Setup Guides

Last updated: October 2026 DOSBox is how almost everyone plays DOS games today. GOG and Steam ship most of their DOS catalogue wrapped in a copy of it. But the …

Last updated: October 2026 The Commodore 64 is the best-selling single computer model ever made, and it has one emulator that matters: VICE. It is free, …

Last updated: October 2026 Amiga emulation has one extra step most systems do not: the Kickstart. Every Amiga had its core operating system on a chip on the …

Last updated: October 2026 DOSBox pretends to be “a DOS PC” in general. 86Box and PCem pretend to be one specific PC: a particular motherboard, …

Last updated: September 2026 A softmodded Wii with a hard drive is still the cheapest way to play the whole Wii and GameCube library on a TV. The part that …

Last updated: September 2026 Saturn emulation has three different BIOS filenames in circulation and every emulator wants a different one. Beetle Saturn wants …

Last updated: September 2026 The Genesis needs no BIOS. Load a cartridge game into Genesis Plus GX or PicoDrive and it runs. The Sega CD is the add-on that …

Last updated: September 2026 Every other BIOS on this site is a single file with a single hash. The Neo Geo one is a zip archive that contains anywhere from …

Last updated: September 2026 The Game Boy family is the one system where “do I need the BIOS?” has a different answer for every emulator. mGBA runs …

Last updated: September 2026 DuckStation is the PS1 emulator I put on every device, and it has one hard rule: no BIOS, no game. The error is blunt about it. …

Last updated: September 2026 The DS is the system where the BIOS question changed under everyone’s feet. For years melonDS refused to start without three …

Last updated: September 2026 Dreamcast is the system where the BIOS is optional and everyone installs it anyway. Flycast ships a high-level replacement that …

Last updated: September 2026 Vertical handhelds are the Game Boy shape: screen on top, controls underneath, tall and narrow. They are the most pocketable …

Last updated: September 2026 Under $200 is the most interesting price band in retro handhelds because it is where the Android devices take over and PS2, …

Last updated: September 2026 Under $100 is where most people buy their first retro handheld, and it is also where the spec sheets lie the most. Every device at …

Last updated: September 2026 PSP is the sweet spot for handheld emulation. The library is huge, the games were designed for a small screen and a single stick, …

Last updated: September 2026 PS2 is where cheap retro handhelds stop pretending. Everything below about $100 runs 8-bit and 16-bit games flawlessly and then …

Last updated: September 2026 PS1 is the last system that the cheap handhelds run properly, and the first one where the screen size starts to matter for reading …

Last updated: September 2026 N64 is the system that separates the $35 handhelds from the $70 ones. The chip that runs SNES and PS1 flawlessly for pocket money …

Last updated: September 2026 Every handheld in my database from $55 up runs Game Boy Advance games perfectly, and the $35 R36S comes within a few titles of it, …

Last updated: September 2026 GameCube is the second wall after PS2. Dolphin is a superb emulator, but it wants a GPU that the sub-$100 Linux handhelds do not …

Last updated: September 2026 Clamshell retro handhelds exist because the Game Boy Advance SP and the DS were clamshells, and a screen that closes over its own …

Last updated: September 2026 Android is where retro handhelds stop being retro. The Linux devices top out at PS1 because their chips do; an Android handheld on …

Last updated: September 2026 3DO emulation runs through one core, Opera, which is the RetroArch descendant of 4DO and FreeDO. It will not start without a BIOS, …

Last updated: September 2026 RGH 3.0 is the current way to open up an Xbox 360, and it is cheaper and simpler than the RGH and JTAG methods that came before it. …

Last updated: September 2026 PS3 emulation on Android exists now, and I want to set expectations before you download anything. RPCSX runs, it boots real games, …

Last updated: September 2026 PS2 emulation has exactly one hard requirement and it trips up everyone: the BIOS. PCSX2 will not open a game without it, and …

Last updated: September 2026 A PS1 emulator with no BIOS gives you a black screen and nothing else. Not a warning, not a menu, just black. I have watched more …

Last updated: September 2026 NetherSX2 is AetherSX2 with the ads, the tracking and the drama removed. AetherSX2 was the best PS2 emulator Android ever had, its …

Last updated: September 2026 muOS is what I put on every Allwinner H700 handheld the day it arrives. Stock Anbernic firmware works, in the sense that games …

Last updated: September 2026 JoiPlay is not an emulator. That is the first thing to understand about it, and it is why it runs on handhelds that struggle with …

Last updated: September 2026 GarlicOS is the firmware that made the original Anbernic RG35XX worth owning. Stock firmware on that $50 handheld was a mess; …

Last updated: September 2026 GameNative is the first Windows-on-Android layer I have used that does not feel like a science project. You sign in to Steam, your …

Last updated: September 2026 Cemu on Android is real, it runs Breath of the Wild on a handheld, and it is also an early beta of a community fork that the …

The Nintendo 3DS has a library worth emulating — the entire mainline Pokemon run from X/Y through Ultra Sun/Moon, Fire Emblem Awakening and Fates, the two Zelda …

Last updated: March 2026 PlayStation 1 emulation is solved. Like, actually solved. The PS1 was cracked wide open decades ago and the emulators available today …

Last updated: March 2026 Retro handhelds get all the attention, but sometimes you just want to sit on the couch, grab a controller, and play retro games on a …

Last updated: March 2026 RetroArch NetPlay lets you play retro games online with anyone, on any platform, with rollback netcode that makes it feel like …

Last updated: March 2026 Your Android phone is the most powerful retro gaming device you already own. A midrange phone from 2024 can run everything from NES to …

Last updated: March 2026 GameCube emulation is a solved problem. Unlike PS2 or Saturn where you’re juggling multiple options and trade-offs, GameCube has …

Last updated: March 2026 A stock Game Boy in 2026 is hard to go back to. No backlight, scratched screen lens, faded buttons, mushy membranes. The hardware is …

Last updated: March 2026 Homebrew games are original, brand-new games built for retro hardware. Not modified commercial games. Not mods. Completely new games — …

Last updated: March 2026 You just got a new Anbernic or Miyoo handheld. You boot it up, scroll through the stock menu, and wonder why everything feels sluggish …

Last updated: September 2026 Setting up RetroArch and getting a black screen? Chances are you’re missing a BIOS file. Some cores flat-out refuse to run …

Last updated: March 2026 If you’ve searched for “retroarch cores” and landed on a list from 2021 with dead links and wrong picks — this …

RetroArch is the Swiss Army knife of emulation. One app, dozens of emulators, every retro system you care about — all with a single controller setup, universal …

Last updated: March 2026 The Steam Deck is the best handheld for emulation right now. Not close. And EmuDeck is the reason most people can set it up without …

Switch emulation is the most complicated topic in the emulation space right now. Two major emulators got taken down by Nintendo, forks keep popping up and …

Last updated: March 2026 The PlayStation 2 had one of the greatest game libraries ever made. Over 4,000 titles. And thanks to emulation, that library …

The Game Boy Advance has one of the best libraries in gaming history. Golden Sun, Metroid Fusion, Fire Emblem, Advance Wars, Pokemon Emerald, Castlevania: Aria …

Last updated: March 2026 If you want a dedicated emulation machine without fighting Linux configs for three hours, Batocera is the answer. Flash it to a USB …

The retro handheld market in 2026 is absurd — in the best way possible. Whether you’ve got $70 or $160 to spend, there’s a device that can emulate …