Play Nintendo Games on Your Phone

Ever had that feeling of nostalgia for those long-lost days of inviting a friend over, eating enough sweets to put any self-respecting adult into a coma, and playing a Mario game for six solid hours? Well have no fear you ancient gamers for there is hope of quelling those feelings of longing. All you will need is a smart-phone running the Android operating system and a healthy internet connection.

Step 1: Grab Your Android Phone and Go to CoolRom.com

For this step you'll need to pick up your Android phone.

At the moment I am using the Samsung Galaxy Stratosphere 2 running Android Jelly Bean 4.1.2.

Open your favorite web browser ( I'm using Google Chrome ) and enter the following URL into your address bar:

http://www.coolrom.com

Step 2: Go Get Your Emulator

In order to play NES games on your phone you will need an Emulator. An emulator is basically just a piece of software that simulates a different device or environment.

From the CoolRoms homepage:

1. Tap the Emulators button to expand the menu.
2. Within the menu, tap the For Android button.

Step 3: Selecting Your Emulator

Once the page loads you will be faced with a long list consisting of many different gaming systems, each with multiple emulators.

1. Scroll down the page until you find the section labeled Nintendo.
2. In the Nintendo section tap the button that is labeled John NES.

This selection will reroute you to the Google Play Store.

Step 4: Installing the Emulator

Now it's time to install the emulator:

1. In the Google Play Store tap the Install button to install the emulator on your phone
2. When the emulator is finished installing a button labeled Open should appear, tap it to continue.

At this point the emulator will search your phone for any games (which you don't have!) and will give up when it finds none. We're now going to change that.

Step 5: Finding a Game

Navigate back to your web browser and the CoolRoms homepage:

1. From the homepage find the Search bar located at the top of the page.
2. In the field enter your desired game title, for this example we'll use Super Mario Bros and tap the search button.

It should also be noted at this point that it is illegal to download ROMS or games that you do not actually own. This tutorials purpose is to provide education, not to illicit illegal behavior.

When the search is finished you will be presented with some results. From here it helps to filter them to the system that you need. You can accomplish this by clicking the Nintendo button underneath the search bar.

Next you will want to tap the top result button titled Super Mario Bros.

When the page loads you want to scroll until you see the Download button like the one in the corresponding picture above. Tap the download button and the game will download to your Downloads folder.

Step 6: Playing Your Game

Now navigate to your App Drawer and find the John NES that you installed before. Tap the icon to open it.

Once the app is open it will automatically find your games for you and will present you with a list similar to the one shown above.

To start playing a game tap the desired game title in the list.

Congratulations! You are now playing a classic NES game on your Android phone or tablet! You can control the game using the sen-transparent buttons on your screen, just like an NES controller. Be sure to go back to coolroms.com for more awesome games from the past!

Step 7: Fin