Emulation within RetroidOS[edit]
RetroidOS supports the following systems, with the listed emulator cores:
System | Emulator core |
---|---|
Arcade | Final Burn Alpha (2.97.08, 2.97.42, 42_ORI, 42_HOME) MAME (0.37, 0.78, 0.106, 0.139, 139_RA) |
NES/Famicom | FCEmu |
Master System | Genesis Plus |
Gameboy/Gameboy Color | TGB Dual |
PC Engine | Beetle PCE |
Wonderswan/Wonderswan Color | Beetle Cygne |
Mega Drive/Genesis/CD/32X | Genesis Plus |
SNES/Super Famicom | SNES9X |
Gameboy Advance | gPSP |
PlayStation 1 | PCSX (labelled as PSCX) |
Nintendo 64 | Mupen64 Plus |
PlayStation Portable | PPSSPP |
Dreamcast | Reicast |
RetroArch is best described as one, a unified program whereby you may interact with different emulators. These emulators are reflected in'Cores,' and you will find numerous RetroArch cores to pick from for every system that you wish to emulate. Specifically, VBA-M and mGBA are exceptional Choices. Higan GBA Emulator. A GBA emulator that is available on almost all the platforms would be the RetroArch. It allows you to emulate different types of consoles and systems that existed from long back. If you are the type of person who is looking for an emulator that allows you to play Playstation as well as GBA games, you can very well give this one a try.
There are no changeable settings for emulators within RetroidOS, and currently there is no way to add new emulation cores.
Emulation within Android[edit]
This section contains free RetroArch and stand alone emulator options. The one paid app that many recommended is DraStic for Nintendo DS emulation.
It is generally not recommended to update the pre-installed emulators, as the Retroid developers seem to have chosen these builds because they run well on the device.
RetroArch Cores[edit]
The Retroid Pocket 2 comes pre-installed with two versions of RetroArch (1.8.4 & 1.5.0) and the listed emulator cores.
RetroArch 1.5.0
- Game Boy Advance (gpSP) This is installed separately because RA 1.5.0 has the best performance for gpSP/GBA
RetroArch 1.8.4
- Arcade (FB Alpha 2012 CPS-1)
- Arcade (FB Alpha 2012 CPS-2)
- Arcade (FB Alpha 2012 Neo Geo)
- Arcade (MAME 2000)
- Arcade (MAME 2003)
- Arcade (MAME 2010)
- Arcade (MAME 2015)
- Atari - 2600 (Stella)
- Atari - 5200 (Atari800)
- Atari - Lynx (Handy)
- Bandai - WonderSwan/Color (Beetle Cygne)
- Commodore - Amiga (P-UAE)
- Commodore - C64 (VICE x64, fast)
- DOS (DOSBox - SVN)
- GCE - Vectrex (vecx)
- Microsoft - MSX (fMSX)
- Minecraft - (Craft)
- MSX/SVI/ColecoVision/SG-1000 (blueMSX)
- NEC - PC Engine / CD (Beetle PCE FAST)
- Nintendo - Gameboy / Color (Gambette)
- Nintendo - NES / Famicom (FCEUmm)
- Nintendo - SNES / SFC (Snes9x 2002)
- Quake (TyrQuake)
- Sega - Dreamcast/Naomi (Flycast)
- Sega - MS/GG/MD/CD (Genesis Plus GX)
- Sega - MS/GG/SG-1000 (Gearsystem)
- Sega - MS/MD/CD/32X (PicoDrive)
- SNK - Neo Geo CD (NeoCD)
- SNK - Neo Geo Pocket / Color (RACE)
- Sony - PlayStation (PCSX ReARMed)
- The 3DO Company - 3DO (4DO)
- ZX Spectrum (Fuse)
For help setting up and using Retroarch on the RP2, see A Brief Guide to Retroarch.
N64 Core Tips[edit]
You can use N64 in your RP2 with RetroArch (so you can use RetroAchievements, for instance). Not every game runs perfect, and many need further tweaking, but overall you should be pleasantly surprised.
This only works with Mupen64Next or NextGLES2 (GLES3 and Parallel simply crash).
Paste the contents of Mupen64Plus-Next.opt to:
- /Android/data/com.retroarch/files/retroarch-core-option.cfg
Or paste the full OPT file here:
- /retroarch/configs/Mupen64Plus-Next/
Please note:
- Use only glide64 for video (angrylion is slow, parallel simply fails).
- All mupen cores share the same configs.
Stand Alone Apps[edit]
The RP2 Comes pre-installed with the following stand alone apps:
- Flycast - You will need to configure Reicast and configure the Bios. See DC Configuration Tips at the bottom of this page (Flycast is not included on beta batch units).
- MAME4droid(0.139u1) - You will need a .139 MAME Romset.
- Mupen64Plus FZ - Use recommended rendering profile per game for optimal performance. Here is Mupen's settings & render profiles if you lose them, copy to internal storage.
- N64oid - Right joystick will not map.
- NeoDroid - NeoGeo MVS Emulator - Compatible with MAME Roms. Put neogeo.zip bios file in your roms directory '/sdcard/neodroid/roms'.
- PPSSPP - Use the recommended profile settings per game for optimal performance.
- Reicast - The back end for Flycast (beta units only have Reicast installed).
- ScummVM - Shows no directories on launch. Fix is to search for a game and place a '/' in the search box and select 'Choose'. This will bring up the directory listing.
Best Performing Emulators[edit]
This table of stand alone apps & RetroArch cores seem to get the best performance out of the device. We have prioritized cores over apps whenever possible, and only if performance is equivalent or better. We have also prioritized free apps over paid apps whenever possible, and again, only if performance is equivalent or better.
