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Recommended Emulators

I wrote an article a few years back that details my favorite emulators at the time, and some reasons for why I chose them. This is going to be less of an informative list, and more a quick guide for what I personally recommend. This table also includes information on what file format I recommend for each system. You'll not be surprised to learn that I have a post about that too.

ManufacturerConsoleRecommneded Emulator(s)Recommended File Type
NintendoNESAres, puNES.nes
NintendoSNESAres.sfc
NintendoN64RMG, Ares (but it runs heavy).z64
NintendoGameCubeDolphin.rvz
NintendoWiiDolphin.rvz
NintendoWii UCemu.wua
NintendoSwitchRyujinx.nsp
NintendoSwitch 2N/AN/A
NintendoGame Boy / Game Boy ColorAres, Sameboy, Gearboy.gb / .gbc
NintendoGame Boy AdvanceAres, mGBA.gba
NintendoDS / DSimelonDS.nds
Nintendo3DS / New 3DSAzaharPlus.3ds (although .cia is better on real hardware)
NintendoPokemon MiniN/A.pm
NintendoVirtual BoyMednafen, Red Viper (3DS only).vb
SegaMaster System / Game GearAres, Gearsystem.sms / .gg
SegaGenesis (Mega Drive)Ares, jgenesis.gen (although .md, .bin, and .smd are all the same as well)
SegaSega CD (Mega CD)Ares, jgenesis.chd
Sega32XAres, jgenesis.32x
SegaSaturnYmir.chd
SegaDreamcastFlycast.chd
SonyPlayStationDuckstation.chd
SonyPlayStation 2PCSX2.chd
SonyPlayStation 3RPCS3Uncompressed directory
SonyPlayStation 4ShadPS4Uncompressed directory
SonyPlayStation 5N/AN/A
SonyPlayStation PortablePPSSPP.chd
SonyPlayStation VitaVita3KUncompressed directory
MicrosoftXboxXemu.iso
MicrosoftXbox 360Xenia.iso
MicrosoftXbox OneN/AN/A
MicrosoftXbox Series X/SN/AN/A
BandaiWonderSwan / WonderSwan ColorAres.ws / .wsc
NECPC Engine (TurboGrafx-16)Ares, Geargrafx.pce
NECPC Engine CD (TurboGrafx-CD)Ares, Geargrafx.chd
Atari2600Stella.a26