Emulators on Linux

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Linux
Tux (Linux).png
Type Operating systems
Earliest release Linux Kernel 0.02 (1991)
Latest release Linux Kernel 6.7 (2024)
This page is about software on Linux that emulates other hardware, like video game consoles.
For software that can run Linux on other Operating Systems, see Hypervisors.

Linux is a family of operating systems based on the Linux kernel. Operating systems using the Linux kernel are commonly called Linux distributions (distro).

Emulators on Linux

Due to the overlap with the technical and open source communities, the majority of emulators in existence will have Linux versions available. The commercial success of the Steam Deck has also contributed heavily to consumer demand for native emulators on Linux.

Before diving in;
  • If you're on a Steam Deck, you should probably use EmuDeck which is an installation script that helps you get started with emulation. It is not an all in one solution like some other software; instead, it strives to provide the best possible official options to you, set up and ready to go.
  • See the Linux guide for emulators for Distro specific instructions
  • See the Recommended Linux distributions.
  • See each Wiki Category Consoles, Computers and Arcade for individual dedicated system pages to see provided up-to-date listings and in-depth information on specific aspects like hardware features, peripheral support, compatibility and also enhancements features etc.
  • Some games have Game engine recreations and source ports that run on Linux, which can be the better than emulators for their specific games.

Contents

Atari[edit]

Atari 8-bit family[edit]

Name Latest version Models XEGS libretro Accuracy License Active Recommended
Atari800 5.2.0 400, 800, XL, XE Cycle GPLv2 (Copyleft)
Atari++ 1.84 400, 800, XL, XE Cycle TPL (Copyleft)
MAME 0.271 Good: 400, 800
Basic: XL, XE
? GPLv2
BSD-3-Clause
~

Atari ST[edit]

Name Latest version libretro License Active Recommended
Hatari 2.5.0 GPLv2 (Copyleft)
Steem SSE 4.2.0 R21 GPLv3 (Copyleft)
ARAnyM git GPLv2 (Copyleft)
Steem Engine 3.2 GPLv3 (Copyleft)
PCE/atarist pce-20191006 GPLv2 (Copyleft)
CaSTaway 0.9.2 GPLv2 (Copyleft)

Atari 2600[edit]

Name Latest version libretro Accuracy License Active Recommended
Stella 7.0 Cycle GPLv2 (Copyleft)
MAME 0.271 Cycle GPLv2
BSD-3-Clause
z26 4.07 High GPLv2 (Copyleft) ~
BizHawk 2.10-rc1 ? MIT
GPL
Gopher2600 0.35.1 High GPLv3 (Copyleft)
CLK 2024-10-19 Mid MIT (Permissive)
Stellarator git ? BSD-3-Clause (Permissive)

Atari 5200[edit]

Name Latest version libretro Accuracy License Active Recommended
Atari800 5.2.0 Cycle GPLv2 (Copyleft)
kat5200 0.8.1 ? GPLv2 (Copyleft)
MAME 0.271 Mid GPLv2
BSD-3-Clause
Jum52 git ? Custom (Source-available)

Atari 7800[edit]

Name Latest version libretro Accuracy License Active Recommended
MAME 0.271 High GPLv2
BSD-3-Clause
A7800 5.2 High GPLv2 (Copyleft)
ProSystem git (libretro) ? GPLv2 (Copyleft) [N 1]
BizHawk 2.10-rc1 ? MIT
GPL

Atari Jaguar[edit]

Name Latest version AJ-CD libretro License Active Recommended
Phoenix 2.8.JAG Proprietary
Virtual Jaguar 2.1.2
Unofficial builds
git (libretro)
GPLv3 (Copyleft) [N 1]
MAME 0.271 ~ GPLv2
BSD-3-Clause

Atari Lynx[edit]

Name Latest version libretro License Active Recommended
Mednafen 1.32.1 GPLv2 (Copyleft)
MAME 0.271 GPLv2
Handy 0.95 zlib License (Permissive)

Nintendo[edit]

Nintendo Entertainment System[edit]

