The PCSX2 project has been running for a little over four years now, and its popularity has grown steadily since its release. From initially just being able to run a few public domain demos, PCSX2's current state enables many games to boot and actually go in-game, such as the famous Final Fantasy X or Devil May Cry 3.

PS2 Emulation is a complex task, far worse than emulating previous generation consoles like the PlayStation 1, N64 or Saturn, simply due to the CPU power required to get 'playable' speeds from a PS2 game under emulation. PCSX2 does the job remarkably well, but don't throw your Playstation 2 away quite yet. It struggles with high-speed action and is prone to freezing or crashing at the most annoying moments.

PCSX2 comes in 2 versions, the TLB and the VM (virtual memory) one. The TLB version is pcsx2t.exe while the VM version is pcsx2.exe. First try running the VM version, following the instructions given (type your account user name, log off/on and restart). If PCSX2 still fails to allocate the memory, simply use the TLB version. Don't worry - the speed difference is not that great. After that, the PCSX2 setup procedure is quite lengthy, although if your Playstation 2 is broken, you'll find this a more than adequate replacement.

PCSX2 is an adequate PS2 emulator. Just don't expect miracles!

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With it, you can emulate all the games of the popular portable Nintendo consoles. VisualBoyAdvance supports 148Kb Flash and the application of automatic IP patches.

VisualBoyAdvance isn't perfect but is worth trying for all hardcore fans of GameBoy games.

Download VisualBoyAdvance 1.8.0 Beta 3 in Softonic

The GameBoy has come a long way since we first saw that big white and grey block at the end of the last century. Its great, great, great grandson, the Nintendo DS is now even more powerful than the high-tech machines doing the rounds in the arcades of the early 90s. In fact, it's so good that sometimes you'll want to play with it in the office, which obviously you can't. Well, actually you can. Actually you can't. Well, with DeSmuME you sort of can. Let us explain...

The first thing you'll need to realize is that downloading DS ROM files is illegal, so on your own head be it if the FBI rolls up outside your house. Legalities aside, DeSmuME is a pretty decent emulator, originally designed for games programmers to develop and test their latest creations. DeSmuME can be a little tricky to set up, but once running you'll be able to enjoy a huge selection of games in ROM format.

DeSmuME is a solid Nintendo DS emulator for your PC.

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Obviously, that all ended - not because they grew up but because Playstations and XBoxes came along. Now however, you can re-live those halcyon days with Mario and his friends via this emulator which reproduces the console in all it's glory. From Mario to Zelda, you can play it all with Snes9x. The emulator supports the decompression of ZIP files so if your ROM files are zipped up, it's no problem. Like playing on an original Snes, you can save games to restart them later, customize game controls and best of all, even link up with other users over the internet for some truly original Snes action. Probably the piece de resistance however is the fact that this emulator can actually improve the graphics via the "Super Eagle" screen filter. This basically takes all those classic blocky images, re-composes them, and smooths them out to give your games a more modern feel and look. This looks particularly good with Super Mario World and if you have a 3D card, you can even give the characters increased depth and definition without losing the original charm.

For Snes addicts, this emulator is an essential for reliving those glory days of Mario and Zelda without being told off by your mum for playing too long.

Download Snes9x 1.51 in Softonic

Download WinDS Pro 2013.4.5 in Softonic

The application is designed to play ROM files, which are essentially 'images' of the data inside an N64 cartridge. Graphically, the games are pretty good, although not quite as sharp as we remember, with a few too many jagged lines and blocky sprites for our liking. This is understandable, given that the games were originally intended to be played on a TV, which has a completely different way of perfecting pixels. Nevertheless, the overall visual experience is quite authentic, and is complemented by crisp audio reproduction.

In terms of its performance, Project64 is able to handle most ROMs without any problems and we didn’t experience any compatibility issues. Be warned though, that you’ll need a decent amount of RAM and a fairly good graphics card if you want to avoid any jerkiness when playing some of the more sophisticated games, such as Super Smash Bros. There are lots of options within the emulator for tweaking the visuals, including changing the screen resolution, running in full-screen mode or applying anti-aliasing. However, the audio functions are limited to a bog-standard volume control.

Thankfully, the fun of playing N64 games with your pals isn’t lost in this emulator and Project64 supports up to four players. As you can imagine, it’s pretty tricky fitting four people around one keyboard, so you’re best off using USB controllers if there’s more than two of you. Another nice touch is the inclusion of a cheat mode, which provides you with the opportunity to power-up your games or access special options, much as the old Action Replay cartridges used to. Each game has its own set of cheats, which is great for prolonging the life of a game or getting through particularly tough levels.

Project64 is the closest thing you’ll get to the N64 without actually buying the console itself and it performs better than other Nintendo emulators, as well as generic solutions such as MAME. It may not be a pixel-perfect recreation of the device, but it’s certainly entertaining enough to keep you off work for a few days.

Download Project64 2.1 in Softonic

Download MAME 0.148 in Softonic

MameUI is an emulator application designed to recreate the hardware of classic arcade game systems on modern computers. With it, you can play arcade classics such as Double Dragon, Outrun and Pacman.

MameUI was originally authored under the name Mame 32 in 1997 by Chris Kirmse and was the first port of MAME to the Windows platform. However, development long since finished and MameUI is currently in maintenance mode with no active development.

However, it has been succeeded by IV/Play (pronounced "four play") which is a new desktop oriented GUI front-end for MAME. It was designed and commissioned as an alternative to
MameUI. Advantages include a narrow and particular feature-set, it is keyboard driven, and it utilises many of the navigation and short cuts of MAMEUI. It is targeted towards Windows 7 users with leveraged features like Jump List support.

MameUI is an excellent arcade classics emulator although the lack of further development and the arrival of IV/Play make it somewhat obsolete nowadays.

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The ROM images that MAME utilizes are "dumped" from arcade games' original circuit-board ROM chips. MAME becomes the "hardware" for the games, taking the place of their original CPUs and support chips. Therefore, these games are NOT simulations, but the actual, original games that appeared in arcades.

As gaming technology continues to rush forward, MAME prevents important "vintage" games from being lost and forgotten. It's incredibly effective once you've loaded a ROM file although for newbies, the process may prove a little but tricky as the interface appears more complicated than it needs to be.

MAME Plus! is an excellent alternative for those that have had problems running their favourite vintage games in the original MAME.

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Well now at least you have an excuse!

Now you are nearly ready to have fun. Select one of the titles you would like to play and press the “get game” button which you find on the right of the window.

A Google internet page will appear, connecting you to Romnation. net. You can now download the ROM file, which is compressed in one archive (IZArc, ZIP Archive).

Save it into the folder C:\Program Files\extra mame\roms, leaving it as an archive file. Finally you will be able to play to your favourite game again!

Just double click on the name of the game and enjoy.

You can also decide to open games in a window but this will slow down the PC and therefore the game.