Best N64 Emulators for PC Archives

While the video game industry is always moving forward to bigger and “better” things, there’s no denying the audience for revisiting or experiencing classics for the first time. Nintendo has tapped into nostalgia and created a new audience for classic games with the excellent NES Classic and SNES Classic. What about Nintendo 64 games? Nintendo currently doesn’t have any plans to create an N64 Classic, so unless you own a working N64, it’s hard to play games from the dawn of Nintendo’s 3D days. Sure, the Wii U has a selection of N64 games, but the Wii U has been dead for years.

Related to emulators

The best N64 emulators

Acquiring a working N64 isn’t too hard, but finding the cartridges for reasonable prices? Not always so easy. Often the easiest method for playing N64 games is through emulators. Here are the best N64 emulators for PC and Android.

Project64 (Windows)

One of the most popular and easy-to-use N64 emulators, Project 64 also has the benefit of being open source. The dedicated community of Project64 enthusiasts consistently merge changes to GitHub, fixing bugs both small and large. Newer versions of Project64 have cleaned up the need for installing additional video or audio plugins for certain games. For instance, you no longer have to download the Glide64 video plugin separately when games fail to run smoothly with Project64’s legacy Jabo Direct3D plugin. Project 64 lets you play with USB controllers, features save states, and even lets you play with high-resolution textures. The main downside of Project 64 comes with audio, which can sometimes be inconsistent.

Development for non-Windows based versions of Project64 has picked up over the years. Project64 was even available on Google Play at one point, but it has since been removed. For now, if you’re on Windows and looking for an emulator with a clean interface that plays a large percentage of N64 games no problem, Project64 is a good option.

Download Project64

Mupen64Plus (Windows, Mac, Linux, Android)

Mupen64Plus isn’t as easy to use as Project64, but it does deliver a better audio experience. If you’re having trouble with certain games on Project64, we suggest giving Mupen64Plus a try. By default, Mupen64Plus doesn’t have a user interface. Instead, you boot up ROMs through the command line. That said, you can add a front-end user interface by downloading an additional plug-in such as M64Py, which is specifically designed for Mupen64Plus.

Mupen64Plus has the added benefit of being compatible with Windows, Mac, Linux, and Android. This makes it the best option for Mac and Linux users and alternative option for PC users if Project64 isn’t performing as expected.

Download Mupen64Plus

Mupen64Plus FZ (Android)

Though Mupen64Plus is available on Android, we wanted to call out Mupen64Plus FZ as well. This version of the emulator was specifically designed for mobile devices. It’s still somewhat of a hassle to setup, but once everything is ready to go, it offers the best N64 emulation on Android, no question. All of the plugins you could want to install are included and the front-end GUI comes with the download.

Download Mupen64Plus FZ

MegaN64 (Android)

MegaN64, a tweaked version of Mupen64+, is by far the most popular emulator on Android, with more than 900,000 user reviews and an average user rating of 4.6. That’s mighty impressive. What you get with MegaN64 is a good, sometimes great, N64 emulator without the hassle. Games must be installed onto a microSD card to play them. Games load almost instantly and most of them run without a hitch.

It’s not as feature heavy as Mupen64Plus, but it will get the job done for those just looking to pick up and play some old classics. The major annoyance with MegaN64 are the ads, which pop up quite frequently in the menu. It’s hard to say for sure, but development appears to have ceased a few years back. Without support, MegaN64 may eventually become a mess. For now, though, it’s still a solid, easy option for N64 emulation on Android.

Download MegaN64

RetroArch (multi-platform)

RetroArch is a front-end GUI, not technically an emulator. However, you can download emulator cores to play games across a wide-range of platforms on a wide-range of platforms (PC, mobile, consoles). For N64 emulation, RetroArch uses a libretro core modeled after Mupen64Plus. However, RetroArch has a number of distinct differences such as overclocking and more customization features. In some respects, RetroArch’s N64 cores are like if Project64 and Mupen64Plus had a baby. RetroArch also has a really neat “paraLLEl” core that refines visuals whether they are being rendered in high-resolution or as they were on N64. If you use a ton of different emulators for multiple classic platforms, you may want to simplify things and try RetroArch. If you need help setting it up (it’s not super easy), there are a great number of YouTube videos and written guides available through a quick Google search.

Download RetroArch

Disclaimer: While downloading and sharing emulators is perfectly legal, downloading ROMs BIOS files is illegal, even if you own a physical copy of the game. This list is meant to be used as a reference. We do not advocate illegally downloading games.

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View Full Version : General Nintendo 64 Emulation Discussion

Project64 is a free and open-source softwareNintendo 64emulator written in the programming language C for Microsoft Windows.^[3] This software uses a plug-in system allowing third-party groups to use their own plug-ins to implement specific components. Project64 can play Nintendo 64 games on a computer reading ROM images, either dumped from the read-only memory of a Nintendo 64 ROM cartridge or created directly on the computer as homebrew.^[4] Project64 is considered one of the top performing emulators used today and the most popular Nintendo 64 emulator.^[5][6] The program is licensed under the GNU General Public License version 2.

Compatibility and features[edit]

Project64 is considered a highly compatible emulator which does not require the use of a Basic Input/Output System (BIOS). The emulator has basic features, supports multiplayer, and allows alternating the aspect ratio without cropping or quality drop.^[7]

Development history[edit]

Development of Project64 began in March 1998 with a small team consisting of Zilmar and others. In September 1999, Zilmar was introduced to Jabo, who was developing an N64 Emulator of his own. In December 1999, Jabo was invited to join Zilmar on a collaborative effort for Project64. Jabo initially did not intend on being the RDP/Graphics developer, having a greater interest in assembly language and the central processing unit (CPU) but found himself often working on the graphics aspects.^[8]

The authors have released certain parts of the source code for the now unsupported version 1.4. Project64k is a modified version of Project64 1.4 which provides multiplayer netplay abilities via integrating the Kaillera networking client. Players are able to join servers where multiple games may be hosted with other features remaining consistent with Project64 1.4.^[9] In July 2011, Jabo decided to stop developing Project64 and released a modified version of 1.6 with some improvements.^[10] He also stated that no more releases of the source code were going to happen.^[11] However, in April 2013, Zilmar released both Project64 2.0 and an official repository of its source code that was made available on the Project64 website making the software fully open-source and accessible to everyone. It was mentioned that a major part of the code was rewritten in this version.^[12] Then about a month later, Project64 2.1 was released.^[13] In April 2015, Project64 2.2 was released along with its source code in a GitHub repository.^[14] In May 2015, Project64 2.2 could now play 64DD disk roms.^[15] In August 1, 2016, Project64 version 2.3 was released, eventually being updated to version 2.3.2 in January 2017 and is the current public version of Project64.^[16]

Reception[edit]

In 2014, PC World praised the emulator for offering more "advanced settings" than Nintendo's official Nintendo 64 emulation available through the Virtual Console, such as the ability to change the game's aspect ratio, but criticized the emulation for being imperfect, describing it as "rough around the edges".^[17]

However, up to version 2.2, there were major safety concerns of installing Project64 through its official installer after numerous reports on social media websites of the installers containing malware.^[18] Fortunately, in July 2016, this malware code was removed from both the source code and its installers. When Project64 2.3 was released, a harmless yet irritating nagware screen began to occur after a number of uses of the software which grew more persistent with successive launches as a forced waiting period is installed. The emulation community, however, has managed to find a way around this issue.^[19]

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