I’ve used it for years, though lately more so because I like RetroAchevements and they sometimes require it. Most stand alone emulators do work, too, but it varies.
Between that and shaders (when I’m in the mood, e.g. CRT Halcyon on a game like Super Metroid) makes it a favorite.
Super Metroid is peak 16-bit era!
So RetroArch is the standard front end for the open source Libretro collection of emulation engines/cores. It’s a decent interface but not necessarily to everyone’s tastes. The Libretro cores are excellent and give a standardised way of managing and emulating a whole range of game systems.
ES-DE is a frontend for numerous emulators, aimed at helping people organise their games collections and emulators in a visual way. It can act as a good front-end for RetroArch, as well as other emulators. It’s a more customisable and perhaps more user friendly experience, which also works well with controllers.
Retroarch + ES-DE is a common combination, and for Linux users (including Steam Deck) RetroDECK is one great option. RetroDECK is a single preconfigured Flatpak with ES-DE, Retroarch and other emulators all packaged together and containerised. All you have to do is install the flatpak, then add the games and ROMs as wanted.
EmuDeck is another option which again combines RetroArch + ES-DE amongst other tools. It’s available for Linux including SteamOS, but also Windows and Android. It’s an installation script that allows you to select the emulators and tools you want and it’ll install them all from available stores or from projects websites, and then configure them on your system. Then you add your games and ROMs as wanted.
The UI is trash, but it works.
Welcome! I got RetroArch installed on everything, but on Android I’m using Daijisho as a frontend, and it can also be your launcher. Just make sure you download RetroArch from the official website if you go this way, the version on the Play Store is horribly out of date.
