Best Arcade Emulators for Android
Hey there! Our guess is that you are interested in the best Best Arcade Emulators for Android? If you are a gamer of my generation (born in the early 80s) or older, then you have most likely spent a good amount of your youth (and your allowance) playing arcade (or coin-op) games. That's where it all started. The first gaming experiences.
For the younger folks who might have no idea what I'm talking about, arcades were machines installed in places such as restaurants, amusement parks, bars, cafes, even ferryboats and, of course, amusement arcades. You had to insert a coin(s) and get credits to play a game.
Arcade games and fond memories
I still remember going with my best friend to the amusement park to play Double Dragon. After turning our weekly allowance into a stack of coins, and then spending the whole evening there, we finally managed to finish the game for the first (and last) time. I didn't even care about being broke because of how excited I was that day. Reality came in later that week, but that's another story and I'm getting off track now.- Check out the list of best arcade games on Android and best arcade games on iOS devices!
Anyway, luckily for everyone, after 1999, thanks to an Italian guy named Nicola Salmoria, no one has to go broke in order to play a game. Say hello to the best Arcade emulators for Android!
Enter MAME
So what did this legend do? He released the first public MAME, a piece of software that was capable of recreating the hardware of arcade systems.
His intention was to preserve games in the Pac-Man family and that's why the initial name of the project was Multi-Pac. As more and more games were added to the framework, the name changed to MAME.
At first, MAME would only run on MS-DOS systems, but soon there would be versions for Macintosh, Unix and Windows platforms.
But its 2021 now and pretty much everything can run on your mobile device. MAME is no exception to that statement. And so, in this article, we will take a look at some of the best Arcade emulators that you can install on your Android device to enjoy some old school gaming. Without any further ado, let’s get right into it.
Arcade Games
If you don’t want to look up for a ROM set, download games etc, Arcade Games app might be the one for you. The first time you run this emulator, it will automatically download a 1.7gb set of games. All you have to do from there is just select your favorite game and have fun!
Get Arcade Games from Google Play Store
MAME 0.139u1
This is a version of MAME4droid that was designed for high-end Android devices. It is based upon the PC MAME version which requires higher specifications than older versions. With that said, even some of the newest devices, might experience some ‘lag’ when it comes to ‘modern’ arcade games. Overall, this version supports over 8000 games from the MAME ‘0.139’ ROM set. Similar to 0.37b5 version, this app does NOT include ROMs.
Get MAME 0.139u1 from Google Play Store
MAME 0.37b5
This version of MAME4droid emulates games supported by the original MAME 0.375b along with some additional games from newer MAME versions. This version emulates over 2000 different games from GP2X WIZ 0.37b11 ROM set. This is the recommended version for older Android devices. Keep in mind, this emulator does NOT come with ROMs.
Get MAME 0.37b5 from Google Play Store
Mame Classic Games
Mame Classic Games emulator offers a long list of games. All you have to do is simply select your favorite game, download it and play! Certainly a very good choice if you value convenience over anything else.
Get Mame Classic Games from Google Play Store
RetroArch
The FBA core is definitely one of the best out there. If you have a 64-bit device, you are going to need to download a 32-bit RetroArch version. You can follow this link, as Google Play Store will automatically load the 64-bit build and that doesn’t include the arcade cores. This app does NOT include ROMs.
Get RetroArch from Google Play Store