Name Latest version FDS libretro Accuracy License Active Recommended
Mesen 2.0.0 (preview) Cycle GPLv3 (Copyleft)
Nestopia UE 1.52.1 Cycle GPLv2 (Copyleft)
puNES 0.111 Cycle GPLv2 (Copyleft)
3dSen 0.9.5 ? Proprietary ~
FinalBurn Neo WIP builds ? Non-commercial
iNES 6.1 High ?
Gearnes git High GPLv3 (Copyleft)
BizHawk 2.10-rc1 Cycle MIT
GPL
higan (火眼) v110 (as bsnes v083) Cycle GPLv3 (Copyleft)
ANESE git Cycle MIT (Permissive) ~
cxNES git Mid GPLv2 (Copyleft)
FCEUX 2.6.6 Mid GPLv2 (Copyleft)
MAME 0.271 Mid GPLv2
BSD-3-Clause
QuickNES git (libretro) ? Low GPLv2 (Copyleft)

Super Nintendo Entertainment System[edit]

Name Version Satellaview libretro Accuracy License Active Recommended
bsnes
(Official)
v115 Cycle GPLv3 (Copyleft)
bsnes-hd
(forked bsnes)
beta 10.6 Cycle GPLv3 (Copyleft)
higan (火眼) v110 Cycle GPLv3 (Copyleft)
Mesen S 0.4.0 Cycle GPLv3 (Copyleft) ~
Snes9x 1.63 High Non-commercial ~
Mednafen (SNES-Faust) 1.32.1 ? GPLv2 (Copyleft)
nSide (forked higan) git Cycle GPLv3 (Copyleft)
BizHawk (bsnes v087) 2.10-rc1 Cycle MIT
GPL
Mednafen (bsnes v059) 1.32.1 High GPLv2 (Copyleft)
MAME 0.271 Low GPLv2
BSD-3-Clause
ZSNES 1.51 Low GPLv2 (Copyleft)
CATSFC 1.36 Low Non-commercial
GPLv2

Nintendo 64[edit]

Name Latest version Plugins Controller Pak Rumble Pak Transfer Pak 64DD libretro License Active Recommended
simple64 (ParaLLEl) 2024.09.1 GPLv3 (Copyleft)
simple64 (Final GLideN64) Final GLideN64 GPLv3 (Copyleft)
RMG git GPLv3 (Copyleft)
ares v141 ~ ~ ISC (Permissive) ~
CEN64 git BSD-3-Clause (Permissive) ~
Mupen64Plus git GPLv2 (Copyleft) ~
BizHawk 2.10-rc1 MIT
GPL
MAME 0.271 GPLv2
BSD-3-Clause

GameCube / Wii / Triforce[edit]

Name Latest version GameCube Wii Triforce libretro License Active Recommended
Dolphin Dev ~[N 2] [N 3] GPLv2 (Copyleft)
Ishiiruka-Dolphin (いし海豚) Dev ~ GPLv2 (Copyleft) ~
Pureikyubu (PlayCube) 1.6 CC0 1.0 (Public domain)

Wii U[edit]

Name Latest version Accurancy Amiibo License Active Recommended
Cemu 2.3 Medium ~ MPL 2.0 (Copyleft)
Decaf git Low GPLv3 (Copyleft)

Nintendo Switch[edit]

Name Latest version Amiibo License Active Recommended
yuzu (柚子) Nightly (Offline)git (Offline) GPLv2 (Copyleft) *
Ryujinx (龍神X) 1.1.1403
ryujinx-mirror builds
LDN builds
custom build for revived SMB35
MIT (Permissive)

Nintendo 3DS[edit]

Name Latest version Amiibo License libretro Active Recommended
Citra Nightly GPLv2 (Copyleft)

Nintendo DS[edit]

Name Latest version DSi libretro License Active Recommended
DeSmuME 0.9.13 GPLv2 (Copyleft)
melonDS 0.9.5
Dev Builds
~ GPLv2 (Copyleft)

Game Boy Advance[edit]

Name Latest version Game Link Support e-Reader libretro Accuracy License Active Recommended
mGBA 0.10.3 Mid MPL 2.0 (Copyleft)
higan (火眼) v110 ? GPLv3 (Copyleft)
VBA-M 2.1.11 Mid GPLv2 (Copyleft)

Pokémon mini[edit]

Name Latest version libretro License Active Recommended
GBE+ 1.8 [N 4] GPLv2 (Copyleft)
PokeMini 0.6.0git GPLv3 (Copyleft)

Virtual Boy[edit]

Name Latest version libretro License Active Recommended
Mednafen 1.32.1 GPLv2 (Copyleft)
Rustual Boy git Dual licensed (Permissive) (Apache 2.0 or MIT) ~
MAME 0.271 GPLv2
BSD-3-Clause
Planet Virtual Boy emulator 2019-03-27 zlib License (Permissive)
Red Dragon 0.38 Final ?

