Best Emulators for Linux Ubuntu? Top Picks for Gamers and Devs

Alright, alright, let’s talk about these “emulators” on that Linux thing, Ubuntu, or whatever it’s called. My grandson, he’s always fiddlin’ with this computer stuff. Says I can play old games on it. Imagine that! Me, playin’ games like I did when I was a young’un.

So, what are these emulators anyway? Well, from what I gather, they’re like, pretend machines inside your computer. You know, like a playhouse for games. They trick the games into thinkin’ they’re runnin’ on those old game boxes, the ones we used to have. Nintendo, they called ’em, or somethin’ like that. My boy used to have a whole pile of them.

• First off, there’s this thing called RetroArch. Sounds fancy, huh? It’s like a big ol’ box where you can put lots of different game machine pretend things. You can play games from all sorts of old consoles, they say. Like havin’ a whole attic full of old toys, but on the computer. My grandson, he says it’s “cross-platform,” whatever that means. Works on all sorts of computers, I guess.
• Then there’s MAME. Used to stand for somethin’ long and complicated, but who cares? This one’s for those big arcade games, the ones you used to put quarters in. You remember, down at the pizza place? My husband, he’d spend all his money at that place. Now I can play Pac-Man whenever I want, without wastin’ all his hard-earned cash. Ain’t that somethin’?

And get this, there’s even a pretend machine for somethin’ called a GameBoy Advance. My granddaughter had one, used to carry it around everywhere. It’s called VisualBoy Advance, real easy to put on the computer, they say. So I can play all those little games she used to play. Maybe I’ll finally beat that Tetris thing she was always braggin’ about.

Now, my grandson says there are a whole bunch more of these emulators. He talks about somethin’ called PCSX2, RPCS3, Dolphin, Yuzu…sounds like a bunch of gibberish to me. But he says they let you play games from even newer game boxes, like those PlayStation things and other consoles. I don’t even know what half these things are! All these fancy names!

He also said somethin’ about usin’ somethin’ called Steam. Says it’s for modern games, not like the old ones. But it ain’t really an emulator, more like a big store for games. I don’t know much about that, too new-fangled for me. I like my old games just fine.

Then there are those that help you run other programs, not just games. QEMU, Cygwin, and Bochs, he calls ’em. Sounds complicated. Like tryin’ to fit a square peg in a round hole, if you ask me. But apparently, they let you use programs from other computers on this Linux thing.

Now, how do you get all this stuff on your computer? Well, my grandson says there’s a program called Synaptic that helps you find and install these emulators. He says it helps “organize packages,” but I just nod and pretend I understand. He says it shows you all the places where you can get these pretend machines. Sounds like a lot of work, but he says it’s easier than bakin’ a pie, which is hard to believe.

So there you have it. A whole bunch of pretend machines so you can play old games on your newfangled computer. Who woulda thought? Me, playin’ games again. Maybe I’ll even get good at it this time around. Though I doubt it. My hands ain’t what they used to be. But hey, it’s fun tryin’, right? And it keeps me from botherin’ the young’uns too much. They need their peace and quiet, Lord knows.

Anyway, If you’re new to this Linux thing, don’t you worry none. Just ask your grandkids, they probably know all about it. And if they don’t, well, there’s always that Google thing, I guess. Though I still prefer askin’ a real person, myself.

So go on, get yourself some emulators and have some fun. Life’s too short to be serious all the time. And who knows, maybe you’ll even beat my high score in Pac-Man. But I doubt it. I’m pretty darn good at that game, even if I do say so myself.

Tags：Linux, Ubuntu, Emulators, Retro Gaming, RetroArch, MAME, GameBoy Advance, VisualBoy Advance, PCSX2, RPCS3, Dolphin, Yuzu, Steam, QEMU, Cygwin, Bochs, Synaptic