- Emulators are a good way to simulate various hardware components that you might not have physical access to.
- The Japanese company Sega had a huge spike in fame in the 90s and some users want to relive those glorious games.
- There’s nothing quite like the feeling your get from playing old games. Check out our Retro Games collection.
- Sega console is not the only one having emulators available. See our Gaming Emulators section on the site to find out more.
We continue our nostalgic series of the best console emulators for Windows. After presenting you the best NES emulators for Windows, we move on to the home of world’s most famous hedgehog, Sega Genesis.
Sega Genesis or Sega Mega Drive is one of the most popular video game consoles of the late 80s and early 90s. Millions of kids worldwide, including me, grew up playing 16-bit games on this console.
Sega Genesis was discontinued a long time ago, but that doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy playing our favorite games anymore.
Just like every vintage console, there are a few Sega Genesis emulators for Windows 10 that allow you to relive the experience of playing Altered Beast, Sonic the Hedgehog, Aladin, and more.
Although there Sega Genesis doesn’t have as many emulators, we still managed to make a list of the best Sega Genesis emulators for Microsoft’s operating system.
Keep in mind that the majority of these emulators are quite old, but despite their age, they’re still relevant even in Windows 10.
What are the best Sega emulators for Windows 10?
Kega Fusion
Kega Fusion is the most popular Sega emulator for Windows, and probably the best possible choice. This emulator isn’t just compatible with Sega Genesis games, but also with Game Gear, Sega CD, etc.
That means, you can play absolutely any game ever made for these consoles on Kega Fusion. Unfortunately, it doesn’t support Saturn and Dreamcast.
Fusion is highly optimized, and games run very smoothly on it, even on older PCs. It also offers some basic features, like the ability to save games, cheat support, full-screen gameplay, online play, and various gamepad support.
It’s very simple to use, all you have to do is open the emulator, load a ROM, and start playing.
Due to the mix of great performance and simplicity, Kega Fusion is among the most popular Sega emulators for Windows, and the majority of Sega community choose it over its competitors.
Kega Fusion is available for free, and you can download it from this link.
Genesis Plus
Genesis Plus is another simple, yet prolific Sega emulator for Windows 10. Genesis Plus remains the high level of accuracy, providing one of the best Sega gaming experiences you can find.
Some gamers even state that some game bugs initially present on the console don’t appear in Genesis Plus.
Genesis Plus is fully compatible with all ROMs of Genesis / Mega Drive, Sega/Mega CD, Master System, Game Gear & SG-1000 games.
In addition, the emulator has features like gamepad support, emulation of all sound channels, cheat codes support, but it doesn’t support the full-screen gameplay.
Want to make emulators run faster on your Windows 10 PC? Follow this guide and do it with ease.
User Interface can’t be simpler, which makes Genesis Plus an extremely easy emulator to use. You just need to load a ROM, and start playing the game.
Genesis Plus should work fine in Windows 10, but it may require you to install some additional files.
Genesis Plus is available for free, and you can grab it from this link.
Gens
Gens is one of the oldest Sega emulators for Windows available. It was initially released in 1999, but is still compatible with the latest Windows operating systems.
It supports running Mega CD and Sega 32X, but requires their BIOS files, which are not shipped with the emulator.
When it comes to supporting games, Gens claims to support “92%” of all Genesis games, but we haven’t manage to find any game incompatible with it (if you know a game that’s in those 8%, let us know in the comments).
One of the best features of Gens is its support for Kaillera Client, which allows online multiplayer gameplay.
However, if you want to play Sega games with your friends via Gens and Kaillera Client, you might face some performance issues, like lags, or connection problems.
Additionally, Gens comes with some more useful features, like the ability to record what buttons are pressed, and slow down the gameplay.
Gens is available for free, and if you want to download it, you can do so from this link.
- Editor’s Note: If you’re interested in other emulators, check out our wide collection of guides.
Megasis
Megasis is another pretty good Sega emulator for Windows. It offers some basic features, like the ability to save games, gamepad support, or graphical acceleration, but nothing spectacular besides that.
However, the best thing about Megasis is that it allows you to overclock the Mega Drive. By doing that, you can get rid of some potential bugs, and have yourself a better, smoother gameplay.
If you like playing retro games on Windows 10, here are the best all-in-one emulators for that.
You can even downclock the Mega Drive, in case you want to slow down gameplay.
Although Megasis is quite old, and hasn’t been updated for years, it should still work fine in Windows 10. But just like it’s the case with Genesis Plus, you’ll maybe have to install some additional files to make it work.
Megasis is available for free, and you can download it from this link.
Sega Genesis emulator online
If you don’t want to install any emulator on your computer, or bother with finding proper ROMs for them, you can simply go online, and play Sega games right in your browser.
There are a couple of websites that allow you to play Sega games online, using their own emulator.
It’s actually the simplest, fastest, and easiest way to get your hands on a vintage Sega game you want to play. Just go to a site, browse from hundreds of available titles, and start playing.
Registration is not required, although you can create an account on some sites to save your game progress.
The best online Sega emulators are Let’s Play SEGA, SSega, and Play Retro Games.
There you go, you now know all the tools that allow you to play Sega games on Windows 10.
If you have any suggestions, questions, or know about some awesome emulator we didn’t put on the list, let us know in the comments section below.
All of these solutions presented above also work if you are interested in the following:
- Sega Genesis emulator – Choose any option you like from this article.
- Sega Saturn emulator – For Sega Saturn you can take a look at SSF.
- Best Sega genesis emulator – You can take your pick from an online emulator or one that you install on your computer.
- Sega Mega Drive emulator – Sega Genesis is known as Sega Mega Drive in markets outside North America.
- Best Sega Master System emulator – Kega Fusion that we wrote about is also a Sega Master System emulator.
FAQ: Learn more about Sega Emulators
- Can you get emulators on Mac?
Some of the options, such as Genesis Plus are available for Mac as well. There also options available for Mac-only such as OpenEmu.
- Can ROMs have viruses?
Yes, they can. As with other pieces of software, malware can be present in ROMs as well as emulators. Make sure the source of download is reputable.
- Are emulators illegal?
Emulators are completely legal to install and use. The main problem is around how you obtain the ROMs.
