulators.
 11

The Dig front-end

The Dig emulator front-end is a really handy
app! Let's say you already set up all of your
emulators and ROMs on your Android
device. It might be a bit tedious having to
fuss through a collection of emulators and
look for the ROM you want to play every
single time. Dig optimizes your emulation
experience by consolidating all of your
games and emulators into a single, fun
graphical interface!

Upon opening Dig for the first time, what it

does is scan your Android device to collect
the emulators you currently have installed
and builds a database with all of your ROMs.
Then Dig presents you with a graphical
interface showing the box art for each one of
your ROMs. Selecting a game takes you to a
helpful profile with information about it. Pressing 'Play' immediately loads the game in your
installed emulator. It's awesome!

Dig is especially helpful with RetroArch since it lacks an intuitive interface. Dig is also valuable
for Chromebooks since RetroArch's interface isn't Chromebook friendly. Anyway, you can grab
Dig from the Play Store: [Link]

Transferring saves from Windows emulators

This is a popular topic. Many of us are already long-time users of emulators. So, naturally, we
want to continue our gameplay from Windows emulators to our Android device(s). My
[Link] also offers periodical game saves for many popular classic RPGs.
Can saves be transferred? Yes! Sort of. Not every video game system is covered.
12
 13

● PlayStation 1 saves: If you plan on using Android's ePSXe (which I hope you are),
transferring your memory card from ePSXe on Windows is a simple copy & paste. Go
into ePSXe's “memcards” folder and drag over “[Link]”.

● Super Nintendo saves: Android's Snes9x EX+ accepts both save states & internal save
RAM files from Snes9x on Windows! Let's say your save state is “finalfantasy6.000”.
Rename it to “[Link]” for it to work on Snes9x EX+. The internal saved
RAM files (i.e. “[Link]”) don't need to be renamed - simply copy & paste them
over.

● Game Boy/Game Boy Color/Game Boy Advance saves: Internal saved RAM files (i.e.
“[Link]”) from Visual Boy Advance on Windows will work on RetroArch.
Simply copy & paste them over to the “saves” sub folder in RetroArch's root folder.

● Genesis, Sega CD, 32X, Game Gear, Nintendo 64 saves: These cannot be
transferred.

Downloading large games… disappear?

Android can be wonky when you try to download a large ROM or ISO. ‘Large’ meaning around 1
GB in size and higher. It may take a couple tries because sometimes the file disappears as soon
as you're prompted that it finished downloading. Or maybe Android will hiccup and suddenly halt
the download. These issues are especially prone to happen if you’re nearing your max capacity
of space on your device.

Instead of wireless downloading, I recommend a wired transfer by connecting your Android

device to a computer. You won't encounter problems transferring large ROMs and ISOs that
way.

Using ROM hacks

I have a detailed tutorial on patching ROMs [[Link] In my patching
tutorial, I explain how you can auto patch or manually patch games with a ROM hack's patch. I
recommend reading my patching tutorial before you continue reading here. The language here
might be confusing if you don't.

As far as I know, no Android emulator supports auto-patching. These are your options for using
ROM hacks:

1. I think the fastest & easiest way to use a ROM hack is to look for a pre-patched ROM.
That saves you loads of trouble.
 14

2. If you can't find a pre-patched ROM, then try patching the ROM on your computer. Upon
a successful patching, transfer it over to your Android device. I recommend using
Dropbox or Google Drive for the transfer.

3. If you can’t find a pre-patched ROM and patching on your computer isn’t an option, then
you can try patching the ROM directly on your Android device. I have directions in my
patching tutorial [[Link]

Don't forget--the #1 website for ROM hacks and English translations is [Link]!
[[Link]

Cheating
Every video game emulator supports cheats. Snes9x EX+ supports Game Genie cheats.
ePSXe, DraStic DS, and RetroArch even auto-download cheat files!

Setting up a Bluetooth gamepad

Setting up a Bluetooth gamepad is quick and easy. First of all, make sure the gamepad's
specifications specifically state that it's supported by Android. If you're looking for a Bluetooth
gamepad, I have several good ones pointed out in my Gamepads article
[[Link]

Pairing your gamepad

1. First, make sure your Bluetooth gamepad is fully charged and has LED lights
indicating it's on.

2. Put your gamepad in 'pairing mode'. Sometimes it's as simple as pressing the Start
button and you'll see lights blinking on your gamepad. Gamepads that are
compatible with multiple OSs might require a specific button to be pressed for
pairing with Android. Read the documentation that came with your gamepad. Or go
to the manufacturer's website and look for directions there.

