Emulator is a software program which makes one hardware to behave like another one. The emulator makes one hardware( typically known as a host) to behave like another one (known as a guest). In this case, the host makes use of software originally developed for the guest.An emulator is used when the need arises to use a particular hardware to play software meant for another hardware.
For example,for the Mac users, not many games are available for the Mac OS, but, with the use of an emulator a lot many games can be played on Mac. The flexibility of emulators has given rise to a number of softwares which can be played on it. Here is the Top 15 PC Emulators for Mac.
The AppyPie is no standalone iOS emulator for Mac, but it is more of a complimentary service that comes with the iOS app builder. But, if there is the need, there is will. The iOS developers can make use of the AppyPie’s complimentary iOS app emulator for Mac to run iOS apps on Mac smoothly.
1. Virtual PC for Mac This software lets you run Windows software on your Mac and gives you the freedom to run programs specifically meant for Windows OS. This helps a computer user from possessing two different machines running on two different OS or even completely changing the OS. In this way, the user saves money and time. The user can use Microsoft virtul PC for Mac 7.0.
XBOX emulator for Mac For playing XBOX, the most widely used emulator is XeMu360 emulator. This is a new software and it supports all XBOX games. This is a powerful emulator which can give you the joy of enjoying your game flawlessly. Playstation Emulators PCSX-Reloaded is the best emulator for playstation games. This emulator is an open source software and gives you the compatibility with all Mac OS. Recently it has modified its installation process as well, making the process simpler and easier. You can keep all your playstation games in a folder and after installing PCSX-Reloaded you can drag and drop the game and play.
It has a built-in BIOS and the ability to edit memory cards. Nintendo 64 Emulator for Mac Mupen64 is the most popular emulator for Nintendo 64.This is by far the most stable and compatible emulator. This is a cross-platform plug in-based N64 emulator which is capable of playing most of the games accurately. However, the user must install a GTK+ for the emulator to work properly. GTK+ is a graphical toolkit which helps in processing the graphics. It stays in the background and manages the graphics of the N64 ROMS. GameCube and Wii games emulator for Mac By far, Dolphin is the best game emulator for GameCube, Wii and Triforce games.
It is compatible with multiple platforms including Mac. Another advantage is it is open source and free to use.For Mac, it works for OS 10.6 to 10.8 and is user friendly.
The user may have to use a specific BIOS file which almost always comes with the ROM. Once you start playing, Dolphin automatically senses the file and starts playing it. OpenEmu OpenEmu is one if the most reliable emulator for Mac OS 10.7 and up.
It is extremely user friendly and has an iTunes type menu. This is one emulator which can sense the emulations and detect them as per the requirement.
As of now, OpenEmu supports a number of consoles; few are numbered below:. Game Boy. NeoGeo Pocket. Game Gear. Sega Genesis and many more Link: 7. RetroArch It is an all-in-one emulator which can help the user to play almost any retro game. It can play PlayStation 1 and older games and in handheld game console it supports Game Boy Advance games.
It is based on cores with each core emulating a console. PPSSPP Playstation Portable Simulator Suitable for Playing Portably is an emulator for playing PSP games.
It was created by Dolphin developers and is widely used. It is easy to install and use. It supports a large number of PSP games.
ScummVM This one is for those users who are fond of playing the point-and-click games. This is designed specifically for them. It is named as such, because it uses Scumm scripting language. It supports many adventure games like Monkey Island 1-3, Sam & Max and many more. DeSmuME It helps the users to play with the dual screens of Nintendo, simulating dual screen on the monitor.
It also supports games that play on the devices sideways. It is being constantly developed by developers adding new features to it on a regular basis and it has around for long. Over the years, it has developed into a flawless program. DosBox This is developed to run DOS based programs. There are many DOS based games which are still quite popular among users. So in order to make those available, this emulator is designed.
All those DOS based games which have been kept unused can be given a try using this emulator. Xamarian Android Player for Mac This is another Android emulator which supports a variety of devices. It supports OpenGL and virtualizes a device instead of simply emulating it.
This way, it greatly enhances the performance of the device. Xamarin Android Player has great integration with Visual Studio and Xamarin Studio and is a native user interface. PS3 Emulator for Mac PS3 emulator is the next generation emulator which allows the user to play Palystation 3 games absolutely free. And it gives the user the complete freedom to choose the PS3 games and play those on his Mac or PC.
IOS emulator It is not easy to run an iPad application on a Mac. The best solution is to download a simulator, which can help the user to use iPad applications on a Mac. Thebest one that is currently available is called iPadian.
This is based on Adobe AIR and creates an iPad style interface on the Mac. This is a very good simulator, which can make the iPad applications to look almost similar on the Mac. Visual Boy Advance Visual Buy Advance is also known as Mac Boy advance plays almost all games of Nintendo consoles. This GBA is written specifically for OS X and has a very high degree of compatibility.
Android gained popularity after Google took over the nascent startup and released it publicly in 2007. Since then, Android emulators for PC gained popularity for various reasons. Some use it for trying different apps before installing on their phones while others try it for business purposes. A new breed of users has emerged as well who utilize Android emulators for gaming. It can be attributed to What is an Android emulator?