Game Boy / Game Boy Color[edit]

Name Latest version Game Link Support libretro License Active Recommended
SameBoy 0.16.7 [N 5] MIT (Permissive)
BGB 1.6.4 Proprietary
Gambatte r571 GPLv2 (Copyleft)
Gearboy 3.5.0 GPLv3 (Copyleft)
BizHawk 2.10-rc1 MIT
GPL
MAME 0.271 GPLv2
BSD-3-Clause
~
Emulicious 2024-08-31 Proprietary ~

Game & Watch[edit]

Name Latest version libretro License Active Recommended
MAME 0.271 GPLv2
BSD-3-Clause
DSP 0.23Final Non-commercial

Sega[edit]

Sega Model 1[edit]

Name Latest version Active libretro License Recommended
MAME 0.271 GPLv2
BSD-3-Clause
Modeler 0.9.3a Proprietary

Sega Model 2[edit]

Name Latest version libretro License Active Recommended
MAME 0.271 GPLv2
BSD-3-Clause
~

Sega Model 3[edit]

Name Latest version libretro License Active Recommended
Supermodel SVN Builds ~ (WIP) GPLv3 (Copyleft)
MAME 0.271 GPLv2
BSD-3-Clause

SG-1000[edit]

Name Latest version SC-3000 SF-7000 libretro License Active Recommended
MasterGear 4.9.3 Proprietary
MAME 0.271 GPLv2
BSD-3-Clause
BizHawk 2.10-rc1 MIT
GPL
Genesis Plus GX[N 6] 1.7.5 RC1 MAME license (Non-commercial) ~
higan (火眼) v110 ~ GPLv3 (Copyleft) ~
Kega Fusion 3.64 Proprietary ~
Gearsystem 3.5.0 GPLv3 (Copyleft)
blueMSX 2.8.2 BSD-3-Clause
GPLv2
MEKA 0.8-alpha (2023-08-26) Non-commercial
DarcNES 9b0401/9b0313 ~ Non-commercial
CoolCV 0.6.9 Proprietary
TwoMbit 1.0.5 GPLv3 (Copyleft)

Master System / Game Gear[edit]

Name Latest version GG libretro Accuracy License Active Recommended
Genesis Plus GX[N 6] 1.7.5 RC1 Very high Non-commercial
MAME 0.271 High GPLv2
BSD-3-Clause
Emulicious 2024-08-31 Very high Proprietary ~
BizHawk 2.10-rc1 Very high MIT
GPL
~
higan (火眼) v110 High GPLv3 (Copyleft) ~
Phoenix 2.8.JAG Very high Proprietary ~
TwoMbit 1.0.5 Very high GPLv3 (Copyleft)
Gearsystem 3.5.0 High GPLv3 (Copyleft)
MasterGear 4.9.3 High Proprietary
Kega Fusion 3.64 Mid Proprietary
PicoDrive 1.93 [N 7] Mid Non-commercial

Genesis / MegaDrive / CD / 32X[edit]

Name Latest version CD 32X Pico libretro License Active Recommended
BlastEm 0.6.2 GPLv3 (Copyleft)
Genesis Plus GX[N 6] 1.7.5 RC1 Non-commercial
BizHawk 2.10-rc1 MIT
GPL
Kega Fusion 3.64 Proprietary
PicoDrive 1.93 Non-commercial
FinalBurn Neo Stable nightly builds Non-commercial
MAME 0.271 GPLv2
BSD-3-Clause
Gens/GS r7 GPLv2 (Copyleft)
DGen 1.33 BSD-3-Clause (Permissive)
GENS 2.14 GPLv2 (Copyleft)
higan (火眼) v110 ~ (bsnes) GPLv3 (Copyleft)
Megado git ?
Regen 0.972 ?

