Best Dendy emulators for Android

In our days it has become possible to purchase various clones of the Dendy console from Chinese manufacturers at a very modest price, but there is little sense in this. You can play your favorite console games on a smartphone or tablet using mobile emulators.

NOSTALGIA.NES

A modern mobile NES and Famicom emulator based on the source code of the desktop FCEUX for Windows and Linux. It does not include any games.

Among the features of NOSTALGIA.NES, the following should be noted:

1. Design - a modern simple interface in an 8-bit style.
2. Controller - connection and detailed configuration of the virtual joystick.
3. Save slots - up to 8 slots with thumbnail images for manual saves and one for auto saves.
4. Rewind - the ability to rewind the gameplay a few seconds back.
5. Video modes - PAL/NTSC and hardware graphics acceleration based on OpenGL ES.
6. Screenshot capture - take screenshots at any time during the game.
7. Cheat codes - support for a full database of codes.

As mentioned above, the game collection does not come with the emulator. You need to download them separately and place them in any folder on the SD card or internal memory of the device. For example, create a separate folder called "Games" in "Download". The game files should be unzipped and have an extension like "NES".

When launching the emulator for the first time, you will need to allow access to files and storage on your device. Then, if the games have already been downloaded, click "Refresh" in the main menu. The utility will check the internal memory and display the available games.

Super8Plus

A free program for emulating the capabilities of the Dendy game console on Android devices. It does not include a game collection. It is distributed under a freemium model with built-in advertising. There is also a paid version of the Super8Pro emulator priced at $2.99 for the USA.

To download games, you will need to:

• download and install the program;
• download and unzip the games into any convenient folder on the internal memory of your smartphone/tablet;
• when launching the program for the first time, allow access to the internal storage and media files;
• the emulator will check for available games on your device and display them in an alphabetical list;
• to start a game, simply click on the desired game from the list.

The utility supports connection of up to 4 players via Wi-Fi, saving/loading game sessions, remapping controller buttons, changing the size of the game window, and reducing the size of on-screen buttons. The rewind feature is also available.

The design of the emulator is not particularly noteworthy and gets lost in comparison to its competitors. It supports a similar set of functions, works stably, and does not crash.

Super Emulator

A conditionally free emulator for retro consoles for Android. It supports NES (Dendy), Game Boy Advance, and Super Nintendo (SNES). It is monetized through built-in advertising, with the cost of the paid version being $1.99 for the USA.

To download and run Dendy games through Super Emulator, you will need to:

• download and install the emulator on your device;
• when launching, select NES from the first icon;
• in the main menu, select a game from the list, click on the thumbnail, then "Download" and "Play";
• if the games have already been downloaded and placed in a folder on your device, go to the "Roms" tab in the bottom menu and click "Scan Device";
• select the desired game from the found ones and click on the thumbnail;
• to find a specific game from the catalog, go to the "Search" tab, enter the name in the field, or select keywords below, and click "Done".

Super Emulator only supports horizontal display, saving/loading during gameplay, customizing the displayed on-screen controller buttons.

During use, a problem with freezing during memory scanning was noticed. In this case, the games from the catalog were downloaded but could not be launched. The only solution was to forcibly close the utility and restart it. Otherwise, the emulator worked stably, and the games did not freeze, displaying everything clearly and correctly.

Super Games

A free NES emulator for Android devices. It contains a built-in database of over 800 games in English and Japanese. It is distributed under a freemium model with built-in advertising.

Some of the key features of the emulator are:

1. Emulation quality - the ability to improve emulation quality by allocating additional device resources.
2. Save/load - double tap on the right and left sides of the screen, respectively.
3. Screen positioning - manual adjustment of the position of the on-screen controller buttons, game screen area, and rotation by 90 degrees (portrait/landscape).
4. Controls - support for turbo buttons, combining "A + B" buttons, enabling/disabling vibration, fast forward.

Visually, the application is not stylized and is presented in a standard one-color style for Android. The top menu is divided into tabs: list of games in alphabetical order (By Name), launch history (History), and most played games (Hottest). The drop-down menu with search for game roms on the device and settings is located in the upper right corner of the screen.

JOHN NESS

A free Dendy emulator for mobile devices. It does not include a pre-loaded game catalog. It has its own engine with support for smooth image rendering, fast rewind during gameplay, Bluetooth controller support, save/load, turbo buttons, on-screen virtual keyboard, and much more.

To run games through JOHN NESS, you need to:

• download and install the utility from our website;
• allow access to photos, media, and files when launching for the first time;
• wait for the internal memory scan;
• if the games are detected, the list of games will be displayed on the main screen;
• select a game from the list and wait for it to load;
• if the games were downloaded after installing the utility, go to "Game Folder" in the top menu, select "sdcard", and find the folder with the rom files.

The JOHN NESS developer, like the Super Games emulator, did not stylize the program. It is presented in a one-color standard Android style. It supports vertical and horizontal screen orientations, as well as the movement of control buttons to any position on the screen.

RETROARCH

A free universal program with open source code that supports emulation of more than 20 retro consoles, including NES. It is based on the Libretro interface, which provides smooth rendering using OpenGL.

To download games into the emulator, you need to download ROM files from a trusted source and unzip them, for example, into a folder called "NES Games". Place this folder in the "Downloads" folder or any other folder of your choice.

Next, go from the main menu to the "Load Content" section, then "Downloads", click twice on "Previous directory", and find the root folder with the downloaded files. After that, you can load the game. To access the program menu from the game, click on the logo icon in the center of the screen. The menu allows you to save/load or close the current process.

EMUBOX

A universal emulator that supports several retro consoles. It is capable of loading pre-downloaded Dendy games. Like most competitors, it offers features such as save/load, fast rewind, Bluetooth controller support, etc.

To run NES games with EMUBOX, you will need to:

• download and install the utility;
• allow access to the storage and files on your device;
• download game ROMs for Dendy to the internal storage or SD card;
• in the main menu, select "Scan Roms from device";
• if the program did not detect any files, click "OK", then "InternalStorage", and go to the folder with the games;
• load any game you need.

To access the menu responsible for NES settings, click the icon with three lines at the top of the screen, then go to "Emulator Options". You can choose the screen orientation, image rendering method, adjust gamma, change controls.

The emulator is feature-rich and even supports the original PlayStation, but it was not very stable in use. Game search worked on the first try, but in subsequent cases, scanning did not work. Detection of games from a folder worked without problems. There were issues with launching the utility and long loading times.

NES Collection Emulator

A conditionally free Dendy emulator for mobile devices. The free version contains embedded ads that appear before loading a game. There is an option to voluntarily watch an ad video, after which there will be no advertising during ten game launches. The cost of the paid version is $1.99.

Among the key features of the emulator are:

• support for files with the extension ".nes" and loading from an archive;
• stable operation starting from Android version 4.4;
• save and load games from anywhere;
• quick save and load with a double tap;
• resizing of on-screen controller buttons;
• changing the size of the game area;
• turbo button support, including "A + B" press;
• rewind several seconds back.

To run games, download the ROMs to the internal memory of your device. Allow access to media and files on the internal storage when launching the emulator. The program will then scan for ROMs, which will be displayed as a list on the main screen.

Launching a game is done automatically by clicking on its name. To access the menu, you can click on the three-dot icon in the upper part of the screen during gameplay. Saving, loading, and rewind functions are available in the menu.

The emulator proved to be very stable, the games run smoothly and do not crash, and the controls are responsive.