Among all the reasons for using emulators on your computer, playing your favorite Android games on a PC or Mac is one of the main ones. With the help of your PC's keyboard and mouse, or perhaps even joysticks for secret codes or to improve movements that your cell phone screen can't always capture or reproduce easily, it's very welcome. All this in addition to eliminating the dependence on your smartphone's battery, which sometimes is already below ideal when you feel like playing.

Today, emulating Android on PC is much easier than it once was. It is possible to emulate versions of the operating system from 7.0 Nougat to 9.0 Pie. Therefore, the diversity of games accessible through emulators is practically the same as that found on cell phones.

There are several emulators available on the market. Many of them are free. Many of them are used for more than just games. For example, for developing and testing applications of all kinds. For games, we can mention LDPlayer, Bluestacks, MEMu, KoPlayer and Nox Player as examples.

Let's take a brief look at each of these emulators, all of which have free versions and support for AMD or Intel:

LDPlayer

It is one of the few emulators that receive updates frequently (almost monthly). It runs Android Nougat 7.1 and, even though it looks like an old version of the operating system, it supports a wide range of games. It has good touch mapping controls. keyboard, multiple instances (run multiple games simultaneously), macros (automatic game management), high FPS and graphics support. The LDPlayer has become a favorite for Free Fire players. It runs on Windows and Mac.

BlueStacks

It is one of the most robust and also one of the most popular emulators for playing Android games on a PC or Mac. BlueStacks receives frequent updates. It has key mapping, settings for multiple instances, screenshots, automation of repetitive game tasks, etc. It is always a reference for players looking for Android emulation, due to its reliability, amount of resources and flexibility. It is compatible with Windows and Mac.

MEMU

It has the ability to run multiple instances of Android apps and versions and is widely used as a general purpose tool. The latest update of MEMU added smart keyboard mapping and performance improvements (plus bug fixes). It supports Android Jelly Bean, Kit Kat, and Lollipop and is based on Android Nougat 7.1.2 by default. It runs on both Windows and Mac.

KoPlayer

An emulator specially developed for games. In other words, one of its main features is the ease of downloading Android games and configuring your PC's keyboard and mouse the way you want. The emulator has a step-by-step tutorial for configurations and even for using a joystick. An interesting feature of the CoPlayer is the possibility of installing applications and games manually by dragging and dropping, as the emulator supports .apk files. It is also possible to take screenshots in image or video. KoPlayer is compatible with all versions of Windows and Mac.

Nox Player

The emulator can run on Windows 10 and earlier versions. It comes pre-loaded with several features and supports the use of joysticks and other devices. Nox It is based on Android Lollipop 5.1.1, but it is possible to run other versions, such as Nougat, through a Multi-Drive feature. It has a very user-friendly interface, the ability to modify the Android device's build.prop file, and other interesting features, such as root access.

Through which channels you reach those people, classic and out of the box. Android Authority.