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I am updating this list because some links have been changed. Also I decided to make it more to the point. All of the emulators I link below have great tutorials on you tube or the dev's site if you can't figure it out.
I have searched High and low for every possible emulator for Android. Below are the fruits of my labor
If you are a Dev or know one with skills please oh please attempt to port a few of the emulators mentioned below which are not yet on Android. Many of them are not system intense but were just unpopular BUT they have games on them that are hidden gems and cannot be played on Android any other way
If you want to see an emulator which has not been ported to Android yet I encourage anyone who reads this forum to contact both Android and PC emulator devs to make a port
The first link listed for each emulator is the one I recommend as a first choice.
I should note I have paid for and installed every emulator here and tested some better than others but I find most of them get the job done quite nicely without the need for a clunky BT remote (Though an Xperia play with high end specs like an S2 would be nice)
Also for some of these emulators you need a strong phone.
I recommend buying a 64 GB Micro SDXC card(yes they work on almost all Android phones. Nexus One, Droid, Evo 3D and S2 I have tested myself)
I am also including details of emulators which are in development or have not been ported to Android yet. I know some emulators may take a few years to be ported to Android but I will never stop dreaming
Sega Dreamcast: Medium...DrkRaziel the main dev for NullDC just decided to quit and not release his source
Playstation 2: Extreme (One Day we will get these and it will be Glorious)
ARCADE SYSTEMS
MAME4Droid Reloaded is now the number one Arcade emulator on the block. This Arcdade emulator can emulate even Dreamcast level arcade games (though slowly right now) I spoke to the dev and he expects MAME4droid reloaded to see a 2-3 times increases when phones start to get A15 processors (1-2 years). This app is FREE yet offers so MUCH. If you want to play games like Radiant Silvergun on your cell phone please donate to the dev because his work makes it possible. Link below
Sony PSP: Extremely hard...HARDER than the PS2. I search the internet every week for hours trying to find new info on emulators and someone always asks "Can a PSP run on my phone". Here is the deal to the uninformed. PSP emulation on a PC is no where near complete. You can emulate almost all Ps2 games but the PSP games that one can emulate and play 100% of the way through is only like 1% of games.
One day I am sure it will be possible to emulate a PSP and maybe even a PS3 but generally speaking if the PC cannot emulate the system well lets not waste too much time searching for a way on Android.
(sorry for the rant)
Computers
DosBox:
** Note on Dosbox. This still needs a lot of improvement. A Better UI, Better controls & faster speed for high end games.
The newest and greatest DosBOX emulator is by far DOSbox Turbo. If you want to play Fallout this is your ticket:
Doom
**The dev is shadey but the app works good. Place your Doom Wads (including TNT & plutonia in the Doomdroid folder the app creates on your SD card. in the app say "load your own Doom" it will ask for a file path. Just type "Doom.wad" or "TNT.wad" or "Plutonia.Wad". Runs everything smooth
Device(s): Moto Bionic (pure fun), Moto Droid 3 (for work and some play), Viewsonic G-Tablet (Flashback HC), Ro
Thanks: 1,100
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Great post! May I add one thing? You speak about touchscreen controls may be hard to use so mentioning that most of these emulators are wiimote/bluetooth gamepad capable can also be a helpful tip. I know your post is mainly for phones and carrying a wiimote or a gamepad isn't ideal, but this post is also great for tablets and for phones that have hdmi out capabilities.
Thanks again for this great post.
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My Drid does... your phne duhs...
Last edited by xmr405o; July 18th, 2011 at 03:48 PM.
I have a small update on the Dreamcast emulator. It appears the Dev has grown "Tired" of the project. Hopefully he will release his source or at least a Proof of concept .APK file.
Also trying to get some of the other emulator developers mentioned above to contact him directly about picking up where he left off.
Please add Robert Brogila's MD.EMU. A fantastic Genesis/SMS emu which he plans to make SEGA CD emu as well!
Also regarding Jarcade please mention that it works with many Sega classics like Outrun, Shinobi, Altered Beast etc and that it has finally been updated to work with Gingerbread. :-)
Please add Robert Brogila's MD.EMU. A fantastic Genesis/SMS emu which he plans to make SEGA CD emu as well!