System | Emulator Options | Notes |
---|---|---|
MAME Arcade | MAME4droid 0.139u1 | App. Pre-installed. Needs the .139 MAME Romset. |
DOS | DOSBox | Core. Pre-installed. |
Atari 2600 | Stella | Core. Pre-installed. |
FC/NES | FCEUmm | Core. Pre-installed. Has netplay for multiplayer. |
Sega Master System | Genesis Plus GX | Core. Pre-installed. |
Atari Lynx | Handy | Core. Pre-installed. |
MegaDrive/Sega Genesis | Genesis Plus GX | Core. Pre-installed. |
PCE/TurboGrafx 16 | Beetle PCE FAST | Core. Pre-installed. |
PCE-CD/TurboGrafx CD | Beetle PCE FAST | Core. BIOS Files Needed |
NeoGeo | NeoDroid | App. Pre-installed. |
Sega Game Gear | Genesis Plus GX | Core. Pre-installed. |
SFC/SNES | Snes9x 2002 | Core. Pre-installed. Has netplay for multiplayer. |
Sega CD | Genesis Plus GX | Core. Pre-installed. |
Panasonic 3DO | Opera/4DO | Core. BIOS Files Needed |
Nintendo Virtual Boy | Beetle VB | Core. |
Sony PlayStation | PCSX-R | Core. Pre-installed. |
Nintendo 64 | Mupen64Plus FZ | App. Pre-installed. *The most recent PlayStore version will not work. This is the latest working version. |
Nintendo Game Boy Color | Gambette / My Old Boy! | Core. Pre-installed. Paid App. / My Old Boy! has Link cable emulation for local and remote multiplayer. |
NeoGeo Pocket Color | RACE | Core. Pre-installed. |
Sega Dreamcast | Flycast | App. Pre-installed (not in beta batch units). Core. Pre-installed. See DC Config Tips below. Docs. RA 1.9.0 has been tested to achieve better Flycast performance than RA 1.8.4. |
Nintendo Game Boy Advance | gpSP / MyBoy! | Core. Pre-installed in RA 1.5.0 only. Other GBA cores in other RA versions do not run as well. / Paid App. MyBoy! has Link cable emulation for local and remote multiplayer. |
Nintendo DS | DraStic | Paid App. To set controller mappings, go to Settings -> External Controller and choose Select Key Mapping, then choose PlayStation 3. Use home button to enter mouse mode when needed. You can set right stick as stylus. |
Sony PSP | PPSSPP | App. Pre-installed. Struggles with more demanding 3D games such as God of War. |
SCUMMVM | SCUMMVM | App. Pre-installed. Has a known bug that shows no directories on launch. Fix is to search for a game and place a '/' in the search box and select 'Choose'. This will bring up the directory listing |
Atari 5200 | Atari 800 | Core. Core Settings must be switched to 'Atari 5200', resolution set to 336x240 |
Commodore 64 | C64.emu / RetroArch Vice C64 | App / Core. In Retroarch reduce SID Engine to FastSID for smoother experience |
Commodore Amiga | PUAE | Core. Needs Bios and a working Amiga Hard Disk File (HDF) |
Pokemon Mini | Pokemini | Core |
Sharp X68000 | PX68K | Core. Needs Bios |
Sinclair ZX Spectrum | fuse | Core. Runs great but needs keyboard to control! |
SFC Satellaview | Snes9x 2005 Plus | Core. A few glitches |
All Emulation Options within Android[edit]
Click the title of a column to sort the table by the contents of that column.
The performance ratings are:
- A: Plays almost all of the system's games at full speed (or better, for example increased resolution) with few to no glitches.
- B: Plays many of the system's games at full speed, or with minor glitches.
- C: Plays some of the system's games at full speed, or with some glitches.
- D: Technically plays some of the system's games, but often not at full speed, or with major glitches.
- E: Does not run any of the system's games in a playable state.
The cost ratings are: Open video download converter.
- Free: Completely free.
- Donation: Completely free, but a voluntary donation is requested.
- Trial: A free version is available, but limited in some way, to encourage users to buy a full/pro version.
- Paid: No free or trial version; only available as a paid app.
