Video game platform emulators - ArchWiki

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An emulator is a program which serves to replicate the functions of another platform or system so as to allow applications and games to be run in environments they were not programmed for.

Note: For possibly more up to date selection of emulators, try checking the AUR 'emulator' keyword.
Warning: Owning a high-level emulator is legal, but distribution of any type of copyrighted ROMs is illegal. Consequently, Arch Linux does not distribute this copyrighted content, including game ROMs and ripped console BIOSs. You are fully responsible for whatever usage of the emulators obtained from the official repositories or the Arch User Repository you make, as well as any legal repercussion that result. Arch Linux bears no responsibility at all.

## Multi-System

- ares — Multi-system emulator by Near with experimental Nintendo 64 and PlayStation support.

  https://ares-emu.net/ || ares-emuAUR

- BizHawk — A multi-system emulator on .NET. Features rerecording and tools for TASing. (Mono runtime)

  https://tasvideos.org/BizHawk || bizhawk-monortAUR

- higan — Multisystem emulator focusing on accuracy, supporting SNES, NES, GB, GBC, GBA.

  https://higan-emu.com/ || higan

- Fightcade — The best way to play your favorite retro games with or against any other player in the world.

  https://www.fightcade.com/ || fightcade2AUR

- FinalBurn Neo — Emulator for Arcade Games & Select Consoles. Based on FinalBurn and MAME.

  https://neo-source.com/ || fbneo-gitAUR

- MAME — Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator.

  https://www.mamedev.org/ || mame

- mednafen — Command-line driven multisystem emulator.

  https://mednafen.github.io/ || mednafen, graphical front-end mednaffeAUR.

- RetroArch — Frontend to libretro (emulation library, using modified versions of existing emulators as plugins).

  https://www.libretro.com/ || retroarch

## Nintendo

- bsnes — Super Nintendo emulator focusing on performance, features, and ease of use.

  https://github.com/bsnes-emu/bsnes || bsnesAUR HD Fork: bsnes-hdAUR

- Cemu — Wii U emulator (via wine).

  https://cemu.info/ || cemuAUR

- Citra — Nintendo 3DS emulator.

  https://citra-emu.org/ || citra-gitAUR

- DeSmuME — Nintendo DS emulator.

  https://desmume.org/ || desmume

- Dolphin — Very capable GameCube and Wii emulator.

  https://dolphin-emu.org/ || dolphin-emu

- FCEUX — NTSC and PAL 8 bit Nintendo/Famicom emulator that is an evolution of the original FCE Ultra emulator. It is accurate, compatible and actively maintained.

  https://fceux.com/ || fceux

- GBE+ — DMG/GBC/GBA emulator and experimental NDS emulator.

  https://github.com/shonumi/gbe-plus || gbe-plus-gitAUR

- GearBoy — GameBoy and GameBoy Color emulator.

  https://github.com/drhelius/Gearboy || gearboyAUR

- melonDS — Nintendo DS emulator.

  http://melonds.kuribo64.net/ || melondsAUR

- Mesen — A cross-platform NES/Famicom emulator. Based on NovaSquirrel's fork.

  https://github.com/NovaSquirrel/Mesen-X || mesen-x-gitAUR

- mGBA — A Nintendo Gameboy Advance Emulator focusing on both speed and accuracy.

  https://mgba.io/ || SDL frontend: mgba-sdl, QT5 frontend: mgba-qt

- Mupen64Plus — Highly compatible Nintendo 64 emulator with plugin system.

  https://www.mupen64plus.org/ || mupen64plus or a graphical front-end, such as rmg-gitAUR, simple64AUR, parallel-launcherAUR, m64pyAUR or cutemupenAUR.