Also regarding Jarcade please mention that it works with many Sega classics like Outrun, Shinobi, Altered Beast etc and that it has finally been updated to work with Gingerbread. :-)
I included his MD emulator under Genesis...I just did not call it that Specifically I try and link the Devs entire app page that way people will buy more of his products.
I really respect him as a dev as well and have eagerly been checking his app page for updates and future projects
+1 to the suggestion to add info on bluetooth gamepads (I know a lot about them if it helps).
Your post reminded me that I really must test SCUMMVM, it should be amazing with the SGSII's bluetooth mouse support!
I added some info on it though I want this to be a starting reference for people interested in emulators. Because of that I will refrain from posting in depth guides and instead try and point them in the right direction. If you have a link to a well done guide for some popular bluetooth game controllers please send me the link and I will add it to the sticky
i cannot thank you enough you saved me x amount of hours to find all of these, i was so devastated when they took all my beloved tiger emu's off the market place.
THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH
Last edited by traajik; August 2nd, 2011 at 03:09 PM.
Well tiger NDS was free and just a proof of concept. U cannot judge him there. He has a slow but steady update cycle as well. He has never shared many details with me about his plans when I have asked.
With Google taking him off the market we may have to wait a even linger before we see an updated version.
As for NDS4droid it showed up after tigers and is very simillar. Some games work on it differently than tigers though and he has a different control scheme. But he charges more for his emulator than Fpse which is a fully functioning ps1 emulator..
I am not sure we will see an update by NDS4droid.
All of true other NDS emulators are copies of either of these two.
I just wish the devs would give us the option to enable sound. That way if the emulators are never updated we have a chance as hardware improves to be able to run them at full speed....though I think the issue is more on the end of the devs ironing out the kinks .
Also, I searched market forever, but the only gameboy color emulator I was able to find was GBC A.D.
The others either didn't work, or were those silly fake ones.
Checkout slideme for Yongzh free game boy color. It is perfect and free now . Plus on slideme u can find all of Yongzh apps .
Robert brgoilla has a gbc emus up on the market. I linked several of his apps. If u do not want to use slideme for Yongzh or just do not like some of his interface options I recommend Robert
Last edited by Trev186; August 7th, 2011 at 10:23 PM.
Do you have to be rooted to play these emulators? Or do you just need side-loading capability?
Thanks
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"If you have an apple and I have an apple and we exchange these apples, then you and I still each have one apple, but if you have an idea and I have an idea and we exchange these ideas, then each of us will have two ideas."
Trev-Thank you for the AWESOME comprehensive list. I've been looking for days on end for the Tiger Mame emu for my X-play.
I've run into a bit of a roadblock, however. After I've downloaded the "Where are Tigers" compressed folder to my desktop, I don't see the Tiger Mame link. Do i just send the entire compressed folder to my device? Please assist. Thanks!
Trev-Thank you for the AWESOME comprehensive list. I've been looking for days on end for the Tiger Mame emu for my X-play.
I've run into a bit of a roadblock, however. After I've downloaded the "Where are Tigers" compressed folder to my desktop, I don't see the Tiger Mame link. Do i just send the entire compressed folder to my device? Please assist. Thanks!
The where are tigers is an app u must install on ur phone
I bought the app "SNESator" and wondered if credible work or justa copy of something else. Well thanks for revealing its just a rip of Snesnoid.
From some article discussions they said Yongzh apps were removed because of GPL violation, but Googe left a bunch of scammer apps, though its not surprising seeing how Google conduct their business lately.
Last edited by someguy43210; August 10th, 2011 at 10:56 AM.
Excellent work on the write up Trevor! We will definitely be bookmarking this one for when we do more testing on our controller.
That might be something you could consider adding into your write up, the controllers that are currently available to make playing emulators a bit better? Currently there are about 4 folks that I can think of off the top of my head, Phonejoy, Wiimote and Gamegripper and us at Ingenu.
Couple of things i have just got my Xperia Play, will for example Nesoid work on it? im new to this. i would like to get super mario on my phone but im unsure how to install the emulators on the phone or find the games for them any ideas?
Excellent work on the write up Trevor! We will definitely be bookmarking this one for when we do more testing on our controller.
