Top 5 Android Emulators for Gaming in 2021
Is an Android Emulator Right for You?
If you have an Android device, you've been there: You're playing your favorite Android game and you have that moment of frustration. It can exist for many reasons: You are aggravated by the set-up of the game and wish that you could use a computer mouse, or you're trying to type strategy to one of your teammates and cannot simultaneously move your player while issuing commands on the tiny keyboard. At moments like this, you're probably wishing that you had a chance to play your favorite game on your computer.
Well...what if you could? It's time for you to check out an Android emulator.
An Android Emulator is a program that allows you to take your favorite Android games and play them on your PC. All you have to do is download the program in question and follow the instructions. When you get right down to it, these are some pretty cool programs, as they enable amazing versatility and flexibility.
The possibilities for gamers are obvious: Android Emulators give users an opportunity to play their favorite Android games on their computers. Indeed, the games being developed for Android devices have absolutely tremendous potential. However, that doesn't mean that there aren't ways to enhance the experience on the whole. Using Android Emulators can allow users to play their favorite games with a keyboard and mouse, dramatically improving the overall experience and making it far easier to play. Look at Emulators as game enhancers.
There are plenty of emulators out there, but some have much better features than others. Here's a look at the top five emulators for your PC.
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BlueStacks
BlueStacks motto is "Play Bigger," and it certainly allows you to do that. Indeed, this may be the perfect motto for any Android emulator, BlueStacks deserves a lot of credit for setting up a system that allows for fantastic use.
BlueStacks is an emulator that understands that many of its most popular uses will come from players who want to play shooting games but can't stand an Android's smaller screen and limited ability to control a first-person shooter. As such, it comes with preset controls, though it does allow you to customize these controls to create an experience that best suits your needs. Furthermore, it comes with a "shooting mode" that promises to allow you to shoot quicker and with more accuracy.
BlueStacks also comes with a feature known as Multi-Instance. This allows you to play multiple games at the same time. If you are someone who enjoys playing the same game with different characters or are working at grinding and leveling up, this can be an incredible feature. You can also create your own scripts that allow the game to run the same commands over and over again - a feature that has numerous uses for many types of games.
BlueStacks is clearly more than just an Emulator - it's a power tool and one that will allow you to expand the ways in which you use games like this.
LDPlayer
LDPlayer has a very sharp website that offers an advanced look at a variety of its features. Like many other Android emulators, LDPlayer offers customized controls, multi-instance tools, the ability to create macros and scripts, and sharp gameplay that allows you get the most out of your gaming experience. These features are highly useful and an absolute minimum for any Android emulator, as they are widely available on many similar platforms, including those reviewed here.
What makes LDPlayer stand out more than others is its emphasis on community play and helping users get started in the Android emulator world. A look on its website reveals numerous guides and tips that are clearly geared towards new users. These include ways to fix bugs, set up programs, switch graphics cards, enable virtualization technology, and more. These are guides that are simply not available on many other similar programs and truly give LDPlayer a competitive advantage.
Furthermore, the emulator has a highly active and regularly updated blog that comes with tips, tricks, and reviews of games that you can play on the emulators.
NoxPlayer
NoxPlayer is an emulator that comes with the standard features noted above, including macro creation, multi-instance operations, and the ability to customize your control experience. Interestingly enough, NoxPlayer has an "app center" on its website. This allows you to download and play games directly through the NoxPlayer.
You can also leave a rating on the game for user NoxPlayer users to see and discuss. This is clearly an effort by the emulator to keep players on their website. However, it's also highly useful, as it positions NoxPlayer as its own community. Admittedly, this would be even more useful if players who download NoxPlayer could then discuss the games with each other, like on a forum. Unfortunately, there is no such feature. However, NoxPlayer does have an active blog that is regularly updated and reviews games from a NoxPlayer perspective, and this is a highly useful feature.
Worth noting: NoxPlayer positions itself slightly differently, as it notes it is an ideal emulator for PC and Mac computers. This marketing for Mac's makes the program a bit different than many others.
MEmu Play
MEmu Play takes a game-centric approach, not a platform-centric one. In other words, its website is largely dedicated toward explaining and reviewing the games that can be downloaded, and not the features of its program. With so many options for Android emulators out there, you may be worried that this would mean that the emulator doesn't make it easy to find its various features, but thankfully, this is not the case.
The website advertises "millions" of games for you to download, and the platform makes it easy to do just that. It also comes with a series of frequently asked questions that make the program easy to install and make it easy for you to resolve errors that may appear on the game. With over 100 million downloads, it's easy to see what MEmu Play is so popular.
GameLoop
GameLoop claims to be the most popular emulator available, with over 500 million downloads. A quick review of their features quickly reveals just why they may be so popular. In addition to all of the standard features noted above, GameLoop also has some more advanced uses that can make life much easier for players, including an advanced fraud prevention system that makes it difficult for players to use the emulator and cheat. It also offers support in multiple languages.
Additionally, unlike other emulators, GameLoop does have a dedicated forum that has tens of thousands of members. Users can use the forum to discuss game or system-related issues. This is great for both the GameLoop emulator and its players, as the forum creates a dedicated community that makes it easy to communicate.