- NanoBoy Advance — Accuracy-focused Game Boy Advance emulator.

  https://github.com/nba-emu/NanoBoyAdvance || nanoboyadvance-gitAUR

- Nestopia — Very accurate NES emulator.

  http://0ldsk00l.ca/nestopia/ || nestopiaAUR

- Ryujinx — A simple, experimental Nintendo Switch emulator.

  https://ryujinx.org/ || ryujinx-gitAUR

- SameBoy — An accuracy-focused Game Boy/Game Boy Color emulator

  https://github.com/LIJI32/SameBoy || sameboyAUR

- Snes9x — Portable, freeware Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) emulator.

  https://www.snes9x.com/ || snes9x-gtk

- Visual Boy Advance — Game Boy emulator with Game Boy Advance, Game Boy Color, and Super Game Boy support.

  https://vba-m.com/ || vbam-wx

- Yuzu — An experimental open-source Nintendo Switch emulator/debugger.

  https://github.com/yuzu-emu/yuzu/ || yuzu-gitAUR

- ZSNES — Highly compatible Super Nintendo emulator.

  https://www.zsnes.com/ || zsnes

## Sony

- DuckStation — DuckStation is an simulator/emulator of the Sony PlayStation(TM) console, focusing on playability, speed, and long-term maintainability.

  https://github.com/stenzek/duckstation || duckstation-gitAUR

- ePSXe — Emulator for the PlayStation video game console for x86-based PC hardware.

  https://www.epsxe.com/ || epsxeAUR

- pSX — A not plugin-based PlayStation emulator with fairly high compatibility.

  http://psxemulator.gazaxian.com/ || psxAUR

- PCSXR — PlayStation emulator; Debian fork of the abandoned original PCSX

  https://archive.codeplex.com/?p=pcsxr || pcsxrAUR

- PCSX2 — PlayStation 2 emulator. It is still being maintained and developed. It requires BIOS files.

  https://pcsx2.net/ || pcsx2

- PPSSPP — PlayStation Portable emulator.

  https://ppsspp.org/ || ppsspp

- RPCS3 — Experimental open-source Sony PlayStation 3 emulator and debugger.

  https://rpcs3.net/ || rpcs3-gitAUR

## Sega

- BlastEm — Genesis and Sega CD Emulator focused on accuracy.

  https://www.retrodev.com/blastem/ || blastemAUR

- FlyCast — Sega Dreamcast Emulator

  https://github.com/flyinghead/flycast || flycast-gitAUR

- Kega Fusion — An emulator of classic Sega consoles like Genesis/Mega Drive, Master System, Sega CD. Game Gear, 32X.

  https://www.carpeludum.com/kega-fusion/ || kega-fusionAUR

- Kronos — Hardware-accelerated Sega Saturn emulator forked from uoYabause.

  https://fcare.github.io || kronosAUR

- Yabause — A Sega Saturn emulator.

  https://yabause.org/ || yabause-gtk, yabause-qt

## Other Consoles

- gngeo — Command-line NeoGeo emulator.

  https://github.com/pepone42/gngeo || gngeoAUR

- Stella — Atari 2600 VCS emulator.

  https://stella-emu.github.io/ || stella

- Virtual Jaguar — A portable Atari Jaguar emulator

  https://icculus.org/virtualjaguar/ || virtualjaguar-gitAUR

- xemu — An original Xbox emulator (fork of XQEMU).

  https://xemu.app/ || xemu-gitAUR

- XQEMU — An original Xbox emulator.

  https://xqemu.com/ || xqemu-gitAUR

## Personal Computers

- box64 — Linux Userspace x86_64 Emulator with a twist

  https://github.com/ptitSeb/box64 || box64AUR

- DOSBox — Open-source DOS emulator which primarily focuses on running DOS Games.

  https://www.dosbox.com/ || dosbox

- DOSEmu — Open-source DOS emulator.

  http://www.dosemu.org/ || dosemu

- FS-UAE — Amiga Emulator.

  https://fs-uae.net/ || fs-uae

- Fuse-emulator — ZX Spectrum emulator.

  https://fuse-emulator.sourceforge.net/fuse.php || fuse-emulatorAUR

- ScummVM — Virtual machine for old school adventures.

  https://www.scummvm.org/ || scummvm

- TIC-80 — TIC-80 is a free and open source fantasy computer for making, playing and sharing tiny games.

  https://tic80.com/ || tic-80-gitAUR

- Vice — Versatile Commodore 8-bit Emulator.

  https://vice-emu.sourceforge.io/ || vice

- X Neko Project II — PC-9801 emulator.

  https://www.nonakap.org/np2/ || xnp2AUR

## See also

- Emulation General wiki
- Wikipedia:List of video game console emulators

Categories:

- Gaming
- Emulation
- Lists of software