About Emulators

What are emulators?

Emulators are tools that enable a host computer system to imitate a different computer system. For gaming purposes, this allows you to play games released for specific platforms, such as consoles or mobile, on a different (host) platform, like your PC. Emulation is not limited to a single type of device and can enable cross-platform gaming on various devices. For example, you can play Android games on your Windows computer or Windows games on your Android mobile. Nowadays, emulators are commonly used to play classic games released decades ago on platforms no longer available for sale, allowing these games to be played on devices still accessible to us today.

Which emulator do I need?

Before exploring how to use an emulator, you need to determine which emulator you need. Two factors influence this decision:

  1. The platform you will use to run the emulator and play the emulated game (i.e., the host platform).
  2. The platform the game was originally released on (i.e., the platform you are trying to emulate or the guest platform).

We have created a list of popular emulators that you can browse at the bottom of this page.

How do you use emulators?

There are hundreds of emulators available for download, each with its own instructions. Generally, an emulator requires you to load pre-downloaded files through its system. In gaming, these files are usually ROMs or ISOs of the game released on its original platform. This allows the emulator to run these files in the same way the original platform would, displaying the games on your system similarly to how they would appear on their original systems. Each emulator also has its own set of controls pre-mapped for use on the host system. For example, when emulating old PlayStation games on a PC, the L2/R2 buttons on the PlayStation controller might be mapped to specific keys on your keyboard, such as F1 and F2.

Where can I download emulators?

To help you find a suitable emulator, we have created lists of popular emulators available for different platforms. To find the emulator you need, choose the platform you will use to run the emulator (i.e., your host platform):

Emulators for Android

Emulators for Mac

Emulators for Windows