System | Emulator | Pre-installed? | Performance | Stand-alone? | Cost | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
3DO Company, The - 3DO | 4DO | Yes | D | Retroarch | Free | |
Arcade (Capcom CPS-1) | Final Burn Alpha 2012 CPS-1 | Yes | ? | Retroarch | Free | |
Arcade (Capcom CPS-2) | Final Burn Alpha 2012 CPS-2 | Yes | ? | Retroarch | Free | |
Arcade (MAME 0.37) | MAME 2000 | Yes | ? | Retroarch | Free | MAME 2000 is equivalent to MAME 0.37. |
Arcade (MAME 0.78) | MAME 2003 | Yes | ? | Retroarch | Free | MAME 2003 is equivalent to MAME 0.78. |
Arcade (MAME 0.139) | MAME 2010 | Yes | ? | Retroarch | Free | MAME 2010 is equivalent to MAME 0.139. |
Arcade (MAME 0.139) | MAME4droid(0.139u1) | Yes | ? | Stand-alone | Free | Requires MAME 0.139 compatible ROMs. |
Arcade (MAME 0.159) | MAME 2015 | Yes | ? | Retroarch | Free | MAME 2015 is equivalent to MAME 0.159. |
Arcade (Neo Geo AES) | Final Burn Alpha 2012 Neo Geo | Yes | ? | Retroarch | Free | |
Arcade (Sega Naomi) | Flycast | Yes | ? | Retroarch | Free | |
Atari - 2600 | Stella | Yes | ? | Retroarch | Free | |
Atari - 5200 | Atari800 | Yes | ? | Retroarch | Free | |
Atari - Lynx | Handy | Yes | ? | Retroarch | Free | |
Bandai - WonderSwan / Color | Beetle Cygne | Yes | ? | Retroarch | Free | |
Coleco - ColecoVision | blueMSX | Yes | ? | Retroarch | Free | |
Commodore - Amiga | P-UAE | Yes | ? | Retroarch | Free | |
Commodore - Amiga | UAE4ARM | No | ? | Stand-alone | Free | |
Commodore - C64 | AnVICE x64 | No | B | Stand-alone | Free | Based on VICE v3.0. 'Official' Android port of VICE, but no longer supported. Interface is designed around touchscreen and external keyboard, making it difficult to use on the RP2. The RP2 will run the 'armeabi-v7a' binary. |
Commodore - C64 | C64.emu | No | ? | Stand-alone | Paid | Based on VICE v3.1. |
Commodore - C64 | VICE x64, fast | Yes | A | Retroarch | Free | Based on VICE v3.3. Switch sound emulation to 'Fast SID' at 44.1kHz to get full-speed emulation. Some disk games may not load with True Drive Emulation activated. |
GCE - Vectrex | vecx | Yes | ? | Retroarch | Free | |
Microsoft - MS-DOS | DOSBox - SVN | Yes | ? | Retroarch | Free | It is possible to install Windows 3.1 on the emulated machine. It may also be possible to install Windows 95. |
Microsoft - MS-DOS | Magic DOSBox | No | ? | Stand-alone | Trial | It is possible to install Windows 3.1 on the emulated machine. It may also be possible to install Windows 95. |
Microsoft - MSX | fMSX | Yes | ? | Retroarch | Free | |
Minecraft | Craft | Yes | ? | Retroarch | Free | |
Microsoft - MSX | blueMSX | Yes | ? | Retroarch | Free | |
Morrowind (The Elder Scrolls) | OMW (aka 'OpenMicroWave') | No | ? | Stand-alone | Free | Requires the files from a PC installation of the original game. |
NEC - PC Engine / CD | Beetle PCE FAST | Yes | ? | Retroarch | Free | |
Nintendo - 3DS | Citra | No | E | Stand-alone | Trial | The RP2 is not powerful enough to run Citra. |
Nintendo - DS | DraStic | No | A | Stand-alone | Paid | Remember to map the stylus to the right joystick, as there are no touchscreen controls. There are patches to fix this for some games. See here for a list of confirmed playable games, including known patches. |
Nintendo - Gameboy / Color | Gambatte | Yes | ? | Retroarch | Free | |
Nintendo - Gameboy Advance | gpSP | Yes | A | Retroarch | Free | Runs under the older Retroarch app (v 1.5.0, with a GBA icon). Newer GBA cores running in newer versions of Retroarch do not perform well. |
Nintendo - Gamecube | Dolphin | No | E | Retroarch | Free | The RP2 is not powerful enough to run Dolphin. |
Nintendo - Nintendo 64 | Mupen64Plus FZ | Yes | B | Stand-alone | Donation | Use recommended rendering profile per game for optimal performance. Here is Mupen's settings & render profiles if you lose them, copy to internal storage. The most recent version in the Play Store version will not work on the RP2. This is the latest working version. |
Nintendo - Nintendo 64 | N64oid | Yes | A | Stand-alone | Free | N64oid does not recognize the right joystick at all. |
Nintendo - NES / Famicom | FCEUmm | Yes | ? | Retroarch | Free | |
Nintendo - SNES / SFC | Snes9x 2002 | Yes | ? | Retroarch | Free | |
Nintendo - Wii | Dolphin | No | E | Retroarch | Free | The RP2 is not powerful enough to run Dolphin. |
Nintendo - Virtual Boy | VB | Yes | ? | Retroarch | Free | |
Quake | TyrQuake | Yes | ? | Retroarch | Free | |
Sega - 32X | PicoDrive | Yes | ? | Retroarch | Free | |
Sega - Dreamcast | Flycast | Yes | C | Retroarch | Free | Compatibility can be increased by installing the system BIOS ROM. |
Sega - Dreamcast | Flycast | No | C | Stand-alone | Free | You may need to use Reicast to configure Flycast and configure the Bios. See DC Configuration Tips at the bottom of this page. |
Sega - Dreamcast | ReDream | No | E | Stand-alone | Donation | The RP2 is not powerful enough to run ReDream. |
Sega - Dreamcast | Reicast | Yes | C | Stand-alone | Free | Compatibility can be increased by installing the system BIOS ROM. |
Sega - Game Gear | Gearsystem | Yes | ? | Retroarch | Free | |
Sega - Game Gear | Genesis Plus GX | Yes | ? | Retroarch | Free | |
Sega - Master System | Gearsystem | Yes | ? | Retroarch | Free | |
Sega - Master System | Genesis Plus GX | Yes | ? | Retroarch | Free | |
Sega - Master System | PicoDrive | Yes | ? | Retroarch | Free | |
Sega - Mega Drive / Genesis (plus CD) | Genesis Plus GX | Yes | ? | Retroarch | Free | |
Sega - Mega Drive / Genesis (plus CD) | PicoDrive | Yes | ? | Retroarch | Free | |
Sega - Saturn | Beetle Saturn | No | D | Retroarch | Free | BIOS files are required. Beetle Saturn uses software rendering, which is extremely CPU intensive. The RP2 can only run games through the Beetle Saturn core at approx. 5-10 fps. |
Sega - Saturn | Classic Boy Gold | No | E | Stand-alone | Trial | Based on the Yabause core. Hangs for a few moments then returns to Classic Boy Gold menu. |
Sega - Saturn | Yaba Sanshiro | No | E | Stand-alone | Donation | The RP2 is not powerful enough to run Yaba Sanshiro. |
