Size: Around 25 MB

Cemu can run a sizeable amount of games, with 12% of the tested ones listed as Perfect (can be played with no issues) and 40% of the tested ones listed as Playable (can be played through with minor audio or graphical glitches). As of October 2022, Cemu is no longer in the experimental stage. Check out its compatibility list to ensure the games you want to play fully work.

Size: Around 20 MB

Dolphin is an emulator for two recent Nintendo video game consoles: the GameCube and the Wii. It allows PC (and Mac) gamers to enjoy games for these two consoles in full HD (1080p) with several enhancements: compatibility with all PC controllers, turbo speed, networked multiplayer, and even more! Check out its compatibility list to ensure the games you want to play fully work.

Size: Around 40 MB

RMG is the best and most accurate Nintendo 64 emulator. I recommend it as #1. It can play games like Resident Evil 2, Rogue Squadron, Pokemon Snap, and World Driver Championship “out-of-the-box” (without the need to fiddle with settings, plugins, or anything of the sort).

Size: 4.15 MB, Version: 3.0.1, Homepage

Project64 was once a top N64 emulator. Although “RMG” is the top N64 emulator now, you may still prefer Project64 as it has more features. Note that the latest versions of Project64 may not run games well.
*Note: My download of Project64 does not contain malware, unlike the download on the official site.

Size: Around 5 MB

Bsnes has the crown of being the #1 Super Nintendo emulator for its cycle accuracy. However, that doesn't mean BSNES is the best emulator for you. Its performance requires a fast CPU, so it may not run well on every computer/device. Features include 100% bug-free compatibility, Super Game Boy emulation, HD mode 7 graphics, a multi-threaded video graphics renderer, built-in databases for games/PCBs/cheat codes, and save state manager with screenshot previews.

Size: 4.273.53 MB, Version: 1.62.3, Homepage, Github

Snes9x has tons of awesome screen filters, supports Game Genie/Action Replay cheats, can capture SPC music, take screen shots, capture save states with multiple slots, supports Super FX, record AVI movies, and more. It's easy to use, it runs great on whatever speed your computer is, and it has such neat features. It's an excellent SNES emulator! New with version 1.54: Snes9x now uses the Bsnes core to emulate games with cycle accuracy. So now they run like the real thing!
*Note: If you can't run games because of a ddx9_38.dll error, read this for the fix.

Size: 847 KB, Version: 1.51, Homepage

ZSNES was the first popular video game emulator. It's a beloved classic. I have it here only for nostalgic purposes. I do not recommend ZSNES for a quality SNES emulation experience.
*You might also want to try ZMZ, a version of Snes9X with ZSNES's GUI.

Size: Around 10 MB

The #1 emulator for the classic 8-bit NES. It's a cycle-accurate! The authors are proud of it--over 220 mappers are supported, offering very high game compatibility. It includes the usual emulator features: save states, rewinding, movie/audio recording, overclocking, cheat codes, netplay, and more.

Size: Around 5 MB

FCEUX (FCE Ultra or FCEUmm) is a classic NES emulator that's been around a long time. Persistent development has kept it as a top emulator. It's as good as Mesen. Compared to Mesen, FCEUX offers more advanced features for veteran emulation users.

Size: 1.60 MB, Version: 2.1.5

This version of FCEUX is from 2011. If you're finding that the latest version of Mesen or FCEUX doesn't run well on your old computer, this version is sure to run well.

Size: Around 40 MB

For years, Citra was regarded as the #1 emulatof for the 3DS. However in March 2024, Nintendo shut down Yuzu, one of the top Nintendo Swith emulators. The Yuzu team was connected to the Citra team, so Citra was abandoned as well. Fortunately, the legend that is Citra lives on in a new fork call the Citra PabloMK7 fork. The link leads to their Github page. Look for the “citra-windows...” download link.

Size: Around 50 MB

Lime3DS is another fork of the legendary Citra emulator. Currently, both the above fork and Lime3DS are regarded as the top, recommended emulators for 3DS.

Size: Around 30 MB

DeSmuME is the #1 Nintendo DS emulator! It's been around a long time. They've had significant improvements since 2018. It now uses less CPU/GPU resources. It especially offers some good options for the display, since the DS has the double screen thing going on. Its game compatibility is great and improving.
Note: The downloads page I'm linking to is weird, I know. That is actually the official downloads page for the latest version of DeSmuME from their homepage. It's confusing because their site's main page promotes v0.9.11 as the latest stable release, but their Downloads page says “Don't download the v0.9.11 stable release because it's old from 2015!” So trust me, you can download the latest version of DeSmuME from the weird link (see this sample image).

