This page contains a list of Emulators available to run on the PS Vita, through the HENkaku hack. These are considered “native” emulators, using the full power of the PS Vita, per opposition to emulators available through the ePSP system on the Vita (for those, see Emulators for the PSP / PS Vita – The ultimate download list)
Please note that emulation on the PS Vita is still in its early stages. Many of the emulators below have bugs. In general, we recommend to check our HENkaku forum to look for the latest version or ask for help. This could help you confirm if a given emulator actually works before throwing your console through the window!
In order to run the following emulators on your PS Vita, you will first need to install the HENkaku hack on your console.
Emulators for the PS Vita – The Ultimate Download list
These emulators are compatible with the HENkaku hack. For more emulators, that run through other methods, please check our “ultimate emulators download list”
In general, you’ll find that Retroarch, which emulates more than 20 different consoles and Operating systems, is probably your best choice for now. If you want to look deeper into specific systems for alternatives, check below.
0. Quick links
Table of contents to jump directly to the emulator you are looking for!
- Second Generation Consoles (1970’s)
- Third Generation Consoles (8-bit era, 1980’s)
- Fourth Generation Consoles (16-bit era, 1980’s & 1990’s)
- Fifth Generation Consoles (32/64-bit era, 1990’s)
- Sixth Generation Consoles (128-bit era, 2000’s)
- Seventh Generation Consoles (late 2000’s)
- Computers
- Others
1. What you need
A variety of emulators exist for the Sony PS Vita. Explaining to you how to install and run them is not the main goal of this article, but you will need to get your console ready first. Check the explanations below:
- If you want to run these emulators on your Vita, you will need to run a PS Vita custom Firmware or homebrew enabler. The procedure to achieve that is easy and described here .
- Now could be the right time for you to get a PS TV, while they’re cheap in stilll in stock. Just sayin’
2. Emulators Downloads
The links below are download links for emulators that will run on the PS Vita. However, we do not provide any links to “roms”. Additionally, a few emulators require a “bios” file which we cannot distribute for legal reasons. You have to provide your own. Details on how to install those emulators and additional help can be found below.
The download links below are kept up to date regularly in order to guarantee we provide the latest and greatest version of each emulator. When several options are possible, we added alternatives in parenthesis. But if you find better, please let us know!
Second Generation Consoles (1970’s)
- Atari 2600: Retroarch (Stella core)
- Vectrex: Retroarch (vecx core)
Third Generation Consoles (8-bit era, 1980’s)
- Nintendo Entertainment System (NES, Famicon): Retroarch (fceumm core or quicknes core or Nestopia core)
- Sega Master System: SMSPlusVita
- Atari 7800: Retroarch (prosystem core)
Fourth Generation Consoles (16-bit era, 1980’s & 1990’s)
Note: If you grew up in the 90’s and like retro gaming, you might want to check the Hyperkin RetroN 5, a 5-in-1 gaming console that supports your original cartridges for the NES, SNES, Genesis/Megadrive, Game Boy and GBA.
- Super Nintendo (SNES): Snes9xVita (don’t like it? try Retroarch – CATSFC core or Snes9x_next core)
- Sega Genesis/ Megadrive: Genesis Plus GX (don’t like it? Try Retroarch – Genesis Plus core or Picodrive core)
- Neo Geo: Retroarch (fb-alpha cores)
- Gameboy & Gameboy Color: RealBoy-Vita (don’t like it? Try Retroarch – Gambatte core or tgbdual core )
- Game Gear: SMSPlusVita
- Atari Lynx: HandyVita (don’t like it? Try Retroarch – HandyVita core)
Fifth Generation Consoles (32/64-bit era, 1990’s)
- Neo Geo Pocket/Color: NeopopVita (don’t like it? Try Retroarch – mednafen-ngp core)
- Virtual Boy: Retroarch – mednafen vb core
- Sega Saturn: Retroarch (Yabause core)
Sixth Generation Consoles (128-bit era, 2000’s)
- Gameboy Advance (GBA): mGBA (don’t like it? Try Retroarch gPSP core)
- Bandai Wonderswan: Retroarch – mednafen-wswan core
Seventh Generation Consoles (late 2000’s)
- Nintendo DS (NDS): DeSmuME-Vita (don’t like it? Try the other port by Xerpi, or the Retroarch DeSmuMEe core)
Computers
Others
- Cave Story (NXEngine): Retroarch – nxengine core
- Doom (PrBoom): Retroarch – prboom core
- Quake: VitaQuake (don’t like it? try Retroarch – TyrQuake core)
3. Need More?
Up to date list of Homebrews and utilities for your HENkaku-enabled PS Vita.
