Emulators on Windows

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Microsoft Windows
Icon Windows 10.png
Developer Microsoft
Type Operating systems
Earliest release Windows 1.0 (1985)[N 1]
Windows XP (2001)
Latest release Windows 11 (2021)
For emulators that run natively on Windows on ARM, see Emulators on Windows/ARM.
For software emulates Windows, see Hypervisors and Windows 2000/XP/Vista emulators.
This page is for emulation on currently maintained Windows NT, with x86 or x86_64 CPUs

Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems by Microsoft. The currently maintained releases are Windows 10 & 11.

Before diving in;
  • This list only shows the latest versions, and currently recommended or semi-recommended emulation software, if you have are an older Windows version, see the see also section.
  • Remember that emulators can have different levels of completion or compatibility. If a game you are trying to run does not work properly, try a different one. If the emulator too slow even with lowered settings with a recommended emulator, choose a less recommended one in the list.
  • Note that game compatibility can be lower in emulators for lower system requirements.
  • 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 Windows, which may perform better/be better than emulators, for the specific game(s).

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)
Altirra 4.21 400, 800, XL, XE Cycle GPLv2 (Copyleft)
Atari++ 1.84 400, 800, XL, XE Cycle TPL (Copyleft)
MAME 0.272 Good: 400, 800
Basic: XL, XE
? GPLv2
BSD-3-Clause
~
Pantheon 14.620 800, XE Mid Proprietary ~
Atari800Win-PLus 4.1 400, 800, XL, XE ? GPLv2 (Copyleft)
Rainbow 2.2.0 400, 800, XL, XE ? Proprietary

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)
Gemulator 9.0 ? ~
Steem Engine 3.2 GPLv3 (Copyleft)
SainT 2.40 Proprietary
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 0.272 Cycle GPLv2
BSD-3-Clause
Pantheon 14.620 High Proprietary ~
PCAE 2.6
2.7
High GPLv2 (Copyleft) ~
z26 4.07 High GPLv2 (Copyleft) ~
BizHawk 2.10-rc2 ? MIT
GPL
Gopher2600 0.35.2 High GPLv3 (Copyleft)
EMU7800 5.5.0.0 Mid GPLv2 (Copyleft)
Stellarator git ? BSD-3-Clause (Permissive)
VCS 2600 1.0 Low Proprietary

Atari 5200[edit]

Name Latest version libretro Accuracy License Active Recommended
Altirra 4.21 Cycle GPLv2 (Copyleft)
Atari800 5.2.0 Cycle GPLv2 (Copyleft)
kat5200 0.8.1 ? GPLv3 (Copyleft)
MAME 0.272 Mid GPLv2
BSD-3-Clause
Jum52 git ? Proprietary
Rainbow 2.2 ? Proprietary

Atari 7800[edit]

Name Latest version libretro Accuracy License Active Recommended
MAME 0.272 High GPLv2
BSD-3-Clause
A7800 5.2 High GPLv2 (Copyleft)
ProSystem 1.3 (Windows)
git (libretro)
? GPLv2 (Copyleft) [N 2]
EMU7800 5.5.0.0 Mid GPLv2 (Copyleft)
BizHawk 2.10-rc2 ? 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 2]
MAME 0.272 ~ GPLv2
BSD-3-Clause
Project Tempest 0.95 ~ Proprietary

Atari Lynx[edit]

Name Latest version libretro License Active Recommended
Mednafen 1.32.1 GPLv2 (Copyleft)
MAME 0.272 GPLv2
BSD-3-Clause
Handy [0.971] zlib License (Permissive)

Nintendo[edit]

Nintendo Entertainment System[edit]

Name Latest version Accuracy License Active Recommended
Mesen Dev builds Cycle GPLv3 (Copyleft)
puNES WIP builds
0.111
Cycle GPLv2 (Copyleft)
Nestopia UE libretro core
1.52.1
Nestopia JG git
Cycle GPLv2 (Copyleft)
FCEUX 2.6.6
libretro (FCEUmm)
High GPLv2 (Copyleft)
ares git Artifacts
v141
High ISC (Permissive) ~
BizHawk
(QuickNES)(NESHawk)
Dev Builds
2.10-rc2
?
(Core dependent)
MIT
GPL
~
Nintendulator/NRS 2023-12-23
0.985 Beta
Cycle GPLv2 (Copyleft) ~