Saturn / ST-V[edit]

Name Latest version ST-V libretro License Active Recommended
Mednafen 1.32.1 GPLv2 (Copyleft)
Kronos 2.6.2 GPLv2 (Copyleft)
Yaba Sanshiro 2 (Yaba三四郎2) 1.15.0 GPLv2 (Copyleft) ~
Yabause 0.9.15 GPLv2 (Copyleft)
MAME 0.271 GPLv2
BSD-3-Clause

Dreamcast / NAOMI[edit]

Name Latest version NAOMI Atomiswave Windows CE libretro License Active Recommended
Flycast CI Builds GPLv2 (Copyleft)
redream 1.5.0 Proprietary
DEmul 0.7 Build 280418 Proprietary ~
reicast r20.04 (Not Working)
r8.1 (Snap Store)
BSD-3-Clause
GPLv2
LGPLv2.1
~
nullDC 1.0.4 r150 ~ GPLv3 (Copyleft)
lxdream-nitro git GPLv2 (Copyleft)
MAME 0.271 ~ ~ GPLv2
BSD-3-Clause

Sega VMU[edit]

Name Latest version libretro License Active Recommended
VeMUlator_libretro Nightly GPLv3 (Copyleft) ~
SoftVMS 1.10 (source only) ? ~
MAME 0.271 GPLv2
BSD-3-Clause
ElysianVMU 0.2.0 MIT (Permissive)

NEC[edit]

NEC PC-6000[edit]

Emulator Latest Version libretro License Active Recommended
PC6001VX 4.2.9 LGPLv2.1 (Copyleft)
MAME 0.271 GPLv2
BSD-3-Clause

NEC PC-8800[edit]

Emulator Latest Version libretro License Active Recommended
XM8 1.70 ?
MAME git artifacts[N 8]
0.271
GPLv2
BSD-3-Clause
~[N 9]
QUASI88
quasi88_libretro
libretro core
0.6.4
BSD-3-Clause (Permissive) ~[N 10] ~
X88000 1.5.3 ?

NEC PC-9800[edit]

Name Latest version libretro Accuracy License Active Recommended
Neko Project II kai (猫Project II改) git High ? ~
Neko Project II (猫Project II) 0.86 Mid ?
MAME 0.271 Low GPLv2
BSD-3-Clause
~
DOSBox-X 2024.10.01 Low GPLv2 (Copyleft) ~

PC Engine / PC Engine CD / SuperGrafx[edit]

Name Latest version PCE-CD SuperGrafx libretro Accuracy License Active Recommended
Mednafen (PCE-Accurate) 1.32.1 High GPLv2 (Copyleft)
MAME 0.271 High GPLv2
BSD-3-Clause
Mednafen (PCE-Fast) 1.32.1 Mid GPLv2 (Copyleft)
BizHawk 2.10-rc1 High MIT
GPL
higan (火眼) v110 ~ ? GPLv3 (Copyleft) ~
DarcNES 9b0401/9b0313 ~ Low Non-commercial
Hu-Go! 2.12 ? ? GPLv2
BSD-3-Clause

PC-FX[edit]

Name Latest version GA libretro Accuracy License Active Recommended
Mednafen 1.32.1 TBD Mid-High GPLv2 (Copyleft)
MAME 0.271 ~ Mid GPLv2
BSD-3-Clause
MagicEngine-FX 1.1.1 TBD Low Proprietary
Xe 2.16.2 TBD ? Proprietary

Sony[edit]

PlayStation[edit]

Name Latest Version Plugins License libretro RIR Accuracy Active Recommended
DuckStation git CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 (Non-commercial) High
Mednafen 1.32.1 GPLv2 (Copyleft) High
PCSX-Redux git GPLv2 (Copyleft) ? (WIP)
MAME 0.271 GPLv2
BSD-3-Clause
Mid (WIP)
Rustation NG git GPLv2 (Copyleft) ? (WIP)
PCSX-R PGXP(git)
GPLv3 (Copyleft) Plugin dependent
ePSXe 2.0.5 Proprietary Plugin dependent
Rustation git GPLv2 (Copyleft) High
Avocado git Mid ~
pSX 1.13 Proprietary Mid

