Great emulators for gaming consoles

Great emulators for gaming consoles

Even old games can be enjoyable, especially if you have some pleasant memories of playing them when you were a child. If you would like to play them again, there's no need to go out of your way and search for the right hardware; you can pretty easily play them on your current PC by using an emulator. Here you will find a pick of the best emulators for gaming consoles that you can currently find on the Internet.

PlayStation

The PS4 and its upcoming VR headset are pretty awesome. However, even from its earliest releases, the PlayStation console was tons of fun with games like Tekken or Final Fantasy that made us spend hours on end with our eyes glued to our TV screens. Here are the emulators that you will need if you would like to relieve those experiences on your PC:

• PSP - PlayStation Portable was a great device with some awesome graphical capabilities for the time when it was launched. PPSPPP is a great emulator for that device, the one that will allow you to play the games in HD.
• PS1 - If you're interested in playing PS1 games, then ePSXe Emulator is probably the best tool that you can find for this job. This tool will also work for the PSX content.
• PS2 - Pcsx2 is the most popular and, probably, the best emulator for Play Station 2 games. It can emulate almost any game designed for PS2, but you will need to purchase the games that you want to play.

Nintendo

Nowadays, PlayStation and Xbox are the biggest names when it comes to gaming consoles, but there was a time when there were many other companies successfully competing in this sector of the market and Nintendo was the king. The childhood of many kids was made better by games like Super Mario, MarioKart or Zelda, so they won't be easily forgotten.

• SNES - those of you who would like to play again the games available on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System should use the ZMZ Emulator. ZSNES is a valid alternative, but it's a bit outdated.
• Nintendo 64 - if you're into Nintendo 64 games, I recommend the Project64 emulator as it's very easy to use. Though less popular, Mupen64+ is also a viable option.
• Nintendo DS - the emulators for Nintendo DS aren't that great as each only allows you to play a small amount of games, but No$GBA and DeSmuME are the best two available.

GameBoy

Although it's handheld, so not a traditional gaming console, I still decided to include GameBoy as it's been a big part of my early gaming days. If you would like to reminisce about playing some of the games that you loved on your GameBoy Color or GameBoy Advance, VBA is the best emulator available. The tool includes some awesome titles like Pokemon Emerald or Legend of Zelda Minnish Cap.

If you're the kind of person who prefers to play on consoles instead of a PC, you might also want to read some of our previous stories such as: "How to Take Screenshots and Record Videos on Consoles", "Setting up parental controls on Xbox One", "Setting up parental controls on a PlayStation 4" or "All You Need To Know About Steam Machines".