Super Nintendo Entertainment System[edit]

Name Latest version Accuracy License Active Recommended
ares git Artifacts
v141
Full Cycle ISC (Permissive)
bsnes nightly Partial Cycle GPLv3 (Copyleft) ~
Mesen 2.0.0 (preview) Cycle GPLv3 (Copyleft)
Snes9x nightly
libretro nightly core

1.63
High Non-commercial

Nintendo 64[edit]

Name Latest version Accuracy License Active Recommended
Mupen64Plus-Next Parallel Launcher Fork Plugin dependent GPLv2 (Copyleft)
ares git Artifacts
v141
High ISC (Permissive)
simple64 2024.11.1
GLideN64
High GPLv3 (Copyleft)
RMG 0.6.6 stable
0.6.6 -dev
Plugin dependent GPLv3 (Copyleft)
BizHawk
(Mupen64Plus)(ares)(MAME)[N 3]
Dev builds
2.10-rc2
Plugin dependent
Core dependent
MIT
GPL
~
Project64 Rosalie241's MMHD
Nightly
3.0.1
Keygen
Plugin dependent GPLv2 (Copyleft)

GameCube / Wii / Triforce[edit]

Name Latest version GameCube Wii Triforce libretro License Active Recommended
Dolphin Dev ~[N 4] [N 5] GPLv2 (Copyleft)
Ishiiruka-Dolphin (いし海豚) Dev ~ GPLv2 (Copyleft) ~
Pureikyubu (PlayCube) 1.6 CC0 1.0 (Public domain equivalent)

Wii U[edit]

Name Latest version Accurancy Amiibo License Active Recommended
Cemu 2.5 Medium ~ MPL 2.0 (Copyleft)
Decaf git Low GPLv3 (Copyleft)

Nintendo Switch[edit]

Name Latest version Amiibo License Active Recommended
Ryujinx 1.1.1403
ryujinx-mirror builds
LDN builds
custom build for revived SMB35
MIT (Permissive)
yuzu Dark Git repository (requires Tor) (2024-05-31)
NotABug mirror
GPLv2 (Copyleft) *

Nintendo 3DS[edit]

Name Latest Version New 3DS License Active Recommended
Citra
citra_libretro
Canary
Nightly
libretro cores
~ GPLv2 (Copyleft)
Panda3DS 0.8 ~ GPLv3 (Copyleft) ~

Nintendo DS[edit]

Name Latest Version License Active Recommended
melonDS Dev Builds[N 6]
1.0 RC
libretro core[N 7]
GPLv2 (Copyleft)
DeSmuME 0.9.13
libretro core
GPLv2 (Copyleft)
BizHawk* Dev builds
2.10-rc2
MIT
GPL
~
No$GBA 3.05 Proprietary ~

Game Boy Advance[edit]

Name Latest version Game Link Support e-Reader libretro Accuracy License Active Recommended
mGBA 0.10.4 Mid (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 8] GPLv2 (Copyleft)
PokeMini 0.6.0git GPLv3 (Copyleft)
minimon 2005:01:20 GPLv2 (Copyleft) ~
MAME 0.272 GPLv2
BSD-3-Clause
PokeKaMini 0.7.0 ?

Virtual Boy[edit]

Name Latest version libretro License Active Recommended
Mednafen 1.32.1 GPLv2 (Copyleft)
VBjin SVN r103 GPLv2 (Copyleft)

Game Boy / Game Boy Color[edit]

Name Latest version Game Link Support libretro License Active Recommended
SameBoy 1.0 [N 9] MIT (Permissive)
BGB 1.6.4 Proprietary
Gambatte r571 GPLv2 (Copyleft)
Gearboy 3.5.0 GPLv3 (Copyleft)
BizHawk 2.10-rc2 MIT
GPL
MAME 0.272 GPLv2
BSD-3-Clause
~
Emulicious 2024-08-31 Proprietary ~

Game & Watch[edit]

Name Latest version libretro License Active Recommended
MAME 0.272 GPLv2
BSD-3-Clause
DSP 0.23Final Non-commercial

Sega[edit]

Sega Model 1[edit]

