Most reliable GameBoy emulators for Android
You don't have to own that beloved handheld console to play anymore. There are GameBoy emulators on Android that work perfectly.
These days all you have to do is download one of the GameBoy emulators for Android and enjoy all these games from your mobile device. If you are one of the lucky owners of this retro console looking to play some of your favourite titles again, or if you just want to experience how gaming was on a GameBoy, you're in the right place.
Nintendo’s GameBoy, an 8-bit handheld game console was released in Japan more than 30 years ago. Since 1989, the GameBoy and GameBoy Color combined have sold around 120 million units worldwide. Ask some of these GameBoy owners a simple question. What’s their favourite game? You are going to get multiple answers.
From Donkey Kong and Pokemon (1998) to The Legend of Zelda, Tetris, Super Mario Land, Mega Man, Castelvania, or even Space Invaders the list just goes on and on and on.
Which is the best GameBoy emulator for Android?
There are a number of Android GameBoy emulators available. It’s hard to just pick one of them and say that it’s definitely the best among the others. But, we’ve put together a list of the best available ones (in our opinion) to present to you. Some are totally free while others are available for a price. So, without any further ado, let’s dive into our list.
1
Nostalgia.GBC
Android GBC emulator that you can get for free on Google Play store. It was last updated in May 2020 and it has an average rating of 4.5 stars with over 100k downloads. The emulator offers adjustable positions for each button, game progress saving and loading 8 manual with screenshots and an autosave slot. It also supports zip file extension, rewinding in case your character dies in-game, and special cheat codes. You can upgrade it to Nostalgia.GBC Pro for €1.49, if you are not keen to look at the ads. Understandable, the developer of the app has to make a living.
2
Pizza Boy GBC
A GameBoy Color emulator, Pizza Boy GBC offers 60fps even on older devices and serial link emulation through Wifi or Bluetooth. The free version was last updated on March 2022 and currently has over 100k downloads on Google Play store and an average rating of 4.1 stars. There is a number of things why we can suggest this Android GBC emulator, as it's free of all ads, you can save your progress, and the joypad support is great. It supports both zipped and unzipped ROM files, and the games have to be loaded manually, as is the case with most emulators. You can upgrade it to Pizza Boy GBC Pro for €4.99.
3
GBC Emu
GBC Emu is a GameBoy/ GameBoy Color emulator that you can get from Google Play Store for €2.99. It was released in April 2021 and was last updated in October 2022, meaning that the developer is still keeping it operational. The emulator offers selectable colour patterns for original GameBoy titles, cheat codes, and save state. It also supports 7z, zip, and RAR file extensions plus Bluetooth/USB gamepad and keyboard support. You'll be able to use the cheat codes, but who needs those, right? I mean, we are all pros here.
4
GBCC
GBCC is a GameBoy and GameBoy Color emulator that you can get for free on Google Play Store. The emulator, still in 'Early Access', offers save states, autosave/resume, GameBoy camera support, partial link cable support, gamepad support, turbo and slow-motion feature. It was released in March 2021 and it was last updated in October 2022. Of course, it doesn't have any pre-loaded games and you'll have to provide your own ROMs, which is acceptable.
5
SuperGBC Emulator
SuperGBC is a free GameBoy and GBC emulator on Google Play Store. It was released back in 2019 and it hasn't been updated since then. The ads can be annoying at times but, it's a stable and free emulator that will run games great. It also supports rewinding, to help you in case you die, and well, you can count it as a feature instead of a cheating engine. The only concern is that it wasn't updated for 3 years now, so it's uncertain if the developer is still looking after it.
6
John GBC Lite
You might be familiar with this one if you've ever downloaded other emulators for Android as John is the name that pops up really often. They are known to be rather steadfast. John GBC Lite has over a million downloads and an average rating of 4.4 stars on the Google Play Store. It's a free GameBoy emulator for Android 4.1+ devices. The app offers cheats, Bluetooth/MOGA controller support, save state. John GBC Lite received its last update in February 2021. There's a pro version of this app, John GBC. It’s available for €1.99 on Google Play Store. It has a 3.9-star average rating and over 1 million downloads
7
My OldBoy! Lite
As of today, My OldBoy! has over 5 million downloads and an average rating of 4.1 stars on Google Play Store. It's a GameBoy / GBC emulator for Android with link cable emulation. It also offers a GameBoy camera and printer emulation and a tilt sensor emulation through Android's motion sensor. Save game progress is only available in the deluxe version (read: paid), but if you're really into it, that shouldn't be a problem. I mean, it is available as one save slot, but that's usually far from enough. Most importantly, there will be no ads to interrupt the gameplay, as they appear exclusively in the menu. My OldBoy! was last updated in 2018, which leaves traces of doubt if the developers are still around as it's been four years.
8
My Boy! Lite
My Boy! Lite emulator is a great GameBoy advanced emulator for your android device. This application is suitable for most devices and can provide the best experience in the world of portable set-top boxes. The main features of this emulator are simplicity and convenience, as well as the fact that it is supported on a large number of devices. With high compatibility with games, this application does not require any additional files or downloads. All you need to do is download the game and run it with this emulator.
9
VGBAnext GBA/GBC/NES Emulator
VGBAnext is one of the best options and a fantastic Game Boy Advance, Game Boy Color, and even Nintendo Entertainment System emulator. It works great and allows you to play different games from these three consoles without any issues. One of the advantages of VGBAnext is controller support. This emulator has MOGA and iCade support, allowing you to play your favorite games on GBA, GBC, and NES using modern controllers. It even has a Network Play feature, therefore, you can play online with friends.
10
VinaBoy Advance
VinaBoy Advance is a great choice and definitely one of the best emulators for Android. You can quickly and easily download games to VinaBoy Advance as long as they are in such formats as .gba, .gbc., .sgb., .zip, .7z, and .rar. One of the great things about this emulator is autosave and cheat codes. Also, you can mute the music if you want. This emulator has more than a million downloads in Google Play and pretty positive user feedback. Moreover, we also recommend you try VinaBoy Advance!
We hope that you liked our list of best GameBoy emulators for Android. Let us know if we missed something important in the comments! But before that, check below if the GameBoy emulators are legal.
11
Is it legal to download GameBoy emulator(s) on Android?
It's been confusing for quite some time if it's legal or not to use an emulator with different people providing different answers.
- Maybe you are a fan of RPGs on Nintendo Switch? You are in the right place!
The emulator itself is legal. So yes, you can download an emulator without any problems. There are many emulators that are available online and you can get them on your Android device (we will get into those in a bit).
Also read:
- Best N64 emulators for Android
- Best SNES Emulators for Android
- Best PlayStation Emulators for Android
Downloading a ROM is not allowed whatsoever, even if it's so easy to download them. With just a simple search online you'll get a ton of links that you can get ROMs from. But, that still doesn't make it ok, or, at least it doesn't make it legal. So if you have a ROM, do not distribute it, do not share it with your friends, do not advertise it and do not host it on your site. Just keep it to yourself and you might be ok with Nintendo.