That might be something you could consider adding into your write up, the controllers that are currently available to make playing emulators a bit better? Currently there are about 4 folks that I can think of off the top of my head, Phonejoy, Wiimote and Gamegripper and us at Ingenu.
Thanks again for the great post!
Thanks for the tip I will add your controllers to the list.
I wish you talented devs would consider a making a case or controller which could fit around the phone like how a PSP looks.
The Icontrolpad is close but too fat to keep in your pocket with the controls attached.
If someone made an slick interface where the buttons where on the top of the bottom of the phone that would be awesome.
Preferably a control pad of this sort would feature a D-Pad, a left and right joystick like on the PSP, 4 Buttons, 1 start and 1 select button and 4 shoulder pads. This would make the control pad work for almost all types of emulators.
Couple of things i have just got my Xperia Play, will for example Nesoid work on it? im new to this. i would like to get super mario on my phone but im unsure how to install the emulators on the phone or find the games for them any ideas?
Smithy
There is a wealth of knowledge out there. The emulators themselves are easy to use. Try a You tube video.
My purpose here is to provide an index more than detailed instructions
Thanks for the tip I will add your controllers to the list.
I wish you talented devs would consider a making a case or controller which could fit around the phone like how a PSP looks.
The Icontrolpad is close but too fat to keep in your pocket with the controls attached.
If someone made an slick interface where the buttons where on the top of the bottom of the phone that would be awesome.
Preferably a control pad of this sort would feature a D-Pad, a left and right joystick like on the PSP, 4 Buttons, 1 start and 1 select button and 4 shoulder pads. This would make the control pad work for almost all types of emulators.
Give Android Mobile gaming a little more time and I am sure more development will be done for it.
Right now we are focusing on our bluetooth SNES style controller ( no root required ) but, we have tons of ideas for if this thing takes off. The Easymote® would definitely go from old school to new school if we found ourselves with folks wanting to buy the first one!
For folks that have FPSe, the dev updated with pbp file support. This type of file is compressed and was intended to be used on the PSP, so we can now fit almost twice the PSX games on a card (on average).
Now that there is a PS3 controller driver, does that mean I could use a PS3 controller to play games using any of the above emulators? Or does the emulator need to support an external controller? If an emulator supports a Wiimote, does that mean it will probably support a PS3 controller?
Now that there is a PS3 controller driver, does that mean I could use a PS3 controller to play games using any of the above emulators? Or does the emulator need to support an external controller? If an emulator supports a Wiimote, does that mean it will probably support a PS3 controller?
Cheers.
Not sure. I know it is very difficult to even get it working in the first place.
Contact Yongzh or Cruelfoxhound they may know more
They now play more games like the Simpsons arcade ! (can only be marge though ugh lol) and the 4 player Xmen game
I believe other Konami games will work now as well.
Tiger Mame also increased the screen resolution for larger phones so it fits now ! He has a beta adding net play and if you go to the settings in the app and donate you will be able to use save states.
In the beta I am testing for Tiger Mame Cps1 sound is fixed but cps2hd games may not work anymore so you will need CPS2HD for that.
Tigerking is keeping a twitter account to announce updates to his products his name is TigerKing1218
The Following User Says Thank You to Trev186 For This Useful Post:
I thought I would make a list of some games unique to the Sega CD which I am going to play. The Sega CD had some decent RPGs but many of them were ported to PS1 (Lunar). The below games cannot be played any other way on Android besides Sega CD.
1. Advanced Dungeon's & Dragons & the eye of the Beholder
2. Corpse Killer
3. Dragon's Lair
4. Sylpheed
5. Lords of Thunder
6. Popful Mail
7. Shining Force CD (much better then their orginal game gear versions)
8. Snatcher
9. Sonic CD
10. Tomcat Alley
11. Vay
I asked Explusalpha if he thought he could do a 32X emulator. He said it would be very difficult but he will look into it once the Sega CD emulation is launched.
Is there a mame emulator (especially for the CPS2) that enable 4 sixaxis controllers mapping?
No...u can ask the Dev about it but since the multiplayer exp is not fantastic yet on a 4 inch screen I doubt it has been at the top of their list.
