I replaced my Android launcher with a game emulation hub

EmulationStation has been among the finest emulation frontends for years, and with the current replace to the Android port of ES-DE Frontend, I needed to see simply how far I might push it. It gives a superb UI for emulation, however can it do extra? Can it exchange my principal launcher on Android?

After testing it out for a number of days on the REDMAGIC 10 Professional, the reply is sure, it will possibly. Nevertheless, there are a number of enormous caveats to contemplate earlier than infusing your every day driver Android smartphone with a retro console interface.

Should you’re unfamiliar with ES-DE Frontend, it’s a paid app that brings all of your emulators and video games right into a unified UI. It’s a port of EmulationStation, which has been a mainstay on PC, Linux, and different gadgets for a very long time. On account of permission necessities, it’s not out there on the Play Retailer, but it surely prices about $5 on Patreon, Samsung Galaxy Store, or Huawei AppGallery.

Importantly, it doesn’t emulate something. You’ll nonetheless have to arrange RetroArch and any standalone emulators you need to use individually. For me, that is all the time essentially the most time-consuming course of, but it surely’s important to get it proper for one of the best expertise. As soon as your emulators are configured accurately, the app can launch all your emulated video games from a single menu.

Fortunately, establishing ES-DE is straightforward. I grabbed the APK from the hyperlink I used to be despatched after paying on Patreon, and the on-screen directions ran me by way of the fundamentals. As soon as completed, I imported all my ROMs, scraped field artwork, and selected a number of attention-grabbing themes.

That final one is essential as a result of there are tons of themes to select from. All of them give the expertise a special vibe, they usually’re all very totally different from any Android launchers I’ve used.

It takes some time to obtain every theme, however you’ll be able to swap between them everytime you need. You can too customise each by growing font sizes, altering layouts from lists to grids, and so forth.

Nevertheless, one huge factor is lacking after this preliminary setup, and that’s, nicely, every part aside from emulators. I needed ES-DE to exchange my dwelling display screen, which implies I would like a approach to entry all of my Android apps, too. There’s presently no approach to do that natively within the app (though the dev has mentioned it might be added within the 3.2.0 launch), however there are a number of instruments that fill the hole.

First, I downloaded a number of XML information from this GitHub page. As soon as added to the “custom_systems” folder within the ES-DE listing, they add a number of new platforms to the launcher. These embrace console hacks, the Change/WiiU, and, most significantly, Android apps and video games.

After that, I sideloaded an app referred to as ES Launcher. This lets you choose which apps and video games you need to seem inside ES-DE. You may add your calculator, however for me, it’s all about including the hottest Android games like Infinity Nikki. Don’t decide me.

The one factor left at this level was to vary my launcher within the settings, and bam, my telephone was now a bonafide retro gaming console, full with trendy Android video games and apps. The telephone launches instantly into ES-DE Frontend after I flip it on, however I can nonetheless entry the notification menu and settings by sliding down from the highest.

At first, this was nice. It labored identical to my Linux-based TrimUI Smart Pro gaming handheld however with way more energy and flexibility. Nevertheless, the shortcomings had been apparent after I had used it for only a few hours.

Whereas ES-DE is nice for gaming, it’s merely lower than the duty for different every day makes use of. My greatest criticism is the dearth of contact controls, which is a large ache when the telephone isn’t linked to a controller. I all the time flip the controller overlay off when utilizing ES-DE on Android-based gaming handhelds, so being pressured to make use of it was further painful.

Plus, I needed to manually scroll by way of all of my sport programs to get to apps. For checking my e mail or opening WhatsApp, this was a chore. Saving them as favorites did assist because it created a brand new sort of dwelling display screen with my most used apps. Nonetheless, I had to make use of the on-screen controls to open them and there aren’t any widgets to supply info at a look.

The opposite huge draw back is that ES-DE solely works in panorama. It does help sq. side ratios, that are discovered on many retro gaming handhelds, however nothing vertical. Which means after I launched most native Android apps, I needed to flip my gadget. Telephones (and Android, actually) clearly aren’t made for use in panorama on a regular basis, so it’s fairly uncomfortable.

Fortunately, an easy workaround mounted my complaints, and that’s Tasker. By establishing an automation to modify my launcher to ES-DE any time a controller is connected, I can skip a step when it’s time to do some gaming. It is a best-of-both-worlds method, though it isn’t a lot sooner than merely opening the ES-DE app after I want it.

However in the end, it’s unbelievable how far this EmulationStation Android port has come. Whereas I wouldn’t suggest utilizing ES-DE Frontend as your principal launcher, regardless of how devoted you’re to retro gaming, it’s an absolute should for Android-based gaming handhelds just like the Retroid Pocket collection or Ayaneo Pocket Evo.

And who is aware of? Perhaps after a number of updates, it is going to be prepared for the principle stage. Something that provides an alternative choice to the samey look of Android skins is greater than welcome in my ebook.