Over the last decades, many emulators were made for one console or one home computer. Many of them are no longer maintained. Multi-system emulators took over: one program plays games from dozens of old consoles and computers, so you don't need to learn a new emulator for each platform.
Each platform guide in the Sub Pages menu tells you which emulator works best for it. This page presents the multi-system emulators those guides often point to, and explains BIOS files, which many of them need.
MAME
MAME emulates tens of thousands of arcade machines, consoles, computers and calculators. It's free, very accurate, and updated every month, but not the easiest to use.
The mother of multi-emulation software, MAME started with arcade games and now covers almost every system of the past decades, including many rare consoles that no other emulator runs. It's available for Windows, Linux, and macOS thanks to lngn. It's a bit tedious to use, but you can follow this tutorial to get started.
MAME is strict about its files: a game file only works with the MAME version it was made for, and each system needs its own BIOS file. See BIOS files below.
RetroArch
RetroArch runs many emulators, called cores, behind one interface. It takes time to learn, but it's worth it if you plan to play games from several platforms.
RetroArch is free and runs almost everywhere: Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, iOS, and even game consoles. You download the cores you need from its Online Updater menu, then all of them share the same controls, the same screen filters and the same save features. The official guide explains how to install it on Windows, and links the guides for macOS, Linux and Android. On a phone or tablet, read our mobile guide first: the Android version to get is not the one on Google Play.
All-in-one setups
Batocera and RetroBat set up RetroArch and many other emulators for you, with a console-like menu. You add your games and play.
- Batocera: a complete system that you copy to a USB stick. Start your computer from the stick, and it turns into a game console, without touching your Windows. More than 250 systems, and it also runs on small computers like the Raspberry Pi.
- RetroBat: the same idea, as a normal Windows program. A good choice if you want to keep using Windows on the same computer. Its wiki is the guide to install it and add your games.
In our test on Windows 11, the RetroBat installer took about 3.4 GB of disk space and also installed several Microsoft Visual C++ runtimes. Windows may stop it with "Windows protected your PC": click More info, then Run anyway. RetroBat comes with many free games already installed, such as fan games and ports.
In RetroBat, copy a game in the roms folder of its system, such as roms\msx1. The list of supported systems gives the folder name of each system in its System Name column. Then open Options > Games Settings > Update gamelist. The game shows in the list, and you can start it.
Other projects
Some multi-system emulators do fewer systems, but very well. Pick one of these if the emulator guide of your platform recommends it.
- ares (Windows, Mac, Linux) focuses on accuracy, and emulates more than 35 systems: Nintendo and Sega consoles, the PC Engine, the WonderSwan, the ColecoVision, the MSX, and more. It continues the work of Higan, which is no longer developed.
- Mednafen (Windows, Linux) supports fewer systems but emulates them very well, including CD-based consoles like the PlayStation and the Saturn. It has no menus: you start it from the command line, or with a frontend. Read this tutorial. To start a game, open PowerShell, type the path of
mednafen.exe, then the path of the game file between quotes. For a CD game, use the.ccdor.cuefile. - OpenEmu (Mac only) has a nice look and feel and supports many systems. You can organize your game collection with automatic game covers, etc. The official version has not been updated since 2023 and runs on Intel Macs. For Apple Silicon Macs, get the community version, OpenEmu-Silicon, which is still actively developed.
- BizHawk (Windows, Linux) is a multi-system emulator designed for TAS (tool-assisted speedruns), but it still provides an easy-to-use interface for casual gamers.
BIOS files
Many emulators need a BIOS file: a copy of the built-in program of the original console or computer. These files are copyrighted, so emulators don't include them.
The BIOS is the small program the machine runs when you switch it on. Without it, the emulator shows an error or a black screen. Each emulator's documentation lists the files it needs and their exact names. For RetroArch, load a core, then open Information > Core Information. The Firmware section shows the folder RetroArch looks in, then each BIOS file of the core with its status, such as "Missing, Optional". Put the files in the system folder of RetroArch. For MAME, keep the BIOS zip files in the roms folder, next to the games. For Mednafen, create a firmware folder next to mednafen.exe. If a file is missing, Mednafen prints an error with the exact name and path it looks for. For a PC Engine CD game, it is syscard3.pce: we took ours from the BIOS folder of RetroLibre on GitHub, which holds the files of many systems. For ares, open Configuration > Firmware and choose the file of each system. We ran the same PC Engine CD game in ares, with the same syscard3.pce. BizHawk also needs firmware files that you download yourself.
John Madden Duo CD Football in Mednafen: it stops and names the missing file, syscard3.pce. Once the file is in the firmware folder, the same command starts the game. The search on GitHub and the file copy are sped up.
You have 3 ways to get a BIOS file:
- Dump it from your own console or computer, with the tools listed in the emulator's documentation.
- Use a free replacement when the emulator offers one. Some emulators, like FS-UAE for the Amiga or openMSX for the MSX, work with one for many games.
- Find it on the internet, using a search engine like Google or Bing.
Each platform guide says which BIOS files its emulator needs.
I need help!
We do not provide support for running abandonware games. Each emulator has its own forum or Discord, listed on its website: ask there.
The RetroArch documentation and the MAME documentation answer most questions about setup and BIOS files.
First written by hand, and brought up to date in October 2026 against each program's own documentation and, where it exists, its source code. Game counts and file sizes come from our own catalogue. The update was drafted with the help of an AI assistant and checked by hand before publishing. If something here is out of date, tell us.