Size: Around 2 MB

melonDS aims at providing fast and accurate Nintendo DS emulation. It has a pretty solid set of features such as a nearly complete core, OpenGL renderer, 3D upscaling, RTC, microphone, lid close/open, Wifi (local multiplayer, online connectivity), and more! Both DeSmuME and melonDS are regarded as the top, recommended NDS emulators by the emulation scene.
Note: The firmware and BIOS files are required to run games with melonDS.

Size: 18.4 MB, Version: 0.10.2, Homepage

mGBA is the #1 emulator for Game Boy Advance. It's focused on being fast enough to run on lower-end hardware than other emulators support, without sacrificing accuracy or portability. Game compatibility is high. It even offers support for the Tilt Sensor and Game Boy Camera. mGBA's drawback is that it lacks the cool features that VisualBoyAdv-M has.

Size: 20.4 MB, Version: 2.1.4, Homepage

Visual Boy Advance supports Game Boy Classic, Super Game Boy, Game Boy Color, and (of course) Game Boy Advance. It has several cool screen filters, supports cheats, record music, can take screen shots, capture save states with multiple slots, record AVI movies, and more. It's easy to use and it runs great on whatever speed your computer is. This version of the emulator is called “VisualBoyAdvance-M” (or Visual Boy Advance Merged), which is a continued effort by others since the original Visual Boy Advance authors abandoned the emulator in 2005.
*For the most accurate Game Boy Classic and Game Boy Color emulation, I recommend Gambatte in the Game Boy section.

Size: 597 KB, Version: 1.7.2

If for whatever reason you want the original Visual Boy Advance, here it is. Keep in mind that it hasn't been updated since 2005. “VisualBoyAdvance-M” above is the recommended version to use.

Size: Around 1.5 MB

SameBoy is currently considered the #1 Game Boy Classic/Game Boy Color emulator in terms of accuracy. The UI is simple. It has debugging features and also emulates Game Boy Camera and Game Boy Printer.

Size: 1.96 MB, Version: r571, Homepage

Gambatte was last updated in 2016, so it's no longer considered one of the top emulators. However, I keep it here because it's the most user-friendly Game Boy Classic/Game Boy Color emulator. SameBoy and BGB don't offer traditional windows menus, but Gambatte does.

Size: Around 500 KB

BGB supports Game Boy Classic, Super Game Boy, and Game Boy Color. The interface is uncluttered and clean. The screen is nice and sharp. BGB is good if you want something simple and fast/light-weight. Along with SameBoy, it's considered one of the top emulators.

This is a stub to highlight that my top recommendation for emulation of Sega systems is the #1 multi-system emulator, RetroArch. The emulation scene regards “Genesis Plus GX” (a 'core' in RetroArch) as the #1 emulator for Genesis & Sega CD, offering the highest accuracy. Genesis Plus GX doesn't support 32X, but you can use another core in RetroArch, “Picodrive”, which does. You can still use Kega Fusion or GENS/GS below if you insist. Just note that they haven't been updated since the mid-2010s.

Size: 383 KB, Version: 3.64, Homepage

Kega Fusion is a legendary emulator loved by many. In addition to Genesis, it also emulates Sega CD, 32X, Sega CD+32X (it's the only emulator that supports this), Sega Master System, Game Gear, Sega SG-1000, and SC-3000. It has high compatibility and good speed.

Size: 2.66 MB, Version: Release 7, Homepage

Gens/GS is a version of the famous “Gens” emulator. The main goal of Gens/GS was to clean up the source code and combine features from various forks of Gens, as well as improving portability to other platforms. Gens/GS has a high compatibility rate and good speed. It also has many nice features including the usual screen renders, Sega CD support, and 32X support. It has a few neat features that Kega Fusion doesn't have.

Size: Around 60 MB

Saturn emulation has always been horrible. Then in the mid 2010s, uoYabause surfaced and surprised us all. This emulator offers an excellent Saturn emulation experience. Game compatibility is high. 3D graphics are rendered in a higher resolution (just like with PSX and N64 emulation). The drawback is that this emulator can be demanding on the CPU, so it may not run well on slower/older computers. I recommend checking its compatibility list before trying out games. uoYabause does not require the Saturn BIOS in order to boot games.
*Note: uoYabause might prompt saying it's missing “SDL2.dll”. You can download this file below.

