Collection:Computer and video game console emulators
For details, see comparison of computer and video game console emulators. For free emulator games, see Collection:Game ROM images.
The following is a list of notable computer hardware/OS virtualization software focusing on game compatibility (for example DOSBox that emulates the MS-DOS operating system, and Fellow, and UAE, that emulates the Commodore Amiga PC computer), as well as video game consoles including arcade cabinets, home video game consoles, and handheld game consoles. All of these types of emulators can be installed from the video game console emulator front-end RetroArch.
These emulators are tools with many capabilities and differing purposes. We hope that the community will use these tools to expand the reach of free software in video games and encourage free game development. All emulators listed have been verified as free software and have approved entries in the Free Software Directory.
Emulators are important, so nonfree games can be cloned to free games for the sake of video game preservation.
Contents
- 1 Home video game console status
- 2 Emulators
- 3 Frontends
- 4 Notes
- 5 External links
Home video game console status
Note: Many emulators have inbuilt high-end emulated firmware or BIOS.
Only consoles with emulators that can play fresh released are listed, for example, PS4 emulators are not listed since they cannot old 3D games.
| Console | Generation | Status | Regional Lockout |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nintendo Switch | 8th/9th | Produced | No |
| Sony PlayStation 4 | 8th | Discontinued 2024-03-28 | No |
| Nintendo 3DS | 8th | Discontinued 2020-09-16 | No |
| Sony PlayStation Vita | 8th | Discontinued 2019-03-01 | No |
| Nintendo Wii U | 8th | Discontinued 2017-01-31 | No |
| Sony PlayStation 3 | 7th | Discontinued 2017-05-29 (Japan) | No |
| Microsoft Xbox 360 | 7th | Discontinued 2016-04-20 (NA) | Yes |
| Sony PlayStation Portable | 7th | Discontinued 2014 | No |
| Nintendo DS | 7th | Discontinued 2014 | No |
| Nintendo Wii | 7th | Discontinued 2013-10-24 (EU) | Yes |
| Sony PlayStation 2 | 6th | Discontinued 2013 | Yes |
| Microsoft Xbox | 6th | Discontinued 2009 (NA) | Yes |
| Nintendo GameCube | 6th | Discontinued 2007 | Yes |
| Sega Dreamcast | 6th | Discontinued 2001 | Yes |
| Sony PlayStation | 5th | Discontinued 2006 | Yes |
Free software status
| Console | Homebrew Enabler (Emulator) | GNU/Linux Can Be Run in Emulators | Homebrew SDK |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nintendo Switch | Supports homebrew via emulator | Yes, can boot GNU/Linux distros like Switchroot Ubuntu under specific conditions on PC | devkitPro (libnx) |
| Sony PlayStation 4 | Limited homebrew support | No known support to run GNU/Linux distros in PS4 emulators | OpenOrbis |
| Nintendo 3DS | Limited homebrew support | No | devkitARM (part of devkitPro) |
| Sony PlayStation Vita | Limited homebrew support | No | VitaSDK |
| Nintendo Wii U | Limited homebrew support | No | devkitPPC (part of devkitPro) |
| Sony PlayStation 3 | Limited homebrew support | No | PSL1GHT |
| Microsoft Xbox 360 | Limited homebrew support | No | LibXenon |
| Sony PlayStation Portable | Limited homebrew support | No | PSP SDK |
| Nintendo DS | Limited homebrew support | No | devkitARM (part of devkitPro) |
| Nintendo Wii | Limited homebrew support | No | devkitPPC (part of devkitPro) |
| Sony PlayStation 2 | Limited homebrew support | No | PS2SDK |
| Microsoft Xbox | Limited homebrew support | No | XDK alternatives (OpenXDK - mostly abandoned) |
| Nintendo GameCube | Limited homebrew support | No — Dolphin emulator requires proprietary BIOS for full functionality | devkitPPC (part of devkitPro) |
| Sega Dreamcast | |||