An Android emulator is an Android Virtual Device(AVD) that emulates the Android environment for other devices to run the Android operating system. It is generally used for testing, bug-finding, running various apps on a virtually controlled system on devices other than actual Android phones. It lets the host(mainly computer system) behave like another hardware or software system for different purposes. The idea of Android emulator gained traction with the release of Android SDK by Google, in 2007(2008 for Public) List of some of the best Android emulators for PC 1. MemeU Play First on the list is Android 5.1 Lolipop based Android emulator for Windows. It is among the most customizable Android emulators for PC in the segment.
The emulator comes pre-loaded with some third party apps, preferably the ones sponsoring them so can’t really a complaint. There is no option to remove them. Honestly, I wouldn’t worry unless I’m running on 2 GIG of RAM and a Pentium 4 processor which really can’t handle multi-tasking.
One of the hot selling points of this emulator is Key Mapping. What Key-Mapping does is that you can put markers anywhere on the screen and assign a keyboard key or mouse button. When you press that key or push a button, the controls or app present on that part of the screen gets pressed/triggered. It comes in handy when playing FPS, RPG or any game that require multiple button control. The emulator is already keyboard-mouse compatible to an extent, worked with most of the games without any hiccup. What I liked.
Customizability: The emulator is flexible in terms of general resource usage. You can set the amount of RAM, Screen resolution, FPS, and graphics engine to be used by the emulator according to your machine’s capabilities. Custom DNS, Root mode, and Cache performance policy can also be changed according to user’s requirements. Key-mapping can help gamers play games with a variety of onscreen controls on the snap of a finger. Cross-platform installation of apps is a bliss. You can browse folders present on Windows and install APKs directly without the intervention of Play store.
Even the option of synchronizing folders between Windows and emulator for a variety of purposes is provided. That makes it easier to transfer files from Windows filesystem to Emulator and vice-versa. What I did not like.
![Mac emulator download Mac emulator download](/uploads/1/2/5/4/125486596/186215653.jpg)
Not really a con per se but Microphone integration could be more efficient given the stability the platform provides. Bluestacks 3 BlueStacks is one of the oldest emulators for Android out there that are still active in the market.
It’s not a sin to say that perhaps it was the market-defining player during its peak days. The key reason for its success was its ease of usability and access to the consumers. This android emulator is pretty easy to use and comes in FREE and PAID variants. Installation is simple but filled with their sponsor ads. Setting up emulator is pretty easy.
You launch the emulator and a welcome screen appears. You select the language and Google account sign window appears.
Sign-in with a Google account and you are golden. The ad-filled experience might be bitter-sweet for few as you launch the emulator, ad of some sponsored game appears in one tab. Talking about ads and bloatware, the pre-installed apps are fewer than what you get on normal free versions of certain emulators. However, it is compensated by ads at various creative placement blocks What I liked. Ease of use. The emulator is extremely easy to use with one click Emulator setup.
Separate key-mapping for different games. Customizable resolution up to 4K. Tabbed applications. Every application is windowed separately in a tab which can be closed. Forum support. Being one of the segment leaders, Bluestacks has built quite a community on their forums.
It is helpful for troubleshooting and creative aspects. What I did not like. Excessive ads. Given the competition in the freeware segment, competitors are not flooding your screen with ads. Lacks native Android experience.
Users who are looking for vanilla Android experience might not entertain such an emulator. KOPlayer Touted as the Android emulator for GAMING, it is an Android KitKat 4.4 operating system emulator. In the era of Android P, this may seem like an obsolete choice for a general user. The emulator can be crucial for developers who are looking to test it on older versions of Android.
KOPlayer is a feature rich emulator, ideal for users looking to get the most of out if emulating experience. Android 4.4 is still used on over 11% of the smartphones based on Android OS, according to the official statistics by Google. What I liked.
Drag and drop option between cross-platforms. Dual-graphics option to switch according to the demand of the respective application. Ease of access buttons on either side of the display.
One-click recording and basic editing. The edit video feature is pretty basic but still gets the thing done.
What I did not like. It is not bug-free. Minor bugs pop up from time to time. One of them being unresponsiveness of the window. Nox Player Amongst the list of best Android emulators for PC, this is one of the fastest, in terms of installation and operations. One click installation without any bloatware or third party apps. The Android version is 4.4 KitKat.
One of the things that stand out is the Macro step record option. You can record your steps in Macro recorder and re-enact them later. Some apps only work for certain phone models and it really sucks when it is not compatible with the respective emulator. This Android emulator has a workaround for that. You need to hover over to settings. Set the respective smartphone model.
By default, the only option you get is on Samsung smartphones. However, you set is on custom with the model of your choice with some custom presets available online. You can drag and drop files from Windows to the emulator and vice-versa. It is a small but a useful feature. For some odd reason, I could not find PUBG mobile on the Play Store. Only the competitors of the much-celebrated game were present.