Looking for emulators running on other platforms? Check our emulators page.
PERFECT!!! DOWNLOADING 😉
sir where can i download this emulator?
You literally click the clickable names and it’ll lead you to their pages.
How do you add games when you do this?
You read the readme file.. if you’re too lazy to do that, there’s no hope for you 😛
I have 3.52 running in my vita and am looking to run some emulators so I can play all the old super marios brothers. Can someone point me in the right direction?
pay attention to wololo and wait for a exploitable game to become available in your area. these are for Rejuvenate and unfortunately, 3.52 dose not currently support it.
If you’re on 3.52 go to the vita cfw page to learn how to get ark/tn-v on there. Pretty sure you can still do it on that fw. You can play psp & ps1 games +psp brew (pretty much all of the emulators in here + more) through tn-v if you need some incentive. 😉
OK, I was reading that you have to have the Vita connected to your PC to run Homebrew/Emulators, but does it have to be connected all the time while Playing/using the HB/Emu?
For now you need to connect to a pc or android phone everytime you want to run a homebrew on PS Vita.
Not all the time… Once you run the homebrew/emulator you can disconnect it from the pc/android.
Yeah only if you’re using rejuvenate xP the only thing you need to do (as it says on the vita cfw page ffs) is if youre at 3.52 or lower put tn-v/ark on it if you’re higher than that update to 3.60 then go to the henkaku page and follow directions. You only need to do that every cold boot (full reset) if you put it in sleep you don’t need to redo it. All of this is covered on the vita cfw page.
It would be fantastic if someone made a N64 emulator. Nothing would be better than Turok 2 on my vita.
Well if you have tn-v maybe even ark I’m pretty sure you can use the n64 emulator made for the psp on your vita. So essentially emulating a system emulating another system xP. For now that’s the only way to get n64 stuff on your vita.
so you are replying after 1 year of his question :))))
Question to Wololo. I tried some of this emulators but none of them worked on PS TV (Rejuvenate) is there a way to recompile to PS TV .
can this emulators be played with two controllers? Because I tried the emulators through PSP but I can’t play with two controllers. Thank you
So I guess it’s still to early too ask for a native ps1 emulator on the vita? All I want to do is play my dragon warrior 7 on the go. Should I just get a psp since it’s less work?
If you’re looking for native PS1 emulation on the go get a PSP or Nvidia Shield portable (the one with a controller connected to the screen)…seriously. Don’t waste your time on the Vita when there are other devices at the end of their life cycle that play PS1 games flawlessly.
Dunno, PS1 loader works well enough for me. The Vita 1000 screen is far superior to the PSP’s one, plus, you can do an awful lot more with it.
are you saying the vita can do more than the psp? if so you are so far from true the vita is just barely getting its foot into the door of homebrew stuff
but once you get in its a damn coliseum of oppurtunity. XD
Not as big of a colosseum as the psp. That’s the proper way to spell colosseum btw Google knows a lot of stuff.
Is there any work be done on PS3 emulation for the Vita?
I what universe is the Vita more powerful than ps3 let alone so powerful that it could emulate it?
No, no. It’s okay. Let the man speak. I want to see how long we can keep this going. 😀
Not as big of a colosseum as the psp. That’s the proper way to spell colosseum btw Google knows a lot of stuff.
just want psp emu >_>
***. bring back pn-t
Excellent! !! What .vpk do I download to play .pce files?
There is also that version of Catsfc https://github.com/exsinner/CATSFC-libretro/releases
It has a better Interface for the Vita than the retroarch one.
Hello, anybody here has tried the golden sun 2 rom on mgba? I tried both Europe and US roms but the sound is not good and the game is lagging.
I get a error with every core that i load a rom on. Iv tried zip and unzipped roms. I don’t understand what im doing wrong.
I have a PSM Dev project that is half finished, can I make this work now that I used this hack?
Excellent! !! What .vpk do I download to play .pce files?
pce are for pcengine emulator, there are none for HENkaku right now.
Mednafen works great!
Hi. Is there a tutorial of how to make it works?
NINTENDO 64 NATIVE EMU FOR VITA……….. i wish o’ i wish =))
is there any plans for a commodore 64 emulator for vita?
how can i download it?
I just bought a ps vita running 2.12 where should I start I want to be able to install psp games
No Nintendo 64 for Vita? ***?