| Sony PlayStation | OpenBIOS | Limited; some attempts exist but no mature GNU/Linux emulator for PS1 | PSn00bSDK |
BIOS
| Console | Firmware or BIOS required | Firmware or BIOS optional | Free Firmware Replacement (Emulator) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nintendo Switch | Yes | - | No |
| Sony PlayStation 4 | Yes | - | No |
| Nintendo 3DS | No | No | - |
| Sony PlayStation Vita | Yes | - | No |
| Nintendo Wii U | No | No | - |
| Sony PlayStation 3 | Yes | - | No |
| Microsoft Xbox 360 | Yes | - | No |
| Sony PlayStation Portable | Yes | - | No |
| Nintendo DS | Yes | - | No |
| Nintendo Wii | Yes | - | No |
| Sony PlayStation 2 | Yes | - | No |
| Microsoft Xbox | Yes | - | No |
| Nintendo GameCube | Yes | - | No |
| Sega Dreamcast | No | Yes | No |
| Sony PlayStation | Yes | - | OpenBIOS |
Physical console mod
| Console | Free Firmware Replacement (Physical Console) | Homebrew Enabler (Physical Console) | GNU/Linux Compatibility (Physical Console Hardware) | GNU/Linux Compatibility Depends on Nonfree Firmware or Free Firmware | RetroArch Port |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nintendo Switch | Atmosphère | Atmosphère[3] (official) | Possible on real hardware via custom bootloaders like Hekate; requires RCM exploitation to boot GNU/Linux distros like Switchroot Ubuntu | Requires proprietary bootloader and some nonfree firmware components for full hardware support | Yes |
| Sony PlayStation 4 | None (Closed firmware) | GoldHEN (homebrew) | No official GNU/Linux support; partial hardware modding exists but not full GNU/Linux OS support | Requires nonfree firmware; no full free firmware available for GNU/Linux support | Yes |
| Nintendo 3DS | None | None | No | N/A | Yes |
| Sony PlayStation Vita | None | None | No | N/A | Yes |
| Nintendo Wii U | None | None | Limited GNU/Linux homebrew possible | Mostly relies on proprietary firmware | Yes |
| Sony PlayStation 3 | None | None | You need the "fat" PS3 model that has not been updated past a specific firmware version that supports the "Other OS" feature. | Mixed; OtherOS requires some proprietary firmware components | Yes |
| Microsoft Xbox 360 | None | None | GNU/Linux possible through modding | Typically depends on nonfree firmware for some hardware drivers | Yes |
| Sony PlayStation Portable | None | None | GNU/Linux possible via homebrew | GNU/Linux on PSP mostly runs free software but some proprietary firmware blobs | Yes |
| Nintendo DS | None | None | No | N/A | No |
| Nintendo Wii | None | None | GNU/Linux via Homebrew (Homebrew Channel, etc.) | Relies on proprietary firmware but GNU/Linux runs on top (homebrew) | Yes |
| Sony PlayStation 2 | None | None | GNU/Linux officially supported via GNU/Linux for PS2 | Requires proprietary BIOS/firmware but GNU/Linux binaries are free | Yes |
| Microsoft Xbox | None | None | GNU/Linux possible; open source BIOS project Cromwell exists | cromwell[2] + fancy-mouse-boot-rom[1] + xemu-hdd-image | Yes |
| Nintendo GameCube | None (proprietary BIOS required) | None | GNU/Linux not typical but possible on modded hardware | Proprietary BIOS (IPL.bin) required for best emulator compatibility | Yes |
| Sega Dreamcast | |||||
| Sony PlayStation | OpenBIOS | OpenBIOS | No GNU/Linux support; OpenBIOS is PS1 replacement BIOS, not an OS | Runs free BIOS replacement (OpenBIOS) but no GNU/Linux OS | Yes |
- 1: ("This implements disabling the ROM and overflowing to 0x00000000 upon failing a verification check. This allows free BIOSes such as Cromwell to load exactly as the original MCPX BIOS would allow.")
- 2: Designed to run GNU/Linux: "Cromwell is a free, legal BIOS replacement for the original Xbox. It is capable of loading Linux from the Xbox's Hard Disk, and CD-ROM. It is not able to load original Xbox games, neither originals nor copies."
