Multi-system emulators: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 02:12, 19 July 2026

Multi-system emulators focus on emulating many different systems under one program. They can be focused on a single company's systems because of the similarity of the systems or may have systems from many different companies.

To be defined as "multi-system" an emulator has to emulate two or more distinct systems. Although, for simplicity reasons in this wiki (not just this page), the term, "multi-platform", in the OS column fields can come to mean three or more covered platforms. For the purpose of this list, add-ons (eg. Sega CD, 32X) are not counted as a separate system.

The term 'multi-system emulator' can sometimes be confused with frontend applications.

Emulators

Name	Latest version	Retro Achievements	Libretro Core	# of Emulated systems	License	Active	Recommended
Multi-company
MAME	git artifacts^{[N 1]} 0.289 libretro core^{[N 2]} 0.289 (akatana and ddpsdoj unlocked)^{[N 3]}	✗	✓	Thousands of electronics^[1]	GPLv2 BSD-3-Clause	✓	✓
Mednafen	1.32.1 Wii PS3 GCW Zero	✗	✓	15	GPLv2 (Copyleft)	✓	✓
Mesen	2.2.1	✓	✗ Cores are outdated	11	GPLv3	✓	✓
OpenEmu	2.4.1	✗	✗	35	GPLv2 (Copyleft)	✓	✓
BizHawk	Dev builds 2.11.1	✓	✗	30 (excluding the libretro cores)	MIT GPL)	✓	✓
ares	git Artifacts v148	✗	✗	20	ISC (Permissive)	✓	✓
jgenesis	0.14.1	✗	✗	11	MIT (Permissive)	✓	?
Delta	1.7.3s	~	✗	6	AGPLv3 (Copyleft)	✓	~
Folium	2.0 ($) Sideload	✗	✗	3	GPLv3 (Copyleft)	✓	~
ZEsarUX	13.0	✗	✗	22	GPL (Copyleft)	✓	~
Pantheon	16.458	✗	✗	21	Proprietary	✓	~
CLK	2026-07-23	✗	✗	14	MIT (Permissive)	✓	~
WinArcadia	30.7	✓	✗	21	?	✓	~
Xpeccy	0.6.20260804	✗	✗	14	MIT (Permissive)	✓	✗
Z64K	3.0.0	✗	✗	5	Proprietary	✓	✗
DSP	0.24WIP3	✗	✗	More than 10	Non-commercial	✓	?
Phoenix	2.8.JAG	✗	✗	5	Proprietary	✗	✗
higan (火眼)	v110	✗	~	14	GPLv3 (Copyleft)	✗	✗^{[N 4]}
WAVE Multi-Emulator	V1.1.3	✗	✗	7 (ROMs have to be converted to hex via a website to be played)	CC BY-SA 2.0	✓	✗
EMU (Russian)	1.01	✗	✗	More than 50	?	✓	?
kindred	1.12 Preview Build 3	✗	✗	7	Proprietary	✓	?
Xe	2.16.2	✗	✗	18	Proprietary	✗	✗
DarcNES	9b0401/9b0313	✗	✗	8	Proprietary	✗	✗
rew.	rew12stx	✗	?	3	?	✗	?
Nintendo
Dolphin	2606a libretro core	✓	✓	3	GPLv2 (Copyleft)	✓	✓
mGBA	Dev builds libretro core 0.10.2	~	✓	2	MPL 2.0 (Copyleft)	✓	✓
GBE+	1.10	✗	✗	4	GPLv2 (Copyleft)	✓	~
No$GBA	3.06	✗	✗	3^{[N 5]}	Proprietary	✓	✗
Sega
Genesis Plus GX	Latest builds v1.7.5-RC1 latest release pGENBased on Genesis Plus GX 1.2PS3 Port (Inactive) RetroArch Builds	✓	✓	5	Non-commercial Source-available	✓	✓
Kega Fusion	3.64	✗	✗	10	Proprietary	✗	~
PicoDrive	2.05 libretro core	✗	✓	6	MAME license (Non-commercial)	✗	~
Sinclair
EightyOne (81)	1.41	✗	✓	12	GPLv2 (Copyleft)	✓	✓
Retro Virtual Machine	2.1.20	✗	✗	2	Proprietary	✓	~
Commodore
VICE	3.10	✗	✓	6	GPLv2 (Copyleft)	✓	✓

↑ CI-Windows CI-Linux CI-Macos
↑ As 0.251, 0.139 (2010), 0.78 (2003), 0.37b5 (2000)
↑ Akai Katana and Dodonpachi Saidaioujou removed at the request of the current rightholder, exA-Arcadia ([email protected]). https://github.com/mamedev/mame/commit/54899379258a7266db8d5bc6cda8b48169e67503
↑ Superseded by ares.
↑ No$GBA also does PocketStation emulation.

