visualboyadvance

If you spent many hours of youth in games arcades or sat behind a games console, you'll probably occasionally long for those days of poor graphics but great playability. I trashed my Amiga a long time ago but I sometimes get wistful for games such as Kick Off 2, Speedball and Sensible Soccer. When I do, I use an emulator which basically allows you to play old skool games based on their ROM files. Here's a selection of Softonic's top 10.

• Project 64 - Relive all your favourite Nintendo 64 games

• Mame32 - Emulates games from various consoles

• iDeaS - Simple Nintendo DS emulator

• VisualBoyAdvance - Gameboy games in your hands again

• PCSX2 - Play Playstation games on your PC

• 1964 - Alternative Nintendo 64 emulator

• Console Classix - Play hundreds of Sega and Nintendo games

• ScummVM - Emulator designed for games based on Lucas Arts films

• Yabause - Relive those Sega Saturn console classics

• SainT - Atari ST and Atari console emulator

It seems a lifetime ago now but in the days before Playstations and X-Boxes, game playing was dominated by consoles like the Nintendo NES or home computers such as the Commodore Amiga. Such machines are nothing but relics nowadays with many microwave ovens packed with more processing power. However, if you were brought up on a diet of Super Mario, Sonic The Hedgehog or Kick Off 2, these games probably hold a special place in your heart despite graphics and playability that would make a modern calculator blush. The good news is, you can roll back the years with some classic emulators on Softonic.

Emulators run the operating system of your favourite console or home computer on your PC. There's an emulator for just about any of the major old games machines but it is the Nintendo series that dominates.

The most popular emulator on Softonic is for the Ninetendo Gameboy - VisualBoyAdvance so if you were a big fan of classics such as Super Mario Brothers, Frogger or Donkey Kong, you can play them again with this program - except not in your hand obviously.