Sega - Saturn | YabaSanshiro | No | E | Retroarch | Free | The RP2 is not powerful enough to run the YabaSanshiro core. |
Sega - Saturn | Yabause | No | E | Retroarch | Free | Attempting to load a game with the Yabause core crashes Retroarch. |
Sega - SG-1000 | blueMSX | Yes | ? | Retroarch | Free | |
Sega - SG-1000 | Gearsystem | Yes | ? | Retroarch | Free | |
Sinclair - ZX Spectrum | Fuse | Yes | ? | Retroarch | Free | |
SNK - Neo Geo AES | Neodroid | Yes | ? | Stand-alone | Free | Compatible with MAME Roms. Put neogeo.zip bios file in your roms directory '/sdcard/neodroid/roms'. |
SNK - Neo Geo CD | NeoCD | Yes | ? | Retroarch | Free | |
SNK - Neo Geo Pocket / Color | RACE | Yes | ? | Retroarch | Free | |
Sony - PlayStation 1 | PCSX ReARMed | Yes | A | Retroarch | Free | Compatibility can be increased by installing the system BIOS ROM. |
Sony - PlayStation 1 | ePSXe | No | A | Stand-alone | Trial | Compatibility can be increased by installing the system BIOS ROM. |
Sony - PlayStation 1 | FPse64 | No | A | Stand-alone | ? | Compatibility can be increased by installing the system BIOS ROM. |
Sony - PlayStation 2 | Damon PS2 | No | E | Stand-alone | ? | The RP2 is not powerful enough to run Damon PS2. |
Sony - PlayStation 2 | Play! | No | E | Stand-alone | Free | The RP2 is not powerful enough to run Play. |
Sony - PlayStation Portable | PPSSPP | Yes | B | Stand-alone | Donation | |
Spectravideo - SVI | blueMSX | Yes | ? | Retroarch | Free | |
Various (PC Adventures) | ScummVM | Yes | ? | Stand-alone | Free | Shows no directories on launch. Fix is to search for a game and place a '/' in the search box and select 'Choose'. This will bring up the directory listing. |
Dreamcast Configuration Tips[edit]
This only applies to beta batch units (Pink, Blue, Orange). Later units do not include Reicast, and include Flycast pre-installed by itself.
Configuration for the pre-installed Flycast Stand Alone app is done through the pre-installed Reicast app. Flycast will have better performance than Reicast.
Open Reicast and click on the DC bios and format memory card 1. For controller settings, set the ports of all to none, and the port for Android Playstation to A. Click Map, and map the buttons to their appropriate locations - you may not need to map all buttons. Click Done, then Done again. You may now close Reicast.
Launch Flycast, which shares a config with Reicast, and load and play your game.
If there are issues with the controller, you may need to modify the .cfg file in Flycast. To do this, go into the directory path for Flycast and find the folder named mappings. Inside, there should be a file named Android_Playstation3.cfg. Open the file, scroll to the bottom, and erase the line for deadzone value. This should not be needed if Reicast 20.02b or newer is installed, or if you have used the .cfg file.
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Credits to beldandy561, Captain_Shoe, TortugaSs, Ryan86Me, StubbornPixel, CommieColin, Pocchitte
Modern mobile games are fine, but most of them can't come close to classic games like Pokémon, Crash Bandicoot, Super Mario 64, or The Legend of Zelda. Thankfully, it's possible to play all these classic video games and more on your iPhone using the best emulators below.
An emulator is a software imitation of a video games console. You can install emulators on your iPhone—without jailbreaking it—to play some of the most popular video games ever made. Here are all the best emulators to use on your iPhone or iPad.
About Emulators and ROMs
Apple doesn't allow video game emulators on the App Store, but it's still possible to install them on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch without jailbreaking your device. That does mean the emulators are sometimes a little bit unstable, but that's a small price to pay for access to the best classic video games on your iPhone.
Most of the emulators in this list are available to download for free from websites like iEmulators or the AppMarket. But you can get better reliability if you pay for a BuildStore subscription. Otherwise, you may need to compile the apps on your iPhone using a computer.
For more information, check out our detailed guide about installing emulators on your iPhone.
After you install a video game emulator on your iPhone, you still need to get some ROMs to use with it. A ROM is the software version of a video game cartridge or disk. While you'll need a ROM for each game you want to play, the same game ROM will work on every emulator that supports the console. For example, the same N64 ROM will work with any of the N64 emulators below.
Emulators are legal, but downloading ROMs for games that you don't own is considered piracy. Some companies don't mind if you create a 'backup copy' of games you already own, but this isn't always allowed either. While ROMs are freely available online, we don't condone downloading them.
1. Delta (Game Boy, N64, SNES)
Delta is the best iPhone emulator for Nintendo enthusiasts. It's the successor to the hugely popular GBA4iOS emulator; you can download an incredibly stable version of Delta using the Alt Store.
Delta supports a huge range of Nintendo consoles:
- Game Boy, Game Boy Color, and Game Boy Advance
- NES and SNES
- N64
- Nintendo DS (with a Patreon subscription)
With Delta, you can save your games in any state, take advantage of Quick Saves if you have an external controller, and sync all your data to Google Drive or Dropbox for safekeeping. You can even add cheat codes to your games to add some flair, or lock your favorite saves to make sure they don't get overwritten.
If you're looking to play Pokemon on your iPhone, this is the best emulator to use. Call of duty black ops online free no download.
Delta lets you connect wireless PS4, Xbox One, and MFi game controllers, as well as Bluetooth or wired keyboards. You can customize the button mapping however you like, even saving presets on a per-system or per-controller basis.