Size: 75 MB, Version: Preview R28, Homepage

Offers good compatibility and is easy to use. It lacks the fancy features we're used to with PSX/N64 emulation, like high-res 3D rendering and such. Its compatibility isn't perfect so I recommend checking its compatibility list before trying out games. And read my snippet about improving performance with SSF.

Size: 32.3 MB, Version: 0.06-0.12, Homepage

Curiously, games sometimes run better in certain older releases of SSF. If you're eager to have a game run as best as possible, download this zip and find out if an older version of SSF handles it better. This zip contains all versions of SSF up to 2013.

Size: Around 5 MB

Redream is compatible with nearly the entire Dreamcast library (Windows CE now supported), has a good user interface, is easy to set up, and can run without the BIOS. It can run even on low-end machines (provided that they support OpenGL 3.1). The only catch is that if you want HD rendering, they're asking for $5 US for the premium version.

This is a stub to highlight that #2 recommendation for Dreamcast emulation is the “Flycast” core available in multi-system emulators such as RetroArch. Like redream, compatibility is nearly 100%. And unlike redream's $5 fee for HD rendering, Flycast is 100% free. Flycast's only drawback is that it's not friendly on low-end machines.

There aren't any standalone emulators for Game Gear and Master System that I recommend. Rather, there's a variety of multi-system emulators that support them. My standalone recommendation is Kega Fusion. But if you want the best emulator, you need to use RetroArch or Ares and its “Genesis Plus GX” core.

Size: 20 MB

The #1 PlayStation 1 emulator! It focuses on playability, speed, and long-term maintainability. The goal is to be as accurate as possible while maintaining performance suitable for low-end devices. It comes with all the PGXP correction features expected from modern PSX emulators, has a robust Memory Card Editor, auto-downloads cheats, and more! It's also incredibly easy to use and well made.
*The DuckStation page can be a little confusing. Just scroll to the bottom and look for “Latest Development Build”. Then look for “duckstation-windows-x64-release.zip”.

Size: 1.31 MB, Version: 2.0.5, Homepage: Click here

ePSXe is one of the most famous video game emulators. It takes advantage of the exciting plug-in system. It's a good emulator - if you're patient enough to work with that plug-in system (it can be annoying). Remember, Pete's Plug-ins are the best for ePSXe. You can download a bundle of the best plug-ins further down, as well as the ePSXe cheats pack. However, keep in mind that ePSXe hasn't been updated since 2016 and I do not recommend it. DuckStation is a far better emulator.

Size: 784 KB, Version: 1.13

If the above emulators aren't running well for you, you should give pSX a try. It's an old emulator, but it runs great on slower/older machines.

Size: Around 10 MB

This is the first and best PlayStation 2 emulator. Great compatibility and nice speeds make this a must-try on fast machines! It can run just about any game, with some minor hiccups (mainly Tri-ace games). The BIOS is required in order to boot games, which you can download below. Game compatibility isn't perfect; I recommend going through its compabitility list.

Size: Around 20 MB

RPCS3 is the top emulator for PlayStation 3. It should go without saying that emulating the PlayStation 3 is demanding on a CPU. So if your computer isn't on the higher end, don't have high hopes with RPCS3. At this time, approximately 60% of the game library is playable.

Size: Around 20 MB

PlayStation Portable Simulator Suitable for Playing Portably (PPSSPP) is a free and open-source PSP emulator for Windows, OS X, Linux, iOS, Android, BlackBerry 10 and Symbian with an increased focus on speed and portability.

This is a stub to highlight that my top recommendation for arcade emulation is the #1 multi-system emulator, RetroArch. It has the latest core for MAME, which is a big deal because using the standalone version of MAME is too complicated. RetroArch has a core for FinalBurn Neo (the latest version of FinalBurn) and FinalBurn Alpha. It has multiple cores for older versions of MAME by year. If you've tried arcade emulation before, you know it can be a frustrating experience due to finding out that many of the arcade roms readily available in rom sites don't work on the latest arcade emulators. So making it easy to jump between new & old arcade emulators is an essential feature for the best arcade emulation experience, which RetroArch does well. My RetroArch tutorial has a dedicated section for assisting in arcade emulation. Otherwise, you can use the standalone arcade emulators below and manually swap between old & emulators.