PlayStation 2[edit]

Name Latest Version libretro License Active Recommended
PCSX2 1.6.0 (stable)
SVN
~ (WIP) GPLv3 (Copyleft)
Play! Builds BSD-2-Clause (Permissive) ~
DobieStation git
Builds
GPLv3 (Copyleft)

PlayStation 3[edit]

Name Latest Release Version License Active Recommended
RPCS3 0.0.34 Alpha[N 11] GPLv2 (Copyleft)
Nucleus git GPLv2 (Copyleft)

PlayStation 4[edit]

Name Latest Release Version License Active Recommended
shadPS4 0.4.0 GPLv2 (Copyleft) ~
RPCSX git {Green}} GPLv2 (Copyleft) ✗(WIP)
Obliteration git MIT
Apache 2.0
✗(WIP)
Orbital git MIT (Permissive) ~
Spine 2022-05-17 Proprietary

PlayStation 5[edit]

THERE ARE NO EMULATORS FOR THIS PLATFORM.

Pocket Station[edit]

Name Latest version libretro Accuracy License Active Recommended
MAME 0.271 High GPLv2
BSD-3-Clause

PlayStation Portable[edit]

Name Latest version libretro License Active Recommended
PPSSPP 1.18.1 GPLv2 (Copyleft)
JPCSP SVN GPLv3 (Copyleft)

PlayStation Vita[edit]

Name Latest version License Active Recommended
Vita3K git GPLv2 (Copyleft)

Google[edit]

Android[edit]

Name Version Backend[N 12] Compatibility License Active Recommended
Android x86 Bliss OS
8.1-r6
entire OS
though installable to VM through Hypervisor
Mid GPLv2 (Copyleft) ~ ~
Genymotion 3.7.1 VirtualBox Mid-High Proprietary ~[N 13]
Waydroid git wine-like approach Low GPLv3 (Copyleft) ~
KMRE 2.4.6.8? docker ? ?
Android Studio 4.0 QEMU Low Source-available
Andy OS 0.47.226.1096.26 ? ? Proprietary
Anbox git wine-like approach Low GPLv3 (Copyleft)

Microsoft[edit]

MSX series[edit]

Name Latest version MSX 1 MSX 2 MSX 2+ TurboR Accuracy libretro License Active Recommended
openMSX git Cycle GPLv2 (Copyleft)
blueMSX 2.8.2 Cycle BSD-3-Clause
GPLv2)
MAME 0.271 ~ High GPLv2
BSD-3-Clause
fMSX 6.0 Mid Proprietary ~
DarcNES 9b0401/9b0313 ~ Low Non-commercial

Original Xbox[edit]

Name Latest version Sega Chihiro (千尋) License Active Recommended
xemu 0.7.132 ~ (WIP) GPLv2 (Copyleft)
XQEMU git ~ (WIP) GPLv2 (Copyleft)
StrikeBox git BSD-2-Clause (Permissive)
MAME 0.271 ~ GPLv2
BSD-3-Clause

Xbox 360[edit]

THERE ARE NO EMULATORS FOR THIS PLATFORM.

Xbox One[edit]

THERE ARE NO EMULATORS FOR THIS PLATFORM.

Xbox Series X and Series S[edit]

THERE ARE NO EMULATORS FOR THIS PLATFORM.

Apple[edit]

Apple I[edit]

Name Latest version License Active Recommended
Pom1 v1.0.0 GPLv2 (Copyleft)
MAME 0.271 GPLv2
BSD-3-Clause
~

Apple II Line[edit]

Name Latest version ][ ][+ //e IIc //e Enhanced //e Platinum IIc Plus IIGS License Active Recommended
MAME 0.271 GPLv2 (Copyleft)
LinApple git GPLv2 (Copyleft)
MicroM8 Continuous Proprietary
Mednafen 1.32.1 GPLv2 (Copyleft) ✗ (WIP)
DarcNES 9b0401/9b0313 Non-commercial

Apple /// Line[edit]

Name Latest version /// /// Revised /// Plus License Active Recommended
MAME 0.271 GPLv2
BSD-3-Clause

Apple IIGS[edit]

