spekkio
Arcane
- Joined
- Sep 16, 2009
- Messages
- 7,917
Newb-friendly list of recommended emulators + required files + other thingies. 
Halal bios packs for various systems
(Day of latest decline: 25.07.2021)

86box
Regular and Optimized builds
Bios pack (September 2017)
PCem
Official releases
Bios pack (June 2016)
Turorial for old PCem, 86box and new Pcem have slightly different UI
Regular and Optimized builds
Bios pack (September 2017)
Fork of PCem. One hardware profile, supposed to be faster than original.
PCem
Official releases
Bios pack (June 2016)
Multiple hardware profiles, supposed to be slower than 86box.
Turorial for old PCem, 86box and new Pcem have slightly different UI
Mesen
Official releases
RA - Nestopia UE core
Official releases & Unofficial builds
Consult the EmuGen Wiki in case of trouble.
Official releases
RA - Nestopia UE core
Official releases & Unofficial builds
Consult the EmuGen Wiki in case of trouble.
RA - bsnes-hd (casual use) or RA - bsnes (most accurate) or RA - Snes9x (for rom hacks which work only on emulators) cores
Official releases & Unofficial builds
Consult the EmuGen Wiki in case of trouble.
Official releases & Unofficial builds
bsnes-hd is a newer fork of bsnes, released in 2019 by DerKoun, that adds HD video features, such as:
- HD Mode 7 – Rendering the rotated, scaled or pseudo perspective backgrounds at higher resolutions. This does not involve new custom imagery or upscaling algorithms. It is a higher resolution version of the process the SNES uses.
- Widescreen – Extending the scenes to the left and right, without distorting them. Works for most Mode 7 scenes, but also for some other scenes/games, after some setting tweaking.
- Some non-HD related features – Like the ability to disable background layers, sprites and window effects for screenshots for wallpapers or soft crop to zoom in, leaving maps or static art off the sides of the screen.
Some of the features of this fork are or will be included in official bsnes. The difference is that official bsnes only has slight visual improvements but with mostly perfect compatibility. bsnes-hd has more hacks that give true HD in mode 7 SNES games and widescreen in other games.
Consult the EmuGen Wiki in case of trouble.
RA - ParaLLEl 64 core
Official releases & Unofficial builds
RA - Mupen64Plus-Next core
Official releases & Unofficial builds
Project64
Official releases
Quality oldshit:
N64 All-in-One pack by Phantasmal
Consult the EmuGen Wiki in case of trouble.
Official releases & Unofficial builds
A heavily-modified fork of Mupen64Plus, developed as a libretro core. It introduces many features and optimizations not present in mainline alongside RetroArch's general features, including Project64-style overclocking for faster frame rates, 3-point texture filtering, superior A/V sync and latency, and even an exclusive LLE Vulkan renderer based on Angrylion's pixel-perfect RDP plugin, making it a better alternative to the standalone version in some cases, especially if accuracy is the goal. ParaLLEl has a special "Super VI Mode" option which, if used, can make the visuals of N64 games look less blurry with fairly mitigated jaggies even at their native resolutions. Although, it may need a powerful GPU. It also offers native high resolution rendering, only available in integer scales of the original N64 resolution.
RA - Mupen64Plus-Next core
Official releases & Unofficial builds
Mupen64Plus-Next is a N64 emulation library for the libretro API, based on Mupen64Plus
Project64
Official releases
Windows only. Old and still somehow gold.
Quality oldshit:
N64 All-in-One pack by Phantasmal
Consult the EmuGen Wiki in case of trouble.
Dolphin
Official releases & Unofficial builds
Unofficial Ishiiruka builds (better speed, can be less compatible)
Primehack
Official releases
Guide
Consult the Compatibility list in case of trouble.
Official releases & Unofficial builds
Unofficial Ishiiruka builds (better speed, can be less compatible)
Primehack
Mod of Dolphin, implementing proper M+K controls for Metroid Prime - Trilogy
Official releases
Guide
Consult the Compatibility list in case of trouble.
Cemu
Official releases
Useful things:
CemuHook (extension)
Cemu Graphic Packs (enhancement) Graphic Packs explained
Consult the Compatibility list in case of trouble.
Official releases
Useful things:
CemuHook (extension)
Cemu Graphic Packs (enhancement) Graphic Packs explained
Consult the Compatibility list in case of trouble.