Name Latest version Active libretro License Recommended
MAME 0.272 GPLv2
BSD-3-Clause
Modeler 0.9.3a Proprietary

Sega Model 2[edit]

Name Latest version libretro License Active Recommended
Model 2 Emulator 1.1a Proprietary
MAME 0.272 GPLv2
BSD-3-Clause
~

Sega Model 3[edit]

Name Latest version libretro License Active Recommended
Supermodel SVN Builds ~ (WIP) GPLv3 (Copyleft)
MAME 0.272 GPLv2
BSD-3-Clause

SG-1000[edit]

Name Latest version SC-3000 SF-7000 libretro License Active Recommended
MasterGear 4.9.3 Proprietary
MAME 0.272 GPLv2
BSD-3-Clause
BizHawk 2.10-rc2 MIT
BSD-3-Clause
Genesis Plus GX[N 10] 1.7.5 RC1 MAME license (Non-commercial) ~
higan (火眼) v110 ~ GPLv3 (Copyleft) ~
Kega Fusion 3.64 Proprietary ~

Master System / Game Gear[edit]

Name Latest version GG libretro Accuracy License Active Recommended
Genesis Plus GX[N 10] 1.7.5 RC1 Very high MAME license (Non-commercial)
MAME 0.272 High GPLv2
BSD-3-Clause
Emulicious 2024-08-31 Very high Proprietary ~
BizHawk 2.10-rc2 Very high MIT
GPL
~
higan (火眼) v110 High GPLv3 (Copyleft) ~
Phoenix 2.8.JAG Very high Proprietary ~

Genesis / MegaDrive / CD / 32X[edit]

Name Latest version CD 32X Pico libretro License Active Recommended
BlastEm 0.6.2 GPLv3 (Copyleft)
Exodus 2.1 MIT (Permissive)
Genesis Plus GX[N 10] 1.7.5 RC1 MAME license (Non-commercial)
BizHawk 2.10-rc2 MIT
GPL
Kega Fusion 3.64 Proprietary

Saturn / ST-V[edit]

Name Latest version ST-V libretro License Active Recommended
Mednafen 1.32.1 GPLv2 (Copyleft)
SSF PreviewVer R33 Proprietary
Kronos 2.6.2 GPLv2 (Copyleft)
Yaba Sanshiro 2 (Yaba三四郎2) 1.16.6 GPLv2 (Copyleft) ~

Dreamcast / NAOMI[edit]

Name Latest version NAOMI Atomiswave Windows CE libretro License Active Recommended
DEmul 0.7 Build 280418 Proprietary
redream 1.5.0 Proprietary
Flycast CI Builds GPLv2 (Copyleft)
reicast r20.04 (Not Working)
r8.1 (Snap Store)
BSD-3-Clause
GPLv2
LGPLv2.1
~
nullDC 1.0.4 r150 ~ GPLv3 (Copyleft)
Makaron T12/5 ~ Proprietary
Chankast 0.25 Proprietary
MAME 0.272 ~ ~ GPLv2

Sega VMU[edit]

Name Latest version libretro License Active Recommended
SoftVMS 1.10 (source only) ? ~
MAME 0.272 GPLv2
BSD-3-Clause
ElysianVMU 0.2.0 ?
DirectVMS 1.8 ?
DreamVMU 0.1 Proprietary

NEC[edit]

NEC PC-6000[edit]

Emulator Latest Version libretro License Active Recommended
PC6001VX 4.2.9 LGPLv2.1 (Copyleft)
PC6001V 2.0.4 LGPLv2.1 (Copyleft)
yaPC-6001 2018/12/27 Proprietary ~
MAME 0.272 GPLv2
BSD-3-Clause
PC6001VW 310f Proprietary

NEC PC-8800[edit]

Emulator Latest Version libretro License Active Recommended
ePC8801MA Kai SE (ePC8801MA改SE) 210523 ? ~
ePC-8001 1/28/2023 GPLv2 (Copyleft)
XM8 1.70 ?
MAME git artifacts[N 11]
0.272
GPLv2
BSD-3-Clause
~[N 12]
QUASI88
quasi88_libretro
libretro core
0.6.4
BSD-3-Clause (Permissive) ~[N 13] ~

NEC PC-9800[edit]

