Complete Guide on How to Play Android Games on PC

You use your Android device nearly all the time throughout the day. But sometimes you stop and think: “Can I play Android games on my PC?” Of course, when you come back home to your PC or stop over a cup of coffee in Starbucks with your laptop, you want things to be as easy, straightforward, and fun as on your Android smartphone. Hefty PC games take up much memory and CPU power, and you can never experience them to the fullest if you want a quick game on the go. Wouldn’t it be great to use something as simple and familiar as your Android app on your computer? What if thousands of free apps on Google Play Store were available on your laptop after a couple-minute download? Luckily, many users have been trying to transfer the smartphone and tablet experience on their laptops.

One way to do it is to use a Chrome browser plugin like Welderio (or Arc Welder). Another way around is to download an Android emulator. But what are the best Android emulators? Let’s discuss some of the most popular of them, test their performance, and come up with objective pros and cons for you to find the best Android mimicking software.

11 Best Android Emulators: System Requirements

When picking an ultimate Android emulator for PC that works best on your computer, you need to know the system requirements of this app for it to run smoothly on the chosen device. To save your time, we’ve made a table, which accumulates the 11 best-performing and most popular Android emulators for PC together with their system requirements.

Android Emulator For PC	System Requirements
Nox	Windows XP/7/8 /8.1/10 and DirectX 9.0CDual Core, AMD or IntelOpenGL 2.0 and above1.5 GB RAM2.5 GB Free space on the hard disk
Bluestacks	OS: Microsoft Windows 7 and above.Processor:  Intel or AMD Processor.RAM: Your PC must have at least 2GB of RAM.HDD: 5GB Free Disk SpaceYou must be an Administrator on your PCUp to date graphics drivers from Microsoft or the chipset vendor.
Android Studio	64-bit distribution capable of running 32-bit applications3 GB RAM2GB HDD spaceWindows, Linux or MacMinimum Monitor resolution needs to be 1280×800
AMIDuOS	Windows 7/8/8.1/10Intel x86 CPUHardware Virtualization TechnologyOpenGL 3.0 and above 2GB of RAM, and 2GB of hard disk free space
MEmu	Intel, Nvidia or AMD CPU ProcessorWindows XP/7/8 /8.1/10Windows DirectX 11 or Graphics driver with OpenGL 2.0Hardware Virtualization Technology (Intel VT-x/AMD-V) shall be enabled in BIOSMinimum 2GB of system memoryMinimum 2GB of hard disk free space
Tencent Gaming Buddy	Windows 7 and aboveCPU: Dual-core from Intel | AMD @1.8GhzGPU: Basic NVIDIA GeForce | AMD Radeon3 GB of RAM2 GB of free storage
Remix OS Player	2 GHz dual-core processor or better2 GB system memory.Minimum 8 GB of free hard drive spaceAny updated graphics
Andy	Dual-core AMD or Intel CPU with Virtualization support3GB of RAM10GB of free disk spaceGPU with OpenGL 2.1 supportWindows 7 SP1 / Windows 8.1 / Ubuntu 14.04+ / OSX 10.8+
Genymotion Cloud	Microsoft Windows 7, 8/8.1, 10 (32 or 64 bit);macOS 10.9 or above;Linux Ubuntu 18.04 or aboveOpenGL 2.0 capable video card, with an up-to-date driver.Intel HD Graphics 4000 (2012), Nvidia GeForce 500 Series (2011), ATI Radeon HD 6000 Series (2011);64 bit CPU, with VT-x or AMD-V capability, enabled in BIOS settings;RAM memory: at least 2GB;Screen resolution greater than 1024 x 768 pixels;Free space on hard disk: at least 100MB.Updated Web Browser
Droid4x	A Dual Core CPU supporting virtualization technologyWindows 7/8/8.1/10 with 32bit or 64bit System1GB RAMGraphics Chipset/Graphics Card supporting at least Open GL 2.02 GB Free Space on HDD
YouWave	Intel Pentium 1.6GHz CPU2.0GB DRAM500MB disk space,Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, 10Premium version requires Windows 64 bit and VT-x support

BlueStacks: Popular Android Emulator App

Old Android sharks say that the oldest emulator for this OS to install on the planet Earth is BlueStacks. Back in the day when it was introduced to the general public, it was buggy and a bit tiresome because you had to click buttons like Accept/Continue/Proceed for, like, thousands of times or so before you get to run any app. Yet, there was no other answer to the question of how to play Android games on PC for the time being. The easy part is that it makes the Google Play variety accessible on your computer just like on the smartphone. The time goes by, and for now, BlueStacks still enjoys the top 10 Android emulators rating worldwide.

