If you have an Android smartphone, you’re probably well aware of the fact that you can emulate dozens of old game systems on it. In general, the sweet spot for Android emulation is GameBoy Advance, since the games are both modern enough to appeal to a lot of people and old enough to run on any smartphone without any problems. Most handheld consoles are great for Android emulation, since the original games were made to run on a small screen anyways. Even some of the less-demanding DS games will run on a smartphone, no problem.
If you have an Android phone, you probably already know this. What you might not put together, though, is that this means you can play every single Harry Potter handheld game right on your smartphone. That’s right, from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone on GameBoy Color to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows on the Nintendo DS, you can emulate every single Harry Potter handheld game right on your phone.
Emulators
Which emulators should you use to run through the entire story of Hogwarts? Well, if you really want to keep it simple, you can just download RetroArch. RetroArch allows you to emulate all sorts of systems based on which “cores” you download. For example, if you download the GameBoy Color, GameBoy Advance, and Nintendo DS cores, it’s functionally the same as having a GameBoy Color, GameBoy Advance, and Nintendo DS emulator. Of course you can also download all sorts of cores for non Harry Potter handheld gaming, like Sega Genesis and PSX cores, to name just a few.
While RetroArch isn’t nearly as complicated as it can initially look, some people still will prefer individual emulators. If you’re one of these people, most GameBoy Color/GameBoy Advance emulators will be just fine, though I can recommend Cool GBC Emulator and Emulator for GBA Pro Plus, both of which can be downloaded for free. Nintendo DS emulators can be trickier, but NDS Boy! NDS Emulator is a good starting point. These are only available for Android, although if you jailbreak your iPhone you can easily get emulators like this too.
Roms
What good are emulators if you don’t have any games? No good at all, of course. The problem is that downloading game roms can be illegal, so you have to be careful and I certainly can’t recommend any places to get them. If you do figure out a way to get them, though, they should be compatible with the emulators I listed above.
Once you have your emulators and your roms, it’s just a matter of getting started. While Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone is available for GameBoy Advance, I highly recommend playing the GameBoy Color version instead (just trust me). Beyond that, you should know everything you need to know to entertain yourself for the next month or so. Happy gaming!
