Emulators

This is a list of NES emulators.

Commercial

Emulator name	Author	Platform(s)	Ports and/or other details
acNES	Nintendo	GameCube, Game Boy Advance	Used for Animal Crossing, e-Reader, and Classic NES Series. The name "acNES" is unofficial, as Nintendo has not released this emulator as a distinct product. Information from TCRF indicates that it may be called "QFC".
Virtual Console	Nintendo	Wii/Wii U/3DS	Most games cost 500 Nintendo Points in Wii Shop Channel
PocketNES	loopy, FluBBa, and Dwedit	Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS	Used commercially for some emulated re-releases by Atlus, Jaleco, Konami

Popular

These are commonly used or well-established.

Emulator name	Author	Platform(s)	Ports and/or other details
BizHawk	Multiple authors	Win32, Linux
FCE Ultra GX	Tantric	Wii, GameCube
FCEUX	Anthony Giorgio / Mark Doliner	Win32, macOS, Linux
higan	Near (formerly as byuu)	Win32, FreeBSD, Linux, macOS
iNES	Marat Fayzullin	Win32 and Linux
Jnes	Jabosoft	Win32
Mesen	Sour	Win32, Linux/.NET	Announcement / Source, excellent debugger
nemulator	James Slepicka	Win32
nesemu2	holodnak	Win32, OS X, Linux
Nestopia UE	rdanbrook	Linux, BSD, Win7+	a.k.a. Nestopia Undead Edition. Contains bugfixes/etc. Windows binaries are available at Sourceforge or at EmuCR
Nintaco	zeroone	Java (Windows, GNU/Linux, macOS)	Announcement Source API FAQ Screenshots
Nintendulator	Quietust	Win32	Nintendulator DX (by thefox) for an even more-improved debugger
NO$NES	Martin Korth	Win32
PocketNES	loopy, FluBBa, and Dwedit	Game Boy Advance	Updates on Dwedit's board
RockNES	Zepper (formerly Fx3)	Win32

Under development

The following is a list of NES emulators that are under development, who their authors are, relevant home pages/sites, and the source of the announcement (direct or indirect). Only projects are listed that had a release in form of source or binary.

Emulator name	Author	Platform(s)	Ports and/or other details
NESICIDE	cpow	Win32/64, Linux32/64, macOS
FPGA NES	kevtris	FPGA (hardware)
FPGA NES	Dan Strother	FPGA (hardware)
kindred	Overload	Win32	Announcement
A/NES	Morgan Johansson	AmigaOS	Announcement
puNES	FHorse	Linux, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, Win32	Announcement / Source
jaNES	crudelios	Win32	Announcement
HDNes	mkwong98	Win32	Announcement
MahNES	HLorenzi	Win32	Announcement
Fergulator	fergus_maximus	Mac OS X or X Windows	Announcement
?	submarine600	PC-8801	Announcement
Yane	roku6185	libSDL (portable), testing under Linux	Announcement
VPNES	x0000	Win32 w/ SDL
macifom	Auston Stewart	OS X, iOS	Announcement
macifomlite	Auston Stewart	iOS
Pretendo	proxy	Linux/BeOS/Win32	Announcement
Nezulator	Zelex	JavaScript	Announcement
EMUya	Zelex	Ouya	Announcement
NES-Emulator	Dartht33bagger	?	Announcement
FC87	Boolean	SDL (Win32, GNU/Linux)	Announcement
phibiaNES	nIghtorius	Win32	Announcement
nintengo	nwidger	Go w/ libSDL
ffnes	rockcarry	Win32	Announcement
WebNES	peteward44	Javascript	Announcement / Live demo
O-Nes-Sama	Fumarumota, aLaix	SDL2 (Win32, GNU/Linux)	Announcement
cfxnes	jonyzz	Javascript/CoffeeScript	Announcement / Live demo
nes-emu	daroou	Win32	Announcement
fogleman/nes	Michael Fogleman	Go with Go/GL and PortAudio	Medium article
NES-Emu	imid	C#/.NET	Announcement
nSide	hex_usr	?	Fork of byuu's higan-nes. Announcement
HalfNES	Grapeshot	Java	Github source
fpgaNES	Feuerwerk42	FPGA (hardware)	Announcement
Nintendoish	drewying	Win32, macOS	Announcement
?	tdondich	JavaScript (Vue.js)	Announcement / Source
?	ace314159	?	Announcement
?	iOSBrett	Swift	Announcement
?	relaxok	?	Announcement
?	jamieyello	?	Announcement
?	JonteP	?	Announcement
?	zzzz898	?	Announcement
?	ap9	?	Announcement
?	zeno84	?	Announcement
?	HastatusXXI	?	Announcement
?	andsve	?	Announcement
?	stickzman	?	Announcement
?	babai	?	Announcement
?	arcnor	?	Announcement
?	cbalen	?	Announcement
?	psychopathetica	?	Announcement
?	Myself086	SNES	Announcement
?	nflga	?	Announcement
?	rodri042	?	Announcement
?	twicetimes	?	Announcement
?	dawid9554	?	Announcement
agnes	kgabis	C with libSDL examples	Announcement
?	LukasP	?	Announcement
HydraNES	BadFoolPrototype	Win32 (Glew/OpenGL)	Announcement / First mention
?	mferrantini	JavaScript	Announcement
?	gobblebit	?	Announcement
?	AshleyJamesy	Android	First mention on Discord #programming channel
RustyNES	lukexor	Rust/SDL 2	Announcement
?	radis	?	First mention on Discord #emulator-development channel
?	timl132	?	Announcement
?	thejunkjon	?	Announcement
?	olivecc	?	Announcement
nin	Nax	C++/Qt/OpenAL/OpenGL	Announcement
?	Seksys	?	Announcement
q00.nes	LilaQ	?	Announcement
BeesNES	L. Spiro	Win64	Source

Discontinued

These are emulators which are known to be officially discontinued, i.e. abandoned or are no longer in development.

Emulator name	Author	Platform(s)	Last update	Other details
NESten	TNSe	Win32	2003
VirtuaNES	Norix	Win32	2007	Has a real-time memory hex-editor
FCEUXD SP	sp	Win32	2007	was merged with other FCEU forks under the name FCEUX
NEStopia	Martin Freij	Win32, OS X, Linux	2008	Linux, MacOS
AminNes	amin2312	Flash	2009	Announcement
VeriNES	jwdonal	FPGA (hardware)	2010	Announcement - Website is not working
iNES	Marat Fayzullin	MS-DOS	2010	Version discontinued; Win32 and Linux still active
UberNES	M \ K Productions	Win32	2011
NESFaCE	6T4	Win32	2011	Announcement
nesemu1	Bisqwit	libSDL (portable), testing under Linux	2011	Announcement
Kryptonware	rubenhbaca	Java	2012	Initial development announcement. Website has reported "under maintenance" for a very long time
MSE	Alegend45	?	2012	Initial development announcement. GitHub account has been deleted
NESSIM	MottZilla	Win32	2012	Announcement
?	graham	Javascript	2013	Initial development announcement. Website returns internal server error
MoarNES	miker00lz	Win32	2013	Announcement
FPGA NES	Ludde	FPGA (hardware)	2014
famique	sahib	Mac OS X, Win32, Linux	2015	Announcement - GitHub repository has been deleted
Yanese	Anes	Win32	2015	Announcement Website not working anymore
finalnes	austere	Win32	2015	Announcement
nesalizer	Ulfalizer	libSDL (portable), tested on Linux	2016
EduNes	thomson	SDL2	2016	Announcement