Best Open Source Emulators for Playing Retro Nintendo Games
Greetings, retro video game lovers of the planet earth!
Even though we, as video gamers, are not ready to quite admit it, we spend most of our precious time playing old video games. Maybe it’s because they remind us the good times and we love being nostalgic about it or maybe it’s because the games were actually really darn good back then and we don’t feel the same about the new releases.
Nonetheless, for both newcomers and the old timers, emulators are here to rescue! They’ve been around for nearly two decades but as we begin to grow old and new games keep popping up, retro library got bigger and bigger. And now, there’s an emulator for almost every system. And what’s better than a good emulator? It being an open source project, of course.
Let’s kick of the series with Nintendo systems. Before we start, I have to mention that even though these systems are not on sale anymore, it’s still illegal to download the games, roms in this case. If you have the original copies of the games, there are some different methods to extract the files for each system. So just a heads up.
Alright, now that’s out of the way, let’s explore the best emulators for some popular retro systems.
NES/SNES
As gamers we owe so much to NES and SNES for starting the best gaming franchises we all know today and for that, they will be forever remembered. Featuring exclusive franchises such as Donkey Kong, Metroid, Super Mario, Star Fox and The Legend of Zelda you’ll never fall short on great games. Seriously, I’m talking about dozens of fantastic games. You can access these games and more with Nintendo Switch Online subscription nowadays. But there are also great choices for emulating them.
Snes9x is an amazing SNES open source emulator which has its own interface and customization options. It can also emulate NES games but if you want something more special you can check out RetroArch. You can use it with some of the most popular emulator cores. It also has its own highly customizable interface and released on Steam too!
Nintendo 64
Nintendo’s first 3D system is sure a masterpiece. Featuring all time classics and genre defining games such as Super Mario 64, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask, Super Smash Bros, Paper Mario, Mario Kart 64 and Donkey Kong 64. And that’s just scratching the surface. If you have a Nintendo Switch, you can access to some popular Nintendo 64 games with a Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack but if you want to go down the emulator road, Project64 got you covered.
Nintendo GameCube and Wii
For GameCube and Wii, I hereby present one of the best emulators of all time: Dolphin. It’s visually good and has some amazing customization features. You can graphically enhance the game and customize textures in an insane way. We’re talking about widescreen, 4k textured and 60 fps games, and the games look and feel awesome once you set up everything. You can use even cheat codes and achieve all things like infinite resources or lives in supporting games, if you’re into that sort of stuff.
Although playing Wii games with a controller is a bit weird, with the right configuration it’s definitely doable. But if you have a Wii Remote lying around, you can connect it to Dolphin and get the best gaming experience.
GameCube has tons of amazing games such as Luigi’s Mansion, Metroid Prime Trilogy, Mario Kart Double Dash, Super Mario Sunshine, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess and Wind Waker and Super Smash Bros. Melee.
Wii is superb too! With games like Super Mario Galaxy and Galaxy 2, New Super Mario Bros. Wii, Donkey Kong Country Returns, Super Paper Mario and Animal Crossing: City Folk; you can’t go wrong.
Nintendo Wii U
Considered one of the worst products Nintendo has ever made, Wii U is an okay console to emulate. Though most of its exclusive library had been ported to Switch such as The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Mario Kart 8, New Super Mario Bros. U, Super Mario 3D World and Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze thus they can be purchased for Switch. It also has The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess and Wind Waker remasters and lots of cross-releases with Nintendo 3DS. Wii U can be emulated with the Cemu if desired.
Nintendo DS
Sold over a whopping 154 million units surpassing the Game Boy product line, Nintendo DS family proved themselves as the best handheld console in the history thanks to its great library and features. New Super Mario Bros, Mario Kart DS, Animal Crossing: Wild World, Super Mario 64 DS, The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver and many many more.
DeSmuME is a great emulator that’s been around for a long time. It’s a great emulator and does the job well considering DS emulation is really painful. Still today replacing textures are not possible but you can enhance them and make them look pretty.
Nintendo 3DS
3DS and 2DS family was Nintendo’s big gun before Switch and it’s good. Fixing health issues good. It features some bangers such as Super Mario 3D Land, Mario Kart 7, Animal Crossing: New Leaf, New Super Mario Bros. 2, Luigi’s Mansion Remaster and Luigi’s Mansion 2, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D and Majora’s Mask 3D remasters and so many Pokémon games.
Citra is an amazing 3DS emulator and definitely my go-to choice. Being updated regularly and has some amazing features such as tracking playtime and graphic options.
Epilogue
So here are they. My top picks for Nintendo console emulators. I hope they
And see you in the next article when it’s time for us to talk about PlayStation emulators.