Size: Around 10 MB

FinalBurn Neo is a continuation of FinalBurn Alpha. Aside from MAME, it's the only other top arcade emulator that is still in active development. Just like FinalBurn Alpha, this emulator supports many boards, such as Neo Geo, Capcom CPS1-3, and others.

Size: 7.09 MB, Version: 0.2.97.43, Homepage

FinalBurn Alpha is a great arcade emulator supporting Neo-Geo, Capcom, Konami, and Cave games. This emulator's last update was in 2018 and it was no longer active, so it is recommended to use FinalBurn Neo (above) instead.
*The attached download is for the 64-bit version. Looking for the 32-bit version? Download it here

Size: 15.7 MB, Version: 0.154, Homepage

MAME is the most compatible and capable multiple arcade machine emulator. Over 3,000 classic arcade games are supported, and development continues actively. MAME itself is a command-line-driven program, so it doesn't have a front-end GUI. For many years until 2014, “MAMEUI” was the top recommendation for MAME with a visual interface.
*The attached download is for the 64-bit version. Looking for the 32-bit version? Download it here

Size: 9.98 MB, Version: 1.15 (May '07)

Unfortunately, a lot of arcade ROMs that are readily available in popular arcade ROM sites do not work with the latest arcade emulators due to legacy reasons. So if you're having a lot of trouble trying to get games to work, this decade old version of MAME from May 2007 should work better for you.

Size: 552 KB, Version: 1.65

Kawaks is a fantastic arcade emulator with lots of neat features. However, Kawaks was last updated in 2016 and has since been abandoned. It's still awesome and runs fast. It only supports NeoGeo and Capcom games. On Windows 8 & 10 it might have issues with full-screen mode.

This is a stub to highlight that my top recommendation for TurboGrafx16/PC Engine emulation are multi-system emulators: RetroArch or Ares. Game compatibility is excellent and they have full support for booting games from ISO files. Plus they offer a wide variety of features.

Size: 116 KB, Version: 1.7.3

Wonderswan Color isn't exactly a popular system, so emulation support for it is scarce. Oswan is old and simple; it was last updated in 2007. It gets the job done, though. It has good CPU timing and joystick support. The multi-system emulators below are better options for emulating Wonderswan. In RetroArch, look for “Bandai - WonderSwan/Color (Beetle Cygne)”.

Size: Around 200 MB

I *love* RetroArch! It's my favorite multi-system emulator. It has a nice, clean UI--something that competing emulators such as Mednafen lack. It supports 40+ video game systems including PlayStation 1, PlayStation 2, N64, Nintendo DS, SNES, NES, Game Boy, Game Boy Advance, NeoGeo Pocket Color, Virtual Boy, Genesis/Mega Drive, Sega CD/Mega CD, 32X, Sega Master System, Game Gear, PC Engine/TurboGrafx16 (plus CD support), Wonderswan Color, Atari Lynx, and arcade (MAME). Its only drawback is that it offers many features & options, which can make RetroArch more intimidating than helpful for new users.
*I have a tutorial for RetroArch if you need help getting started with it.

Size: Around 30 MB

Ares is a multi-system emulator designed for speedrunners that supports NES, SNES, N64, Game Boy, Game Boy Advance, Genesis, SMS, Game Gear, Sega CD, 32X, PlayStation 1, PC Engine/TurboGrafx16, WonderSwan Color, NeoGeo Pocket Color, and retro computers. Unlike RetroArch, Ares offers a front-end Windows UI, so it's easier to use. Many of its cores are the same ones used in RetroArch, so emulation quality is generally the same between the two. RetroArch, though, still offers more features than Ares.

Size: 15 MB

Mednafen is a multi-system emulator that supports pretty much everything: PlayStation 1, N64, Nintendo DS, SNES, NES, Game Boy, Game Boy Advance, NeoGeo Pocket Color, Virtual Boy, Genesis/Mega Drive, Sega CD/Mega CD, 32X, Sega Master System, Game Gear, PC Engine/TurboGrafx16 (plus CD support), Wonderswan Color, Atari Lynx, arcade (MAME), and more. Mednafen is command line based so it doesn't include a frontend GUI. The best frontend is Mednaffe.