References

↑ www.mamedb.org's list (Only shows the games covered, not systems)

External Links

GitHub list of all covered 'drivers' (Systems & machines emulated) under the MAME group (Pretty crappy list. Only the first 1,000 drivers are shown there. The rest are omitted. Approximately 2250 drivers in all.)
List of multi-system console emulators on Windows

[1] CI-Windows CI-Linux CI-Macos

[2] As 0.251, 0.139 (2010), 0.78 (2003), 0.37b5 (2000)

[3] Akai Katana and Dodonpachi Saidaioujou removed at the request of the current rightholder, exA-Arcadia ([email protected]). https://github.com/mamedev/mame/commit/54899379258a7266db8d5bc6cda8b48169e67503

[5] Superseded by ares.

[6] No$GBA also does PocketStation emulation.

[4] www.mamedb.org's list (Only shows the games covered, not systems)

[N 1]

[N 2]

[N 3]

[1]

[N 4]

[N 5]

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 Multi-system emulators focus on emulating many different systems under one program. They can be focused on a single company's systems because of the similarity of the systems or may have systems from many different companies.
-To be defined as "multi-system" an emulator has to emulate two or more distinct systems. Although, for simplicity reasons in this wiki (not just this page), the term, "multi-platform", in the OS column fields can come to mean three or more covered platforms. For the purpose of this list, Add-ons (eg. Sega CD, 32X) are not counted as a separate system.
+To be defined as "multi-system" an emulator has to emulate two or more distinct systems. Although, for simplicity reasons in this wiki (not just this page), the term, "multi-platform", in the OS column fields can come to mean three or more covered platforms. For the purpose of this list, add-ons (eg. Sega CD, 32X) are not counted as a separate system.
-The term 'multi-system emulator' can sometimes be confused with [[Frontends|frontend applications]]. placeholder text
+The term 'multi-system emulator' can sometimes be confused with [[Frontends|frontend applications]].
 ==Emulators==
@@ Line 37: / Line 37: @@
 |15
 |{{Green}} {{License|GPLv2}} ({{License|Copyleft}})
+|{{✓}}
+|{{✓}}
+|-
+|[[Mesen]]
+|align=left|{{Icon|Windows|Linux|macOS}}
+|[https://github.com/SourMesen/Mesen2/releases/ {{MesenVer}}]
+|{{✓}}
+|{{✗}} Cores are outdated
+|11
+|{{Green}} {{License|GPLv3}}
 |{{✓}}
 |{{✓}}
@@ Line 69: / Line 79: @@
 |{{✓}}
 |{{✓}}
+|-
+|[[jgenesis]]
+|align=left|{{Icon|Linux|Win|Web}}
+|[https://github.com/jsgroth/jgenesis/releases {{JgenesisVer}}]
+|{{✗}}
+|{{✗}}
+|11
+|{{Green}} {{License|MIT}} ({{License|Permissive}})
+|{{✓}}
+|{{?}}
 |-
 |[[Delta]]
 |align=left|{{Icon|iOS}}
-|[https://apps.apple.com/us/app/delta-game-emulator/id1048524688 AppStore]
+|[https://apps.apple.com/us/app/delta-game-emulator/id1048524688 {{DeltaVer}}]
-|{{✗}}
+|{{~}}
 |{{✗}}
 |6
@@ Line 80: / Line 100: @@
 |{{~}}
 |-
-|[https://folium.emuplace.app/ Folium]
+|[[Folium]]
 |align=left|{{Icon|iOS}}
