Gamers take note: Android’s best emulation frontend just got a significant update

For as fun as emulating games is, it can also get real messy, real fast. Juggling a bunch of different emulators, each targeting different hardware, makes gaming feel more complicated than we’d like — which is exactly why we’re fans of a good emulation frontend like ES-DE (you can even run it as your launcher). Today we’re getting a nice upgrade to start off our gaming weekend, as ES-DE delivers some useful new features and Android support for additional systems.

ES-DE 3.4.0 is available as of today, and there is just a whole lot packed within. For Android in particular, we’re seeing the arrival of system support for Sony PlayStation 3, Valve Steam, and the Epic Games Store. And speaking of Steam, with all the fun stats it can offer data-hungry gamers, ES-DE is borrowing a page from Steam’s playbook as it implements its own time tracker for showing which games occupy the most of your waking hours.

Samsung users can now use DeX with ES-DE (you’ll need OneUI 8, though). And those of you with dual-screen Android devices are also getting improved support, letting you start gaming on the screen you want.

We just saw PS2 emulation on Android get some attention last month with the release of ARMSX2, and now you can choose that as your alternate emulator right in ES-DE. There’s greatly improved language support, compatibility with additional media types, and just a whole lot more — we even get an updated splash screen dropping the no-longer-quite-so-accurate EmulationStation Desktop Edition branding.

Remember — the Android release of ES-DE is a paid download, but one well worth it to serious retro gaming enthusiasts. If that includes you, give this new build a try and take all these latest updates for a spin.