Software Alternatives & Reviews

EmulationStation VS Mednafen

Compare EmulationStation VS Mednafen and see what are their differences

EmulationStation logo EmulationStation

a graphical emulator front-end

Mednafen logo Mednafen

Mednafen is a portable, utilizing OpenGL and SDL, argument(command-line)-driven multi-system...
  • EmulationStation Landing page
    Landing page //
    2018-10-20
  • Mednafen Landing page
    Landing page //
    2018-11-05

EmulationStation videos

Playing Classic Games with EmulationStation & RetroArch

Mednafen videos

Ps1 emulation with Mednafen. It's great.

More videos:

  • Tutorial - How To Run Sega Saturn Games With Mednafen - Best Saturn Emulator
  • Tutorial - The Best PlayStation 1 Emulator - How To Setup Mednafen

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to EmulationStation and Mednafen)
Gaming
47 47%
53% 53
Emulators
47 47%
53% 53
Gaming Tools
50 50%
50% 50
Online Games
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

Share your experience with using EmulationStation and Mednafen. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
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Social recommendations and mentions

EmulationStation might be a bit more popular than Mednafen. We know about 13 links to it since March 2021 and only 12 links to Mednafen. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

EmulationStation mentions (13)

  • Anyone using a launcher?
    In my opinion the ideal situation would be a backend that any developer could build a frontend to that would suit their approach. For example there are many Retroarch frontends like Highscore, EmulationStation, etc. These all suit the needs for what some person may want. Source: about 1 year ago
  • SteamDeck Windows 11 Guide - Installed Win 11 on the SteamDeck and don't know what to do next? This is for you.
    Replacement for the epic EmuDeck. It utilises EmulationStation. Source: over 1 year ago
  • Is there a user interface that will load all roms from NES up through GameCube?
    I use EmulationStation on a lot of devices. It would cover what you're looking for. Other frontends I like are RetroArch and Daijisho. Source: over 1 year ago
  • Gifting an old pc to my handicapped grandson.
    If you want to piece meal and customize it RetroArch and Emulation Station is the way to go. Also have a robust wiki. Source: over 1 year ago
  • First ever “setup” im very poor
    Helpful link https://emulationstation.org/. Source: over 1 year ago
View more

Mednafen mentions (12)

  • I don't know what devil magic was used to accomplish this but Goldeneye32x managed to make a PC port of Rondo of Blood. And yes, it is fully functional, i played it. The link to the game is in the description of the video
    I mean, the game's program icon gives it away. It's a custom wrapper using an older version of Mednafen. Source: about 1 year ago
  • Resources that will help you out with replaying old games.
    Mednafen with a frontend like Mednaffe are a great option for the NES, SNES, and a bunch of other 80s & early-90s systems (Genesis, Playstation 1, Saturn, etc.). Source: almost 2 years ago
  • Some questions about Playstation 1 emulator
    Duckstation and Mednafen. Mednafen is the closest to 100% game accuracy; Duckstation is Mednafen but with added graphical enhancements and quality of life features. Source: almost 2 years ago
  • To prep for March 4, I got in some practice laps on the original
    Both use "cores" to emulate various platforms, and in this case, they both use Mednafen for their PS1 core, which can also work as a standalone emulator if you are comfortable with the command line. Source: about 2 years ago
  • Sega Saturn core plays runs better when the RetroArch menu is pulled up, but unplayable when playing normally. Can somebody help me?
    I switched directly to Mednafen (https://mednafen.github.io/) using the Mednaffe GUI (https://github.com/AmatCoder/mednaffe) and it's been smoothing sailing ever since. Source: over 2 years ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing EmulationStation and Mednafen, you can also consider the following products

RetroArch - RetroArch is a frontend for emulators, game engines and media players.

Batocera.linux - Batocera.linux is an open-source and completely free retro-gaming distribution that can be copied to a USB stick or an SD card with the aim of turning any computer/nano computer into a gaming console during a game or permanently.

ePSXe - ePSXe (enhanced PSX emulator) is an emulator of the PlayStation video game console for x86-based PC...

LaunchBox - LaunchBox is a portable, box-art-based games database and launcher for DOSBox, emulators, arcade cabinets, and PC Games. Download it free!

OpenEmu - Console and Arcade video game emulator for macOS.

Playnite - Source code generated using layoutit.com