Emulators
This is a list of NES emulators.
| Emulator name | Author | Platform(s) | Ports and/or other details |
|---|---|---|---|
| acNES | Nintendo | Nintendo 64, GameCube | Used in the first generation Animal Crossing games. The commonly used “acNES” name is unofficial, as Nintendo has not released this emulator as a distinct product. A decompilation of Animal Crossing uses “ksNes”. Information from TCRF indicates that it may be called “QFC” internally. |
| Classic NES Series | Nintendo | Game Boy Advance | Used for the Classic NES Series. |
| Virtual Console | Nintendo | Wii, Wii U, 3DS | Most games were priced at 500 Nintendo Points on the Wii Shop Channel, or similar prices on the Wii U/3DS eShop. The 3DS version uses the TNES file format. |
| PocketNES | loopy, FluBBa, and Dwedit | Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS | Used commercially for some emulated re-releases by Atlus, Jaleco, and Konami. |
| Heritage | Nintendo | Wii U, 3DS | Used for the NES/Famicom Remix series. |
| Kachikachi | Nintendo | Linux | Used for the NES Classic Edition/Famicom Classic Mini (+ Shōnen Jump version). Pre-installed game selection differs between versions. |
| Nintendo Entertainment System/Family Computer - Nintendo Switch Online | Nintendo | Nintendo Switch | Available for users with a Nintendo Switch Online Membership. Pre-installed game selection differs between regions. |
These are commonly used or well-established.
| Emulator name | Author | Platform(s) | Ports and/or other details |
|---|---|---|---|
| BizHawk | Multiple authors | Win32, Linux | |
| FCE Ultra GX | Tantric | Wii, GameCube | |
| FCEUX | Anthony Giorgio / Mark Doliner | Win32, macOS, Linux | |
| higan | Near (formerly as byuu) | Win32, FreeBSD, Linux, macOS | |
| iNES | Marat Fayzullin | Win32 and Linux | |
| Jnes | Jabosoft | Win32 | |
| Mesen | Sour | Win32, Linux/.NET | Announcement / Source, excellent debugger |
| nemulator | James Slepicka | Win32 | Source |
| nesemu2 | holodnak | Win32, OS X, Linux | |
| Nestopia UE | rdanbrook | Linux, BSD, Win7+ | a.k.a. Nestopia Undead Edition. Contains bugfixes/etc. Windows binaries are available at Sourceforge or at EmuCR |
| Nintaco | zeroone | Java (Windows, GNU/Linux, macOS) | Announcement Source API FAQ Screenshots |
| Nintendulator | Quietust | Win32 | Nintendulator DX (by thefox) for an even more-improved debugger |
| NO$NES | Martin Korth | Win32 | |
| PocketNES | loopy, FluBBa, and Dwedit | Game Boy Advance | Updates on Dwedit's board |
| RockNES | Zepper (formerly Fx3) | Win32 |
The following is a list of NES emulators that are under development, who their authors are, relevant home pages/sites, and the source of the announcement (direct or indirect). Only projects are listed that had a release in form of source or binary.
 | Before considering developing your own NES emulator, ask yourself if your efforts may be better spent helping out those who already have emulators in development! |
| Emulator name | Author | Technology(s) / Platform(s) | Ports and/or other details |
|---|---|---|---|
| NESICIDE | cpow | Qt, C++ / Win32 / Win64, Linux32, Linux64, macOS | Source |
| kindred | Overload | Win32 | Announcement |
| A/NES | Morgan Johansson | AmigaOS | Announcement |
| puNES | FHorse | Qt, C++ / Linux, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, Win32 | Announcement |
| jaNES | crudelios | C++ / Win32 | Announcement |
| HDNes | mkwong98 | C++ / Win32 | Announcement |
| Fergulator | fergus_maximus | Golang, SDL / Linux, Windows, macOS | Announcement |
| Pretendo | proxy | C++ / Linux/BeOS/Win32 | Announcement |
| NES-Emulator | Dartht33bagger | C, SDL | Announcement |
| nintengo | nwidger | Golang, SDL / Linux, Windows, macOS | |
| ffnes | rockcarry | C / Win32 | Announcement |
| WebNES | peteward44 | Javascript | Announcement / Live demo |
| O-Nes-Sama | Fumarumota, aLaix | C++, SDL2 / Win32, Linux) | Announcement |
| cfxnes | jonyzz | Javascript | Announcement / Live demo |
| nes-emu | daroou | C++, SDL2 / Win32, Linux | Announcement |
| fogleman/nes | Michael Fogleman | Golang, OpenGL, PortAudio / Linux, Windows, macOS | Medium article |
| NES-Emu | imid | C#, .NET | Announcement |
| nSide | hex_usr | C++ | Fork of byuu’s higan-nes. Announcement |
| HalfNES | Grapeshot | Java | |
| fpgaNES | Feuerwerk42 | VHDL, Verilog / FPGA (hardware) | Announcement |
| Nintendoish | drewying | Swift / Win32, macOS | Announcement |
| triforce | tdondich | JavaScript, VueJS | Announcement |
| Project-Nested | Myself086 | Assembly / SNES | Announcement |
| nescore | rodri042 | JavaScript | Announcement |
| agnes | kgabis | C with libSDL examples | Announcement |
| HydraNES | BadFoolPrototype | C++, Glew/OpenGL / Win32 | Announcement / First mention |
