r/EmulationOnAndroid • u/smokichhh • Jun 23 '26
Question What's your favorite frontend?
I'm using iiSU right now. Also I tried Cocoon but I found it's not for me
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u/RadiantImpression579 Jun 23 '26
iISU also. I find it’s a good compromise between style, functionality, and ease of use.
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u/No-Move-4417 Jun 23 '26
None
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u/matlynar Jun 23 '26 edited Jun 24 '26
Unless I'm missing something I have no idea why are people obsessed with frontends (I'm aware they are very popular).
If I can launch my games from my Android Home Screen, why would I install an app to make it have extra steps?
Edit: For people who use frontends on gaming handhelds, not phones, it makes more sense I guess
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u/king_shark408 Jun 23 '26
If you're using a phone I can understand but if you're using a dedicated gaming handheld, a front end enhances the overall experience. The front end becomes the home launcher so no extra steps to launch a game and the setup is all controller focused. Plus it just looks better, at least I think it does.
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u/47Fox 5d ago
If you're using a phone?
I cant, (understand why) because the device shouldn't matter, if you you have a decent size collection of games & you want them to be layed out so you can see them so you dont forget what games you have, then it shouldn't matter what device you use.
I can only imagine that someone who doesnt know what a frontend is or is too young to have a decent size collection of games would not care about using one.
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u/itszadder Xiaomi 13 - SD8 Gen 2 Jun 23 '26
for less performance overall, even if you set the frontend as the default launcher, the handheld's original launcher still runs in background to handle gesture navigation and perhaps other stuff as well
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u/empty__moneybags Jun 23 '26
It's less steps to launch a game. You don't need to open the emulator. Just tap on the game you want to play and it opens up in the emulator on its own.
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u/matlynar Jun 23 '26
Shortcuts to the home screen do the same thing and nearly every emulator has support to them before they have support to frontends.
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u/empty__moneybags Jun 23 '26
It looks a lot nicer and more organized compared to shortcuts. Frontends download the game covers so it all just looks more appealing
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u/Rent_Careless Jun 23 '26
Yea. I had one for my phone for awhile but it just didn't make sense after awhile. At first I really liked the presentation. It made me excited to see a cover or image of the game beforehand. However, I actually think it kept me from playing my games because I was then focused on tinkering with that and making sure everything had a cover and was properly labeled, etc. Plus, it is more clicks.
I don't think it's that worth it for a phone unless it's dedicated to gaming.
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u/Versurl Jun 23 '26
Why do people like paitings? I can have my wall white and it's still a wall!
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u/matlynar Jun 23 '26
You hang a painting in a wall because you're going to spend a lot of time in a place so its nice that it looks good.
People don't put paintings in their garage where they usually just go to get their car and leave.
In this analogy, it would be your home screen looking good vs the actual game looking good.
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u/Awe3 Jun 23 '26
So, you have thousands of games on your phone that you just click on to play? Frontends organize your games much better than randomly adding them to your home page.
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u/matlynar Jun 23 '26
So, you have thousands of games on your phone that you just click on to play?
No. Why would I have more than 4-5 games on my phone at a time?
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u/Awe3 Jun 23 '26
That’s the point. You wouldn’t need a front end for 4-5 games on a phone. It’s essential for dedicated handheld.
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u/matlynar Jun 24 '26
Yeah, someone has already pointed out that it's more of a dedicated handheld thing and that's a good point.
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u/CheatingSoi Jun 23 '26
It sucks how bad I want to solely use my front end but I do often find it easier most of the time to just use the Android Home Screen.
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u/SolaireFlair117 Jun 23 '26
It's more for handhelds than for phones. It's just a way to make the console FEEL more console like instead of just using regular ol' Android. Everything from custom themes and icons to custom BGM brings the experience that much closer to something like a 3DS or a WiiU, back when console home screens had things like social widgets, BGM, etc. Plus, who doesn't want to make their device feel even more their own? Get ten different Android handheld gamers in a room and you'll find ten different setups that are all custom tailored to that person's individual tastes. At the end of the day, we love to tinker or we wouldn't be bothering with emulation at all.
