EZRetro Review: Lemuroid Emulator – The Best All-in-One Mobile Emulator for Retro Gaming in 2025?

2025 is shaping up to be a great year for retro emulation. As time goes on, the fascination with classic games only grows stronger.

This year, Suikoden I & II received a remastered release for modern consoles, drawing new players eager to experience these iconic titles as they originally played on older hardware.

With retro handhelds now mainstream, gamers have more options than ever to enjoy classics on the go. One of the easiest and most accessible ways is through mobile emulators.

Unfortunately, many emulators have either been removed from the Play Store or abandoned entirely.

Thankfully, new emulators continue to emerge—some even capable of running multiple types of ROMs, unlike older ones limited to a single console.

One standout option is Lemuroid, a versatile emulator that supports a number of consoles.

What is Lemuroid?

Lemuroid is an open-source emulator optimized for Android devices. It can emulate a wide range of consoles, from the 2nd generation (Atari 2600) up to the 8th generation (Nintendo 3DS). It features an intuitive GUI that’s beginner-friendly and optimized for touch controls.

But just because it supports all these systems—are the games actually playable? Let’s find out.

Setup

Assuming you already have your ROMs saved on your phone, the first step is downloading Lemuroid from the Play Store, GitHub, or a trusted source. After installation, open the app.

On the home screen, tap the settings icon (top right corner), then tap on “Directory Settings” under the ROMs section. Locate your ROMs folder, then tap the “Use This Folder” button at the bottom. This allows the app to scan your selected folder for supported ROMs.

Once scanning is complete, Lemuroid will automatically download the necessary cores for each supported system.

*Note: Lemuroid can read ZIP and RAR files, but it’s best to unzip them and organize your ROMs into separate folders by system (e.g., PSP ISOs in a different folder than SNES ROMs). This makes it easier to identify any broken or unusable ROMs that just take up space.

Performance issues

Before testing each core, there’s one issue that needs addressing: frame rate speed-up, especially on older systems (2nd gen and beyond). While the emulator renders these games well, high refresh rates on newer phones (e.g., 120Hz or more) can cause the games to run too fast—making precise-control games like platformers or fighters difficult to play.

There’s no official patch for this from the Lemuroid community, but a workaround exists. Since the speed-up is tied to your phone’s refresh rate, adding Lemuroid to your phone’s Game Booster or Game Assistant feature helps. This appears to cap the refresh rate at 60Hz, aligning with most retro cores.

In my tests:

• On the Vivo Y76, adding Lemuroid to the Game Assistant solved the problem.
• On the Infinix Note 50, I had to enable Power saving mode and lock the refresh rate at 60Hz to fix the issue.

Depending on your phone, the Game Booster/Assistant may be named differently. Just look for the pre-installed app that deals with game optimization and do your tweaks there.

With the proper settings in place, let’s dive into system-specific performance.

Nintendo Entertainment System (NES/Famicom)

The 8-bit era holds a special place in my heart. I grew up with the Famicom—locally known (at least in the Philippines) as the “Family Computer.” Titles like Super Mario, Bomberman, Pac-Man, Adventure Island, and Contra were weekend staples. As I grew older, my interest changed to Rockman, Battle City, Ninja Gaiden, Final Fantasy and Fire Emblem.

Despite the abundance of NES emulators over the years, I never found one with a perfect control scheme—especially for games requiring combined inputs, like running and jumping in Mario. Lemuroid nails this, with touch controls that make precise movements much easier.

Sega Master System

I’ll admit—this was my first time experiencing the Sega Master System. Growing up, I had never even heard of it, so testing it out was a genuinely eye-opening experience.

I started with The Incredible Hulk. The touch layout resembled the NES, minus a Select button. It ran smoothly.

I also tested Heroes of the Lance, which performed equally well. Sure, I wiped out my party pretty quickly, but that was on me.

The controls are simple—just two buttons plus directional input and Start—making it approachable. If you’re a Master System fan, you’ll likely be impressed with how well Lemuroid handles it.