Name Latest version libretro Accuracy License Active Recommended
Neko Project 21/W (猫Project 21/W) v0.86 rev92 High ?
Neko Project II kai (猫Project II改) git High ? ~
Neko Project II (猫Project II) 0.86 Mid ?
Anex86 e1 Low-Mid ?
MAME 0.272 Low GPLv2
BSD-3-Clause
SL9821 0.4.0.3 High ? TBD
DOSBox-X 2024.12.04 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 0.272 High GPLv2
BSD-3-Clause
Mednafen (PCE-Fast) 1.32.1 Mid GPLv2 (Copyleft)
BizHawk 2.10-rc2 High MIT
GPL
higan (火眼) v110 ~ ? GPLv3 (Copyleft) ~

PC-FX[edit]

Name Latest version GA libretro Accuracy License Active Recommended
Mednafen 1.32.1 TBD Mid-High GPLv2 (Copyleft)
MAME 0.272 ~ 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 High
Mednafen 1.32.1 GPLv2 (Copyleft) High
XEBRA 22/11/06 Proprietary High
PCSX-R PGXP(git)
Windows
GPLv3 (Copyleft) Plugin dependent
ePSXe 2.0.5 Proprietary Plugin dependent ~

PlayStation 2[edit]

Name Latest Version libretro License Active Recommended
PCSX2 1.6.0 (stable)
SVN
~ (WIP) GPLv3 (Copyleft)
Play! Builds MIT (Permissive) ~
DobieStation git
Builds
GPLv3 (Copyleft) ~
hpsx64 v0450 GPLv3 (Copyleft) ~
orbum git GPLv3 (Copyleft)

PlayStation 3[edit]

Name Latest version License Active Recommended
RPCS3 0.0.34 Alpha[N 14] GPLv2 (Copyleft)
Nucleus git GPLv2 (Copyleft)
Short Waves 0.0.2 Proprietary
PS3F 0.1 GPLv2 (Copyleft)

PlayStation 4[edit]

Name Latest version License Active Recommended
shadPS4 0.4.0 ~
fpPS4 Nightly
GUI Temmie's Launcher
GUI Temmie's Launcher (Proto)
LGPLv2.1 (Copyleft) ~
Orbital git MIT (Permissive)
GPCS4 git GPLv3 (Copyleft)
PS4Delta git GPLv2 (Copyleft)

PlayStation 5[edit]

THERE ARE CURRENTLY NO EMULATORS FOR THIS DEVICE THAT CAN RUN COMMERCIAL GAMES AND/OR SOFTWARE.

Name Latest Version Hardware features
and peripherals
Enhancements License Active Recommended
Kyty git MIT (Permissive)

Pocket Station[edit]

Name Latest version libretro Accuracy License Active Recommended
MAME 0.272 High GPLv2
BSD-3-Clause
No$GBA 3.05 Mid Proprietary
PK201 20/04/28 (Windows)
24/08/30 (Android)
Mid
PKEmu 1.1 Private Beta ? Proprietary
pockystation git (git) ? MIT (Permissive)

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 VM Accuracy License Active Recommended
Genymotion 3.7.1 VirtualBox High Proprietary
BlueStacks 5.21.205 QEMU (before v2.5) / VirtualBox (after v2.5) High Proprietary
MEmu 8.0.0 VirtualBox High Proprietary
LDPlayer 4.0.50.3 VirtualBox High Proprietary
NoxPlayer 7.0.0.9 VirtualBox High Proprietary
MuMu 1.1.0.2
1.1.0.5 (v2.3.17) (Chinese Version)
VirtualBox High Proprietary
Android x86 14.1-r5 VirtualBox, VMWare (for 3d acc) Mid GPLv2 (Copyleft)
Android Studio 4.0 QEMU Low Source-available

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 0.272 ~ High GPLv2
BSD-3-Clause
fMSX 6.0 Mid Proprietary ~
Pantheon 14.620 ~ ~ High Proprietary
MSXPLAYer
(fMSX based)
MSX Game Reader
(Commercial)
~ ~ Mid Proprietary
DarcNES 9b0401/9b0313 ~ Low Non-commercial

Xbox Classic[edit]