Without an external controller, you can still customize the emulator skins that appear on your iPhone screen and choose buttons for Delta to hold down so you don't need to keep pressing certain buttons as you play.
All this detail only scratches the surface of Delta. The developer is still working to improve it, with plenty more updates yet to come.
The RP2 Comes pre-installed with the following stand alone apps:
- Flycast - You will need to configure Reicast and configure the Bios. See DC Configuration Tips at the bottom of this page (Flycast is not included on beta batch units).
- MAME4droid(0.139u1) - You will need a .139 MAME Romset.
- Mupen64Plus FZ - Use recommended rendering profile per game for optimal performance. Here is Mupen's settings & render profiles if you lose them, copy to internal storage.
- N64oid - Right joystick will not map.
- NeoDroid - NeoGeo MVS Emulator - Compatible with MAME Roms. Put neogeo.zip bios file in your roms directory '/sdcard/neodroid/roms'.
- PPSSPP - Use the recommended profile settings per game for optimal performance.
- Reicast - The back end for Flycast (beta units only have Reicast installed).
- ScummVM - Shows no directories on launch. Fix is to search for a game and place a '/' in the search box and select 'Choose'. This will bring up the directory listing.
Best Performing Emulators[edit]
This table of stand alone apps & RetroArch cores seem to get the best performance out of the device. We have prioritized cores over apps whenever possible, and only if performance is equivalent or better. We have also prioritized free apps over paid apps whenever possible, and again, only if performance is equivalent or better.
System | Emulator Options | Notes |
---|---|---|
MAME Arcade | MAME4droid 0.139u1 | App. Pre-installed. Needs the .139 MAME Romset. |
DOS | DOSBox | Core. Pre-installed. |
Atari 2600 | Stella | Core. Pre-installed. |
FC/NES | FCEUmm | Core. Pre-installed. Has netplay for multiplayer. |
Sega Master System | Genesis Plus GX | Core. Pre-installed. |
Atari Lynx | Handy | Core. Pre-installed. |
MegaDrive/Sega Genesis | Genesis Plus GX | Core. Pre-installed. |
PCE/TurboGrafx 16 | Beetle PCE FAST | Core. Pre-installed. |
PCE-CD/TurboGrafx CD | Beetle PCE FAST | Core. BIOS Files Needed |
NeoGeo | NeoDroid | App. Pre-installed. |
Sega Game Gear | Genesis Plus GX | Core. Pre-installed. |
SFC/SNES | Snes9x 2002 | Core. Pre-installed. Has netplay for multiplayer. |
Sega CD | Genesis Plus GX | Core. Pre-installed. |
Panasonic 3DO | Opera/4DO | Core. BIOS Files Needed |
Nintendo Virtual Boy | Beetle VB | Core. |
Sony PlayStation | PCSX-R | Core. Pre-installed. |
Nintendo 64 | Mupen64Plus FZ | App. Pre-installed. *The most recent PlayStore version will not work. This is the latest working version. |
Nintendo Game Boy Color | Gambette / My Old Boy! | Core. Pre-installed. Paid App. / My Old Boy! has Link cable emulation for local and remote multiplayer. |
NeoGeo Pocket Color | RACE | Core. Pre-installed. |
Sega Dreamcast | Flycast | App. Pre-installed (not in beta batch units). Core. Pre-installed. See DC Config Tips below. Docs. RA 1.9.0 has been tested to achieve better Flycast performance than RA 1.8.4. |
Nintendo Game Boy Advance | gpSP / MyBoy! | Core. Pre-installed in RA 1.5.0 only. Other GBA cores in other RA versions do not run as well. / Paid App. MyBoy! has Link cable emulation for local and remote multiplayer. |
Nintendo DS | DraStic | Paid App. To set controller mappings, go to Settings -> External Controller and choose Select Key Mapping, then choose PlayStation 3. Use home button to enter mouse mode when needed. You can set right stick as stylus. |
Sony PSP | PPSSPP | App. Pre-installed. Struggles with more demanding 3D games such as God of War. |
SCUMMVM | SCUMMVM | App. Pre-installed. Has a known bug that shows no directories on launch. Fix is to search for a game and place a '/' in the search box and select 'Choose'. This will bring up the directory listing |
Atari 5200 | Atari 800 | Core. Core Settings must be switched to 'Atari 5200', resolution set to 336x240 |
Commodore 64 | C64.emu / RetroArch Vice C64 | App / Core. In Retroarch reduce SID Engine to FastSID for smoother experience |
Commodore Amiga | PUAE | Core. Needs Bios and a working Amiga Hard Disk File (HDF) |
Pokemon Mini | Pokemini | Core |
Sharp X68000 | PX68K | Core. Needs Bios |
Sinclair ZX Spectrum | fuse | Core. Runs great but needs keyboard to control! |
SFC Satellaview | Snes9x 2005 Plus | Core. A few glitches |
All Emulation Options within Android[edit]
Click the title of a column to sort the table by the contents of that column.
The performance ratings are:
- A: Plays almost all of the system's games at full speed (or better, for example increased resolution) with few to no glitches.
- B: Plays many of the system's games at full speed, or with minor glitches.
- C: Plays some of the system's games at full speed, or with some glitches.
- D: Technically plays some of the system's games, but often not at full speed, or with major glitches.
- E: Does not run any of the system's games in a playable state.
The cost ratings are: Open video download converter.
- Free: Completely free.
- Donation: Completely free, but a voluntary donation is requested.
- Trial: A free version is available, but limited in some way, to encourage users to buy a full/pro version.
- Paid: No free or trial version; only available as a paid app.
