Attract-Mode vs Pegasus Frontend

Attract-Mode is a graphical frontend for command-line emulators such as MAME, MESS, and Nestopia. It is intended for arcade cabinets and control by joystick, gamepad, or spin dial, and runs on Windows, OS X, and Linux, including Raspberry Pi and Odroid. Users can import game lists, generate lists from emulator directories, and set launch commands for individual games. The frontend can retrieve missing game details and artwork from TheGamesDB, Progetto-Snaps, and adb.arcadeitalia.net. Controls can be assigned to joystick, keyboard, or mouse inputs, including combinations. A built-in configuration menu has on-screen help, and settings are stored in text files. Layouts can be scripted in Squirrel and customized with themes, animations, and GLSL shaders. It supports media formats supported by FFmpeg and SWF files through gameswf. The feature list also names Steam support and plug-ins for extensions or integration with external programs. Attract-Mode is free and open source under the GNU General Public License v3. Pause functionality for returning to the frontend and resuming an emulator is listed only for Linux and Windows versions.

Pegasus Frontend is a free graphical interface for collecting games from different platforms, viewing game information and media, and launching games or emulators. Users configure how emulators launch, while themes can change both the presentation of a collection and how people interact with it. Navigation supports gamepads, keyboards, mice and touch, across screen sizes from TVs to handhelds. Listed automatic game sources include Steam, GOG, Android apps, Lutris, EmulationStation and LaunchBox, though availability varies by platform. Lutris support is marked experimental. Pegasus can use its own metadata files or read EmulationStation gamelists and associated assets. It does not include or download games, emulators, stores or game assets, so users must supply those separately. Official releases are listed for Windows 7 or later, Linux, Raspberry Pi, Odroid, Android 5 or later, and macOS 10.13 or later. Android installation requires manually enabling APK installation, and Pegasus is not available from the Play Store.