Note: xboxdevwiki's own list of emulators
Name Latest version Sega Chihiro (千尋) License Active Recommended
xemu 0.7.134 ~ (WIP) GPLv2 (Copyleft)
Cxbx-Reloaded git ~ (WIP) GPLv2 (Copyleft) ~
XQEMU git ~ (WIP) GPLv2 (Copyleft)
StrikeBox git BSD-2-Clause (Permissive)
Cxbx git GPLv2 (Copyleft)
Dxbx 0.5 GPLv2 (Copyleft)

Xbox 360[edit]

Name Latest version OS License Active Recommended
Xenia git Win7+ BSD-3-Clause (Permissive)

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 0.272 GPLv2
BSD-3-Clause
~
CocoaPom (Java) v0.1 ?
Apple 1 Emulator 1.4 ? ?

Apple II Line[edit]

Name Latest version ][ ][+ //e IIc //e Enhanced //e Platinum IIc Plus IIGS License Active Recommended
MAME 0.272 GPLv2
BSD-3-Clause
AppleWin 1.30.20.0 GPLv2 (Copyleft)
MicroM8 Continuous Proprietary
BizHawk
(Virtu based)
2.10-rc2 MIT
GPL
Mednafen 1.32.1 GPLv2 (Copyleft) ✗ (WIP)
DarcNES 9b0401/9b0313 Non-commercial

apple /// Line[edit]

Name Latest version /// /// Revised /// Plus License Active Recommended
MAME 0.272 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 0.272 GPLv2
BSD-3-Clause

Apple Lisa[edit]

Name Latest version License Active Recommended
LisaEm 1.2.7 GPLv2 (Copyleft)
IDLE r23 MIT (Permissive) TBD
MAME 0.272 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 0.272 GPLv2
BSD-3-Clause
TBD
PCE 0.2.2 GPLv2 (Copyleft) TBD
Ardi Executor 2.1.17 MIT (Permissive)
vMac 0.19 ?
PowerPC
SheepShaver 03-12-2022 (Win)
git
GPLv2 (Copyleft)
QEMU 4.0.0 GPLv2 (Copyleft) TBD
PearPC 0.6.0 GPLv2 (Copyleft)
DingusPPC git GPLv3 (Copyleft)

Apple iPod[edit]

THERE ARE NO EMULATORS FOR THIS PLATFORM.

iOS[edit]

Name Latest version License Active Recommended
touchHLE 0.1.2
Actions
MPL 2.0 (Permissive) ~

SNK Corporation[edit]

Neo Geo and variants[edit]

Name Latest version NG NG-CD HNG-64 libretro License Active Recommended
MAME 0.272 ~ [N 15] GPLv2
BSD-3-Clause
FinalBurn Neo stable WIP builds Non-commercial
RAINE 0.97.2 ?
FinalBurn Alpha 0.2.97.43 Non-commercial
Xe 2.16.2 Proprietary
ares v141 ISC (Permissive)
Kawaks 1.65 Proprietary
NeoRAGEx 5.4e Proprietary

Neo Geo Pocket[edit]

Name Latest version NGP NGPC libretro License Active Recommended
Mednafen 1.32.1 GPLv2 (Copyleft)
MAME 0.272 GPLv2
BSD-3-Clause
ares v141 ISC (Permissive)
higan (火眼) v110 GPLv3 (Copyleft)
NeoPop 1.06b GPLv2 (Copyleft) ~
vdmgr 0.2.6 ? Proprietary ~
NeoGPC 1.1 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)
Hoxs64 1.1.2.6 Very high GPLv3 (Copyleft)
VICE (x64) 3.8[N 16] High GPLv2 (Copyleft) ~
Emu64 git ? GPLv2 (Copyleft) ~
Micro64 1.00.2018.03.16 Build 719 High Proprietary ~
BizHawk 2.10-rc2 ? MIT
GPL
CCS64 V3.9.2 High Proprietary
Hyper64 1.00.2008.08.08 Build 20 Mid Proprietary
MAME 0.272 Mid GPLv2
BSD-3-Clause
Frodo 4.2 ? GPLv2 (Copyleft)

Commodore 65[edit]

Name Latest version libretro Accuracy License Active Recommended
Hi65 v9 BASIC 10 only GPLv3 (Copyleft) ~
MAME 0.272 Low GPLv2
BSD-3-Clause

Amiga Line[edit]

