Android ROMs - How To Download and Play ROMs on Android Devices

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Understanding how to download and install ROMs can be confusing, especially if you are new to Emulation. Most of the Emulators(Systems) you will see on the Android Market are conversions from the original emulators you find on the internet for PC, they have just been modified to fit the Android operating system.

The first step in your quest to emulating old school games (Android ROM's) on your Android Device is to download an Emulator. You can do this by searching our website or the Android Market for "Emulators."

What is an emulator? An emulator is the console or system(Nintendo, N64)in digital format, such as a Digital Super Nintendo instead of one that you can touch or feel. This may not be the perfect explanation but it is the easiest.

Now that you've downloaded an Emulator, you will need to downoad a game or ROM. A ROM is the digital copy of the game. ROM stands for Read Only Memory. Emulator = Console, ROM = Game. Starting to make sense? You need a game to play on your console right? Right!

Next is the tricky part that people often get confused with... Where do I save my games and how do I open them? I always tell people to save the games in a folder on their phone called ROMS, this is for organizational purposes of course. I usually save mine in sdcard/Downloads/Roms/ or simply /Roms/. You either need to save the games via PC->Phone using a USB Cable, this means getting our on website, download the games to your computer, then transfering them to your phone with your USB Cable. The more perferred method is to download directly to your phone using ROM Leecher(ROM APP), the games will save to directly to your phone bypassing any need for a PC. Files save to /sdcard/Download when using ROM Leecher.

Some Emulators require a BIOS File, it is file needed to start the game. You always place a BIOS file in the same folder the ROMs are in, typically PSX, GBA, Neo Geo, Atari are emulators that require a BIOS File. The way you load a BIOS file is the emulator will prompt you to specify the location, just find it and load it. Your done.

After you've figured out how to download the ROM's and store them, you will need to open your Emulator. When the Emulator is open, it will prompt you to specify a ROM. You will need to browse back to your home directory If not already there), then go to sdcard/Download/ or to the place you stored your ROMs.

Finally, the game should load, however with some systems like Playstation or Nintendo 64, settings have to be tweaked. Not all games will perform the same, some are bad copies or some emulators don't support the game yet. By tweaking I mean you will have to change frame rates or speed. Rule of thumb, the newer the system, the likelihood it is more complicated increases.

I don't have the answers or fix for every game, simply put not all games will work so move to the next one. You can always try a different country or copy of the game. If that doesnt work and you are desperate to play a certain game, visit EmuParadise.org and download a PC Emulator, compatibility is much...much better! Overall, all over the internet people have fixes for a lot fo the games, so youou need to collaborate with your peers on this website, our chat sometimes is a good tool. Don't get angry, in the event you can't figure it out here, you can always check out forums or google "Need help with GAME, wont load on ANDROID" or something that area. Just make sure to include proper keywords so you get more accurate topic or threads on Google. Enjoy all your classic games and I hope you have fun!

If you have any questions or game requests, make sure you let me know. I perfer if you use the forum because then I can look back at it at a later point!

You can always visit these sites for more games and help,
http://www.romfind.com
http://www.emuparadise.org

[ Full Size ] - If no one answers, please visit the forum and post a thread! Thank you ;-)

Android ROsM: A more indept look on how to emulate on Android

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