After hard time research, we have created a list of the best NES emulators. Hopefully, this list will save your time and you can choose the best NES emulator quickly.
Before that let’s talk about our childhood memories. Have you ever played the games of the late 80s and early 90s? The person who played those games really misses the time and childhood games. There is no doubt that today’s games are amazing, but the classic NES games are just more than perfect.
Many gamers love to play old-school games from time to time. In the 90s era, Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is one of the most famous game platforms.
Popular games include Super Mario, Contra, and Tetris to name a few. The best thing is that we can still play NES games on our modern computers and android phones by using an emulator. There are many emulators in the market now, so it is difficult to decide which one is the best NES emulator.
Table of Contents
Best NES Emulators for PC:
Looking for Android? Scroll down to the Android Section!
RetroArch:
RetroArch is one of the most advanced and best NES emulators you can find in the market now. It comes with a lot of features and customization options, but its versatility makes RetroArch very complex to use and set up. If you want the same experience as your old NES then this emulator is the best choice.
Its graphics are almost identical and with the appropriate settings, there will be no lags. As we mentioned earlier, its setup is somehow complicated and can be complicated for new users.
You need to install some cores and tweak settings and it will be difficult for the newbie with the RetroArch environment. Another bad news is that there is no official documentation related to set up and use of RetroArch.
You have to search for everything on Google. Once you become familiar with its set up and settings, we are sure that you will experience the same old NES games.
FCEUX:
FCEUX is another best NES emulators you can find nowadays. It also has a number of features and customization options. It is very easy to use and you can easily customize many settings like input configuration and other controls.
It comes with many tools such as video recording, debugging, creating speed-runs, and ROM-hacking, and also supports full screen for the ultimate experience.
The only deficiency we find in this NES emulator is the inaccurate color palette that comes in it by default. But it’s a minor issue that can be fixed manually.
Other than NES files, it can also load ZIP, RAR, FDS, NSF, GZ and UNF formats. We add FCEUX in the list of the best NES emulators for PC due to its simplicity and a number of features and customization options.
Nestopia UE:
If you don’t want any kind of set up complexity like that of RetroArch, Nestopia UE is the best NES emulator for you. Nestopia UE is basically the unofficial continuation of the original Nestopia emulator.
The original Nestopia is not actively supported by any developer. However, Nestopia UE (also known as Undead Edition) is still perfectly compatible with modern PCs.
It comes with many cool and pretty good features. There is only one issue with this NES emulator and that is vsync. If vsync option is off, the gamer will experience screen tearing and if this option is on then the gamer will have to deal with slow input lag.
Now the gamer will decide whether he/she wants to play games with screen tearing or with lags.
VirtuaNES:
VirtuaNES is not supported by any developer since 2007. However, it still works on any version of Windows including Windows 10 without any flaw.
Its features are very easy to use and it is highly customizable. Some of its features include gamepad support, external joystick and adjustable screen with full-screen mode.
It also supports cheat codes and can edit memory hex locations to try new cheats. Due to its ease of use and set up, it is one of the best NES emulators for PC.
jNES:
For those gamers who just want to open the ROM and start playing the game, jNES is the best NES emulator. It is the easiest to use the emulator in the list. Though there are fewer features in it.
The gamer will be satisfied due to its ease of use and set up. Its features include sound control, adjustable screen size, and the ability to use a gamepad. Another thing to remember about James is that it only works with NES or NSF ROMs.
If you don’t like the advanced features then this would be the best NES emulator for PC you can use.
Best NES Emulators for Android:
Nostalgia.NES:
Nostalgia.NES is an android-based emulator and it is designed using FCEUX. If you want to play old school games of the 90s on your android then Nostalgia.NES is the best NES emulator. It has a fair interface for touchscreen controls.
It supports four players to play a game wirelessly using separate android devices as controllers. If you don’t like to play on a touchscreen, you can also use standard Bluetooth Android gamepads. It also supports rewinding, saves and load states, turbo buttons, cheat codes, hardware controller support, and Wi-Fi controller mode. Make sure you have inserted micro SD card in your phone before downloading Nostalgia.NES.
In order to play, you have to load all ROMs onto the card. Due to the variety of features and ease of use, Nostalgia.NES is considered as the best NES emulator for android.
John NES:
Another NES emulator that has worth of use is John NES. It can be used for both consoles i-e NES and SNES.
It also has a number of features including save and load states, cheat codes, customizable software controllers, hardware controller support, turbo buttons, and slow-motion support.
Due to its pure functionality, John Nes finds its place in the list of the best NES emulator for android.
EmuBox:
EmuBox is one of the new NES emulators and supports SNES, GBA, GBC, PlayStation, and Nintendo DS.
The basic features we find in EmuBox are saved and load states, hardware controller support, fast forward, cheats and some other performance settings.
It is one of the few emulators that have Material Design support and very easy to use. It is also one of the best NES emulators for android.
Final verdict
The NES emulators mentioned in the list work extremely well and have customizable controls, high game compatibilities, and very few bugs.
There are thousands of NES emulators in the market but most of them are nothing against these emulators and others are just Ad bait.
We recommend you use any of the mentioned best NES emulators and have great fun.
