Best Nintendo 3DS Emulators for Android

Nintendo 3DS is an excellent console. Featuring some undisputed classics like Mario Kart 7, several Pokemon games, The World Ends With You, Bravely Default, the underrated Etrian Odyssey series, and more. As it turns out, it is possible to emulate the mobile device on your Android phone. Citra is the top dog here, and it’s listed on Best Emulators for Android List. Every emulator on this list uses Citra in one form or another, so this is your best bet. In fact, if you find another 3DS emulator that doesn’t use Citra, we may not recommend it as of this writing. Anyway, here are the best Nintendo 3DS emulators for Android.

citra emulator

price: Free / $4.99

Citra is probably your best choice when it comes to 3DS emulators. It includes a high compatibility rate, support for built-in functions like the camera, and even some settings to improve your graphics. Of course, it also comes with the usual stuff like save states, loading states, external controller support, and more. It worked well in our tests and we played games we threw at it without too many problems. There are some weirdness here and there, but nothing to write home about. The only downside is that it doesn’t seem to work with Exynos-powered phones, so you’re out of luck.

There is an unofficial fork of Citra called Citra MMJ (github). It may work better in some cases, depending on your device and the games you play. It requires third-party installation, and we have the Tutorial for installing third party applications If you need help with that.

Lemuroid is a kind of all-in-one simulator. Supports dozens of consoles through the Libretro core library. Includes Nintendo 3DS. It uses Citra core, so it is run by the same core emulator as Citra emulator above. Hence, it features similar game compatibility and functionality. The benefit of having something like Lemuroid is the ability to emulate multiple game consoles within a single app. It’s also fairly easy to use once you get the hang of things.

RetroArch

price: Free / $4.99

RetroArch works a lot like Lemuroid. It uses the Libretro core library to emulate a range of different consoles. It also uses the Citra core for Nintendo 3DS emulation. RetroArch is just as powerful as Lemuroid but includes a fully customizable setup. This means that the learning curve is much higher with RetroArch than it is with Lemuroid. However, in terms of pure functionality, you’ll get roughly the same performance from 3DS games either way. This version has an optional premium version, but the free version works just as well.

If we missed any great Nintendo 3DS emulators, tell us about them in the comments.