Lemuroid

Overview

Lemuroid is a free, open-source app for Android that plays games from many older consoles. An emulator is a program that imitates a console, so that its games can run on another device, here your phone, tablet or Android TV box. Lemuroid is built on libretro, a project that provides ready-made emulators called cores. A core is the part that imitates one console, and Lemuroid chooses the right one for you.

Lemuroid is made for beginners. You do not configure each console: you pick the folder that holds your games, and Lemuroid lists them by console, with their covers when it knows them. It has no ads. If you later want finer settings for one console, a dedicated emulator gives more control.

Consoles covered: Atari 2600, 7800 and Lynx, NES, Super Nintendo, Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo 64, Nintendo DS, Nintendo 3DS, Mega Drive (Genesis), Mega CD, Master System, Game Gear, PlayStation, PSP, PC Engine, Neo Geo Pocket, WonderSwan and arcade games (FinalBurn Neo).

Key words explained

• ROM or game file: a copy of a game stored as a file. For disc consoles it is a disc image, a single file (such as .iso, .bin or .cue) that contains a whole disc.

• Core: the emulator for one console that Lemuroid uses behind the scenes. For example, the PSP core is PPSSPP and the Game Boy Advance core is mGBA.

• BIOS: a small program built into a console that starts it up. Some emulators need a copy of it. It is a file you must dump (copy) from your own console.

• In-game save: the save the game itself offers, like on the real console (a memory card or a battery save).

• Save state: a snapshot of the whole console at one precise moment. Loading it puts you back exactly there, even in the middle of a level.

• Checksum (CRC32): a number computed from a file's content. Lemuroid compares it with a public database to identify a game.

• M3U playlist: a small text file that lists the discs of a multi-disc game, one file name per line.

• Display simulation: a filter that makes the picture look like the original screen (LCD for handhelds, CRT for old televisions).

System requirements

Lemuroid does not publish exact minimum specifications. Its store page only warns that not every device can run every console, and that a very powerful device is needed for recent systems such as the PSP, DS and 3DS. As a rough guide:

• Any Android device for the 8-bit and 16-bit consoles and the Game Boy Advance.

• A mid-range device for the PlayStation and the PSP.

• A powerful device for the Nintendo 64, the DS and above all the 3DS.

To check your device, open Settings > About phone on Android: it shows the model and the Android version. Search the model name online to see whether it is a basic, mid-range or high-end device. The best test is simply to try a game.

What you need

• An Android device with Lemuroid installed (see below).

• Your own games, in a folder on the device or on an SD card. Lemuroid contains no games. They must be dumped from your own games and discs.

• Single-file ZIP archives work: the ZIP must contain exactly one file. Other archive formats, or a ZIP holding several files, are skipped, so extract them first.

• Optional, only for some consoles: a BIOS dumped from your own console. For the PlayStation it improves compatibility.

• Optional: a Bluetooth or USB controller, which is more comfortable than touch buttons.

Installation

1. Open the Google Play page on your device and tap Install. You can also use the F-Droid page if you use the F-Droid app store.

2. Open the app. The source code and the project page are on GitHub.

First setup

Lemuroid does not need a long setup. The home screen first asks you to choose the folder with your games.

1. Copy your games into one folder on your device (see the next section for the folder names that help).

2. In Lemuroid, tap Select Directory on the home screen, then choose that folder with the Android file picker and confirm. Lemuroid needs this permission to read the files.

3. Wait while Lemuroid scans the folder. A notification says ROMs scanning in progress, and it can take a few minutes.

4. Your games then appear, sorted by console. The app may also offer to enable notifications, which tell you when a scan or a game runs in the background, and the microphone, which some Nintendo DS games use.

5. If a game is missing, change files or folders as explained below, then use Rescan in the settings.

If your device has no Android file picker, Lemuroid tells you to copy uncompressed game files into its own folder and to press Rescan.

Adding your games

Lemuroid recognises a game when at least one of these is true:

• its checksum (CRC32) matches an entry of the libretro game database;

• for an .iso file, its game serial matches the database;

• its file name matches the database;

• its extension belongs to one console only (.nds, .n64, .gba and so on);

• its extension is shared by several consoles (.iso, .bin) and the file sits directly inside a folder named after the console.

The folder names are: psp, fbneo, gba, gbc, gb, nes, snes, sms, genesis, n64, psx, atari2600, gg. If your games are not detected, sort them into one folder per console using these names. The scanning guide gives the details.