The brand never underestimates itself; they say that billions of Android apps are played on their platform monthly and that they run 6 times faster than Samsung Galaxy S9+. Impressive, right? Indeed, it is  better to play some games on PC than on the phone or tablet. Yet, on the flip, many users admit that their computers heat up after an hour of using BlueStacks, just like their Android phones. Well, looks like you’ve got to sacrifice something to have a full-screen mode, which is a rare feature for Android emulator even today. Then again, if you’re not satisfied with the BlueStacks heating thing or anything, you can go pro with this emulator and choose how many CPU cores and how much RAM you’d like to use with the BlueStacks.

Pros:

• Easy to use
• High compatibility
• Fast and stable performance
• Advanced settings customization

Cons:

• Computer heats up
• Occasional bugs and freezes

Nox App: Play Android Games On Any PC

So we searched for How to play Android games on PC and came across an interesting trend. We reviewed hundreds of comments, and we must say that the surprisingly large part of their authors were rather attracted to Nox than to BlueStacks or anything else, and most users seemed to be completely satisfied with its operation. One of the cool features of Nox is that it’s like an all-in-one Android emulator. It simply means that not only you can enjoy playing Android games on your PC but also use pretty much anything you can find on Google Play, including apps that use a camera. You can even stream your gaming process. 

Nox works perfectly even if the laptop is of simpler setup or serves you quite a few years. As soon as you download it, you’ll be asked to assign Android operation to a computer keyboard or mouse. For example, you can assign the Swipe Right move to a right-click of the mouse button. This process is simple and takes only a few seconds. Once you get used to new buttons, you can use your favorite apps to the fullest. Though, many players advise using a joystick for the best experience. 

Pros:

• User-friendly interface;
• Fast and smooth performance;
• Lots of games and other apps available.

Cons:

• Older PC versions will need additional drivers to install.

Android SDK for Running Apps on PC

If you’re a high-end user and you’re not satisfied with the most popular emulator apps described above, you might run Android with the help of a more advanced version. You may want to download Android Studio or Android SDK (Software Development Kit). It’s a developer’s console for making and testing apps for Android on your computer. Both are absolutely free plus include many other possibilities like upgrading your OS version or increasing the performance abilities of your device. 

If you want to run Android apps on the desktop, what you’ll need is only one part of this whole kit. Also, you’ll need to install the Java or Oracle environment if you’ve got a Windows computer. Android Studio is easy to download and doesn’t require any special knowledge. However, if you decided to have just a working Android environment, you can download just the SDK zip file and make a few more steps to get it working. When opening the SDK manager, you’ll want to choose Android SDK Platform-Tools, Android SDK Tools, Google USB Driver. Then, set the PATH by editing system requirement variables. Going through all those steps might be not as straightforward as just install and run the previous emulators. Yet, users leave very good feedback about working or playing with Android SDK. Plus, you can learn some extra tips and tricks about Android games and test them right away on your computer. Who knows, maybe you’ll even create your own versions of the programs that will work best for you!

Pros:

• Bug-free;
• You can play and test numerous apps including your own;
• it’s open-source and absolutely free.

Cons:

• Difficult to use if you’re not big on the developing thing.  

Conclusion

Learning how to transfer the apps and games from the smartphone experience to a computer screen might be useful in many ways. So you can enjoy a lot more games on your PC or laptop than you would otherwise. You can also benefit by using many interesting tools and programs available on Android by having it on your desktop. Although, picking a good emulating software might not be an easy task at first. Yet, when you get a hands-on experience of testing various emulators, you’ll surely choose the one that you like the most. Eventually, you might not just play Android games on PC, but end up performing many more tasks on your computer than you thought you would.

Most Popular Questions About Android Games on PC