PC-Engine / TurboGrafx-16

A familiar favorite of mine, I was surprised to see how well PC-Engine games ran on mobile. I dove into Tower of Druaga, one of my all-time classics, and it played great.

I also experimented by adding MSX ROMs, but unfortunately, Lemuroid doesn’t support MSX. Still, games like Andre Panza Kick Boxing worked perfectly, with responsive touch controls that felt natural on mobile. I just wish the I and II buttons were a bit tilted but otherwise they work great.

Wonder Swan

We largely overlooked the WonderSwan growing up, mostly because its game library was Japan-exclusive. But thanks to English ROM hacks, we can now experience them properly.

I tested Guilty Gear Petit and was genuinely impressed. The circular D-pad and tilted A/B button layout made it comfortable and easy to play. I also tried Makai Toshi Saga, which I found more enjoyable than the Saga mobile collection—though maybe that’s just personal bias.

Despite limited controls, Guilty Gear Petit felt responsive and fun— and surprisingly enjoyable even of I haven’t got the faintest idea story wise since this one’s in Japanese.

Game Boy

When it comes to emulating Game Boy titles, Lemuroid is a fantastic option on mobile. The touch control layout is clean and intuitive, and the app includes options for tweaking color palettes, which adds a nice nostalgic feel.

My go-to test game is Magic Knight Rayearth. There’s a SNES version too, but the Game Boy version holds more sentimental value for me. I played the Japanese version as a kid, not understanding the language but enjoying it immensely—same story with Super Robot Taisen.With solid compatibility and features, Lemuroid is easily one of the best ways to enjoy Game Boy and Game Boy Color titles today.

Game Boy Color

Let’s be honest—Game Boy Color is a haven for homebrew titles. Even in 2025, the homebrew scene is thriving, producing some truly standout games.

For this review, I tested two: Dawn Will Come and The Mayor of Sanctuary. The former has a vibe reminiscent of This War of Mine but in a text-based format. The latter feels like Zelda… if Link were an old man (I’m still playing through it, so don’t quote me on the plot!). Both games ran smoothly and looked great.

Neo Geo Pocket Color

This handheld is criminally underrated—especially for 2D fighting games. Finding a reliable emulator for NGP has always been tough. With NGPemu gone and RetroArch being a bit too complex, I struggled for years.

But Lemuroid changed that. Games that previously ran too fast or had visual glitches now run smoothly. The touch layout is precise—I can even pull off diagonal inputs or press B and A simultaneously, which is rare for mobile.

Honestly, if nothing else, get Lemuroid for NGP emulation. It’s that good.

Game Gear

When the Game Gear first came out, everyone I knew wanted one. Even I, a proud Game Boy owner, would’ve traded it in a heartbeat—until a friend got one.

He had X-Men: Game Master’s Legacy, which was a blast… for about 30 minutes, until the batteries died. The Game Gear’s biggest flaw was its power consumption. Unlike the battery-efficient Game Boy, the Game Gear needed constant charging—and back then, handhelds were meant to be played outdoors, not tethered to a power outlet.

Thankfully, emulation fixes all that. On Lemuroid, Game Gear games run really well. I haven’t tried other Game Gear emulators, so I can’t compare them directly, but Lemuroid’s control scheme works just as well here as it does on other systems.

Sega Mega Drive/Genesis

The Mega Drive was a constant companion during the early years of my teenage life. Over the years, several emulators and even standalone apps—like those for Streets of Rage and Sonic the Hedgehog—have appeared on mobile.

While those standalone versions run okay, the constant ads were off-putting. As for emulators, many struggled with GUI issues or lacked proper optimization.

I often encountered mistouches, especially in beat ’em up titles—something Sega absolutely excelled at.

Lemuroid runs Genesis games quite well, which isn’t surprising, but the button layout can be an issue. On the 3-button setup, the A, B, and C buttons feel oddly placed, perhaps to better enable A-B, B-C, and A-C combo inputs. The 6-button layout, however, can be downright frustrating due to the limited screen space.

