Frontends/Archive 1

Frontends are programs that allow a user to execute an emulator program, usually a command-line one, using a graphical interface. Examples of such are shown below.

Note: "Frontend" can be a somewhat confusing term since it is sometimes used to refer to an emulator's internal frontend that handles video, audio, and input interaction with the user and OS, while this page refers to the "Launcher" or "Executor" kind of "frontend".

ePSXeCutor

ePSXeCutor is a configuration utility for the ePSXe emulator (and maybe for PCSX-R too?) this comes in handy if you are juggling with many psx games and plugin configurations and want specific settings for each individual game and an easy way to swap between settings. It also allows for easy memory card and savestate managing. Latest version is ePSXeCutor 1.0.6.3.

HyperSpin

HyperSpin is a frontend for several emulators, however the focus tends to be for arcade emulators (e.g. MAME). Officially suggested emulators available for HyperSpin include MAME, MESS, Nestopia and ZSNES. For general use, though, do not use ZSNES; see SNES for more information on better emulators. Latest version is HyperSpin 1.0.

RoM-Jacket

RoM-Jacket For Windows XP,Vista, 7, 8x & Linux via WINE

  RoM-Jacket creates a native Windows™ (batch-script) library-layer for retro-emulation.

It is a comprehensive utility for any ROM library and is the ONLY ROM-library management tool which enables indipendent per-game settings.

RoM-Jacket can: automatically setup HTPC frontends, emulators and joysticks. Download torrents, magnets, urls and automatically identify, extract and catalog ROMs and BIOS files Mirror your saves and save-states into a cloud (Dropbox/GDrive/OneDrive) Convert ROMs into portable executables

   Each ROM is grouped with associated assets inside a Jacket (folder). A batch-script launcher (.bat) and configuration files are then created for each ROM.

The result is a library in which titles are highly portable, self-contained, execuatble by Windows™ itself and and easily integrated into any HTPC gaming frontend.

FEATURES 80+ supported consoles, computers and arcade machines 50+ emulators 9 HTPC frontends Full-HD backgrounds, high quality photographic icons and logos for all supported systems. Simple wizards Drag'n drop ROM sorting Intelligent BIOS & ROM cataloging Torrent, magnet and URL support CLI for custom emulators Open-source and free XBox 360 & DS3/4 joystick support Artwork migration tools

SUPPORTED HTPC FRONTENDS retroFE OblyTile Hyperspin Cabrio-FE Steam Media Browser 2.6.2 Advanced Launcher emulationStation Rom Collection Browser

The goal of this project is to unify the interface for emulators and systems in order to maintain the integrity of ROM titles as they exist in any active HTPC gaming-library.

Latest version is v0.99 "dilldor".

MAME frontends

There are a myriad of frontends for MAME, the most popular are HyperSpin and MAMEUI.

DOSBox frontends

There are several DOSBox frontends, all of which exist for similar purposes. A popular example would be D-Fend Reloaded, which allows you to sort/search and run DOS games without having to use the DOS command prompt. Other examples can be found on the DOSBox website.

PCSX2 Frontends

There are 2 main frontends for PCSX2, PCSX2Bonus and PS2Lunch.

Misc Notes

It's worth noting that Kodi/XBMC has addons for adding emulators and other computer games to its interface, complete with auto scraped game info, covers, and screenshots.

Also, if you are comfortable making batch files for your emulators, you can use Steam's "Add Non-Steam Game" to add emulators, or even specific games, to your Steam. If you set up the emulators right, you can browse your whole collection through Big Picture Mode, launching, and playing them all from a single controller. However, icon graphics are up to you, and some emulators don't play nice with the Steam Overlay.

For OSX, there's OpenEmu. Look for the experimental version for more game system cores.