I replaced my Android launcher with a game emulation hub, and it (mostly) worked

EmulationStation has been one of the best emulation frontends for years, and with the recent update to the Android port of ES-DE Frontend, I wanted to see just how far I could push it. It offers an excellent UI for emulation, but can it do more? Can it replace my main launcher on Android?

After testing it out for a few days on the REDMAGIC 10 Pro, the answer is yes, it can. However, there are a few huge caveats to consider before infusing your daily driver Android smartphone with a retro console interface.

If you’re unfamiliar with ES-DE Frontend, it’s a paid app that brings all your emulators and games into a unified UI. It’s a port of EmulationStation, which has been a mainstay on PC, Linux, and other devices for a long time. Due to permission requirements, it’s not available on the Play Store, but it costs about $5 on Patreon, Samsung Galaxy Store, or Huawei AppGallery.

Importantly, it doesn’t emulate anything. You’ll still need to set up RetroArch and any standalone emulators you want to use separately. For me, this is always the most time-consuming process, but it’s essential to get it right for the best experience. Once your emulators are configured correctly, the app can launch all of your emulated games from a single menu.

Thankfully, setting up ES-DE is easy. I grabbed the APK from the link I was sent after paying on Patreon, and the on-screen instructions ran me through the basics. Once finished, I imported all my ROMs, scraped box art, and chose a few interesting themes.

That last one is important because there are tons of themes to choose from. They all give the experience a different vibe, and they’re all very different from any Android launchers I’ve used.

It takes a while to download each theme, but you can swap between them whenever you want. You can also customize each one by increasing font sizes, changing layouts from lists to grids, and so on.

However, one big thing is missing after this initial setup, and that’s, well, everything other than emulators. I wanted ES-DE to replace my home screen, which means I need a way to access all of my Android apps, too. There’s currently no way to do this natively in the app (although the dev has said it may be added in the 3.2.0 release), but there are a few tools that fill the gap.

First, I downloaded a few XML files from this GitHub page. Once added to the “custom_systems” folder in the ES-DE directory, they add several new platforms to the launcher. These include console hacks, the Switch/WiiU, and, most importantly, Android apps and games.

After that, I sideloaded an app called ES Launcher. This lets you select which apps and games you want to appear within ES-DE. You can add your calculator, but for me, it’s all about adding the hottest Android games like Infinity Nikki. Don’t judge me.

The only thing left at this point was to change my launcher in the settings, and bam, my phone was now a bonafide retro gaming console, complete with modern Android games and apps. The phone launches directly into ES-DE Frontend when I turn it on, but I can still access the notification menu and settings by sliding down from the top.

At first, this was great. It worked just like my Linux-based TrimUI Smart Pro gaming handheld but with far more power and versatility. However, the shortcomings were obvious after I had used it for just a few hours.

While ES-DE is great for gaming, it’s simply not up to the task for other daily uses. My biggest complaint is the lack of touch controls, which is a huge pain when the phone is not connected to a controller. I always turn the controller overlay off when using ES-DE on Android-based gaming handhelds, so being forced to use it was extra painful.

Plus, I had to manually scroll through all of my game systems to get to apps. For checking my email or opening WhatsApp, this was a chore. Saving them as favorites did help since it created a new kind of home screen with my most used apps. Still, I had to use the on-screen controls to open them and there aren’t any widgets to offer information at a glance.

The other big downside is that ES-DE only works in landscape. It does support square aspect ratios, which are found on many retro gaming handhelds, but nothing vertical. This means that when I launched most native Android apps, I had to turn my device. Phones (and Android, really) clearly aren’t made to be used in landscape all the time, so it’s pretty uncomfortable.

Thankfully, a straightforward workaround fixed my complaints, and that’s Tasker. By setting up an automation to switch my launcher to ES-DE any time a controller is attached, I can skip a step when it’s time to do some gaming. This is a best-of-both-worlds approach, although it isn’t much faster than simply opening the ES-DE app when I need it.

But ultimately, it’s incredible how far this EmulationStation Android port has come. While I wouldn’t recommend using ES-DE Frontend as your main launcher, no matter how dedicated you are to retro gaming, it’s an absolute must for Android-based gaming handhelds like the Retroid Pocket series or Ayaneo Pocket Evo.

And who knows? Maybe after a few updates, it will be ready for the main stage. Anything that offers an alternative to the samey appearance of Android skins is more than welcome in my book.