You’ll need an emulator to play your favourite Pokemon games on your Android, iOS, Windows, or Mac device. There are numerous excellent emulators available, the majority of them are free, while others are not.
We’ve included the most well-known, recommended, and top-rated Pokemon emulators below, organised by device type (PC, MAC, Android, iOS) and game type. (GBA, NDS, and 3DS)
Pokemon Emulator List
| # | Emulator | Platform | Type | Download |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | mGBA | Windows, MAC OS, Ubuntu | GBA | Click here |
| 2 | My Boy! Free – GBA Emulator | Android | GBA | Click here |
| 3 | My Boy! – GBA Emulator | Android | GBA | Click here |
| 4 | John GBA Lite – GBA emulator | Android | GBA | Click here |
| 5 | Citra | Windows, Mac OS, Linux | Nintendo 3DS | Click here |
| 6 | OpenEmu | Mac OS | GBA/NDS/GBC | Click here |
| 7 | Visual Boy Advance | Windows | GBA | Click here |
| 8 | GBA4iOS | iOS | GBA | Click here |
| 9 | DraStic DS Emulator | Android | NDS | Click here |
| 10 | John GBA – GBA emulator | Android | GBA | Click here |
| 11 | My OldBoy! Free – GBC Emulator | Android | GBC | Click here |
| 12 | John GBC Lite – GBC emulator | Android | GBC | Click here |
| 13 | My OldBoy! – GBC Emulator | Android | GBC | Click here |
| 14 | John GBC – GBC emulator | Android | GBC | Click here |
| 15 | VBA-M for Mac | MAC OS | GBA/GBC | Click here |
| 16 | VBA-M for Windows | Windows | GBA/GBC | Click here |
| 17 | DeSmuME | Windows | NDS | 32-bit (x86) |
| 18 | No$GBA | Windows | NDS | Click here |
| 19 | iNDS | iOS | NDS | Click here |
| 20 | RetroArch | Windows, Mac, Linux | GBC,GBA,NDS, etc. | Click here |
Best Pokemon PC Emulator
There are numerous good Pokemon emulators for PC, however we recommend Visual Boy Advance or mGBA for playing GBA ROMs on your PC and DeSmuME for playing NDS ROMs. The vast majority of players use these emulators, which fully accept cheats. As a result, we strongly advise you to remain with these.
Android’s Best Pokemon Emulator
MyBoy is the greatest Android emulator available! and Drastic for NDS ROMs, as well as JohnGBA for GBA & GBC ROMs. They both encourage cheating and fast-forwarding.
Best iOS Emulator
Because of obvious reasons, there is currently no proper iOS emulation. To play your favourite Pokemon ROMs on your iPhone, you’ll need to use EclipseEmu, a web browser-based emulator. It works with the majority of the ROMs we’ve tested, so it should work with the majority of them.
Best Mac Emulator
We strongly recommend OpenEmu for Mac users. It is the preferred method for playing Pokemon ROMs on your Mac device. It is compatible with the GBA, NDS, GBC, N64, NES, PlayStation, and a variety of other formats.
Emulators: Free vs. Paid (For Android Users)
While the free versions of the emulators are sufficient for playing your favourite Pokemon games, if you want to experience everything the emulator has to offer and avoid commercials, you may need to purchase the premium edition of the emulator.
In most circumstances, it makes little impact, but commercials can be really irritating at times.
At the end of the day, it all comes down to personal preference.