ES-DE Frontend vs RetroFE

ES-DE Frontend browses and launches games from a multi-platform collection and can also run locally installed games and applications. It supports more than 150 game systems and comes configured for a large selection of emulators, game engines, game managers, and gaming services. Its built-in scraper downloads game details and media, including images, videos, and manuals. Users can adjust configuration options and themes, and download additional themes through the built-in theme downloader. The interface supports full controller navigation. Windows, macOS, and Linux editions are free to download and use, fully open source, and may be distributed freely. The Android release is a paid, partially closed-source app, and no price is listed. It is available through Patreon, Samsung Galaxy Store, and Huawei AppGallery. The Android FAQ gives 64-bit Android 10 or later as the basic requirement and says one purchase can be used on all of the buyer’s devices without a subscription or additional costs. Support links include a user guide, FAQs, and Discord.

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.