How To: Play Classic Nintendo (NES) Games on Your Samsung Galaxy S3

Video games are one of the few items that have successfully advanced and adapted over decades, while still holding its "old school" value.

So, while I eagerly await the release of Grand Theft Auto 5, I still get amped to play classic Nintendo games like Double Dragon. Luckily, I still have my NES, but for the times when I'm not at home, I can play some of my favorite NES games right on my Samsung Galaxy S3—and so can you.

Step 1: Download an NES Emulator

To play NES games on our GS3s, we'll need to download and install an emulator. For this guide, we'll be using Nostalgia NES from Google Play, a free, ad-supported version that works just fine for us and even allows save states.

Note that in order to manually save your games, you must be connected to the internet so you can view the ads, though, ads will never play while you're actually playing a game.

Step 2: Download NES Game ROMs

Now, the emulator above does not come with any games, so you'll need to find and download your own. All you need to perform is Google search for NES ROMs or your particular game.

Nostalgia works with both zipped (.zip) and unzipped (.nes) files, so you just need to make sure they're anywhere on your SD card and Nostalgia will find them. If you prefer unzipping them, you can use an app like AndroZip File Manager to do your dirty work.

Legal Issues

Due to the gray area of ownership and copyright infringement, I can't advise you to download ROMs for games you do not currently own. If you have physical copies collecting dust somewhere in your pad, great, download ROMs for those. Otherwise, you're on your own.

Step 3: Upload Your ROMs to Nostalgia

With your ROM(s) on your GS3, you can now open up Nostalgia NES and it will automatically search for compatible ROMs.

Step 4: Play!

Select the game you want to play and enjoy your '80s nostalgia.

Free vs. Pro Versions

The only difference between Nostalgia NES and Nostalgia NES Pro are ads. The free version has them, the pro version doesn't. So, if ads are a deal buster for you, you can get the pro version for $0.99, but they're really not intrusive at all.

For more old-school gaming options on your GS3, check out our other gaming guides.