- 3: Designed to run homebrew games, but it does not inherently enable the ability to play original Nintendo Switch games: "Atmosphère is an open-source Nintendo Switch custom firmware (CFW) developed by the Atmosphere team. It allows users to modify and customize their Nintendo Switch consoles, enabling various homebrew applications, custom themes, cheat codes, and other features not available in the official Nintendo software." - https://www.gamebrew.org/wiki/Atmosphere_Switch
Emulators for consoles
| Microsoft Xbox | Microsoft Xbox 360 | Xbox One | Xbox Series X and Series S | Nintendo 3DS | Nintendo DS | Nintendo GameCube | Nintendo Switch | Nintendo Wii | Nintendo Wii U | Sony PlayStation | Sony PlayStation 2 | Sony PlayStation 3 | Sony PlayStation 4 | Sony PlayStation Portable | Sony PlayStation Vita | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Microsoft Xbox emulator | ||||||||||||||||
| Microsoft Xbox 360 emulator | ||||||||||||||||
| Xbox One emulator | ||||||||||||||||
| Xbox Series X and Series S emulator | ||||||||||||||||
| Nintendo 3DS emulator | ||||||||||||||||
| Nintendo DS emulator | ||||||||||||||||
| Nintendo GameCube emulator | ||||||||||||||||
| Nintendo Switch emulator | ||||||||||||||||
| Nintendo Wii emulator | ||||||||||||||||
| Nintendo Wii U emulator | ||||||||||||||||
| Sony PlayStation emulator | ||||||||||||||||
| Sony PlayStation 2 emulator | XBSX2 | XBSX2 | ||||||||||||||
| Sony PlayStation 3 emulator | ||||||||||||||||
| Sony PlayStation 4 emulator | ||||||||||||||||
| Sony PlayStation Portable emulator | ||||||||||||||||
| Sega Dreamcast | ||||||||||||||||
| Sony PlayStation Vita emulator |
Emulators
Emulators
3DO
Home consoles
Amstrad
Home computers
Arcade
Atari
Home consoles
- Atari Jaguar
Handhelds
- Atari Lynx
Personal computers
- Atari Falcon
- Atari ST/STE/TT/Falcon
Bandai
Handhelds
- WonderSwan
Coleco
Home consoles
- ColecoVision
Commodore
Home computers
- Commodore 64
- Commodore 128
- Commodore Plus/4
- Commodore VIC-20
Personal computers
- Amiga
- Commodore CBM-II
- Commodore PET
- PCBox
Microsoft
Home consoles
The emulators requires a HDD file. https://github.com/xemu-project/xemu-dashboard/releases/latest/download/xbox_hdd.qcow2 is distributed under the MIT license.
Personal computers
- MS-DOS
NEC
Home consoles
- PC-FX
- SuperGrafx
- TurboGrafx-16 (PC Engine)
- TurboGrafx-CD
Nintendo
Home consoles
Android:
Handhelds
- Mednafen
- mGBA
- VisualBoyAdvance (also supports Game Boy and Game Boy Color)
Also backward compatible with Nintendo DS.
Head-mounted display
- Nintendo Virtual Boy
Hybrid
Android:
Sega
Home consoles
Handhelds
SNK
Handhelds
- Neo Geo Pocket / Color
Home consoles
Sony
Home consoles
- AdriPSX
- bleem!
- bleemcast!
- Connectix Virtual Game Station
- DuckStation
- ePSXe
- Mednafen
- PCSX-Redux
- OpenBIOS (reverse engineering) - https://github.com/grumpycoders/pcsx-redux/tree/main/src/mips/openbios
- Debian package request - https://github.com/grumpycoders/pcsx-redux/issues/1025
Both shadPS4 and Spine require extracted .pkg files. PS4 PKG extraction tools:
Handhelds
- PPSSPP
- No BIOS file needed, the BIOS is simulated - https://www.ppsspp.org/faq.html
Uzebox
- MAME
- Uzem
Multi-system emulators
Multi-system emulators are capable of emulating the functionality of multiple systems.
- FinalBurn Neo
- FinalBurn Alpha
- higan
- MAME (Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator)
- MESS (Multi Emulator Super System), formerly a stand-alone application and now part of MAME
- Mednafen
- OpenEmu
- RALibRetro
Frontends
Notes
Tool-assisted speedrun
Emulators that currently feature the tools necessary to create tool-assisted speedrun (TAS) include:
- Arcade: MAME (MAMEUI's option to record an uncompressed AVI slows down a game)
- NES: FCEUX (Windows-only)
- Genesis: Gens
- Game Boy Advance: VisualBoyAdvance
- Nintendo 64: Mupen64
- GameCube and Wii: Dolphin
- Nintendo DS: DeSmuM
- Sega Saturn: Yabause
- PlayStation: PSXjin
External links
- https://github.com/RJNY/Obtainium-Emulation-Pack
- https://libreplanet.org/wiki/Group:Software/FSDG_distributions/DistroExecutionEnvironments#Other_execution_environment
- https://wiki.parabola.nu/Emulator_licensing_issues
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RetroArch#Supported_systems
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Free_video_game_console_emulators
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_video_game_console_emulators
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