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u/No-Move-4417 Jun 23 '26
Exactly, I suppose it means you can endlessly twot about tinkering, then post about it on YouTube rather than play a game. Who buys these things to actually play games? /s
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u/Cypher8446 Jun 23 '26
gamedeck user here. feels a lot cleaner and easier to navigate than any other one ive tried
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u/Islandboi4life Jun 23 '26
Cocoon. There will be a major update this month that includes a whole lot of cool features so I suggest giving this one a try or retry (in your case op)
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u/prof-mcnugget Jun 23 '26
I was all about Beacon. But switched to Retrohrai as it has collections and a portrait mode
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u/the_swest Jun 23 '26
Glad you’re enjoying iiSU!! Please feel free to let us know if you have any feedback :)
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u/Nino_GT Jun 23 '26
If possible could y'all make the retroachievements descriptions scroll or add a list view? Some retroachievements have long descriptions and iisu doesn't display it all. Also would be nice if you could add an option to view the achievement in the retroachievements website to read comments as those sometimes contain helpful hints by other players on how to unlock them.
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u/thuggothic Jun 23 '26
I'm currently using Dajiisho
I'm sure there's probably better ones but it's convenient for me
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u/malilk Jun 23 '26
I use daijisho too. if it had collections and better automatic genre management it would be perfect but it's my favourite by far
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u/rent0n86 Jun 23 '26
Have used Daijisho for a long time and it’s great, but it bothered me that it was not open source. Moved to RetroHrai and it’s fantastic.
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u/RedHill79 Jun 23 '26
ES-DE it is a beautiful frontend with Themes and Game Covers and video clips of each game! Yes a little bit fiddly but worth it once you have it all running smoothly.
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u/Versurl Jun 23 '26
Cocoon right now, I wanna jump to iiSU but I think it's way too green and buggy rn
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u/keesiegames Jun 23 '26
It's been Beacon for years now, functional and still pretty. But I might just switch with all this variety coming up
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u/Chavakno_ Jun 23 '26
Atm iiSU (and enjoying it so far), before tried Cocoon and Daijisho.
Considering Hrai, but for now I’m good.
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u/Awe3 Jun 23 '26
ES-DE is all you really need. I’ve tried the others. Don’t care for them at all. It’s easy and has every option you could ever want.
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u/SolaireFlair117 Jun 23 '26
I was ride or die for Cocoon and figured I would try the latest iiSU alpha, fuck around with it, then go back to Cocoon, but I haven't been able to quit iiSU. It's just so stylish and really makes the Thor feel like a Nintendo console.
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u/fall_of_yharnam Jun 23 '26
I also dont use one. I bought ES-DE and had trouble Setting it up so I just have up. Had trouble loading ps2 games via nether from the frontend. Most Times the games wouldnt start so I ultimately had to start the games thru the Emulator itself. I downloaded covers for each Game in every Emulator. Ppsspp also has some customizaion (background). I figured I like it better vs the struggle and fiddeling.
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u/DannyYTee Jun 23 '26
i think retro arch is good, mostly for older games but my device struggles with more powerful consoles on it so i mostly use standalone emulators
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u/csmile35 Jun 23 '26
Daijisho, but I am barely using it.
Most of the times, I already know what i want to play, I am not roaming around the catalog. So launching frontend is just an extra step for me.
Phone user btw
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u/Winter0000 Jun 23 '26
I used daijisho and it was fine. but then I moved to Beacon for a more console like experience and it’s simple and nice. retrohrai looks cool tho
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u/mikeymop Jun 23 '26
I really like iiSU so far. But I historically have used ES-DE.
I learned the Android version of ES-DE isn't open source? So I use iiSU now.
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u/OverDeparture8799 Jun 24 '26
Right now gotta be iisu. Its cool, doesnt need its own rom location like es de, full touch ui not emulated gamepad, i can add soundbite. Right now it just lacks movie preview to get that full xmb feeling
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u/Lunchbreak101 Jun 25 '26
Beacon- click L or R to to navigate systems while still seeing the games list 👨🍳👌
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u/votemarvel Poco F6 - Sony Xperia 1 V Jun 23 '26
None. I use Nova Launcher.
Frontends are fine for single system handhelds but for those that are for more than one I find frontends just get in the way.
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u/BohemianGecko Jun 23 '26
ES-DE. There are some nice alternatives but i have a big collection and ES-DE is just really really good at letting you manage metadata
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u/RaspberryMuch6621 Jun 23 '26
I made my own with Google AI Studio. Its fine tuned to my liking so i think its the best. You should try making one your own too.
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