-|[https://apps.apple.com/us/app/folium/id6498623389 App Store] ($)<br/>[https://folium.emuplace.app/downloads 1.1.4]
+|[https://apps.apple.com/us/app/folium/id6498623389 {{FoliumVer}}] ($)<br/>[https://folium.emuplace.app/downloads Sideload]
 |{{✗}}
 |{{✗}}
@@ Line 91: / Line 111: @@
 |-
 |[[ZEsarUX]]
-|align=left|{{Icon|Windows|Linux|macOS|FreeBSD}}
+|align=left|{{Icon|Windows|Linux|macOS|FreeBSD|UNIX|Haiku|MorphOS|LiA|Pandora}}
 |[https://github.com/chernandezba/zesarux/releases {{ZEsarUXVer}}]
 |{{✗}}
 |{{✗}}
 |22
-|{{Green}} {{License|GPLv3}} ({{License|Copyleft}})
+|{{Green}} {{License|GPL}} ({{License|Copyleft}})
 |{{✓}}
 |{{~}}
@@ Line 120: / Line 140: @@
 |{{~}}
 |-
-|WinArcadia
+|[[WinArcadia]]
 |align=left|{{Icon|Windows|AmigaOS|MorphOS}}
 |[http://amigan.1emu.net/releases/#amiarcadia 30.7]
@@ Line 200: / Line 220: @@
 |?
 |-
-|[https://www.crazysmart.net.au/kindred/ kindred]
+|[[kindred]]
 |align=left|{{Icon|Windows}}
-|[https://www.crazysmart.net.au/kindred/files/kindred1r12a.zip {{kindredVer}}]
+|[https://www.crazysmart.net.au/kindred {{kindredVer}}]
 |{{✗}}
 |{{✗}}
@@ Line 245: / Line 265: @@
 |align=left|{{Icon|Windows|Linux|macOS|Android|XboxOne|SXS}}
 |[https://dolphin-emu.org/download/ {{DolphinVer}}]<br/>[https://buildbot.libretro.com/nightly/ libretro core]
-|{{✗}}<ref group=N>[https://github.com/dolphin-emu/dolphin/pulls?q=is%3Apr+is%3Aopen%2Bclosed+retroachievements+ work-in-progress], [https://retroachievements.org/viewtopic.php?t=12922&o=0 Topic: Gamecube Dolphin achievements soon?]</ref>
+|{{✓}}
 |{{✓}}
 |3
@@ Line 283: / Line 303: @@
 |-
 !colspan="9"|Sega
+|-
+|[[Genesis Plus GX]]
+|align=left|{{Icon|Windows|Linux|macOS|FreeBSD|Web|APK}}<br/>{{Icon|iOS|Pandora|Xbox|Xbox360}}<br/>{{Icon|XboxOne|XboxSXS|WiiU|PS3}}<br/>{{Icon|Vita|3DS|NX}}<br/>{{Icon|GCN|Wii|LiA|}}
+|'''[https://github.com/ekeeke/Genesis-Plus-GX/tree/master/builds Latest builds]'''<br/>'''[https://bitbucket.org/eke/genesis-plus-gx/downloads v1.7.5-RC1 latest release]'''<br/>'''[https://github.com/Cpasjuste/pemu/releases/tag/v6.7.1 pGEN]'''<small>Based on Genesis Plus GX</small><br/>'''[https://www.brewology.com/downloads/download.php?id=12472&mcid=4 1.2]'''<small>PS3 Port (Inactive)</small><br/>'''[https://retroarch.com RetroArch Builds]'''
+|{{✓}}
+|{{✓}}
+|5
+|{{Yellow}} {{License|NC}} {{License|SA}}
+|{{✓}}
+|{{✓}}
 |-
 |[[Kega Fusion]]
@@ Line 304: / Line 334: @@
 |{{~}}
 |-
-!colspan="8"|Sinclair
+!colspan="9"|Sinclair
 |-
 |[[EightyOne]] (81)
@@ Line 326: / Line 356: @@
 |{{~}}
 |-
-!colspan="8"|Commodore
+!colspan="9"|Commodore
 |-
 |[[VICE]]

Multi-system emulators: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 02:12, 19 July 2026

Contents

Emulators

References

See also

External Links

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Multi-system emulators: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 02:12, 19 July 2026

Emulators

References

See also

External Links

Navigation menu

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