Best Android Emulators For Gaming

With the rise of mobile gaming comes the need for good android emulators. Since I like to record and upload gameplay videos for a lot of mobile MMOs, I needed to find a good android emulator because recording on my tablet isn't easy and the quality isn't nearly as good as an emulator. I also prefer to play mobile games on my PC when I can because I have a bigger screen and can multi-task while gaming. I've tried quite a few android emulators over the years and have personally downloaded and tested each of the android emulators listed below:

Best Android Emulators For Gaming:

Blue Stacks

Blue Stacks was one of the first super popular android emulators having launched in 2012. With over 300 million users it remains the largest free android emulator on the PC. From my experience it works really well for well known games like Clash Royale, Vainglory, Seven Knights, etc but sometimes has issues with some of the more obscure games. I've personally used Blue Stacks extensively and it's probably the best emulator for everyday use as it's by far the most user friendly. It's also gotten a lot better over the years and continually gets updated. As of 2018 they boast that they're the biggest gaming platform after Steam on the PC with over 300 million users. As of February 2021 BlueStacks has more than 500 million users and has been downloaded over 1 billion times. It's easily the most popular and widely used Android emulator on the PC. Blue Stacks Subreddit

Nox Android Emulator

After downloading and trying a dozen or so android emulators, I can safely say that Nox is probably the best or tied for the best with Bluestacks. There's a reason Tencent literally uses Nox as their PC client for their hit mobile moba King of Glory (known as Arena of Valor Internationally). They do so because it works really well. The biggest issue with most android emulators is that they just don't work for a lot of games. You'd go to open a game and it wouldn't launch or it'll instantly crash. I'm not saying Nox is perfect, but from my experience Nox can run more games flawlessly than any other android emulator and does so with excellent performance (high frame rates). Nox is a solid android emulator that I continue to use regularly, but nowadays its not my first choice (that belongs to Blue Stacks). Every mobile gameplay video I put on Youtube was recorded using Nox Player or Blue Stacks. Nox Subreddit

LDPlayer

LDPlayer bills itself as a 'Lightweight & fast android emulator'. Its developed by a Chinese company called Xuanzhi and boasts over 4 million daily active users and over 270+ million installs. I've personally downloaded and tested LDPlayer in the past and its a top notch emulator that's on par with the heavyweights Nox and Bluestacks. LDPlayer Subreddit

MEmu Android Emulator

Fast and Reliable

MEmu is a popular android emulator amongst many Twitch streamers designed specifically to play games on the PC. It's updated regularly and boasts "2x the performance" as other Android Emulators.

GenyMotion

Another well known android emulator. While Nox and Bluestacks are aimed at gamers, Genymotion is largely aimed at app developers. It's best known for its stability and regular updates. While it has a free version it also offers a paid professional version for freelancers/contractors. Excellent for app development/testing, but can also be used just to play games. One annoying aspect of Genymotion is that users need to create a Genymotion account before they can download and use the software.

Droid4X (Dead emulator)

Droid4X is yet another popular android emulator. After giving up on Blue Stacks I used Droid4x for a while but ran into some of the same issues that plagued Blue Stacks. Namely, the emulator not working for certain games. The emulator itself wouldn't crash, but trying to open a game would lead to an endless black screen. There are also reports of Droid4x comping pre-packaged with some Chinese torrenting software called Xunlei which could hog some bandwidth as it downloads stuff in the background. It also stopped being updated.

Ultimately your best bet is going to be either Nox or Bluestacks. Both are great and I recommend trying them both out. I personally have both installed on my PC and if Nox doesn't work for something, I'll try Bluestacks.

BlueStacks 5 Global Release

Top 5 Best Android Emulators for PC!

Been playing MMOs since I first got my hands on Ultima Online when I was 12 years old. Played so many games from Star Wars Galaxies to MapleStory to DAoC to World of Warcraft. Long time League of Legends player too! I'm also Known as "ReMo" and "Remotay"