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What is an Emulator?

New to emulation? Here's what it is, why you want it, and what you can play — explained for everyone.

Never heard of emulation before? You're in the right place. This page explains what emulators are, why people love them, and why right now — with Provenance on your iPhone or Apple TV — is the best time in history to discover them.

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The short version

An emulator is software that pretends to be old gaming hardware. Your iPhone runs the same game code that used to require a real Super Nintendo, PlayStation, or Game Boy — no cartridges, no hardware, just software.

The result: every game ever made for those systems, playable on your phone, iPad, Mac, or Apple TV.

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What games are we talking about?

Decades of games across 38+ classic systems. If you've ever heard of any of these, emulation is for you:

Nintendo systems

  • Super Mario World, Donkey Kong Country, Yoshi's Island (SNES)

  • The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, GoldenEye, Mario Kart 64 (N64)

  • Pokémon Red/Blue/Gold/Silver, Tetris, Kirby (Game Boy / GBC)

  • Pokémon FireRed, Metroid Fusion, Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow (GBA)

  • Zelda: A Link to the Past, Super Metroid, Chrono Trigger (SNES)

PlayStation

  • Final Fantasy VII, VIII, IX, Tactics (PS1)

  • Metal Gear Solid, Resident Evil, Crash Bandicoot, Spyro (PS1)

  • God of War, GTA: San Andreas, Kingdom Hearts (PS2)

  • Crisis Core, God of War: Chains of Olympus (PSP)

Sega systems

  • Sonic the Hedgehog 1/2/3, Streets of Rage (Genesis)

  • Phantasy Star, Shining Force, Ecco the Dolphin (Genesis)

  • Sonic CD, Final Fight CD (Sega CD)

  • Nights into Dreams, Panzer Dragoon Saga (Saturn)

  • Sonic Adventure, Crazy Taxi, Jet Grind Radio (Dreamcast)

And much more: Atari 2600 through Jaguar, Neo Geo, TurboGrafx-16, PC Engine, WonderSwan, Virtual Boy, Nintendo DS, 3DS, GameCube, Wii, and dozens more.

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Why would I want this?

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1. Play your collection anywhere

If you have a shelf of old cartridges or a box of discs in a closet, emulation lets you actually use them again — on your phone, on your TV, without digging out aging hardware. You can make a digital backup of a cartridge or disc you own and play that backup in Provenance. Your games, on your terms.

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2. The history of gaming, all in one place

Video games have a 50-year history. Emulation is how that history stays alive and accessible. Discovering classic games is like discovering an entire movie era you missed — there are thousands of genuinely great games you've never heard of.

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3. It's actually better than the original hardware

This sounds crazy but it's true. Emulators add things the original hardware never had:

  • Save anywhere — pause mid-level and come back later, no memory cards

  • Fast forward — skip slow cutscenes or grinding at 2× or 4× speed

  • Save states — rewind mistakes as if they never happened

  • CRT filters — recreate the warm scanline look of old TVs if you want it

  • Widescreen and HD rendering — some games support enhanced resolutions

  • Any controller you want — DualSense, Xbox controller, or clip-on iPhone gamepad

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4. It fits in your pocket

Before smartphones, emulation required a computer, janky software, and some technical know-how. That kept it niche. Now you tap Get on the App Store and you're done. Provenance changed what's possible.

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What's a ROM?

You'll hear this word a lot. A ROM is a digital backup of a game — the same data that used to live on a cartridge or disc, stored as a file.

  • A Game Boy game is typically 256KB–2MB — smaller than a single photo

  • A PlayStation disc is 500MB–700MB

  • An N64 cartridge is 8MB–64MB

Think of it like ripping a CD to MP3 for your own use, but for games. Provenance is the player — game files are what you play on it.

Making backups from cartridges and discs you own is the right way to build your library. It's a bit like ripping your DVD collection to a hard drive — you already own the content, you're just making it usable in a modern way. We have a full guide on how to do this for cartridges, CDs, and DVDs:

→ Ripping ROMs from Physical Media

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Is this legal?

Emulators themselves are fully legal. This has been confirmed in US courts (Sega v. Accolade, Sony v. Connectix). Software that recreates hardware behavior is protected.

Game backups occupy the same space as ripping CDs or DVDs — making a personal backup of media you own for your own use is widely considered fair use, though copyright law in this area was written before digital media existed and hasn't fully caught up. The consensus: make backups of games you own, keep them for personal use.

Provenance doesn't include games and doesn't help you obtain them. What you do with your own collection is your business.

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What is Provenance, specifically?

Provenance is a multi-system emulator — one app that handles 38+ different gaming systems. Most emulators only do one system (one for SNES, one for PlayStation, etc.). Provenance brings them all together with:

  • A beautiful, unified game library with automatic cover art

  • Native iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple TV support

  • iCloud sync across all your devices

  • CRT and LCD filters, controller skins, cheats, RetroAchievements

  • 100% free and open source

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I'm sold. Now what?

Start with something approachable:

  1. SNES — the best starting point. Perfect games, no BIOS needed.

    • Super Mario World if you like platformers

    • The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past if you like adventure

    • Chrono Trigger or Final Fantasy VI if you like RPGs

  2. Game Boy Advance — surprisingly deep library. No BIOS needed.

    • Pokémon FireRed/LeafGreen — the classic reimagined

    • Metroid Fusion — atmosphere, exploration, action

    • Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow — gothic action RPG

Next step: Getting Started →

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See Also

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