Mesen
Open source multi-system emulator with a debugger
- Open SourceGitHub
- Sour and the MesenCE contributorsDeveloper
- 8 SystemsSupported
- 28 Sep 2026Page Updated
Details
- Developers
- Sour and the MesenCE contributors
- Source Code
- GitHub
- Page Updated
Supported Systems
Platform Support
- Windows
- Linux
- macOS
Overview
Mesen is an open source multi-system emulator created by Sour. It began as an NES-only emulator, and Mesen 2 extended it to the SNES, Game Boy and Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, PC Engine, Master System and Game Gear, and WonderSwan.
As well as playing games, Mesen includes a debugger and other tools that are useful for homebrew development and ROM hacking. It runs on Windows, Linux and macOS, with Intel and Apple Silicon builds for macOS and ARM64 builds for Linux. The Linux and macOS versions need SDL2 installed. Mesen is released under the GPL v3 licence.
In 2026 development moved to Mesen Community Edition (MesenCE), a fork maintained by Sour and other community members so that work can continue when Sour is away. The original repository is now an archive of version 2.1.1, and new releases, starting with 2.2.0, come from MesenCE.
Key Features
Built-In Debugger
A debugger and tools help homebrew and ROM hacking.
Multi-System
Covers NES, SNES, Game Boy, GBA, PC Engine and more.
Cross-Platform
Runs on Windows, Linux and macOS, including ARM builds.
Open Source
Released under the GPL v3 licence and maintained as MesenCE.
