Dev tools · alternatives · 2026

24 alternatives to RosettaBoy – the same Gameboy emulator in Rust, Python, and C++

A gameboy emulator in several different languages. Contribute to shish/rosettaboy development by creating an account on GitHub.

RosettaBoy is a Game Boy emulator available in three programming languages: Rust, Python, and C++. Designed for developers, it demonstrates how to implement the same emulator across different language ecosystems. The… Below are 24 products that do a similar job, ranked by how close each is in meaning and then by launch-day votes. RosettaBoy – the same Gameboy emulator in Rust, Python, and C++ launched in 2021; newer entries below may have overtaken it.

1. 1
   A Game Boy emulator in C++▲37

   :tv: An (almost) fully featured Game Boy emulator. - Dooskington/GameLad

   2016 · github.com · its alternatives →

2. 2
   LuaGB – A Gameboy emulator written in pure Lua▲136

   A gameboy emulator written in pure Lua. Work in progress. - zeta0134/LuaGB

   2017 · github.com · its alternatives →

3. 3
   An NES emulator written in Rust▲125

   NES emulator written in Rust. Contribute to pcwalton/sprocketnes development by creating an account on GitHub.

   2013 · github.com · its alternatives →

4. 4
   Simple Gameboy Emulator▲82

   Contribute to sacert/Gameboy development by creating an account on GitHub.

   2017 · github.com · its alternatives →

5. 5IA
   IronBoy, a highly accurate GameBoy emulator written in Rust, runs WASM▲33

   Hey HN! Been working on this emulator on and off for the last couple years, and thought now would be a good time to try and show it off here. As far as unique features... I think this is the only online GameBoy emulator with support for save files? So there's your reason to exist, I guess. The WASM port was something I had in the back of my mind but I just kept putting it off because it seemed like it would've been a pain in the ass to implement, but all in all I think it took less than a week so that was a nice surprise!

   2023 · nicolas-siplis.com · its alternatives →

6. 6
   A Golang CP/M emulator▲107

   Z80-based CP/M emulator, in golang. Happily runs Zork, Microsoft BASIC, Turbo Pascal, Wordstar, etc. - skx/cpmulator

   2024 · github.com · its alternatives →

7. 7
   My x86 emulator written in JavaScript▲765

   Run KolibriOS, Linux or Windows 98 in your browser

   2013 · copy.sh · its alternatives →

8. 8GB
   Game Bub – open-source FPGA retro emulation handheld▲274

   Hey HN, Over the past ~1.5 years, I built an open-source FPGA retro emulation handheld that can play Game Boy, Game Boy Color, and Game Boy Advance cartridges. To my knowledge, there isn't an existing open-source FPGA emulator that can play physical cartridges like this. One of my main goals was to do all of the pieces myself, and be able to understand every component of it, so I designed my own PCB, wrote the firmware, wrote a Game Boy and Game Boy Advance emulator for the FPGA (using the Chisel HDL), and designed a 3D-printed case. I detailed the design and development process in the…

   2025 · eli.lipsitz.net · its alternatives →

9. 9
   I'm building a game for the Nintendo GameBoy▲260

   2014 · bonsaiden.github.io · its alternatives →

10. 10
    Pyxel – A Python retro game engine with built-in art and sound editors▲106

    A retro game engine for Python. Contribute to kitao/pyxel development by creating an account on GitHub.

    20d ago · github.com · its alternatives →

11. 11
    Ghidra Plays Mario▲207

    I've been exploring new ways of testing Ghidra processor modules. In this repo, I was able to emulate NES ROMs in Ghidra to test its 6502 specification, which resulted in finding and fixing some bugs. Context: Ghidra is used for reverse engineering binary executables, complementing the usual disassembly view with function decompilation. Each supported architecture has a SLEIGH specification, which provides semantics for parsing and emulating instructions, not unlike the dispatch handlers you would find in interpreters written for console emulators. Emulator devs have long had extensive test…

    2023 · github.com · its alternatives →

12. 12
    An Open Retro RPG Game Maker in Python▲215

    Retro RPG Game Maker. Contribute to ericoporto/fgmk development by creating an account on GitHub.

    2016 · github.com · its alternatives →

13. 13OA
    Ocelot – A Game Boy and Game Boy Color Emulator in Haskell▲5

    The web version of the emulator: https://pixel-clover.github.io/ocelot/ Project repo og GitHub: https://github.com/pixel-clover/ocelot

    May 2026 · its alternatives →

14. 14
    yuzu▲123

    An experimental open-source emulator for the Nintendo Switch

    2018 · its alternatives →

15. 15
    C# Game Engine with its own scripting language and IDE▲118

    GitHub repo: https://github.com/ArcadeMakerSources/ArcadeMaker (first of all, i want to say that I made this project for fun and challenge. I always wanted to create my own language. This has no business goal or something.) So the project is a 2D game engine (MonoGame backend) inspired by GameMaker 8. It includes its own IDE (built with WinForms) and an interpreted programming language that I wrote myself. The language—definitely the biggest challenge in the project—is a simple dynamically typed language. When I started, I had zero knowledge of how to build something like…

    Aug 2026 · github.com · its alternatives →

16. 16
    RomM – An open-source, self-hosted ROM manager and player▲238

    RomM is a self-hosted app that allows you to manage your retro game files (ROMs) and play them in the browser. Think of it as Plex or Jellyfin for your ROM library: it automatically fetches metadata, artwork, and game information from online metadata sources to transform your folders into a browsable collection. You can play games directly in the browser for consoles like the N64, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, and PlayStation 1, using the integrated web emulator (https://emulatorjs.org/). Members of the community have released integrations for Playnite (Windows), muOS…

    2025 · github.com · its alternatives →

17. 17GJ
    GBA.js, a Game Boy Advance emulator written in JavaScript▲76

    2012 · jpfau.github.com · its alternatives →

18. 18
    demake – one source project compiles to any retro game console ROM▲40

    This started life as a graphics tool for a specific problem: gen AI can make retro-styled sprites but can't follow exact hardware constraints of pixels and colors. While building this I liked the idea that I can fan-out to any retro videogame console or handheld's specifications. I then devised my own declarative language - Demotic - to express the game you want to build as concisely and naturally as possible without implementation detail. To work on different machines, you use relative units, like vw, vh, vmin, vmax. It has a web UI, CLI and NPM package. Still a work in progress.

    Aug 2026 · geosona.com · its alternatives →

19. 19
    A browser-based Gameboy emulator written in TypeScript▲7

    Browser-based Gameboy emulator in Typescript and WebGL - nauful/gb-ts

    2021 · github.com · its alternatives →

20. 20
    Lisp implementation in modern Java, Go, C#, TypeScript, Python▲128

    A lisp rosetta stone to demonstrate modern language features - eatonphil/lisp-rosetta-stone

    2021 · github.com · its alternatives →

21. 21
    PHP Terminal Gameboy Emulator▲79

    Want to play Dr Mario or Pokémon on your server terminal?

    2016 · github.com · its alternatives →

22. 22
    Made a e-4917 emulator with a short tutorial▲29

    Creating a fantasy CPU emulator with React and TypeScript part 1

    2021 · maartenhus.nl · its alternatives →

23. 23
    Ponzu▲89

    AI-powered textures for 3D models

    2022 · its alternatives →

24. 24AA
    Atmel AVR 8-bit Emulator in Rust and React▲41

    2015 · realscout.github.io · its alternatives →

Ranked by how close each launch is in meaning, then by votes. Prices were read from each product’s own site when checked and can change. Refine with your own description →