What stands out. Macro Recorder is helpful for developers, content creators.
You can lock the mouse to the emulator window. It is useful when playing video-games on the emulator so that your cursor/pointer does not fall out of the game’s scope. The full-screen mode is seamless. When I say seamless, it really is easy without any hiccup. What can improve. Computer resource usage for running the emulator can be optimized further. LeapDroid Another Android Kitkat 4.4 based Android emulator for PC.
Hands down the simplest Android emulator in the list. Installation is fairly quick and bloatware free. There are no advanced features like the formerly mentioned emulators in the article. You get Key Mapping feature to get around. The mouse 360-wheel mapping is something that is crucial while gaming. As soon as the emulator is installed, two virtual machines, named VM1 and VM2 are created.
I honestly could not find a way to run more instances. However, two should suffice. It is an easy going emulator for quick gaming and app testing/usage.
What I liked about it. Simplicity. Ease of use. The emulator is easy to operate and does not require a tutorial. I asked my neighbor’s kid who has a Samsung Tab. He found it easy to operate. Low resource usage What could have been better.
APK integration from Windows. Full screen(non-window) feature would have given a better emulation experience. Tencent Gaming Buddy PUBG Mobile is possibly the most popular online multiplayer battle royale game. Well, if you are one of those people who love playing PUBG in leisure time then Tencent Gaming Buddy will definitely impress you. This emulator is developed just to play PUBG Mobile on PC. Consequently, if you using an emulator to play PUBG then nothing will be better than Tencent Gaming Buddy.
Tencent Gaming Buddy helps to utilise your computer’s hardware to its full potential while playing PUBG. Furthermore, Tencent Gaming Buddy also supports GPU, which further enhances the gaming performance. What I liked about it. Installation is pretty straightforward.
The emulator allows users to record the gameplay. Ability to remap keys as per users preference. What could have been better. Support for other games and applications.
Bliss Bliss is a capable Android emulator that runs on a PC via a virtual machine. You can install and run this emulator using a USB stick.
We recommend this emulator only to tech-savvy or a pro user. The major highlight of Bliss is that its the only emulator that runs on Android 8.0 Oreo. Furthermore, since this emulator is directly installed on your PC, the performance is comparatively better than other emulators. As for downsides, Bliss is not well optimized for every different PC configuration. Lastly, many normal users will find the installation process of Bliss fairly difficult. What I liked about it. Bliss helps you to actually run Android OS natively run on your PC.
Bliss runs on Android 8.0 Oreo. It definitely serves the need of pro users. What could have been better.
The installation process is fairly complicated. This emulator is not well-optimized for different PC configurations. Droid4X Droid4X is another impressive android emulator for playing games and running apps on Windows PC. This emulator offers a very simple and easy to navigate UI. Droid4X runs on an older version of Android, so latest games and apps won’t be compatible with this emulator. Installing and using Droid4X is fairly simple.
Surprisingly, Droid4X is compatible with both Windows and MacOS. As for downsides, Droid4X’s development was completely stopped on March 28th, 2016. That said, you can still download and use it, but you won’t get the best hardware and software optimization. What I liked about it. Compatible with both Windows and MacOS.
Simple to install and use. What could have been better. It’s no more in development so bugs and compatibility issues won’t be fixed. Remix OS Player Remix OS Player is the next perfect emulator for using Android OS on PC. This capable emulator offers reliable performance and runs on Android 6.0 Marshmallow.
You can use almost every Android game or application on Remix OS Player. Remix OS Player is actually a dedicated gaming emulator. Furthermore, this emulator also supports Nvidia graphics cards.
Consequently, you will get exceptionally great gaming performance on Remix OS Player. Remix OS Player offers customizable keyboard controls, which helps in improving the gameplay. Overall, its a perfect emulator for running applications and playing graphics-intensive smartphone titles on PC.
What I liked about it. Supports Nvidia GPU. One click installation process What could have been better. Support to AMD GPU’s should be added Download: 10. AMIDuOS The last Android emulator on the list is AMIDuOS. Similar to every other Android emulator you can run applications and play games on AMIDuOS. The free version of AMIDuOS runs on Android Jellybean while the paid version of AMIDuOS runs on Android Lollipop.
AMIDuOS supports 3D acceleration, this helps run graphics intensive games like PUBG Mobile run smoothly. Moreover, this emulator uses Windows OpenGL drivers for improved frame rates and enhancing the overall gameplay. This capable emulator can use your computer’s hardware to its full potential. Lastly, AMIDuOs also supports SD card emulation and allows you to configure the SD card size with an easy-to-use configuration tool.
What I liked about it. One click installation process. AMIDuOS is ARM v7 compatible, so it can run most popular ARM applications as well. What could have been better.
Newer Android OS Download: It’s your turn now I have listed some of the finest Android emulators for PC that are available out there. The right emulator for you will be solely based on your personal preference. It can be baffling for you to chose the best android emulator. I suggest you take it slow. Try the ones you find falling in your criterion.
Also Read–. Did I miss an emulator worth mentioning? Then let me know via the comment box.