Arcade games (FinalBurn Neo) are only detected officially when they are non-merged sets with the same checksums as the database. Merged sets can be copied by hand into the internal folder Android/data/com.swordfish.lemuroid/files/roms/fbneo.

For a multi-disc PlayStation game, create an M3U playlist in the same folder as the discs. It is a text file that lists the disc files, one per line, for example the .cue file of disc 1, then the one of disc 2. Name it after the game, with the .m3u extension. During play, the game menu has a Change Disk button.

If a game requires a BIOS, copy the BIOS files from your own console into your games folder and rescan. Settings > BIOS shows which files Lemuroid detected and which it supports.

Controls

Controller mapping means telling the app which physical button does what. Lemuroid translates every console to a standard virtual pad, the RetroPad, and you link your buttons to it.

• Touch: the on-screen buttons are adapted to each console. During a game, open the game menu and choose Edit Controls to resize and move them.

• Physical controller: connect it by Bluetooth or USB and Lemuroid uses it automatically. A message tells you which button opens the game menu. To change the mapping, open Settings > External devices, where you can enable devices, associate each RetroPad button by pressing a button of your controller when asked, or reset the bindings.

• Several controllers on one device give local multiplayer.

• Tilt: the Tilt Sensor option in the game menu lets you tilt the device to stand in for the D-pad, a stick or the shoulder buttons.

• Vibration: in the settings you can turn on vibration on touch, and rumble for controllers and games that support it.

Settings that matter

The defaults suit most games. Open the Settings tab of the app to change these.

• Display filter or display simulation: an LCD effect for handhelds, a CRT effect for home consoles. Purely cosmetic. Try it if you want a period look.

• HD mode and HD mode quality: applies an upscaling filter, a process that makes the picture sharper on a big screen. It asks more of the device, so turn it off if the game slows down.

• Fast-Forward in the game menu: speeds the game up, useful for slow passages.

• Change Cores: lets you choose which core is used for a console. Change it only if a game misbehaves.

• Advanced settings: they include low-latency audio, which reduces the delay of the sound but can cause crackling, and Direct game load, an experimental option that shortens loading and uses less cache.

Nintendo DS note: Lemuroid is retiring the DeSmuME core in favour of melonDS. In-game saves load automatically in melonDS, but save states only work with the core that created them.

Saves

• Autosave state: when you leave a game through the game menu, Lemuroid saves a state and resumes it next time. If it causes problems, disable Autosave state in the settings.

• Manual states: the game menu has Save and Load with several slots. Use them before a hard part of a game.

• In-game saves work as in the original game. Save in the game itself too, because states are less portable.

• Cloud saves in the settings: back up and sync your saves online, with an automatic sync before and after a game over Wi-Fi. Syncing states is possible but heavier and less reliable.

• Storage: saves are in Android/data/com.swordfish.lemuroid/files/saves and states in Android/data/com.swordfish.lemuroid/files/states. Copy these two folders to back them up.

• Saves from RetroArch can be imported: turn off Autosave state, then copy them into the saves folder.

A factory reset in the settings keeps your saves and states.

Updating

Update Lemuroid through the store you installed it from (Google Play or F-Droid). Your library, saves and settings are kept.

Common problems

• A game does not appear: it may be in a compressed archive, or its extension is shared by several consoles. Extract it, put it in a folder named after its console, then use Rescan.

• A ZIP is ignored: Lemuroid only reads ZIP archives containing a single file. Extract the content.

• A game does not start and the message mentions a missing BIOS: copy the listed files, dumped from your own console, into your games folder, then rescan.

• A message says the game could not be loaded: make sure the file is supported and rescan. Try a different copy of the game if it keeps failing.

• A message about your save: disable Autosave state in the settings and try again.

• A message about OpenGL ES or an unsupported architecture: this core does not work on your device. Try another core in Change Cores or another emulator.

• Slowdowns on N64, DS or 3DS: these consoles need a powerful device. Turn off HD mode, or try a dedicated emulator.

• Sound crackles: turn off Prefer low-latency audio in the advanced settings.

Going further

• Official project page and README

• FAQ

• Scanning guide

• RetroArch, the same cores with all their settings.

• Dedicated emulators: DuckStation, PPSSPP, M64Plus FZ, melonDS Android, Azahar.