This article will recommend the best N64 emulators for Android. The N64 console was a pivotal moment for gaming. The Nintendo 64 was the console released after the SNES and the leap from 2D graphics to 3D was mind blowing at the time.
What could be better than playing your favorite N64 games on your Android devices? N64 emulation is extremely easy to get setup and running with the apps that are available on the Google Play Store.
Now let’s get to the best N64 emulators so that you can start playing some legendary games like Super Mario 64, Pokemon Stadium, and Donkey Kong 64 on the go.
1. M64Plus FZ Emulator
- Price: Free version available with alternative paid version available
- Platforms: Android phones and tablets
- Free version and Pro version
- 5M+ Installs
- 4.6 ⭐ average review rating
M64Plus contains all necessary cores and plugins needed to run N64 ROMs. In my opinion, this is the best N64 emulator that you can find on the Google Play Store. The only downside to this emulator is that this is the free version and the M64Plus FZ Pro Emulator version costs $3.99 and contains features that aren’t available in the free one.
Some notable issues in all the features are:
- Not all games work properly, but most ROMs will
- You will often need to try troubleshooting ROMs with different plugins until you find the optimal setup to run the game smoothly to fix graphical glitches
- Not all video plugins are supported by all Android phones and tablet – some will have visual glitches
Free Version Features
- Online multiplayer capabilities and the netplay server are only supported in the Pro version of the app
- If you want to play games online with friends, the Pro version requires a UPnP and being connected to a router
- No UPnP is required for local multiplayer capabilities on the same local WiFi network
Pro Version Features
The M64Plus FZ Pro version adds support for online cloud backup, netplay, and removes ads. Online cloud backup support is available in Settings > Data.
The app contains all the necessary cores and plugins to play your favorite N64 games.
One notable issue:
- There are many missing translations and it is usually best to stick with English
For online multiplayer capabilities, the netplay server is only supported in this pro version.
2. N64 Emulator Pro
- Price: Free version
- Platforms: Android phones and tablets
- Google Play Store
- 1M+ Installs
- 4.0⭐ average review rating
The N64 Emulator Pro app is a solid Android emulator for runing Nintendo 64 games. It’s optimized well and runs most games at 100% on newer Android devices. Keep in mind though that you’ll need to have your game ROMs on your SD card before running the N64 Emulator Pro app so that it can find them when it starts up.
Features
- Solid performance and game graphics
- Games play at healthy speeds akin to the original N64 hardware
- Save and load game states
- Customizable button layout
- Multiplayer capabilities available
3. Classic Boy Pro Version Games Emulator
- Price: Free version available with in app purchase option to upgrade
- Platforms: Android phones and tablets
- Google Play Store
- 500K+ Installs
- 3.5 ⭐ average review rating
Classicboy Pro doesn’t just run Nintendo 64 games, but is an android emulator that can run many classic game consoles and handhelds. It offers the simple touchscreen button layout and gamepad setup, but you can remap the buttons to gestures and even use your Android device’s accelerometer if you feel like getting funky.
The in app purchase Pro version comes with a ROMs scanner which will scan your device for saved ROM files and a games database so that you can better setup your ROM files and game database.
The Pro version has over 20 different console emulators included: PCSX-ReARMed, Beetle-PSX, Mupen64Plus, VBA-M, mGBA, Desmume, MelondS, Snes9x, FCEUmm, Genplus, Yabause, FB Alpha, MAME-arcade (0.78 and 0.139 romset), NeoPop, NeoCD, Stella, Beetle-PCE, and Cygne.
Free Version Features
- Start playing games from the start
- You can resume game states from battery-SRAM files
- Ability to adjust a game’s running speed in “Turbo mode”
- Included ROM scanning and ROM database management
- On-screen touch control system
- Graphic buttons editor for position and size definition. Graphic buttons appearance custom settings such as style, scale, animation, opacity etc
- External gamepad/keyboard input, maximum 4 players are supported
- Switch between digital and analog D-pad at runtime
- Controller profiles.
- Custom settings for game audio/video
- Game data export/import
- Game cheats function
Pro Version Features
- Everything included in the free version
- Resume game states from auto-saves and slots-saves
- Gestures controller
- Sensor controller
- More plugins available and more ROMs can be played
4. RetroArch
- Price: Free RetroArch Android version
- Platforms: Android phones and tablets
- Google Play Store
- 5M+ Installs
- 3.9 ⭐ average review rating
RetroArch is an open-source emulation project that uses Libretro. It comes with its own built-in collection of applications that allow you to easily start playing ROMs, including an N64 emulator.
The full version of RetroArch on the Google Play Store is different from the one on RetroArch.com because it doesn’t come with the ability to download “cores”. This is so that it remains in compliance with Google Play Store policies. The Google Play version only supports up to 50 cores maximum.
If you’d like more cores available, you can try the following:
- Install RetroArch Plus – this version supports up to 127 core and requires Android version 8.0+
- Get RetroArch from the official RetroArch website, download the APK from there, and install it to your Android devices – this version has the ability to download cores and is considered the ‘full-fat’ version
- Differences between the RetroArch Android Play Store version vs. the RetroArch Android website APK:
- Play Store version has automatic weekly updates of the cores and the RetroArch app
- Play Store version has only 50 cores supported max
5. Super64Plus
- Price: Free version
- Platforms: Android phones and tablets
- Google Play Store
- 1M+ Installs
- 4.1 ⭐ average review rating
App Features
- Support for Android 5+ and works well with android 11 – great Android smartphone device compatibility here
- Auto save feature available with save states and load states
- Auto Screen orientation accessible within Settings > Display > Screen orientation > Auto
- Customizable button layout – Analog & D pad & L+R+Z Button with profiles
- Resize Control Buttons: Settings – Touchscreen – Button scale
6. Lemuroid
- Price: Free version
- Platforms: Android phones and tablets
- Google Play Store
- 1M+ Installs
- 4.0 ⭐ average review rating
Similar in concept to RetroArch, the free Lemuroid version is an emulator based on Libretro. It’s designed to work on a wide range of devices, from phones to TVs, and to provide the best user experience on Android. It’s 100% free to use and has no ads.
Not all Android devices will be able to emulate every console available. More recent systems, such as the Sony PSP, Nintendo DS, and the Nintendo 3DS may require a more powerful Android device than other emulators.
App Features
- Automatically save and restore game states
- ROMs scanning and indexing
- Optimized touch controls
- Quick save/load with slots
- Support for zipped ROMs
- Display simulation (LCD/CRT)
- Fast-forward support
- Gamepad support
- Tilt to stick support
- Touch control customization (size and position)
- Cloud save sync
- No ads
- Local multiplayer (connect multiple gamepads to the same device)
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