| TetaNES | lukexor | Rust, wgpu / Linux, Windows, macOS, WebAssembly | Announcement / Source / TetaNES Web |
| nos | olivecc | C++, SDL2 / Linux | Announcement |
| nin | Nax | C++, Qt , OpenAL, OpenGL | Announcement |
| q00.nes | LilaQ | C++ / Win32 | Announcement |
| BeesNES | L. Spiro | C++ / Win32 / Win64 | First mention |
| uNESsential | Johannes Holmberg | QBasic / DOS, Linux, Windows, macOS | Source |
| nes-emulator | CreatureOX | Python | Announcement |
| NES260 | fenzo | Verilog / FPGA (hardware) | Announcement for Xilinx KV260 FPGA board |
| ArkNESS | thekamal | C++ / Windows | Announcement |
| NesEmulator | daxnet | C#, .NET | |
| dendy | Max Poletaev | Golang, raylib, Ebitengine / Linux, Windows, macOS | |
| ChibiNES | Koki Oyatsu | Golang, OpenGL, PortAudio / Linux, Windows, macOS | |
| NES-Emulator | junnys6018 | C / Linux, Windows, WebAssembly | |
| NESTang | nand2mario | Verilog / FPGA (hardware) | For Sipeed Tang Primer 25K, Nano 20K and Primer 20K boards |
| DenverEMU | nIghtorius | C++, SDL2, OpenGL3 / Win, Linux | Announcement |
| plastic | Amjad Alsharafi | Rust, alsa, libudev / Linux | |
| CalascioNES | Franco1262 | C++, SDL2, ImGui | |
| Nen Emulator | Comba92 | Rust, SDL2 | |
| lucynes | lucypero | Odin, raylib | |
| FNES | Hamed Rezaee | Dart, Flutter / Linux, Windows, macOS, Web, Android, iOS | Online Emulator |
| Emu910D0 | Diwas Adhikari | C++, SDL2, ImGui / Linux, Windows | |
| Monsoon-Emulator | EmIsGreat | Rust, Egui / Linux, Windows, MacOS, Web | Web Version |
| rNES | Renê S. Pinto | C / Linux, Windows | Announcement |
These are emulators which are known to be officially discontinued, i.e. abandoned or are no longer in development.
| Emulator name | Author | Technology(s) / Platform(s) | Last update | Other details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LandyNES | Alex Krasivsky | MS-DOS | 1996 | One of the first NES emulators |
| NESticle | Icer Addis | MS-DOS / Win95 | 1998 | |
| fwNES | Fan Wan Yang, Shu Kondo | MS-DOS | 1998 | Popularized the FDS file format |
| iNES | John Stiles | Classic Mac OS | 2000 | |
| Famtasia | nori, taka2 | Win32 | 2001 | First emulator to be supported by TASVideos |
| NESten | TNSe | Win32 | 2003 | |
| VirtuaNES | Norix | Win32 | 2007 | Has a real-time memory hex-editor |
| FCEUXD SP | sp | Win32 | 2007 | was merged with other FCEU forks under the name FCEUX |
| NEStopia | Martin Freij | Win32, OS X, Linux | 2008 | Linux, MacOS |
| FPGA NES | kevtris | FPGA (hardware) | 2008 | |
| AminNes | amin2312 | Flash | 2009 | Announcement |
| VeriNES | jwdonal | FPGA (hardware) | 2010 | Announcement - Website is not working |
| iNES | Marat Fayzullin | MS-DOS | 2010 | Win32 and Linux versions still active. Popularized the iNES file format. |
| UberNES | M \ K Productions | Win32 | 2011 | |
| NESFaCE | 6T4 | Win32 | 2011 | Announcement |
| nesemu1 | Bisqwit | libSDL (portable), testing under Linux | 2011 | Announcement |
| Nezulator | Zelex | JavaScript | 2011 | Announcement |
| FPGA NES | Dan Strother | FPGA (hardware) | 2011 | |
| Kryptonware | rubenhbaca | Java | 2012 | Initial development announcement. Website has reported “under maintenance” for a very long time |
| MSE | Alegend45 | ? | 2012 | Initial development announcement. GitHub account has been deleted |
| NESSIM | MottZilla | Win32 | 2012 | Announcement |
| ? | graham | Javascript | 2013 | Initial development announcement. Website returns internal server error |
| MoarNES | miker00lz | Win32 | 2013 | Announcement |
| EMUya | Zelex | Ouya | 2013 | Announcement - Website not working anymore |
| VPNES | x0000 | Win32 w/ SDL | 2013 | Announcement |
| ? | submarine600 | PC-8801 | 2013 | Announcement - Website not working anymore |
| FPGA NES | Ludde | FPGA (hardware) | 2014 | |
| famique | sahib | Mac OS X, Win32, Linux | 2015 | Announcement - GitHub repository has been deleted |
| Yanese | Anes | Win32 | 2015 | Announcement Website not working anymore |
| finalnes | austere | Win32 | 2015 | Announcement |
| macifom | Auston Stewart | OS X, iOS | 2015 | Announcement |
| macifomlite | Auston Stewart | iOS | 2015 | |
| Yane | roku6185 | libSDL (portable), testing under Linux | 2015 | Announcement |
| MahNES | HLorenzi | Win32 | 2015 | Announcement |
| phibiaNES | nIghtorius | SDL / Win32 | 2015 | Announcement |
| nesalizer | Ulfalizer | libSDL (portable), tested on Linux | 2016 | |
| EduNes | thomson | SDL2 | 2016 | Announcement |
| MacFC | T.Aoyama | Classic Mac OS, Mac OS X | 2016 | |
| fixNES | FIX94 | C, Win32, Linux | 2020 | |
| NESizm | tswilliamson | C++, Casio Prizm graphics calculators | 2021 | |
| vbNES | mikechambers84 | Visual Basic 6 | 2021 | |
| Retro Imitator | JRoatch | C, SDL1, Libretro | 2025 | Announcement, not a serious emulator, just an imitation |