How to Set Up & Play Pokémon Emerald on an Emulator

Download Article

Your comprehensive guide to using an emulator to play Emerald

Co-authored by Hannah Dillon Reviewed by Ishrak

Last Updated: March 27, 2026 Fact Checked

Download Article

Setting Up the Emulator

|

Getting and Playing the ROM

|

Video

|

Q&A

|

Tips

|

Warnings

If you’re looking to revisit the best old-school Pokémon games, you may be scratching your head trying to figure out how to get your hands on Pokémon Emerald. Luckily, modern technology has made this process a lot easier than it was even a few years ago. In this article, we’ll break down how you can get your hands on Pokémon Emerald for an emulator.

Note: The steps in this article are for PC, but Mac and Linux users can still easily follow along, though some menu options may look slightly different.

Getting Pokémon Emerald on an Emulator

First, you have to download and set up a Game Boy Advance emulator. We recommend mGBA, as it's easy to use and regularly updated. Once you've set up mGBA, simply download a Pokémon Emerald ROM, unzip it, and open it in mGBA.

Part 1

Part 1 of 2:

Setting Up the Emulator

Download Article

1
Download mGBA. mGBA is currently the best Game Boy Advance emulator available, as it is still updated pretty regularly. If you already have mGBA or another Game Boy Advance emulator installed, skip ahead to our section on using a ROM.
- To download mGBA, go to mgba.io and click Downloads, then click your operating system. Make sure to choose one of the options under the "Desktop OS" header in the "Current downloads" section so you download the latest stable version of mGBA.
- You can choose either the installer or the portable version of mGBA. The installer version installs mGBA as a program on your computer, while the portable version can be run from the folder it's zipped into.
2
Install or unzip mGBA. If you chose the installer version of mGBA, simply run the installer you downloaded to install it, and follow any on-screen instructions. If you chose the portable version of mGBA, you'll have to unzip it using 7-Zip, WinRAR, or your computer's built-in unzipping tool.

Advertisement
3
Create a saves folder. You can create this folder anywhere. If you downloaded the portable version of mGBA, you can create the saves folder right in your mGBA folder, if you prefer.
4
Open mGBA. If you used the installer, open it like any other program. If you downloaded the portable version, open it from the folder you just unzipped.
5
Click Tools > Settings…. This will open your mGBA settings.
- By default, you should be on the "Audio/Video" tab when the settings window opens. If you're not, click on Audio/Video in the left-hand sidebar now.
- Make sure your display driver is set to "OpenGL." It should be by default, but if it's not, click the dropdown and select OpenGL.
6
Click the checkbox next to "Force integer scaling." This will increase the picture quality when you play games.
7
Click Enhancements. It's in the left-hand sidebar.
8
Change the video renderer to OpenGL. To do this, click the dropdown next to "Video renderer" and select OpenGL. OpenGL will increase performance when using mGBA.
9
Change the high-resolution scale. Since we're using OpenGL for the video renderer, you can increase the high-resolution scale. Increase the high-resolution scale as much as you want, though it's a good idea to match the second number to the pixel height of your monitor (so, for example, if you have a 1440p monitor, increase the high-resolution scale to 9x for 2160x1440).
10
Click Keyboard in the sidebar. If you want to use a controller instead, skip to the next step.
- In this menu, you can set up which keyboard keys map to which Game Boy Advance button. If you want to change the mapping, click one of the buttons, then press the keyboard key you want to map to that button.
11
Click Controllers in the sidebar. If you don't want to use a controller, you can skip this step.
- Connect your controller to your computer. Most controllers will work with mGBA, as long as they can connect to your computer.
- Choose your controller from the dropdown in the middle of the controller setup screen.
- Click Set all at the top of the controller setup screen.
- Press the button that correlates to the button highlighted in blue. For example, if the up button is highlighted, press the up button on the d-pad on your controller to map it to that emulator button. Repeat until all of the buttons are mapped.
12
Click Shortcuts in the left-hand sidebar. This will open the shortcuts menu. You can see which shortcuts have already been set up, and you can set up your own, if you prefer.
- Some of the main shortcuts to look for are saving your game and fast forwarding.
- Memorize the shortcuts you'll use often, and set any shortcuts that don't exist yet.
13
Click Paths in the sidebar. This is where you'll set up a path to the saves folder you created earlier.
14
Select the path for "Save games" and "Save states." Here's how:
- Click Browse next to "Save games."
- In the dialog box that pops up, navigate to the saves folder you created and click OK.
- Click Browse next to "Save states."
- Navigate to the saves folder you created and click OK.
15
Click Apply > OK. This will close your mGBA settings menu. Your emulator is now set up for playing Pokémon Emerald.
- Continue on to learn how to download and use a Pokémon Emerald ROM in mGBA.

Part 2

Part 2 of 2:

Getting and Playing the ROM

Download Article

1
Download a Pokémon Emerald ROM. There are many places online to find Emerald ROMs, but we recommend downloading from the Internet Archive, as it's a trusted source. Avoid downloading ROMs from sketchy sites that you don't trust, as you might end up downloading a virus.
- Go to the Pokémon Emerald page on the Internet Archive's website and download the ZIP file from the right-hand sidebar with the header "DOWNLOAD OPTIONS."
- If, for some reason, the Internet Archive version of Emerald gets taken down, you can always try Vimm's Lair. You can also check the r/Roms subreddit, as well.
2
Unzip the ROM. Right-click the zipped file you downloaded and extract the folder using 7-Zip, WinRAR, or your computer's built-in unzipping tool.
- If the file you downloaded wasn't zipped, you can skip this step.
- If you prefer, you can unzip your ROMs to one folder to keep things tidy. However, this is optional, and mGBA will be able to read a ROM from any location on your computer.
3
Open mGBA, if it's not already open. If you still have mGBA open, skip to the next step.
4
Click File > Load ROM…. You can also press the default shortcut, which is Ctrl+O on Windows, unless you changed this shortcut.
5
Navigate to wherever you saved the game. Once you've found it, click on the .GBA file and click Open. Pokémon Emerald will start up in your mGBA window.^{[1]
X
Research source}
- If you want to play fullscreen, press Alt+↵ Enter on Windows.

Community Q&A

Search

Add New Question

Question

The rom is removed. What to do?

Chase Ogden

Community Answer

Try placing it back in, but seeing as this may be hard, try contacting customer service for your monitor (or laptop), or otherwise take it to a local tech service shop.

Thanks! We're glad this was helpful.
Thank you for your feedback.
If wikiHow has helped you, please consider a small contribution to support us in helping more readers like you. We’re committed to providing the world with free how-to resources, and even $1 helps us in our mission. Support wikiHow
Yes No

Not Helpful 45 Helpful 4

Ask a Question

200 characters left

Include your email address to get a message when this question is answered.

Submit

Video

Tips

There are many other GBA emulators you can use instead of mGBA. If you don't want to use mGBA, check out other available emulators on the Emulation General Wiki.

Thanks
Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
If you don't want to download an emulator, you can play an emulated version of Emerald online!

Thanks
Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0

Submit a Tip

All tip submissions are carefully reviewed before being published

Name

Please provide your name and last initial

Submit

Thanks for submitting a tip for review!

Warnings

Downloading ROMs of games you don't own is illegal in the United States and many other countries. The risk of actually getting in trouble is low, as game companies tend to go after websites that distribute ROMs rather than the people who download them, but it's not zero. Understand the laws of your country and the associated risks before downloading a ROM.^{[2]
X
Research source}

Thanks
Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0