Name Latest version License Active Recommended
KEGS 1.34 GPLv2 (Copyleft)
GSplus 0.14 GPLv2 (Copyleft) ~
GSport 0.31 GPLv2 (Copyleft)
MAME 0.271 GPLv2
BSD-3-Clause

Apple Lisa[edit]

Name Latest version License Active Recommended
LisaEm 1.2.7 GPLv2 (Copyleft) ~*
MAME 0.271 GPLv2
BSD-3-Clause

Macintosh line[edit]

Name Latest version License Active Recommended
68k
Basilisk II 1.0 R5 GPLv2 (Copyleft)
Mini vMac 36.04 GPLv2 (Copyleft)
MAME 0.271 GPLv2
BSD-3-Clause
TBD
PCE 0.2.2 GPLv2 (Copyleft) TBD
Ardi Executor 2.1.17 MIT (Permissive)
vMac 0.19 ?
PowerPC
SheepShaver git GPLv2 (Copyleft)
QEMU 4.0.0 GPLv2 (Copyleft) TBD
PearPC 0.6.0 GPLv2 (Copyleft)
DingusPPC [1] GPLv3 (Copyleft)

Apple iPod[edit]

THERE ARE NO EMULATORS FOR THIS PLATFORM.

iOS[edit]

THERE ARE NO EMULATORS FOR THIS PLATFORM.

SNK Corporation[edit]

Neo Geo and variants[edit]

Name Latest version NG NG-CD HNG-64 libretro License Active Recommended
MAME 0.271 ~ [N 14] GPLv2
Copyleft
FinalBurn Neo stable WIP builds Non-commercial
RAINE 0.96.12 ?
Xe 2.16.2 Proprietary
ares v141 ISC (Permissive)
GnGeo git MAME license (Non-commercial)

Neo Geo Pocket[edit]

Name Latest version NGP NGPC libretro License Active Recommended
Mednafen 1.32.1 GPLv2 (Copyleft)
MAME 0.271 GPLv2
BSD-3-Clause
ares v141 ISC (Permissive)
higan (火眼) v110 GPLv3 (Copyleft)

Commodore[edit]

Commodore 64 & 128[edit]

Name Latest version libretro Accuracy License Active Recommended
VICE (x64sc) 3.8 Very high GPLv2 (Copyleft)
Denise 2.4 Very high GPLv3 (Copyleft)
VICE (x64) 3.8[N 15] High GPLv2 (Copyleft) ~
Emu64 git ? GPLv2 (Copyleft) ~
BizHawk 2.10-rc1 ? MIT
GPL
MAME 0.271 Mid GPLv2
BSD-3-Clause
Frodo 4.2 ? GPLv2 (Copyleft)

Commodore 65[edit]

Name Latest version libretro Accuracy License Active Recommended
MAME 0.271 Low GPLv2
BSD-3-Clause

Amiga Line[edit]

Name Latest version libretro License Active Recommended
FS-UAE 3.0.5 GPLv2 (Copyleft)
Amiberry 6.3.3 Preview GPLv3 (Copyleft)
MAME 0.271 GPLv2
Copyleft
Denise 2.3 ?

x86 CPUs[edit]

Name Latest version 8086 286 386 486 Pentium Pentium II Celeron libretro License Active Recommended
86Box git GPLv2 (Copyleft)
PCem v17 GPLv2 (Copyleft)
DOSBox-X 2024.10.01 GPLv2 (Copyleft)
DOSBox 0.74-3
SVN
GPLv2 (Copyleft)
Bochs 2.8 LGPLv2.1 (Copyleft)
MAME 0.271 ~ ~ ~ GPLv2
BSD-3-Clause
QEMU 9.1.0 [N 16] GPLv2 (Copyleft)

Sinclair[edit]

ZX81[edit]

Name Latest version libretro License Relative Speed[N 17] Active Recommended
ZEsarUX 11.0 GPLv3 (Copyleft) 110.9%
SZ81
(xz80 & z81 based)
2.1.7
2.3.10 (Unofficial)
GPLv2 (Copyleft) 100.0% ~
MAME 0.271 GPLv2
BSD-3-Clause
Not tested

ZX Spectrum[edit]

