For those that may not be aware, LaunchBox is a longstanding frontend available for both Windows and Android that was originally developed by Unbroken Software. Released for Windows in the early 2010’s and later dropped onto Android in 2019, LaunchBox is one of the big premium options out on the market, and in general has aimed to be a simple to use and access frontend for both platforms.
If you’re interested in learning more or picking up LaunchBox to try, you can read more at their changelog, find out more in their About Page, or pickup a license to LaunchBox if that’s up your alley. Just be aware that for Android, the Free model is limited to 100 games, the $15 tier is for a year of free updates, and the $40 tier is for a lifetime license.
As for the full changelog you can catch it below with some of my favorite inclusions being in bold for easier access.
LaunchBox For Android Updates
- Added dual-screen support functionality
- Added dual-screen Game Details pages for Overview, Achievements, Artwork, and Video, with genres, animated clear logos, and quick actions for Download or Play, Favorite, Add to Playlist, and star rating
- Added Options > Second Screen Views to choose which dual-screen Game Details pages appear
- Added an in-game companion screen with session statistics, achievements earned during play, an achievement browser, and animated artwork
- Achievements refresh every three minutes, when opening the achievement page
- Added a touch- and controller-accessible Recently Played carousel to Details screen
- Added a RetroAchievements section to main menu
- Added a dynamic RetroAchievements main menu label that can show a selected statistic
- Added a RetroAchievements game achievements page with Grid and List modes, controller navigation, badge states, unlock rates, achievement types, search, grouping, sorting, filters, and refresh
- Added optional RetroAchievements progress summaries to game details
- Added optional achievement notifications when returning from an emulator
- Added support for configuring RetroAchievements credentials for supported emulators
- Added manual SMB connections by IPv4 address
- Added a controller-friendly emulator selection popup showing Installed and Not Installed
- Added indicators for new settings in Options, RetroAchievements, and Games Grid View Settings
- Added image fit and spacing options to the Boxes Grid games view
- Added emulators:
- ARMSX2 Refresh
- hakuX
- PrimeHack Android
- Mandarine and Mandarine-Neo
- Eden Nightly
- Strato
- EmuCoreX
- NetherSX2 Turnip
- EmuCoreV
- Xenra Gold and Green
- ax360e and ax360e (Free)
- X360 Mobile (Old)
- xendroid
- Dolphin Debug, Dolphin Handheld, Dolphin Ishiiruka, Dolphin MMJR3, DolphinCS
- Borked 3DS
- Lemonade Alpha
- Citra Antutu and Antutu Storage Access
- Mupen64Plus AE Alpha and Legacy
- Suyu RelWithDebInfo
- PPSSPP Legacy
- ARMSX1
- EmuCoreR
- ARMSX3
- EmuCoreC
- Vita3k+
- Virtual Virtual Boy
- MiceWine
- Winlator CMod, Winlator CMod (Old), and Winlator CMod Proot
- Swan.emu
- Ruffle
- SWF Player and SWF Player Pro
- Swiff
- Added platforms
- Web Browsers
- Microsoft Xbox 360
- Sega Titan Video
- Added RetroArch core mappings for BBC Microcomputer System, Interton VC 4000, Sega Titan Video, and Sega Model 3
- Improved the Jump To menu for games
- Improved loading, navigation, and scrolling performance on Filters and Games pages
- Improved main menu startup reliability and speed; especially for larger libraries
- Improved streaming video stability, memory use, and loading backgrounds
- Improved text entry with an inline keyboard and popups
- Improved Cloud Sync recovery after authentication expires, prompting for sign-in instead of repeatedly retrying
- Updated to .NET 10, .NET MAUI 10, and newer Community Toolkit components
- Updated the minimum supported Android version to Android 8.0
- Removed the legacy Banners Dual Screen platform view
- Fixed an issue where Android could downgrade Done / Mastered games after an app update, and blank automatic progress values clearing existing progress
- Fixed platform default emulator and RetroArch core settings being lost after restarting LaunchBox, and corrected the default Nintendo Entertainment System RetroArch core
- Fixed the launch activity for the Google Play version of ARMSX2
- Fixed newly added playlist games sometimes missing when opening the playlist immediately afterward
- Fixed deleted games and games removed from playlists reappearing after using Jump To
- Fixed the vertical Jump To list using Left and Right instead of Up and Down in landscape
- Fixed controller navigation and focus in toolbar menus, settings choices, and popups
- Fixed popups remaining open after completed actions
- Fixed holding Back on some Android handhelds repeatedly opening and closing the main menu
- Fixed pressing Back on the Edit Platform Metadata page returning to the Filters page after showing the Save or Cancel warning
- Fixed Android system-bar spacing and toolbar positioning that could leave extra gaps or overlap platform and game lists
- Fixed the Games page lagging and repeatedly retrying a game image download when the image could not be downloaded
- Fixed cloud download indicators appearing while Games pages were still loading
- Fixed Manage Android Apps repeatedly reloading its list
- Fixed emulator installation completion handling after Android recreates the screen
- Fixed an issue with downloading media and logging in to EmuMovies
- Fixed NAS downloads remaining on “Checking NAS connection”
- Fixed NAS re-imports and Update Games scans incorrectly adding, skipping, or removing existing games
- Fixed long messages being clipped instead of wrapping on the NAS Management page
- Fixed crashes when opening, rotating, or leaving Filters and Games pages, opening custom Arcade genres, selecting the LaunchBox root as a platform’s ROM folder, validating a Steam session, or navigating quickly between pagesFixed a crash while artwork was updating
- Fixed a possible crash when the LaunchBox Themes folder was missing or inaccessible
- Fixed a possible crash on older Android versions caused by unsupported media foreground-service behavior
- Fixed default import settings for Sega Naomi and Sega Naomi 2 to use MAME metadata without filtering or full-set mode
- Disabled ROM extraction by default for Sammy Atomiswave, Sega Naomi, Sega Naomi 2, and Sega Model 3
Launchbox doesn’t often drop their updates, but when they do, there’s usually quite a bit too them, and this just kind of shows that. It’s great to see the project continuing its development especially amongst all of the recent competition. I’ll just be interested to see what’s next.
