Having any of the best Game Boy emulators installed on your Android or iOS device is a good thing because you’ll be able to play some old Game Boy games.
If you’re interested in playing some of your favourite Game Boy games but don’t have access to a physical device, you may want to consider a Game Boy emulator, and there are plenty of these emulators out there.
We’ve gathered the best Game Boy emulators for Android and iOS in this article you’re reading on NaijaKnowHow, these are emulators you can use to play old Game Boy games on your smartphones, this is the same way you can play Nintendo DS games on Android and PC with Nintendo 3DS Emulators.
List of The Best Game Boy Emulators for Android and iOS
These emulators support different varieties of Game Boy Games and if you want to play games like Action Games, Adventure Games, Horror Games, Football Games and so on, you’ll be able to play them on any of these Game Boy emulators.
1. EmuBox
EmuBox is one of the best Game Boy emulators for Android and iOS that you can use on your smartphone. The app is available on both the Google Play Store and the iTunes App Store. EmuBox has been downloaded quite a lot of times and that has made it one of the most popular game boy emulators out there.
EmuBox also offers some features that other emulators do not offer, such as being able to switch the size of your display from a small screen to a tablet-sized screen with just a few clicks. This gives you more control over how you want to play games without having to worry about resizing them yourself, EmuBox can be downloaded on iOS from any Apple Store Alternatives out there.
[appbox googleplay com.emulator.box.aio&hl=en&gl=US]
2. ClassicBoy
ClassicBoy is a great emulator for Android with a lot of features. It’s also one of the few that can emulate both Game Boy Advance games and Game Boy Color games. You can save your game, use fast-forward, turn on sound effects, change the colour palette, or even tweak the controls to make them feel more comfortable.
The only downside to this app is that sometimes games get frozen when they’re being played and that can only happen on an older version of Android devices. ClassicBoy is one of the top Game Boy emulators out there and it can be downloaded for free
[appbox googleplay com.portableandroid.classicboyLite&hl=en&gl=US]
3. RetroArch
If you’re looking to emulate anything from Game Boy to PSP or PS2 Games, RetroArch is your go-to emulator. It’s open source, cross-platform, and has a built-in front end that’ll run on any operating system. It can also be used as a library in other projects to get your game emulation going. We would recommend using RetroArch if you want more power than what other emulators offer.
RetroArch can be downloaded from the Google Play Store and it’s also available on iOS but can only be downloaded from third-party websites like Panda Helper, AppValley, TutuApp and so on. RetroArch is an all-in-one emulator that plays almost all console games. Aside from games from PS4 or PS5, RetroArch can play all retro console games and modern console games. Whether you want to play GB, GBC or GBA games on your Android device, you can use RetroArch.
[appbox googleplay com.retroarch&hl=en&gl=US]
4. GBA.emu
This emulator is capable of playing every single GBA ROM on your mobile device with no lag, making it a great choice if you’re looking to play some of your favourite classics from back in the day. You’ll find GBA.emu to be very easy to use, you can easily set it up and it has a friendly interface as well.
GBA.emu has support for WiFi games which means you can challenge other players across the world while they’re sitting in their rooms. It comes with all the bells and whistles that you’d expect from a GameBoy emulator which includes saving states, fasts forward, screenshot capture, vibration support, cheats code support, link cable emulation and multi-player functionality.
[appbox googleplay com.explusalpha.GbaEmu&hl=en&gl=US]
5. GBA4iOS
This emulator is one of the best game boy emulators for iOS. You will be able to use this emulator on both iPhones and iPads as long as they are running iOS 11 or higher.
The other thing you should know about this app is that it has two modes: full mode and lightweight mode. The difference between these modes is that lightweight mode only supports single-player games while full mode supports multiplayer games with up to four players at once, the emulator has a list of games that are supported but that doesn’t mean you can’t play other games on it.
6. Provenance Emulator
Provenance is an emulator that supports different console games like Game Boy and so on. It offers a number of features, including the ability to save games at any point, as well as wireless multiplayer. The controls are customizable, so you can set them up however you like.
Provenance Emulator is also open source, which means its code can be tweaked. In addition to the app, Provenance comes with six plug-ins. One of those plugs has a 3D engine which will make gameplay look really nice and smooth. You can download the emulator from third-party websites and it’s a free emulator as well.
7. SuperGBC
Amongst all game boy emulators, SuperGBC is one of the one of the best you can use and this emulator is widely used by a lot of people. If you want to play Gameboy games on your Android or iOS device, SuperGBC is one of the few emulators you can use. This emulator makes it easy to play Gameboy games and it supports a lot of Gameboy titles. It has a 100% compatibility rate with most Game Boy games. Setting up games on SuperGBC is quite easy and you’ll love everything about the emulator.
