# Box64

Hacker Approved page: https://hackerapproved.com/p/box64/

6 people recommended Box64 in Hacker News comments, 1 had mixed feelings and none criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026. It was recommended in 4 of 12 months, in 6 threads. It does not meet the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** Lets people run x86 programs on ARM and RISC-V Linux, with reports of Steam and games working; critics note possible bugs.

Summary written by Claude from 6 comments. It was written before the November 2026 recount, and 5 of those comments still count.

## Why people recommend it

- Runs Windows games on ARM (1 comment in the sample): "manage to make it a solid and fast solution to running windows game on arm" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46162246))
- Runs Steam on RISC-V (1 comment in the sample): "Box64 already runs Steam (and a good number of games) on RISC-V." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46668218))
- Promising results on mobile hardware (1 comment in the sample): "Results on existing mobile hardware seem promising already." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46015512))
- Faster than some alternatives (1 comment in the sample): "much slower than Box64 or FEX" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48125496))

## Other x86 emulators people recommend

- [Rosetta 2](https://hackerapproved.com/p/rosetta-2/): 23 recommend, 6 mixed, 10 criticize
- [FEX-Emu](https://hackerapproved.com/p/fex/): 19 recommend, 4 mixed, 5 criticize
- [v86](https://hackerapproved.com/p/v86/): 6 recommend, 2 mixed, 3 criticize

## The badge

A product earns the Hacker Approved badge when at least 10 people recommend it, recommenders outnumber critics at least 2 to 1 (mixed feelings count toward neither side), it was recommended in at least 4 of the 12 months and in at least 5 different threads, and no single thread supplies more than half of the people who recommend it. Health and money products are never badged.

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Box64", https://hackerapproved.com/p/box64/ (6 recommend, 1 mixed, 0 criticize; Hacker News comments, November 2025 to October 2026).

Counts updated 2 Nov 2026, with data through October 31, 2026.