Name Latest Version Libretro Core License Active Recommended
FUSE 1.5.7 GPLv2 (Copyleft)
Speccy 5.9 Proprietary
ZEsarUX 11.0 GPLv2 (Copyleft)
BizHawk 2.10-rc1 MIT
GPL
~
Retro Virtual Machine 2.0.beta-1.r6 Proprietary ~
ZX-Poly 2.3.0 GPLv3 (Copyleft) TBD
Xpeccy 0.6.20241015 MIT (Permissive)
DSP git Non-commercial
fbzx git GPLv3 (Copyleft)
JSpeccy git ?
MAME 0.271 GPLv2
BSD-3-Clause
ZX4ALL Beta 2 ?

Acorn Computers[edit]

BBC Micro/BBC Master[edit]

Name Latest version BBC Micro BBC Master License Active Recommended
BeebEM git B, B+, M128 GPLv2 (Copyleft)
B-em 2.2, git A, B, B+, M128, MC MT, M512 GPLv2 (Copyleft)
B2 git B, B+, M128 GPLv3 (Copyleft)

Electron[edit]

Name Latest version License Active Recommended
MAME 0.271 GPLv2 (Copyleft)
CLK git MIT (Permissive)
eek git GPLv2 (Copyleft)
ElectrEm 0.6c GPLv2 (Copyleft)
ElkJS git ?
Elkulator git GPLv3 (Copyleft)

Multi (Atom, Micro, Electron)[edit]

Name Latest version Atom BBC Micro BBC Master Electron License Recommended
MAME 0.271 A, B, B+, M128 ? GPLv2
BSD-3-Clause

Archimedes[edit]

Name Latest version License Active Recommended
Arculator 2.1 GPLv2 (Copyleft)
MAME 0.271 GPLv2
BSD-3-Clause
ArcEm 1.50 GPLv2 (Copyleft)

Risc PC / A7000[edit]

Name Latest version License Active Recommended
RPCEmu 0.9.4 GPLv2 (Copyleft)
MAME 0.271 GPLv2
BSD-3-Clause

VTech[edit]

CreatiVision[edit]

Name Latest Version libretro License Active Recommended
cvemu (creatiVision emulator) 21.05.01 Preview (source)

16.04.24 (windows)

Non-commercial ~[N 18]
MAME git artifacts[N 8]
0.271
libretro core[N 19]
GPLv2
BSD-3-Clause
*
FunnyMu FunnyMu 0.43 SDL Non-commercial
CvEmu2 0.6.1 (CvEmu2) ?

Socrates[edit]

Name Latest Version libretro License Active Recommended
MAME git artifacts[N 8]
0.271
libretro core[N 19]
GPLv2
BSD-3-Clause
~*

V.Smile[edit]

Name Latest Version License Active Recommended
MAME git artifacts[N 8]
0.271
libretro core[N 19]
GPLv2
BSD-3-Clause
~*
Unununium git GPLv2 (Copyleft)

V.Flash[edit]

THERE ARE NO EMULATORS FOR THIS PLATFORM.

InnoTV[edit]

THERE ARE NO EMULATORS FOR THIS PLATFORM.

Miscellaneous[edit]

Panasonic (3DO)[edit]

Name Latest version libretro Retro achievements License Active Recommended
4DO 1.3.2.4 Non-commercial
Opera libretro core Non-commercial
Phoenix 2.8.JAG Proprietary ~
3d'oh SVN GPLv2 (Copyleft)
MAME 0.271 GPLv2
BSD-3-Clause

Phillips (CD-i)[edit]

Name Latest Version DVC libretro Retro
Achievements
License Active Recommended
Same CDi
same_cdi_libretro
libretro core * GPLv2 (Copyleft)
MAME 0.271 GPLv2
BSD-3-Clause
*
CeDImu None (pre-alpha) ? (WIP)
CD-iCE 2001-08-20 Proprietary

GamePark Holdings[edit]

GP32[edit]

Name Latest version License Active Recommended
MAME 0.271 GPLv2
BSD-3-Clause
~

GP2X[edit]

THERE ARE NO EMULATORS FOR THIS PLATFORM.