Name Latest version libretro License Active Recommended
FS-UAE 3.0.5 GPLv2 (Copyleft)
WinUAE 5.3.1 GPLv2 (Copyleft)
WinFellow 0.5.11 GPLv2 (Copyleft)
MAME 0.272 GPLv2
BSD-3-Clause
Denise N/A ?

x86 CPUs[edit]

Name Latest version 8086*¹ 286 386*² 486*³ Pentium*⁴ Pentium II*⁵ Celeron*⁶ libretro License Active Recommended
86Box git GPLv2 (Copyleft)
PCem v17 GPLv2 (Copyleft)
VARCem Builds ~ BSD-3-Clause
GPLv2
DOSBox-X 2024.12.04 GPLv2 (Copyleft)
DOSBox 0.74-3
SVN
GPLv2 (Copyleft)
Bochs 2.8 LGPLv2.1 (Copyleft)
MAME 0.272 ~ ~ ~ GPLv2
BSD-3-Clause
QEMU 9.2.0 [N 17] GPLv2 (Copyleft)

Sinclair[edit]

ZX81[edit]

Name Latest version libretro License Relative Speed[N 18] Active Recommended
ZEsarUX 11.0 GPLv3 (Copyleft) 110.9%
EightyOne (81) 1.40 GPLv2 (Copyleft) 114.3%
Spud81 0.221 Proprietary 114.9% ~
SZ81
(xz80 & z81 based)
2.1.7
2.3.10 (Unofficial)
GPLv2 (Copyleft) 100.0% ~
MAME 0.272 GPLv2
BSD-3-Clause
Not tested
MTMW
(aka 'MulTiMachine')
1.30b Proprietary Not tested
No$ZX 2.0 Proprietary 100.1%
[N 19]
VB81 1.30 GPLv2 (Copyleft) Not tested
VB81 XuR 1.30.3 (26/11/2019) GPLv2 (Copyleft) 100.5%

ZX Spectrum line[edit]

Name Latest Version Libretro Core License Active Recommended
EightyOne 1.40 ~ (WIP) GPLv2 (Copyleft)
FUSE 1.5.7 GPLv2 (Copyleft)
Speccy 5.9 Proprietary
ZEsarUX 11.0 GPLv2 (Copyleft)
BizHawk 2.10-rc2 MIT
GPL
~
Retro Virtual Machine 2.0.beta-1.r6 Proprietary ~
EMU (Russian) 1.01 Proprietary ~
ZX-Poly 2.3.0 GPLv3 (Copyleft) TBD

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)
Model B 10-04-04 B, B+ ?
B2 git B, B+, M128 GPLv3 (Copyleft)

Electron[edit]

Name Latest version License Active Recommended
MAME 0.272 GPLv2
BSD-3-Clause
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 0.272 A, B, B+, M128 ? GPLv2
BSD-3-Clause
Pantheon 14.620 ? Proprietary

Archimedes[edit]

Name Latest version License Active Recommended
Arculator 2.1 GPLv2 (Copyleft)
MAME 0.272 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 0.272 GPLv2
BSD-3-Clause

Notes[edit]

  1. First ever release of Windows, was a graphical shell for MS-DOS see Emulators for DOS
  2. 2.0 2.1 Main branch is dead, but the libretro core is still alive.
  3. MAME core for Aleck 64 only.
  4. Requires the Triforce branch to work. It is very old and unsupported.
  5. At Alpha release and has bugs that are not present on standalone Dolphin.
  6. Windows
  7. melonDS libretro core two versions out of date (still on 0.9.3), and the generation 5 Pokemons are broken. If you turn on C-Gear, after a few minutes you'll be unable to save. You also can't use any wifi features or do in game trades either or the game will freeze.
  8. Pokémon mini core available not yet available in binary releases (source only).
  9. 10.0 10.1 10.2 Only available on PC as a libretro core (e.g. RetroArch).
  10. CI-Windows
  11. 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
  12. Only libretro core is still active.
  13. The developers are currently treating version increments as milestones, not as stables.
  14. As 0.153 (2014), 0.139 (2010), 0.78 (2003)
  15. Source only, pass '--enable-x64' to configure
  16. Supports the Conroe model.
  17. 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.
  18. After turning off the simulated hardware improvements that were not standard in the original computer.

See Also[edit]

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