From the latest Anbernic releases like the RG406H to devices that have become mainstays in the community like the AYN Odin 2, it’s become clear that Android is here to stay as a preferred OS for retro handhelds. Lower-end devices largely depend on Linux to squeeze every drop of power out of their devices, but before you get into portable PCs,
Android has firmly found a home as the OS of choice for devices $100 and up. This increased adoption rate certainly makes sense but it has been so rapid (as is everything in the space) that it has often seemed to leave software development playing catch up with the ever-increasing hardware power.
Running on the 556 – Auto-scraping on the 406H
Using Android for emulation can be wonderful, but often only once everything is set up. That initial installation process can be a bit of a bear, especially if you’re someone who just wants to play some games and isn’t particularly technically inclined. On top of any initial difficulties, the UI experience often leaves users feeling like they’re still on a phone and not a dedicated emulation device, but developer likeich aims to solve both of these annoyances with the newly revamped Console Launcher 2.0.
The New Launcher
Games view with SteamDB-style tiles
The initial offering of Console Launcher aimed to create a controller-forward user experience in Android, and it did a great job, but it was focused on Android apps themselves, rather than the games behind the emulation apps. Now, with the latest Console Launcher 2.0 Alpha Build, we have a frontend that is firmly focused on a “Unified Android Launcher and Emulation Frontend Experience.”
I’ve had the newly refreshed frontend installed across several devices over the past weekend, and despite still being in the alpha stage of development, I have to say that it’s quickly becoming my preferred experience. I deleted all the included Anbernic apps on the brand-new RG406H and set out to start over fresh via Console Launcher. It has been the default launcher experience from boot. After some days of regular use, I’m quite happy to write that even in its infancy, it does what it sets out to do, and does it quite well.
Console Launcher 2.0 Features
Controllers-first
Dual-wield your handheld as an Android Home Console
Whether it be the controls on a dedicated Android handheld or an external controller via Bluetooth, the aim of Console Launcher is to provide the user with an experience that can be navigated exclusively via non-touch control. This offers a solution that can work for handheld use or when docked to an external display. Trying the docked experience with my Odin 2 and Jumpgate dock on my TV with an external controller proved just as easy as navigating from the device controls. I navigated, changed settings, played some Crazy Taxi, and exited with no hiccups.
Frontend Highlights
- Just Bring Games – Console Launcher will help with the rest. Once you point the app at your ROMs directory, it will auto-scan and populate the different systems and the emulator options to run them. If it doesn’t detect a needed emulator already installed on your system, you can select from available options in a drop-down menu, and from there, the app will helpfully point you to where it might be available on the Google Play Store or Github.
Auto-platform creation Console Launcher 2.0
- Create and launch M3U files for supported systems
- Combines duplicate file names (such as a ROM and the zip it came from) as single entries.
- Secret Scraping Sauce – I’m not adept enough to speculate at what’s happening behind the scenes, but without having to log in to any external services, I was able to scrape the media style of my choice with a speed I haven’t seen matched elsewhere.
Physical Media Scraping – Practical? Nah. Awesome? Absolutely
- Discord Rich Presence – This is certainly an exciting feature for those of us who hang around the RH Discord server. When you launch a game ROM from Console Launcher, your Discord presence will reflect what you’re playing to your friends.
An example of Discord Rich Presence integration
- Tutorials – If you aren’t comfortable with where to start, there is a tutorial section that will help guide you where you might need to go.
Tips for scraping your games
Customization
Console Launcher offers a host of options to curate everything according to your personal preferences.
Make it your own
- Support for custom image backgrounds as well as .mp4 support for video wallpapers
- Support for custom themes
- Custom folders for any combination of emulators, Android apps/games, and individual ROMs
- Multiple options for scraping, including 3D, physical media, and Steam-style tiles.
Conclusion
Features still on the way include Retro Achievements and social integrations, a game randomizer feature (as suggested by our own Stubbs!), connected controller indicators, launching effects, and more. Support isn’t limited just to phones and emulation handhelds, either. The app works on Android TV and Chromebooks now and has Samsung Dex support on the way.
It is worth repeating that this is still alpha software, so the experience is still being refined and bugs are being ironed out. Having said that, the build may still be early, but if my positive experience so far is any indication of things to come, I’m certainly excited to see where it’s going.
You can check out Console Launcher 2.0 via the Google Play Store for free, with the full suite of custom features being purchasable behind a one-time $5 user license.
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