For Sega consoles—Genesis and Dreamcast included—it’s best to use a wireless controller, ideally one modeled after the original 6-button layout.

Note: If you’re hoping to emulate Sega Saturn, especially now that a fan translation of Sakura Taisen was released this year, Lemuroid won’t cut it. There’s no Saturn core available. RetroArch remains your best bet for Saturn emulation.

Sony Playstation

Let’s clear one thing up: Lemuroid sometimes detects PS2 ISOs as PS1 games. If you accidentally try to run a PS2 title, your phone will lag or even freeze. And no, Lemuroid does not support PS2, despite what the UI might suggest.

That said, it handles PS1 games surprisingly well. One of the perks is that you don’t need to load a BIOS file to get your games running. The touchscreen controls feature circular directional buttons and a standard layout on the right-hand side. The only downside is the lack of analog stick support, so directional input is strictly via the D-pad.

If you’re just getting into retro emulation, Lemuroid’s PS1 support will serve you well. However, for a more advanced and customizable experience, DuckStation remains the gold standard for PS1 emulation on mobile.

Nintendo DS

NDS emulation on Lemuroid is, frankly, not worth the effort. Audio tearing is a common issue, and the screen layout options are extremely limited.

In landscape mode, the top and bottom screens are stacked vertically, making the playable area feel cramped.

In portrait mode, while the layout is a bit better, the virtual buttons at the bottom of the screen make gameplay awkward—unless you reposition them manually, which isn’t ideal either.

If DS games are your thing, you’re much better off using melonDS for its superior touchscreen handling and customizable layouts.

Nintendo 64

I really wanted to enjoy playing N64 games on Lemuroid. The control layout is decent, and it looks promising on the surface. But without the ability to adjust the screen size or layout, games feel too small and cramped.

More critically, the analog stick emulation lacks precision. Trying to make accurate inputs often results in overshooting, which is a major issue for titles like StarCraft 64 or Tactics Ogre: Person of Lordly Caliber.

If you’re primarily interested in playing something like Pokémon Stadium, it may still work. But for most N64 titles, I’d recommend sticking to M64Plus FZ for a far better experience.

Sony PlayStation Portable

To be honest, I don’t see why anyone would choose to emulate PSP games on Lemuroid when PPSSPP exists—for free, and right there on the Play Store.

Still, for the sake of review, PSP games do run reasonably well on Lemuroid—provided you enable performance mode in your phone’s game booster or assistant. If things still feel sluggish, you can activate frame skip, tweak resolution, and adjust texture scaling in the settings.

However, customization for touchscreen controls is limited. You can reposition and scale them, but you can’t add combo buttons or remap individual inputs freely. If you’re serious about playing PSP games, stick with PPSSPP for the best experience.

Nintendo 3DS

Lemuroid does list 3DS support, though it clearly states the feature is still in beta. I tried running Fire Emblem Warriors—which even struggles on Citra—and unsurprisingly, it crashed. After restarting the app, I tested Fire Emblem: Awakening, which worked through the tutorial stage, albeit with minor sound glitches.

You can switch the screen layout between top-bottom and side-by-side, but there’s no true fullscreen mode. Even with the layout set horizontally, the screens stay centered and relatively small.

Performance drops sharply if you increase resolution beyond 1x.Turn-based games may run fine, depending on your device’s screen size, but for serious 3DS gaming, Citra or Lime3DS is the better route.

Verdict

Lemuroid is a fantastic starting point for newcomers to mobile emulation. Its user-friendly design and wide console compatibility make it ideal for revisiting older generations—from the Atari 2600 to early 3D consoles like the PlayStation.

For modern or more demanding systems, however, it’s still best to use dedicated emulators tailored for each platform. Lemuroid’s strength lies in its simplicity and multi-system support, but when you’re chasing performance and customizability, alternatives like PPSSPP, DuckStation, melonDS, and M64Plus FZ are hard to beat.