Daijishō vs RetroFE

Daijishō is a free Android retro launcher for organizing game libraries and configuring players to open files from selected library paths. It does not include emulators; users install their preferred emulators or other apps separately. The library provides search, detailed game views, genres, widgets, and RetroAchievements, with metadata scraping and controller navigation listed. Appearance options include downloadable wallpaper packs, theme colors, and widgets. Platform configurations can be imported from Pegasus or shared platform JSON files, or created from manually added players. The project lists connections to RetroAchievements, IGDB, RetroArch, Libretro, GitHub, and Arcade Italia DB. Its maker says the app has no backend, keeps basic user information on the device, and does not send or share that information with the maker, while third-party services may have separate privacy policies. A universal-distribution APK is provided on the latest release page. Daijishō is currently closed-source and accepts issue reports and suggestions through its repository.

RetroFE is a free, open-source front end for displaying, selecting and launching games, videos and programs, commonly used for game emulation. Collections arrange games and menu items into systems and submenus, and can show media such as box art, screenshots, logos and videos. Layouts set the front end’s appearance, with the option for collections to use their own layouts. Launcher configuration specifies an executable and arguments for starting an emulator, application or game; per-game launcher settings can override a collection’s default. Controls such as up, down, select and back are configured in a controls file. Its game information database can hold details including year, manufacturer, genre and player count. Setup involves editing global settings and controls files, then adding or editing collections. Full releases include a 32-bit Windows executable and a 64-bit Linux executable. Windows requires a recent Visual C++ Redistributable for Visual Studio; some Linux distributions may require compiling from source. macOS users need to compile their own executable. Community-made themes are available for installation in the layouts directory, and the maker points users to forums and describes community support.