Mobox hands-on: The fastest emulator for running PC games on Android (2024)

The world of video game emulation is filled with amazing apps that can mimic the architecture and functionality of completely different hardware. But it took us a long time to get this far. Earlier, it was nearly impossible to emulate PC games on Android devices, as even the most powerful smartphones failed to run simple 2D Windows games at playable frame rates.

Today, it’s possible to emulate graphically intensive games like Crysis on Android devices, provided you have a semi-decent smartphone, of course. If you’ve read any of my recent articles on XDA, you might be wondering if I’m talking about Winlator. As it turns out, there’s another competitor in the emulation landscape that easily surpasses Winlator as far as sheer performance is concerned. The app I’m referring to is called Mobox, and despite being extremely complex to set up, it’s hands-down the fastest emulator for running PC games on Android devices.

What I like about Mobox

A huge library of supported games

One of my biggest gripes with Winlator is that you can only use DRM-free GOG games with the emulator. Sure, it’s technically possible to install Steam on Winlator, but you’ll need a combination of luck and patience to load the Steam client, let alone run a game or two.

Fortunately, Mobox is more powerful than its rival and is fully capable of running the Steam client. As such, you’re not just limited to GOG games, but can also run apps available on Steam. This feature alone makes the effort of setting up Steam worth it (but more on that in a bit). If Steam is your platform of choice, then Mobox is the only way to legitimately run Steam titles on your Android device.

Surprisingly incredible performance

Before I used Mobox, I was rather skeptical of the rumors surrounding the emulator’s superior performance. So, once I’d installed Mobox, I immediately ran Crysis at 1024x768 resolution without tweaking any other setting. Within a few seconds, I was staring at the main menu, which was a far cry (pun intended) from the minute-long load times on Winlator.

After setting most of the graphical options to low, I noticed the game ran at pretty much 28-30FPS, with an occasional lag when too many enemies showed up. For reference, Winlator could barely run Crysis at 800x600 30FPS and had its fair share of graphical bugs in addition to frequent FPS drops.

Once I was satisfied with testing Crysis, I turned my gaze to other titles, including those available on Steam. Unsurprisingly, 2D games, such as Gnosia, Ender Lilies, Hollow Knight, World of Horror, and Signalis worked extremely well, and I was able to hit more than 30FPS on all these titles even at a 1920x1080 resolution. As for 3D games, the older GOG titles, such as Deus Ex, Dead Space (2008), and F.E.A.R. ran at more than 30FPS at a slightly lower resolution.

However, the performance overhead from emulating the Steam client was evident in some of the more demanding titles. For instance, Ori and the Blind Forest, Bravely Default II, and Sunless Skies had a hard time maintaining 30FPS at any resolution higher than 1280x720. Regardless, the end result was rather impressive, considering I tested the games on a Snapdragon 7+ Gen 2 chip. While we’re on the subject of the processor…

Better compatibility with newer Snapdragon chips

Snapdragon’s mobile chips lie at the apex of the Android landscape, making smartphones powered by SD processors a solid recommendation for gamers. Unfortunately, it's currently impossible to run Winlator on the newest SD 8 Gen 3 processors, and the only way to get Windows titles to boot on said chips is by installing extra third-party mods. Even then, you're likely to experience reduced performance, in addition to frequent crashes and glitches.

Fortunately, Mobox is compatible with most of the latest Snapdragon processors, including the cutting-edge Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processors. So, if you're a proud owner of a high-end gaming phone armed with these chips, Mobox is the only way to have a crash-free experience when emulating Windows titles.

What I don’t like about Mobox

Setting up the emulator is a long-drawn-out process

So far, Mobox looks pretty good for anyone looking to run a Windows game on an Android device. However, getting Mobox up and running is a job and a half, requiring three different applications to be configured for the optimal experience. For starters, there’s Termux, a terminal emulator where you must run the commands to download Mobox and its necessary repositories. You’ll also have to use its command-line interface to modify the settings or while launching Mobox.

Then there’s Termux X11, an add-on application responsible for displaying the graphical output from Mobox. Like its parent app, Termux X11 has its own set of options that you’ll need to fine-tune as per your games. Similarly, getting Steam to run on Mobox not only requires tweaks to Termux, but you’ll also have to overwrite several files and run a custom script every time you want to log in to your Steam account.

And that’s before you include the third essential app, Input Bridge, which is so tedious to set up that it deserves a section of its own.

No built-in virtual controller

In my hands-on post on Winlator, I was rather dissatisfied with its KB+M and external controller implementation. Mobox takes the control issues to the next level, as the emulator ditches the built-in virtual controller altogether.

Therefore, you’ll need to use the Input Bridge application to map on-screen controls for Mobox. By map, I mean you'll need to physically drag all the necessary keys onto the screen and bind them to a keyboard or mouse input. For those who wish to connect external gamepads with their smartphone, you’ll have to rebind the buttons all over again, and none of the games I have tested so far worked with the pre-configured Xinput profile. If you’re using a Bluetooth controller like the GameSir X4 Aileron, you’ll need to modify some permissions to force the gamepad to show up in Input Bridge.

The only silver lining here is that Input Bridge lets you import some community-created profiles to save you the hassle of mapping the keys yourself. But since Mobox is still in its early stages and modern games have entirely different input mappings, you’re unlikely to find a functioning profile that works with your favorite PC title.

Mobox: Amazing frame rates, but only if you’re willing to subject yourself through a tedious setup procedure

If I had to pick between Winlator and Mobox, I’d almost always go with the latter. While it’ll probably take hours just to get the controls working, the consistent frame rates more than make up for the extra effort. Plus, it works on Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 devices, on top of being able to run Steam games. Unless you’re willing to deal with modded Winlator versions, Mobox is the only viable emulator for owners of smartphones with the most powerful SD mobile chips.

But at the end of the day, you’re still running Windows titles on vastly underpowered systems. So, if you’re planning to run something as taxing as Alan Wake 2, Cyberpunk 2077, or god forbid, Microsoft Flight Simulator, you should look into a cheap gaming laptop instead of relying on experimental emulators.

Mobox

Mobox is a free emulator capable of running Windows titles, including Steam games, at high frame rates. Unfortunately, the app isn't very intuitive to cofigure, and it can take a few hours to get everything up and running.

See at Github