File name | Downloads |
---|---|
Gameboy Advance | 98,583,379 |
Super Nintendo | 78,363,382 |
Nintendo DS | 54,150,616 |
Nintendo 64 | 23,562,611 |
Playstation Portable | 22,708,018 |
Gameboy Color | 18,965,988 |
Nintendo | 14,582,436 |
Playstation | 10,317,216 |
GameCube | 7,832,918 |
Gameboy | 5,689,903 |
Nintendo Wii | 5,347,984 |
Sega Genesis | 4,946,021 |
Playstation 2 | 3,461,001 |
MAME 037b11 | 2,817,036 |
Amiga 500 | 2,089,206 |
It’s a rare classic gamer who has never tried playing favorite retro titles on third party devices. Chances are your vintage consoles have long been gathering dust somewhere in your closet, let alone your old cartridges with precious old-school Nintendo or Sega games. But playing classic console games isn’t a problem anymore if you have dedicated software, an emulator, allowing your computer to act as a video game console and ROM files containing classic games of all time. Some retro gamers who have relevant experience in making ROMs can dump games on their own. Still, most fans prefer downloading them from trusted abandonware websites that have loads of fun and safe ROMs. With a dedicated emulator and a ROM download you can revive sweet nostalgic emotions you used to experience back in your childhood. What’s more, you can share downloaded files with your friends and other members of the retrogaming community.
Recalling all those popular vintage video game consoles is akin to stepping back in time. Some avid retro gamers start reminiscing about Commodore, Neo-Geo, or Atari. The nascent video game industry couldn’t daze people with sophisticated graphics and elaborate games back then, but the titles that were introduced to the world were extremely fun and captivating. The new entertaining devices kept thousands of players glued to their screens, as they were trying not to miss the ball in their Pong game. A little bit later, the fans of new video games got the chance to try out more advanced consoles. Millions reveled in playing NES and Super NES titles. Then came famous Game Boy, Nintendo 64, Nintendo DS, and Sony PlayStation game series that captivated so many gamers from all over the world. And today lots of people still crave to re-experience those happy moments full of joy, excitement, and tremendous fun.
It won’t be an exaggeration to say that the list of the most popular retro games is endless. Fans of retro games will never be able to reach consensus about which titles deserve to be called the best of the best. Lots of lists of the ‘best retro games’ have been compiled and shared over the Internet. So, there is no need to dwell on those classic games you might want to download to replenish your current collection of favorite ROMs. Truth be told, there are tons of games that have made an important mark on the history of video games. The Legend of Zelda, Castlevania, and Mario Bros are just some of those immortal classics that still thrill video game fans. It’s no wonder that slews of gamers choose to download exactly these games to play on modern devices. They will never lose their primordial charm and vivacious vibe. If you’re also into grey-headed classics, you may want to get a Pac-Man or Pong ROM for your collection. If you’re an avid fan of Nintendo games, you’ll enjoy playing the Mario Bros series that have survived the test of time and are still wildly popular among the gamers of all ages. Metroid, Street Fighter, Final Fantasy, Tetris, and Pokémon Red and Blue also need no introduction and undoubtedly deserve some space in your emulator folder. And there are plenty more ROM games for every taste on your favorite abandonware websites!
As you already know, just like ROMs, emulators are a prerequisite for retro gaming. Emulators are essentially third-party software that simulates the operation of original vintage consoles, say Atari, NES, Sega, or any other device. You just need to install a piece of emulation software onto the device of your choice. Normally, retro gamers prefer to play their classics on PCs, but now there are various emulation tools that allow running retro games on Android and other mobile platforms. So, once you decide which console you want to simulate on your machine, go select a robust and stable emulator. In tandem with a great ROM game, your emulator will usher you into the world of nostalgic gaming!
If you haven’t put your hands on the best ROMs yet, it’s high time you started searching our site for them. There are dedicated categories of ROM games which contain the titles released for a specific console. So, if you’re desperate for Wii games for your new Dolphin emulator, you would be well-advised to check out the corresponding ROMs section. If you don’t have any particular title in mind, you can familiarize yourself with the most popular games other fans of your console download. You can use a convenient ‘Search’ option to quickly locate and download the desired emulator game.
As we’ve noted earlier, you can try and dump a ROM file on your own, provided you have an original game cartridge and dedicated dumping tools. Dumpers allow reading the data from the original ROM chips and burning them to third-party media like flash drives or hard drives. Though it may sound like a no-brainer, in reality, the entire process can be quite tricky and time-consuming. So, the majority of admirers of old-school titles don’t make ROM games themselves, but prefer downloading ready-made free ROMs from trustworthy websites.
Using your new ROMs won’t be a problem once you install your emulator. Most emulators provide on-screen hints guiding you throughout the installation and ROM placement process. Normally, you need to open the ‘ROMs’ folder within your emulator and place the downloaded games into it. When you decide to try out the new title, go to the dedicated folder and load it from there.
You can download as many emulator ROMs as you want! Thus, you’ll help preserve the retrogaming legacy and don’t let legendary vintage games sink into oblivion.