Yuzu
Regular builds
EA builds
Ryujinx
Official releases
Grab Shared Data here
Firmware
Switch Mods (mostly 60/120 FPS and shit)
Regular builds
EA builds
Ryujinx
Official releases
Grab Shared Data here
Firmware
Switch Mods (mostly 60/120 FPS and shit)
RA - mGBA (the best ATM) or RA - VBA-M (still 2nd-best) cores
Official releases & Unofficial builds
Consult the EmuGen Wiki in case of trouble.
Using shaders to reduce oversaturation is recommended for some games.
mGBA deals with this problem with special "Color Correction" core option.
Official releases & Unofficial builds
Consult the EmuGen Wiki in case of trouble.
Using shaders to reduce oversaturation is recommended for some games.


mGBA deals with this problem with special "Color Correction" core option.
RA - DeSmuME (the best ATM) or RA - melonDS (more experimental) cores
Official releases & Unofficial builds
Consult the EmuGen Wiki in case of trouble.
Official releases & Unofficial builds
DeSmuME works out of the the box. The most developed emulators for regular DS games.
melonDS can use Wifi and run DSiWare games. The latest version can now boot into the firmware and load some DSiWare through the NAND, but full "DSi mode" support for retail games is still unsupported.
Consult the EmuGen Wiki in case of trouble.
Citra
Official builds
Keys (equip the ring if necessary)
60 FPS patches / cheats
Consult the Compatibility list in case of trouble.
Official builds
Keys (equip the ring if necessary)
60 FPS patches / cheats
Consult the Compatibility list in case of trouble.
RA - Genesis Plus GX core
Official releases & Unofficial builds
Sega CD Bios pack - Genesis Plus GX core
Kega Fusion
Official releases
Sega CD Bios pack - Kega Fusion
Official releases & Unofficial builds
Sega CD Bios pack - Genesis Plus GX core
Kega Fusion
Official releases
Sega CD Bios pack - Kega Fusion
Very good and emulates 32X.
RA - Beetle Saturn core
Official releases & Unofficial builds
SSF
Official builds
Official releases & Unofficial builds
Bios pack - Beetle Saturn coreBest one ATM.
SSF
Official builds
Bios pack for older emus (SSF, Yabause)The oldest and second-best one.
DEmul
Official releases
RA - Flycast core
Official releases & Unofficial builds
Official releases
Bios pack - DEmulBest one ATM.
RA - Flycast core
Official releases & Unofficial builds
Bios pack - Reicast corelibretro fork of reicast. libretro collaborators, primarily flyinghead, dramatically improved Reicast in areas such as graphics, input, system clock, and Dreamcast VMU. Atomiswave and NAOMI SH-4-based arcade systems have also been added to great fanfare, along with support for MAME's popular CHD format. Even full MMU support, which is needed to run WinCE-based games such as "Armada", "Half-Life" and "SEGA Rally Championship 2", has recently been tackled through an experimental branch (anyone following Dreamcast emulation over the years understands what a tough nut this is to crack). Aside from some audio stuttering issues in games such as "Looney Toons Space Race" and "Resident Evil: Code Veronica", this is a highly compatible and accurate emulator.
RA - Beetle PSX or RA-Beetle PSX HW cores
Official releases & Unofficial builds
DuckStation
Official builds
Consult the EmuGen Wiki in case of trouble.
Official releases & Unofficial builds
Bios pack - Beetle PSX coresMost accurate PSX emu ATM. Regular core is software-only, but internal resolution can be increased. HW core also has two hardware renderers (Vulkan and OpenGL).
DuckStation
Official builds
New kid on the block. Hardware (D3D11, OpenGL, Vulkan) and software rendering. Upscaling, texture filtering, and true colour (24-bit) in hardware renderers. PGXP for geometry precision and texture correction. And much more.
Consult the EmuGen Wiki in case of trouble.
Pcsx2
Official releases
Unofficial builds
Bios
Consult the Compatibility list in case of trouble.
Improving PS2 games' graphical output via cheat codes
Official releases
Unofficial builds
Bios
Consult the Compatibility list in case of trouble.
Improving PS2 games' graphical output via cheat codes
PPSSPP
Official releases
Unofficial builds
60 FPS patches list
Original Font (Use when fonts look garbled)
Official releases
Unofficial builds
60 FPS patches list
Original Font (Use when fonts look garbled)
(Day of latest decline: 25.07.2021)
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