System | Emulator | Pre-installed? | Performance | Stand-alone? | Cost | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
3DO Company, The - 3DO | 4DO | Yes | D | Retroarch | Free | |
Arcade (Capcom CPS-1) | Final Burn Alpha 2012 CPS-1 | Yes | ? | Retroarch | Free | |
Arcade (Capcom CPS-2) | Final Burn Alpha 2012 CPS-2 | Yes | ? | Retroarch | Free | |
Arcade (MAME 0.37) | MAME 2000 | Yes | ? | Retroarch | Free | MAME 2000 is equivalent to MAME 0.37. |
Arcade (MAME 0.78) | MAME 2003 | Yes | ? | Retroarch | Free | MAME 2003 is equivalent to MAME 0.78. |
Arcade (MAME 0.139) | MAME 2010 | Yes | ? | Retroarch | Free | MAME 2010 is equivalent to MAME 0.139. |
Arcade (MAME 0.139) | MAME4droid(0.139u1) | Yes | ? | Stand-alone | Free | Requires MAME 0.139 compatible ROMs. |
Arcade (MAME 0.159) | MAME 2015 | Yes | ? | Retroarch | Free | MAME 2015 is equivalent to MAME 0.159. |
Arcade (Neo Geo AES) | Final Burn Alpha 2012 Neo Geo | Yes | ? | Retroarch | Free | |
Arcade (Sega Naomi) | Flycast | Yes | ? | Retroarch | Free | |
Atari - 2600 | Stella | Yes | ? | Retroarch | Free | |
Atari - 5200 | Atari800 | Yes | ? | Retroarch | Free | |
Atari - Lynx | Handy | Yes | ? | Retroarch | Free | |
Bandai - WonderSwan / Color | Beetle Cygne | Yes | ? | Retroarch | Free | |
Coleco - ColecoVision | blueMSX | Yes | ? | Retroarch | Free | |
Commodore - Amiga | P-UAE | Yes | ? | Retroarch | Free | |
Commodore - Amiga | UAE4ARM | No | ? | Stand-alone | Free | |
Commodore - C64 | AnVICE x64 | No | B | Stand-alone | Free | Based on VICE v3.0. 'Official' Android port of VICE, but no longer supported. Interface is designed around touchscreen and external keyboard, making it difficult to use on the RP2. The RP2 will run the 'armeabi-v7a' binary. |
Commodore - C64 | C64.emu | No | ? | Stand-alone | Paid | Based on VICE v3.1. |
Commodore - C64 | VICE x64, fast | Yes | A | Retroarch | Free | Based on VICE v3.3. Switch sound emulation to 'Fast SID' at 44.1kHz to get full-speed emulation. Some disk games may not load with True Drive Emulation activated. |
GCE - Vectrex | vecx | Yes | ? | Retroarch | Free | |
Microsoft - MS-DOS | DOSBox - SVN | Yes | ? | Retroarch | Free | It is possible to install Windows 3.1 on the emulated machine. It may also be possible to install Windows 95. |
Microsoft - MS-DOS | Magic DOSBox | No | ? | Stand-alone | Trial | It is possible to install Windows 3.1 on the emulated machine. It may also be possible to install Windows 95. |
Microsoft - MSX | fMSX | Yes | ? | Retroarch | Free | |
Minecraft | Craft | Yes | ? | Retroarch | Free | |
Microsoft - MSX | blueMSX | Yes | ? | Retroarch | Free | |
Morrowind (The Elder Scrolls) | OMW (aka 'OpenMicroWave') | No | ? | Stand-alone | Free | Requires the files from a PC installation of the original game. |
NEC - PC Engine / CD | Beetle PCE FAST | Yes | ? | Retroarch | Free | |
Nintendo - 3DS | Citra | No | E | Stand-alone | Trial | The RP2 is not powerful enough to run Citra. |
Nintendo - DS | DraStic | No | A | Stand-alone | Paid | Remember to map the stylus to the right joystick, as there are no touchscreen controls. There are patches to fix this for some games. See here for a list of confirmed playable games, including known patches. |
Nintendo - Gameboy / Color | Gambatte | Yes | ? | Retroarch | Free | |
Nintendo - Gameboy Advance | gpSP | Yes | A | Retroarch | Free | Runs under the older Retroarch app (v 1.5.0, with a GBA icon). Newer GBA cores running in newer versions of Retroarch do not perform well. |
Nintendo - Gamecube | Dolphin | No | E | Retroarch | Free | The RP2 is not powerful enough to run Dolphin. |
Nintendo - Nintendo 64 | Mupen64Plus FZ | Yes | B | Stand-alone | Donation | Use recommended rendering profile per game for optimal performance. Here is Mupen's settings & render profiles if you lose them, copy to internal storage. The most recent version in the Play Store version will not work on the RP2. This is the latest working version. |
Nintendo - Nintendo 64 | N64oid | Yes | A | Stand-alone | Free | N64oid does not recognize the right joystick at all. |
Nintendo - NES / Famicom | FCEUmm | Yes | ? | Retroarch | Free | |
Nintendo - SNES / SFC | Snes9x 2002 | Yes | ? | Retroarch | Free | |
Nintendo - Wii | Dolphin | No | E | Retroarch | Free | The RP2 is not powerful enough to run Dolphin. |
Nintendo - Virtual Boy | VB | Yes | ? | Retroarch | Free | |
Quake | TyrQuake | Yes | ? | Retroarch | Free | |
Sega - 32X | PicoDrive | Yes | ? | Retroarch | Free | |
Sega - Dreamcast | Flycast | Yes | C | Retroarch | Free | Compatibility can be increased by installing the system BIOS ROM. |
Sega - Dreamcast | Flycast | No | C | Stand-alone | Free | You may need to use Reicast to configure Flycast and configure the Bios. See DC Configuration Tips at the bottom of this page. |
Sega - Dreamcast | ReDream | No | E | Stand-alone | Donation | The RP2 is not powerful enough to run ReDream. |
Sega - Dreamcast | Reicast | Yes | C | Stand-alone | Free | Compatibility can be increased by installing the system BIOS ROM. |
Sega - Game Gear | Gearsystem | Yes | ? | Retroarch | Free | |
Sega - Game Gear | Genesis Plus GX | Yes | ? | Retroarch | Free | |
Sega - Master System | Gearsystem | Yes | ? | Retroarch | Free | |
Sega - Master System | Genesis Plus GX | Yes | ? | Retroarch | Free | |
