I wanted to ask some other people because I just downloaded a DS emulator (No$GBA) and a GameBoy emulator for the DS emulator I just downloaded (LameBoy). I already have VisualBoyAdvance, so I don't know what this accomplished. I also use Virtualbox to emulate android, several Linux distributions, older versions of Windows, a few MicroOS' and play around with those. So here's my track record, as well as my recommended emulator for the system: Emulated console/handheld/PC list (Most of these consoles I actually own): Sega Genesis/CD/GameGear/32x/Master System (Kega Fusion) N64 (Project64) (until recently, I'd recommend 1964 for rom hacks) NES (JNES) SNES (ZSNESW) Sega Saturn (BizHawk) Sega Dreamcast (NullDC, until I got a boot disc for my real DC) Atari2600/7800/Lynx (BizHawk) Wonderswan (BizHawk) Commadore 64 (VICE on Windows, Frodo64 on Android) WinDOS (DOSBox, The Elder Scrolls 1 and 2 are available for free from Bethesda themselves) Chip-8, ScummVM, ZX Spectrum (Some android apps that I don't think exist anymore) TurboGrafx-16 (Ootake, BizHawk) Apple ][ (some emulator for DS that I can't recall) Emulated OS list (Virtualbox): Ubuntu MATE (A full 32-bit or 64-bit OS, roughly 10GB installed, can live-boot, very user-friendly, Free) Damn Small Linux (Lightweight, live-boot, Free) SLAX (Available in a huge list of languages, live-boot, Free) Puppy Linux (Lightweight, live-boot, can remove malware from an infected PC, Free) Debian Linux (More complicated than Ubuntu MATE, smaller however, Free but donating is encouraged) Windows 98, 95, ME (You are morally obligated to not download these illegally) Android-x86, Jellybean, ICS and Gingerbread (Only x86 ports are legal, or ROM backups of your phone) MeOS (MicroOS (under 50MB), a bit... scraggly? Free) KolibriOS (MicroOS (under 20MB), scragglier than MeOS, has DOOM and Quake preinstalled, Free) How many things have you emulated? What did you use to emulate them? Notes: BizHawk is a free, wide-range emulator, but not without error. It has many compatibility issues and is a bit heavy on the CPU. All of the listed operating systems can be google'd if you've any interest in them (I'm not posting links here). Most can boot from a USB or CD. A few of the Live-boot OS' can be installed to your hard drive, but I wouldn't recommend it.
Mostly I just stick to emulating old games consoles. I have emulators for the NES, SNES, GB/GBC and GBA on my phone. The idea was to download a bunch of old RPGs and play them in my free time, as well as randomise a bunch of Pokemon roms to play as time-wasters, since any real time game (not counting stuff like ATB from FF/Chrono Trigger) is virtually unplayable on a touch screen, since touchscreens are such a pain to play on, controllers are vastly superior. The reason getting it on my phone was important is that between uni and work I don't have a lot of time to dedicate to playing games, so playing them on my phone was a way around that. Anyhow, I kinda lost interest in it. Everything I downloaded for the NES underwhelmed, and I just couldn't be bothered after that, except for playing Chrono Trigger. Chrono Trigger was interesting in that I didn't really enjoy it, but it still blew me away with how good it was anyway. Story and gameplay are perfectly balanced, and the gameplay itself is perfectly balanced- I always felt like I was at the right level for any given area. Gameplay was fun as the double and triple techs were a really cool take on the ATB system. Criticisms I have are that Chrono is basically an empty shell, you could only have 3 members of your party present for any given story event, making it tough to engage with them if you were rotating them around like I was. There's also the fact that it's 2D and dialogue is text-based, which contributed to my experience of the game, even if it's really unfair to list that as a criticism of the game due to its time of release. Anyhow, I personally favour actually playing the games on their appropriate platform, but emulators are really useful for experiencing games that aren't really available any more (I say this despite Chrono Trigger receiving a remake for a platform I actually own lol). In terms of stuff I've actually emulated, I've used VBA and Project64, though I never used either of them extensively, plus w/e I downloaded for my phone (I don't remember tbh).
I emulate whatever whenever wherever. If I can't find a game I'll just emulate it. If a game isn't localized I'll emulate it because it's bullshit when publishers don't localize games.