Nintendo

Nintendo was founded in Kyoto in 1889 to make hanafuda playing cards, and tried taxis, toys and instant rice before video games. It distributed the Magnavox Odyssey in Japan from 1974 and made its own Color TV-Game consoles from 1977. Mario, Zelda and Pokémon all began on its hardware.

Almost every Nintendo system can be emulated today, from the Game & Watch to the Switch.

Game & Watch Emulators and more ›

The Game & Watch handhelds, from 1980, each had one game built in on an LCD screen, plus a clock. Gunpei Yokoi designed them, and the D-pad first appeared on the Donkey Kong model in 1982. MAME emulates them from scans of the original screens.

NES / Famicom Emulators and more ›

The Famicom came out in Japan in 1983, and its redesigned version, the Nintendo Entertainment System, launched in North America in 1985. It revived the American games market after the 1983 crash and sold around 62 million units. Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda and Metroid all started here.

NES emulation is essentially perfect: Mesen and others match the hardware almost cycle for cycle.

Game Boy Color Emulators and more ›

The Game Boy, from 1989, was a simple green-screen handheld that outsold far more powerful rivals thanks to its battery life and Tetris. The Game Boy Color added a colour screen in 1998 and played the older games too. Together they sold almost 119 million units, and Pokémon began on them. This section covers both.

SNES / Super Famicom Emulators and more ›

The Super Famicom launched in Japan in 1990 and as the Super Nintendo in the West a year later. It sold around 49 million units and is remembered for Super Mario World, A Link to the Past, Super Metroid and Chrono Trigger. Its fight with the Genesis defined the 16-bit era.

bsnes and Snes9x run the whole library, bsnes with exact accuracy.

Virtual Boy Emulators and more ›

The Virtual Boy, from 1995, showed games in red 3D through a headset on a stand. It was uncomfortable to play, had only 22 games and was dropped within a year, selling around 770,000 units. Emulators such as Mednafen can show its games in 3D with red and blue glasses or on a VR headset.

Nintendo 64 Emulators and more ›

The Nintendo 64 came out in 1996 and brought Mario and Zelda into 3D with Super Mario 64 and Ocarina of Time. It kept cartridges when rivals moved to CDs and sold around 33 million units. It was famously hard to emulate well, and its many plugins show it; modern emulators such as ares and simple64 now run it far more accurately.

Game Boy Advance Emulators and more ›

The Game Boy Advance arrived in 2001 with a wider screen and 32-bit hardware that could play SNES-style games. It sold over 81 million units and played Game Boy games as well. mGBA runs its library almost perfectly.

Pokémon Mini Emulators and more ›

The Pokémon Mini, from 2001, was the smallest cartridge console Nintendo ever made, with a monochrome screen, a rumble motor and a motion sensor. Only ten games came out for it. PokeMini and MAME can play them all.

Nintendo GameCube Emulators and more ›

The GameCube came out in 2001 and used small 8 cm discs. It sold around 22 million units, behind the PlayStation 2 and the Xbox, but its games, including Metroid Prime, The Wind Waker and Super Smash Bros. Melee, are still loved. Dolphin runs almost all of them in HD.

Nintendo DS Emulators and more ›

The Nintendo DS launched in 2004 with two screens, one of them a touch screen. Brain Training, Nintendogs and New Super Mario Bros. reached people who had never played games, and the DS family sold around 154 million units, more than any Nintendo system before the Switch. melonDS and DeSmuME both run it well.

Nintendo Wii Emulators and more ›

The Wii arrived in 2006 with motion controls in the Wii Remote, and Wii Sports made it a hit with families. It sold over 101 million units. Dolphin runs Wii games too, in HD, with a real Wii Remote or a normal controller.

Nintendo 3DS Emulators and more ›

The Nintendo 3DS, from 2011, showed glasses-free 3D on its top screen. A price cut months after launch saved it, and it sold around 76 million units. Citra proved it could be emulated well; official work stopped in 2024, but forks such as Azahar continue it.

Nintendo Wii U Emulators and more ›

The Wii U came out in 2012 with a tablet-like GamePad controller. Its name and purpose confused buyers, and it sold only about 13.5 million units, Nintendo’s worst home console. Many of its games were later re-released on the Switch. Cemu runs most of the library in HD.

Nintendo Switch Emulators and more ›

The Switch, launched in 2017, works as both a home console and a handheld. It became one of the best-selling consoles ever, with well over 140 million sold. Yuzu and Ryujinx both ended in 2024, and work continues in community forks.