Sega - Master System | PicoDrive | Yes | ? | Retroarch | Free | |
Sega - Mega Drive / Genesis (plus CD) | Genesis Plus GX | Yes | ? | Retroarch | Free | |
Sega - Mega Drive / Genesis (plus CD) | PicoDrive | Yes | ? | Retroarch | Free | |
Sega - Saturn | Beetle Saturn | No | D | Retroarch | Free | BIOS files are required. Beetle Saturn uses software rendering, which is extremely CPU intensive. The RP2 can only run games through the Beetle Saturn core at approx. 5-10 fps. |
Sega - Saturn | Classic Boy Gold | No | E | Stand-alone | Trial | Based on the Yabause core. Hangs for a few moments then returns to Classic Boy Gold menu. |
Sega - Saturn | Yaba Sanshiro | No | E | Stand-alone | Donation | The RP2 is not powerful enough to run Yaba Sanshiro. |
Sega - Saturn | YabaSanshiro | No | E | Retroarch | Free | The RP2 is not powerful enough to run the YabaSanshiro core. |
Sega - Saturn | Yabause | No | E | Retroarch | Free | Attempting to load a game with the Yabause core crashes Retroarch. |
Sega - SG-1000 | blueMSX | Yes | ? | Retroarch | Free | |
Sega - SG-1000 | Gearsystem | Yes | ? | Retroarch | Free | |
Sinclair - ZX Spectrum | Fuse | Yes | ? | Retroarch | Free | |
SNK - Neo Geo AES | Neodroid | Yes | ? | Stand-alone | Free | Compatible with MAME Roms. Put neogeo.zip bios file in your roms directory '/sdcard/neodroid/roms'. |
SNK - Neo Geo CD | NeoCD | Yes | ? | Retroarch | Free | |
SNK - Neo Geo Pocket / Color | RACE | Yes | ? | Retroarch | Free | |
Sony - PlayStation 1 | PCSX ReARMed | Yes | A | Retroarch | Free | Compatibility can be increased by installing the system BIOS ROM. |
Sony - PlayStation 1 | ePSXe | No | A | Stand-alone | Trial | Compatibility can be increased by installing the system BIOS ROM. |
Sony - PlayStation 1 | FPse64 | No | A | Stand-alone | ? | Compatibility can be increased by installing the system BIOS ROM. |
Sony - PlayStation 2 | Damon PS2 | No | E | Stand-alone | ? | The RP2 is not powerful enough to run Damon PS2. |
Sony - PlayStation 2 | Play! | No | E | Stand-alone | Free | The RP2 is not powerful enough to run Play. |
Sony - PlayStation Portable | PPSSPP | Yes | B | Stand-alone | Donation | |
Spectravideo - SVI | blueMSX | Yes | ? | Retroarch | Free | |
Various (PC Adventures) | ScummVM | Yes | ? | Stand-alone | Free | Shows no directories on launch. Fix is to search for a game and place a '/' in the search box and select 'Choose'. This will bring up the directory listing. |
Dreamcast Configuration Tips[edit]
This only applies to beta batch units (Pink, Blue, Orange). Later units do not include Reicast, and include Flycast pre-installed by itself.
Configuration for the pre-installed Flycast Stand Alone app is done through the pre-installed Reicast app. Flycast will have better performance than Reicast.
Open Reicast and click on the DC bios and format memory card 1. For controller settings, set the ports of all to none, and the port for Android Playstation to A. Click Map, and map the buttons to their appropriate locations - you may not need to map all buttons. Click Done, then Done again. You may now close Reicast.
Launch Flycast, which shares a config with Reicast, and load and play your game.
If there are issues with the controller, you may need to modify the .cfg file in Flycast. To do this, go into the directory path for Flycast and find the folder named mappings. Inside, there should be a file named Android_Playstation3.cfg. Open the file, scroll to the bottom, and erase the line for deadzone value. This should not be needed if Reicast 20.02b or newer is installed, or if you have used the .cfg file.
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Modern mobile games are fine, but most of them can't come close to classic games like Pokémon, Crash Bandicoot, Super Mario 64, or The Legend of Zelda. Thankfully, it's possible to play all these classic video games and more on your iPhone using the best emulators below.
An emulator is a software imitation of a video games console. You can install emulators on your iPhone—without jailbreaking it—to play some of the most popular video games ever made. Here are all the best emulators to use on your iPhone or iPad.
About Emulators and ROMs
Apple doesn't allow video game emulators on the App Store, but it's still possible to install them on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch without jailbreaking your device. That does mean the emulators are sometimes a little bit unstable, but that's a small price to pay for access to the best classic video games on your iPhone.
Most of the emulators in this list are available to download for free from websites like iEmulators or the AppMarket. But you can get better reliability if you pay for a BuildStore subscription. Otherwise, you may need to compile the apps on your iPhone using a computer.
For more information, check out our detailed guide about installing emulators on your iPhone.
After you install a video game emulator on your iPhone, you still need to get some ROMs to use with it. A ROM is the software version of a video game cartridge or disk. While you'll need a ROM for each game you want to play, the same game ROM will work on every emulator that supports the console. For example, the same N64 ROM will work with any of the N64 emulators below.