I suppose it could be useful via HDMI out to a tv. Also sixaxis may or may not work. It just became possible recently so I am not sure the devs coded it in or not .
I wonder how long before an actual full MAME release? A version was released over a year ago for the N900, but the poor OS design of the N900 meant a lot of games were slowww. The same games that crawled on the N900 are smooth on the Incredible, D1and of course the D3.
Frustrating to have full rom set support, but slow device and OS on N900. The Droid 1 has the same hardware as the N900, so shows how poor the N900 was, since D1 was much faster.
Sorry for the tangent, but Nokia SUCKS.
Last edited by rushmore; September 7th, 2011 at 03:21 PM.
They now play more games like the Simpsons arcade ! (can only be marge though ugh lol) and the 4 player Xmen game
I believe other Konami games will work now as well.
Tiger Mame also increased the screen resolution for larger phones so it fits now ! He has a beta adding net play and if you go to the settings in the app and donate you will be able to use save states.
In the beta I am testing for Tiger Mame Cps1 sound is fixed but cps2hd games may not work anymore so you will need CPS2HD for that.
Tigerking is keeping a twitter account to announce updates to his products his name is TigerKing1218
What version of Tiger Arcade fits screens on higher res devices? I tried the newest version linked on his site, but still a small window on the Thrive. You had me excited until I tested it out. Current version on his site is 2.0.6, but lists as 2.2 when installing.
The dev needs to update the fine app with better scaling function for higher res devices. I have sent him emails before, but no reply. Seems this would be a simple function to add.
I would get the paid version then
Last edited by rushmore; September 7th, 2011 at 06:20 PM.
I wonder how long before an actual full MAME release? A version was released over a year ago for the N900, but the poor OS design of the N900 meant a lot of games were slowww. The same games that crawled on the N900 are smooth on the Incredible, D1and of course the D3.
Frustrating to have full rom set support, but slow device and OS on N900. The Droid 1 has the same hardware as the N900, so shows how poor the N900 was, since D1 was much faster.
Sorry for the tangent, but Nokia SUCKS.
So u mean this emulator can play games like radiant silvergun and killer instinct 2 ? Who is the Dev. We should contact him and convince him to port his work to Android where to will thrive
What version of Tiger Arcade fits screens on higher res devices? I tried the newest version linked on his site, but still a small window on the Thrive. You had me excited until I tested it out. Current version on his site is 2.0.6, but lists as 2.2 when installing.
The dev needs to update the fine app with better scaling function for higher res devices. I have sent him emails before, but no reply. Seems this would be a simple function to add.
I would get the paid version then
Sorry I must have gotten confused. U guess the beta has the full screen enabled. Try asking tigerking for one...knowing him he won't reply. Pm me ur email and ill send u my copy. Just remember he disabled save states in the beta
So u mean this emulator can play games like radiant silvergun and killer instinct 2 ? Who is the Dev. We should contact him and convince him to port his work to Android where to will thrive
It would not play those games, but a ton of others. Some played fine, but ironically, the older games that are smooth in Jarcade were slooow on the N900 (even overclocked). The reason that Neo Geo and even older games were slow is due to the lack of proper video ram on the N900. Shame
Not sure if the dev works on anything now, but he is was over at the Maemo Talk forums. The emulator literally had all the functionality of a full MAME (because it was a full MAME and rom set for early 2010), but worked on the N900. Amazing app, but bogged down by a frumpy OS and odd video ram decisions by Nokia.
I still use my N900, but mainly for MAME and the games that work well. Was my last device with Tmo.
As can be appreciated, some games were not practical (cd games, HD games, and proprietary chipped 3D games).
Last edited by rushmore; September 7th, 2011 at 07:28 PM.
Sorry I must have gotten confused. U guess the beta has the full screen enabled. Try asking tigerking for one...knowing him he won't reply. Pm me ur email and ill send u my copy. Just remember he disabled save states in the beta
I PMd!
Good to know he is working on a version that scales correctly
Just hope the same amount of games work. I would rather have poor sound in CPS1 games than lose CPS2HD game working. Some good game there
Perhaps he can have two version of the app so people can use either one? Could you suggest this to him?
Comprehensive Emulator Guide
id does... your ph
ne duhs...
