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:Not to be confused with the Android app of the same name, Google Play Games is a PC application that lets you browse, download, and play '''select mobile games''' on a Windows desktop or laptop, '''use developer build if you want to sideloading more [[#Hardware_features|hardware feature. Also supports keyboard and mouse access, sync across devices, and integration with Google Play Points]] support'''. Google Play Games is not yet available for Mac. Currently, over 100 only bunch of games are available across the beta regions but Google adding games on a regular basis.<ref>[https://play.google.com/googleplaygames#section-faqs Google Play Games FAQ]</ref>

:An open-source project that aims to port the Android operating system to x86-based netbooks. Comes with Google Play and libhoudini (x86/ARM translation layer) installed. 3D acceleration works well both when installed directly on the machine as a local OS and also on VMware. VMware Player 15 supports [[#Hardware_features|emulating OpenGL ES 3 on the target]], and its performance is quite good. VirtualBox 3d support is poor and probably won't work. Android -x86 is continually being improved and can be tried fairly /painlessly through VMware. Genymotion is (or at least used to be) a closed-source fork of Android x86, designed exclusively to be run on VirtualBox. If you're brave, you You can also try installing it on your real computer host if you want to erase your current OS or use another partition.

::A fork of Android-x86 created by BlissLabs named BlissOS keeps the Android-x86 project alive by supporting the latest Android versions, and is pre-rooted by default using KernelSU. It can also run ARM64 apps using the Houdini ARM transition layer and includes 3 launchers: Taskbar, Quickstep and Smart Dock.

:A commercial software with a decent compatibility and performance. Doesn't handle USB cable emulation or any kind It has lots of android UI emulation (other than '[https://developer.android.com/reference/android/provider/Settings.Global settings[#Enhancements|enhancement]]' and '[https://developer.android.com/develop/ui/views/notifications notifications panel[#Hardware_features|hardware feature]]') unlike Genymotion but it has lots of enhancement features like [https://support.bluestacks.com/hc/en-us/articles/4405531142029-How-to-view-or-hide-gamepad-controls-on-screen-on-BlueStacks-5 on-screen controls mapping]. Previous versions used to come with an installer with adware, riddled with junk apps within the emulator and had a non-intuitive uninstaller, but that's no longer the case today. Newer versions bundled with "BlueStacks X" software and "BlueStacks services" which you can uninstall it afterwards , and you need to uninstall each update unfortunately (BlueStacks Player do not need theseapps). It includes Google Apps by default, though if you're using latest version of BlueStacks you'll need to install a file manager to copy game cache when loading your own .apk files, or simply use .xapk containers.

:A closed-source Android emulator with lots of [[#Hardware_features|hardware-accelerated 3D graphics and USB host supportfeatures]], available for Windows, macOS, and Linux. It's not designed for gaming but it has pretty good compatibility with commercial games especially with latest versions. It's a commercial product though, aimed at software developers and QA teams. You'll need to create an account and download the free non-commercial use license. Except for the pay-to-remove "free for personal use" watermark on the screen, paid builds add features only useful for Android app developers.