Emulators are legal, but downloading ROMs for games that you don't own is considered piracy. Some companies don't mind if you create a 'backup copy' of games you already own, but this isn't always allowed either. While ROMs are freely available online, we don't condone downloading them.
1. Delta (Game Boy, N64, SNES)
Delta is the best iPhone emulator for Nintendo enthusiasts. It's the successor to the hugely popular GBA4iOS emulator; you can download an incredibly stable version of Delta using the Alt Store.
Delta supports a huge range of Nintendo consoles:
- Game Boy, Game Boy Color, and Game Boy Advance
- NES and SNES
- N64
- Nintendo DS (with a Patreon subscription)
With Delta, you can save your games in any state, take advantage of Quick Saves if you have an external controller, and sync all your data to Google Drive or Dropbox for safekeeping. You can even add cheat codes to your games to add some flair, or lock your favorite saves to make sure they don't get overwritten.
If you're looking to play Pokemon on your iPhone, this is the best emulator to use. Call of duty black ops online free no download.
Delta lets you connect wireless PS4, Xbox One, and MFi game controllers, as well as Bluetooth or wired keyboards. You can customize the button mapping however you like, even saving presets on a per-system or per-controller basis.
Without an external controller, you can still customize the emulator skins that appear on your iPhone screen and choose buttons for Delta to hold down so you don't need to keep pressing certain buttons as you play.
All this detail only scratches the surface of Delta. The developer is still working to improve it, with plenty more updates yet to come.
Download:Delta (Free)
2. Provenance (Nintendo, Sony, Sega, Atari)
You need to install Provenance by compiling it from a computer, but it's well worth doing. Provenance is one of the oldest and most popular multi-platform emulators for iPhone. It's especially good if you're looking to play original PlayStation games on your iPhone.
Provenance emulates 30 systems, including major consoles from:
- Nintendo
- Sega
- Sony
- Atari
- and more
You can save your games at any point, or record footage of you playing and sync all that data to iCloud. You can even choose to auto-load a particular save every time you open Provenance to start playing as quickly as possible.
Connect a wireless MFi, iCade, or Steam controller for better comfort while playing on a small screen.
Unfortunately, the developers of Provenance recently removed it from the most popular emulator websites. But you can still install it using an Apple developer account following the instructions on the Provenance Wiki.
3. iNDS (Nintendo DS)
We previously mentioned Delta as the best Nintendo emulator for iPhone. But to unlock Nintendo DS emulation on Delta, you need to pay for a Patreon subscription. That's where iNDS comes in; this emulator lets you play Nintendo DS games on your iPhone for free.
Derived from the once-popular NDS4iOS emulator, iNDS is available for non-jailbroken devices through iEmulators and the BuildStore. As with all iOS emulators, Apple sometimes revokes the license for this app, which means you may need to wait for the developers to renew it before you can install it on your iPhone.
But once it's working, iNDS will let you play Nintendo DS games at nearly full speed on iPhone 5 and newer, at up to 60FPS on newer iPhones.
Take advantage of save states and auto-save options to sync your game data over Dropbox so you never need to worry about losing your progress, even if the emulator does get revoked. iNDS also includes 100,000 game cheats for adding a new layer of fun to your favorite DS games.
Because the Nintendo DS features two screens, one above the other, you can use iNDS in portrait or landscape mode with both screens appearing in the center of your iPhone display. You can also customize the controller size and style, and even disable touchscreen on the second screen to avoid accidental taps.
Download:iNDS (Free)
4. PPSSPP (Sony PSP)
PPSSPP is dedicated to emulating PlayStation Portable (PSP) games on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch. While it should be able to run any PSP game on your device, older iPhones might not run the games at full speed.
Like all the other emulators on this list, you can create save states for your games, so you don't need to worry about reaching a save point before exiting the emulator. You can also add cheats to your games for extra fun.
Perhaps one of the best features of PPSSPP is that it gives you the ability to transfer existing saves from your real PSP. So you can pick up in GTA: Vice City exactly where you left off.
Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to have a built-in way to sync your games to the cloud. However, that might be best considering most PSP ROMs are extremely large files.
The PSP controls appear transparently over the game screen while you're playing games, which means PPSSPP presents the largest screen possible on your device.
Download:PPSSPP (Free)
5. RetroArch (Atari, DOS, Genesis, PC Engine)
RetroArch brings together emulators for a long list of different consoles, offering a single slick interface to play all the best classic games on almost any device. You can install RetroArch on Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, and iOS, making it one of the most versatile emulators available.
Alongside Game Boy, SNES, and PlayStation emulators, RetroArch also supports older platforms, such as:
- Atari
- DOS
- MSX
- Neo Geo Pocket
- PC Engine
- Sega Genesis (Mega Drive)
- and more
RetroArch uses the same gamepad for all the different emulators included. This makes it easy to get comfortable with the touchscreen layout no matter which game you're playing, which could be one of many thanks to RetroArch's wide support.
You can create custom save states and set your favorites to auto-load when you boot up the app. You can also lock the most previous saves to avoid overwriting them.
With RetroArch's Netplay feature, you can connect to other players for multiplayer sessions. This works across multiple platforms, so you can even play with Android or PC users as well.
Other iPhone Gaming Options
Though they're a bit of work to set up, emulators offer a ton of great classic games once you have them running. And these choices let you play a ton of games on any platforms you like.
If you find the emulators too much work to install, check out other great gaming options for your iPhone. You can also play many classic Sega games on iOS without bothering with emulators.
Gba Roms For Retroarch
Read the full article: The 5 Best Video Game Emulators to Install on Your iPhone or iPad