How Tos

How to play SNES games on Android - with the best Super Nintendo emulator

Turn your phone into a Mario machine

How to play SNES games on Android - with the best Super Nintendo emulator
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Did you know that your Android phone or tablet has the power to play all the classic Super Nintendo games you enjoyed as a kid?

Flip a switch, download a few files, install some apps, and you could be playing Super Mario World on your Nexus 7 or exploring the caverns of Super Metroid on your Galaxy S III.

There are a lot of SNES emulators (apps that mimic an old console and let you play those vintage games) on Android, but we think SNesoid is the pick of the bunch.

Not only is it completely free, but it's also packed with features. It has completely customisable controls (including Xperia Play support), save states and cheats, multiplayer over Bluetooth or wi-fi, top performance, and near-complete compatibility.

Want to install it on your 'droid? Follow our step-by-step guide, and you'll have Chrono Trigger running on your device before you can say "isn't this slightly illegal?"

Note: Pocket Gamer does not condone piracy, and offers this information for entertainment purposes only. Pocket Gamer also takes no responsibility if you follow this guide and manage to bugger up your phone in the process.

SNesoid is not available on the Google Play Store, so you'll need to give your Android device permission to install and run apps that were sourced from outside the main marketplace. This is very easy to do. Enter the 'Settings' on your phone, tap 'Applications', and find 'Unknown sources'. how-to-gba-android-01
Now, we need to download the emulator. You can find the file here, at SlideME. If you're using your phone or tablet, the file will instantly start downloading. When it's done, drag down the notification bar and tap the 'Download complete' alert to install. If you'd rather download it onto your computer, simply plug your phone in with a USB cable, and find the SD card under 'My Computer' on Windows or 'Devices' on OS X. Now, drag the APK file onto the card. When you grab your phone, use a file manager app (we recommend AndroZip) on the phone to find the SNesoid APK and tap 'Install' to, you guessed it, install it. how-to-snes-android-03
The emulator will now load up when tapped, but we need to download some games before we can actually play. These are called ROMs and use the file extension .SMC (but SNesoid will also read ROMs inside zip files). You can find them online with a little creative Googling. Our lawyers told us not to give you the exact locations of any naughty files. If you're using your phone, you can download the ROM and click the completed download alert from your notifications drop-down. This will let you choose which app to use - so pick SNesoid, and the game will start playing. If you're on your computer, connect your phone via USB and find the SD card. Drag and drop the ROM file into a sensible location (maybe make a new folder called "SNES Games"). Now, open SNesoid and navigate to that folder in the game list. how-to-snes-android-05
You should be good to go. If you've followed these steps to the letter, classic Super NES games should be filling your screen, and you should be heading down memory lane. By default, the screen will be covered with virtual buttons. If you're using a device with physical buttons, hit the menu key, choose 'Settings', and choose 'Input settings'. From here, uncheck the virtual keypad settings, and then go into 'Key mappings'. Now, tap on each button name (Left, X, Start, etc.) and press the physical button you'd like to assign it to. When you're all done, you will be able to play with your Xperia Play controls, or a physical keyboard. how-to-android-snes-04

Mark Brown
Mark Brown
Mark Brown is editor at large of Pocket Gamer