IBM[edit]

System 370/390/z[edit]

Name Latest version libretro License Active Recommended
Hercules 3.07 Q Public License

Symbian and N-Gage[edit]

Name Version Accuracy Retro
Achievements
License Active Recommended
EKA2L1 git Mid GPLv3 (Copyleft) ~

J2ME[edit]

Name Version Mascot Capsule 3D Accuracy VM Derived from License Active Recommended
Kahvibreak Stable
Dev
Mid Host JVM (FreeJ2ME) ? MIT (Permissive) (WIP)
SquirrelJME 0.4.0 Aims for 100% Custom (Java) - GPLv3 (Copyleft) ? (WIP)
MicroEmu git Mid Host JVM - LGPLv2.1
Apache 2.0)
MPowerPlayer 2.0 Low ? ? Proprietary
N-GAGE Cool! 1.2.1 (Trial) ($) Low ? ? Proprietary

Notes[edit]

  1. 1.0 1.1 Main branch is dead, but the libretro core is still alive.
  2. Requires the Triforce branch to work. It is very old and unsupported.
  3. At Alpha release and has bugs that are not present on standalone Dolphin.
  4. Pokémon mini core available not yet available in binary releases (source only).
  5. 6.0 6.1 6.2 Only available on PC as a libretro core (e.g. RetroArch).
  6. The Game Gear emulation doesn't work.
  7. 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 CI-Linux
  8. As of Version 0.251, NEC PC-8801MA, NEC PC-8801MH, and NEC PC-8801mkIISR, and the clones: NEC PC-8801FA, NEC PC-8801MA2, NEC PC-8801mkIIFR and NEC PC-8801mkIIMR have been promoted to working status and is considered playable
  9. Only libretro core is still active.
  10. The developers are currently treating version increments as milestones, not as stables.
  11. The backend column describes what backend technology used mainly (VM, AOSP or an actual OS etc). Emulators labeled with "VirtualBox" sometimes need the user to install Oracle VM VirtualBox, but usually you don't need to install manually. Hardware-assisted virtualization feature must be turned for VM backends due to performance reasons. Keep in mind that you should turn off Hyper-V windows feature if emulator uses type-2 hypervisor (VirtualBox or VMware) due to conflict issue, although some emulators (like BlueStacks) provide special Hyper-V build for this.
  12. Bloatware
  13. As 0.153 (2014), 0.139 (2010), 0.78 (2003)
  14. Source only, pass '--enable-x64' to configure
  15. Supports the Conroe model.
  16. As calculated by Carlo Delhez's clkfreq, originally distributed with his XTender emulator. The ZX81 has relatively complicated timing mechanics, depending on signalling of WAIT during NMI; relative speed is a measurement of how closely an emulator matches a real machine in terms of clock cycles spent processing within a frame. 100.0% denotes the same execution speed as a real machine.
  17. creatiVision commits
  18. 19.0 19.1 19.2 As 0.251, 0.139 (2010), 0.78 (2003), 0.37b5 (2000)

See also[edit]

Emulators on other systems
Calculators
CasioNumWorksTIHP
Handheld computers
PandoraDragonBox PyraPocketChip
Mobile
AndroidiOSMREJava
Microcontrollers
STM32ESP8266ESP32TM4C
Home computers
Commodore 64VIC-20BBC MicroTandy Color Computer 2
Dragon 32/64Coleco AdamZX SpectrumCambridge Z88Atari 8-bitAtari STPC-8800PC-9800
Other
RockboxiPodtvOSUEFIbrowsersRetroFWArduinoPocketSpritePICO-8TIC-80
Operating systems
Modern: WindowsLinuxmacOSWindows on ARMRaspberry PiBSD

Legacy (Microsoft): DOSWindows 3.xWindows 9xEnterprise Windows NTWindows XPWindows 7
Legacy (other): IRIXBeOSTowns OSClassic Mac OSNeXTSTEPOS/2TempleOSSunsOS

Legacy mobile (Microsoft): Windows CEPocket PCWindows MobileWindows PhoneWindows RT
Legacy mobile (other): MeeGoPalm OSSymbianEPOCBlackberry OSMediOSZaurus

Other: AmigaOSRISC OSQNXKaiOSKolibriOSMorphOSHaikuMaemoToaruOSSolarisZealOSRedox