Those who want to play old-school games in the twenty-first century do not have to buy vintage consoles and ancient cartridges to relive happy childhood moments. They download special programs that make their modern computers, cell phone, or tablet PCs act as vintage consoles and run the images of old games. Such programs are called emulators.

Probably, you know something about emulators. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be here reading our article. As practice shows, downloading and installing an emulator isn’t such a big deal for the majority of gamers, whereas selecting it can become an ordeal. The truth is that the Internet is replete with websites offering you to download emulators from these sites. No wonder, users often find themselves confused, when it comes to selecting a safe and stable emulator.

We will try to help you in such a complicated matter of selecting the best emulator. Below is the list of the most popular time-tested emulators that won’t let you down.

1 RetroArch

Of course, you have heard about this emulator that can be rightly considered a veteran in emulation matters. But old doesn’t mean ineffective. It is capable of running games from every popular vintage console teens used to play back in the day. Do you want to emulate PlayStation 1, Super Nintendo, Game Boy Advance, or Nintendo 64? Not a problem! This cross-platform emulator is perfectly compatible with Mac, Linux, Windows, Android, and iOS.

Of course, configuring RetroArch can be quite challenging. Still, we are sure that it won’t become an obstacle in the way to enjoying retro games.

2 OpenEmu

OpenEmu is another emulator we would like to draw your attention to. Though it is partly based on its older colleague, RetroArch, this emulator was designed to improve the gaming experience of those users that prefer playing old games on Mac computers. OpemEmu copes well with its task, we must say. It boasts of a colorful gallery of games resembling that of iTunes, which can be used for viewing and organizing game collections.

Useful tip! You’ll definitely want to get the best ROMs to play on a cool emulator. When we need new games to diversify our game collection, we always visit RomsMania. If you want to download the best emulator games download ROMs from this safe site. You won’t regret it!

OpenEmu cannot support as many games as RetroArch. Still, there is a trial version of OpenEmu acting as a cross-platform tool available online. Despite the fact that it’s still quite raw and isn’t immune to crashes, many users choose to download it for running their favorite games.

3 Dolphin Emulator

Some five years ago, you would be told that there is no emulator for consoles of the 7^th generation, at least stable ones. It is true since emulating such sophisticated stuff required many resources. Still, presently, there is an improved version of Dolphin you can use to run GameCube and Wii games on your comp. This emulator is available on Microsoft Windows, Mac X (Intel-based), and Linux OS, which allows more users to download it. Moreover, its high compatibility rating allows users to run their favorite games (which we cannot call “retro” yet) without lags and freezes, which were commonplace back in the day.

Dolphin also makes it possible to play GameCube games on an HD widescreen, even if the original game cannot support this option. Unlike many emulators, Dolphin is updated and improved regularly, which will allow you to play even more exciting and demanding games in the nearest future.

Some Recommendations

When choosing an emulator, don’t forget to familiarize yourself with the minimum and recommended requirements to make sure that the emulator will be able to operate properly on your comp. Don’t aim for some sophisticated software. If your computer is not that powerful, it’s better to get a less demanding emulator to get maximum pleasure from game-play.