3. On your Android device enter the Bluetooth

screen. I can't tell you exactly how because
every Android device has a different GUI.
Typically, you access it by swiping down on
the top and press the Bluetooth icon:
 15

4. In the Bluetooth screen, press Pair new device:

5. In the next screen, you should see the name of your Bluetooth gamepad:

Press it. It should turn gray with “Pairing”.

○ There are a few problems that could surface in this step. Your Bluebooth
gamepad might have a weird name such as “[Link]”. Try to
pair it anyway.

○ The “Pairing” notice might hang for a few minutes and then stop. Make sure
your Bluetooth gamepad is fully charged and indicating that it's turned on,
and try again. Read your gamepad's instructions to ensure its LED lights are
indicating that it's on and ready to be paired.

6. Upon a successful pairing, you should see your gamepad listed on the Bluetooth
screen with “Connected”:

Emulator setup
Next, your Bluetooth gamepad needs to be configured with every video game emulator
you intend to use it with. Each emulator does it differently.

● With Snes9X EX+: Go to Key/Gamepad Input Setup and you should see the
name of your Bluetooth gamepad towards the bottom, as shown below:
 16

● With ePSXe: Go to Preferences, look under “Input Preferences”, and press Player
1.

● With Mupen64Plus: You don't need to do anything. Your gamepad is auto-detected

and pre-configured.

● With RetroArch: You shouldn't have to do anything. When you load a game and
press a button on your gamepad, you should see a message appear on the bottom
left telling you that your gamepad is now active with the game.

Notes about a gamepad on Chromebooks

Chromebooks have limited support for gamepads with video game emulators from the Play
Store. I can only tell you what I know of this subject from my own experience. I don't have a pile
of gamepads to test with all the popular Android video game emulators.

I've been using the 8Bitdo gamepads, which is the most popular brand for retro style Bluetooth
gamepads - see ‘em on Amazon: [Link] My first generation 8Bitdo gamepads
(I have the NES and SNES controller) haven't worked on any of my Chromebooks. However, I
 17

got the 8Bitdo SN30 (released in 2017): [Link]

and found that it works on my Chromebook. It worked fine with
Snes9X, the .emu emulators, ePSXe, Mupen64Plus, and RetroArch.
And later I purchased the 8Bitdo SN30 Pro+ (released in 2019),
which works great on Chromebooks. In 2021, they released a newer
model of this controller: the 8Bitdo Pro 2 ([Link]

So maybe only gamepads from 2017 and newer will work on

Chromebooks? Or maybe only certain gamepads will work where the
developer specifically programmed support for Chromebook Android
apps? I can't say for sure.

The gamepad API

There's a detail I need to point out to avoid confusion. If you
Google the subject of gamepads on Chromebooks, every result will tell you that all
gamepads work on any Chromebook with no problem. PlayStation 3 controllers work on
Chromebooks, too (see: [Link] However, this is misleading
because what everyone is talking about is gamepad support for Chrome based games
via the gamepad API. All this wonderful support for gamepads, unfortunately, does not
apply to video game emulators from the Play Store.

Finding games
In my links page [[Link] I have some good links to sites where you can
download ROMs and ISOs. If you want to try to find more sites than what's in my collection of
links, just Google around. For example, if you want to download Final Fantasy VII just Google
“download final fantasy vii psx”.

Finding games for PS2/PS3/PSP/GameCube/Wii and beyond is trickier due to how large games
are. These games are typically not available in ROM sites readily found on Google. However,
people upload large games to cloud platforms all the time. You'll only find these links to such
valuable resources on Reddit. You can find these Reddit links on Google with such keywords as
“reddit download playstation 2”.

Q: Help! My emulators can't save anymore!

In 2019, Google released Android 10 which placed further restrictions on permissions and write
access granted to apps (to protect us). If you downloaded emulators before upgrading to
Android 10, those emulators may have lost write access. That means save states might no
longer work or you can't capture screenshots anymore. Or any other action that requires writing
to your device.
 18

This is a tricky question for me to help you with because every emulator is different and there
are myriad scenarios here on how to approach troubleshooting this issue. First and foremost,
you must update your emulators! Emulator authors are aware of the new rules enforced by
Android 10 and have updated their emulators accordingly. This should resolve any saving
issues.

What many emulators have done to workaround Android 10's new rules is by saving content in
a different location. For example, MAME4Droid now saves everything into Android's “data”
folder. I explain how to move files to this location in my tutorial:
Dungeons & Dragons Arcade: How to play on Android
[Link]

Perhaps you're stuck in a situation where you have a bunch of save states, and now they don't
work anymore since permissions changed with Android 10. What I would do is look in the
emulator's settings, which should state somewhere the new path for save states. So then it
should be a simple matter of moving your save states to this new location. My Dungeons &
Dragons tutorial linked above may be able to help you with this.

Thank you for reading my tutorial! If you have questions you can email me or message me on
social media [[Link]