Some of the features of SuperGBC is that it allows users to rewind games. If you don’t want to lose a level or don’t want your character to die. This is one of the features you can use, SuperGBC supports GB and GBC files. You can copy games from any source and have them pasted inside this emulator. It is very fast and the graphics run smoothly on most devices.
[appbox googleplay com.supergbc.free]
8. My Boy! – GBA Emulator
My Boy! is an advanced Gameboy emulator that supports GBA games. It is said that this emulator only supports GBA games but there are some normal Gameboy games you can play on this emulator. This emulator is known to be working on most Android devices and it works on low-end and high-end devices. You’ll love everything about My Boy! emulator and it comes with advanced features. This emulator is classic and it offers one of the fastest gaming emulations on Android devices.
My Boy! also has a very high compatibility rate for most games. This emulator emulates BIOS automatically and therefore you won’t be downloading any BIOS files before you can play games. When it comes to optimizing GPU, MY Boy! normally supports OpenGL rendering but if your devices don’t have a GPU. My Boy! will take care of it all. This emulator is very powerful but one of the downsides to using it is that you’ll need to buy it. My Boy! emulator is not free and it costs around $5 just to get it.
[appbox googleplay com.fastemulator.gba]
9. My OldBoy! – GBC Emulator
My OldBoy! is another emulator for Gameboy lovers and this emulator is perfect for playing Gameboy games. My OldBoy! comes with a lot of features and some of the features include fast game emulation. You can use My OldBoy! to play Game Boy and Game Boy Colour games on your Android device. Even if you’re using a low-end Android device, My OldBoy works perfectly and it also accelerates hardware. This emulator is classic and also very easy to use, you can easily configure games on it and everything will be perfect.
Using My OldBoy to play Gameboy and Gameboy Colour games is fun. This emulator will let you enjoy Gameboy games without any issues. You’ll be able to achieve 60 FPS without frame skips and no lagging experience. This emulator also allows users to fast-forward games, you can save games by just using the screenshot feature. My OldBoy is an advanced emulator for playing Gameboy games on Android. This is one of the best game boy emulators on you can download on your device.
[appbox googleplay com.fastemulator.gbc]
10. John GBA
John GBA is a Gameboy advanced emulator for Android device users. This emulator supports Android devices with OS 4.1 and above. Before you can play games on John GBA, you’ll need to have them downloaded on your Android device first. This emulator works with original games and there are a lot of features that come with John GBA. Despite not being updated for a while, John GBA has never had any issues with running any Gameboy games and the emulator has good ratings on the Google Play Store.
While playing GBA games with John GBA, users can use cheat codes to change their gameplay experience. You can fast-forward games and also slow down the speed of games as well. There’s an option to screenshot games, there are different customizable layouts in the game. One of the features that make John GBA special is that it supports zipped games. You can use a virtual on-screen keyboard to play games, it has a high-quality rendering of games. This is one of the best emulators to play Game Boy games on Android.
[appbox googleplay com.johnemulators.johngba]
11. DraStic DS Emulator
Drastic DS Emulator is a very popular console emulator and it works just like RetroArch. This emulator isn’t based on emulating just one console game only. Whether you have a GBA, GB or GBC game on your Android or iOS device. You’ll be able to play them all on DraStic DS Emulator. You can use this emulator to emulate games from most retro consoles. It also comes with a lot of features and you’ll enjoy using the emulator without any issues. DraStic DS Emulator is very popular because it enhances game performance by 2x the normal speed.
There are a lot of reasons to love the emulator, some of the reasons include the high customization options. You can customize the screen size of the emulator, it allows users to play games in portrait and landscape modes. Another reason why DraStic Emulator is very popular is that it supports physical controllers. You only need to use wireless connectivity to begin. You can save and resume game progress anywhere you stopped. DraStic DS Emulator also allows users to increase speed and fast-forward games easily.
[appbox googleplay com.dsemu.drastic]
12. GBA Emulator
GBA Emulator is one of the best Gameboy emulators out there and if you have a Gameboy Rom, this emulator will handle it. This emulator is quite different from most emulators you’ll see online. Some Gameboy emulators don’t come with games, but this GBA emulator comes with games and you’ll find different types of GB games. Some of the games on this emulator include action, adventure, racing games and so on. There are a lot of popular GB games on this emulator and that’s what makes it one of the best.
You can save yourself from the stress of downloading Gameboy games on your Android device. GBA Emulator enhances gaming performance and it makes users enjoy 2x the normal speed of any game. With this emulator, you don’t have to download any Gameboy games on your Android device. You only need to have an active internet connection to have these games downloaded. GBA Emulator also comes with cool features like game fast-forward, cheat codes and other awesome features are present on it. You can also screenshot games to have them saved as well.
[appbox googleplay com.emu.gba1x]
Conclusion
If you miss the good old days of video games, you can relive some of your childhood with one of these game boy emulators for Android and iOS. These emulators are free and they’re the best you can use when it comes to playing old Game Boy games.
