Changes

[[File:openemu-wimp.png|thumb|[[OpenEmu]] with a <abbr title="Windows, Icons, Menus, Pointer">WIMP</abbr> interface]]

[[File:attractmode-htpc.png|thumb|Attract-Mode with a HTPC interface]]

'''Frontends''' are programs that address a quality-of-life issue that emulators may not fulfill. For example, some emulator developers skip the user interface portion of development by having the user launch them from the command line. This usually means opening Command Prompt in the folder where the emulator is installed and typing something like <code>emulator.exe game.rom</code>. From a usability perspective, this is not optimal; running emulators from a shell can be considered tedious if commands aren't already scripted by the user (and they can't be expected to know how to set up such a thing if their first time loading the program is a black window that pops up and then disappears). To avoid this, many emulators will try to incorporate some kind of ''graphical user interface (GUI)'' in their standalone builds. For the emulators that never receive one however, a separate frontend project usually emerges.

==Launcher types==

These "Launchers" or "Executors" use their own graphical interface to start emulators. They're generally very adaptive and can support different arguments between emulators to ease integration. These frontends can be used with almost any emulator of your choosing, as long as they support command-line arguments.

TODO: Should probably find a multi-platorm WIMP and HTPC type to recommend

-->

|[[RetroFE]]

|align=left|{{Icon|Windows|Linux|macOS}}

|HTPC

|{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{~}}

|[https://github.com/quinton-ashley/nostlan Nostlan]

|align=left|{{Icon|Windows|Linux|macOS}}

|{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{~}}

|-

|[https://pegasus-frontend.org/ Pegasus]

|[https://hyperspin-fe.com/files/category/761-hyperspin-windows/ 1.5.1]

|HTPC

|-

|[https://lutris.net/ Lutris]

|align=left|{{Icon|Linux}}

|WIMP

|{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✗}}

|[https://tkashkin.tk/projects/gamehub/ GameHub]

|align=left|{{Icon|Linux}}

|WIMP

|{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✗}}

|-

|align=left|{{Icon|Windows}}

|{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✗}}

|-

|[https://www.gameex.com/ GameEx]

|align=left|{{Icon|Windows}}

|HTPC

|{{✗}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✗}}

|CLI

|{{✗}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✗}}

|-

|[https://www.metropolis-launcher.net/ Metropolis Launcher]

!colspan="7"|Mobile / ARM

|-

|align=left|{{Icon|Android}}

|{{✗}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✓}}

|-

|[http://attractmode.org/download.html 2.6.1]

|HTPC

|-

|[https://pegasus-frontend.org/ Pegasus]

|[https://pegasus-frontend.org/#downloads Alpha 13]

|HTPC, Touch

|-

|RESET Collection

|[https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.retroloungelab.resetcollection 1.0.12 ($4.99)]

|Touch

|-

|[[HyperSpin]]

|[https://hyperspin-fe.com/files/category/445-hyperspin-android/ 1.1]

|Touch

|}

<references group="A"/>

==Integrated emulator types==

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;" style="width: 75%"

|{{~}}

|{{✓}}

|-

|[https://retropie.org.uk/ RetroPie]

|align=left|{{Icon|Linux}}<ref group=I name=retropie>RetroPie for x86 Linux is only available Ubuntu (16.04 LTS or later) and Debian based distros. See these [https://retropie.org.uk/docs/Debian/ install instructions].</ref>

|HTPC

|{{✓}}

|{{✓}}

|{{~}}

|-

!colspan="8"|Mobile / ARM

|[https://retropie.org.uk/ RetroPie]

|align=left|{{Icon|LinuxARM}}

|HTPC

|{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✓}}

|-

!colspan=8"|Consoles

|??

|HTPC

|}

<references group="I"/>

|[https://github.com/doZennn/steam-rom-manager Steam ROM Manager]

|align=left|{{Icon|Windows|Linux|macOS}}

|{{✓}}

|{{✓}}

==Project-specific Frontends==

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;" style="width: 75%"

! scope="col"|Name

|[https://ludo.libretro.com/ Ludo]

|align=left|{{Icon|Windows|Linux|macOS}}

|Most non GL cores

|HTPC

|-

|[https://wiki.gnome.org/Apps/Games Games (Gnome)]

|align=left|{{Icon|Linux}}

|[https://wiki.gnome.org/Apps/Games/Documentation#Supported_platforms Limited]

|WIMP

|[https://ludo.libretro.com/ Ludo]

|align=left|{{Icon|LinuxARM}}

|Most non GL cores

|HTPC

|-

|[https://www.retrix.me/ RetriX]

|[https://github.com/Swordfish90/Lemuroid Lemuroid]

|align=left|{{Icon|Android}}

|[https://github.com/Swordfish90/Lemuroid#supported-systems Limited]

|Touch

|-

!colspan="8"|Consoles

;[[RetroArch]]

:The flagship project for libretro, and the most widely available.

;[https://wiki.gnome.org/Apps/Games Games (Gnome)]

:A Linux launcher for PC games and a libretro frontend. Very easy to use, almost no setup. You'll need the GNOME Settings app to be able to bulk add ROMs.

MAME was originally designed as a command line program. However, when the project relicensed as open source in February 2016, they merged the frontend [https://dankan1890.github.io/mewui/ MEWUI] into the main project as part of the MAME executable. MEWUI uses the ten-foot interface philosophy which accounts for large television displays where the user is expected to use a TV remote-like input device to navigate the menus. However, MAME still supports command line arguments, so many old launchers still work with newer versions.

|{{✓}}

|{{✓}}

|-

|[http://www.mameui.info/ MAMEUI64]

|{{✓}}

|{{✓}}

|-

|[http://babelsoft.net/products/negatron.htm Negatron]

|{{✓}}

|{{✓}}

|-

!colspan="8"|Mobile / ARM

|}

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;" style="width: 75%"

!colspan="8"|PC / x86

|-

|WIMP

|{{✓}}

|{{✓}}

|-

|WIMP

|{{✓}}

|-

|[https://medlaunch.info/ MedLaunch]

|{{✓}}

|{{✗}}

|-

|[https://sourceforge.net/projects/medgui/ MedGui]

|{{✗}}

|}

===Others===

|[[Mupen64Plus]]

|WIMP

|-

|mupen64plus-gui / m64p

|align=left|{{Icon|Windows|Linux}}

|[[Mupen64Plus]]

|WIMP

|-

|[https://github.com/dh4/cen64-qt CEN64-Qt]

|[[CEN64]]

|WIMP

|-

|[http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,159733.msg1680224.html Sega Model 2 UI]

|[[Model 2 Emulator]]

|WIMP

|-

|[https://www.supermodel3.com/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1636 Sega Model 3 UI]

|[[Supermodel]]

|WIMP

|-

|[https://www.emu-land.net/consoles/saturn/emuls/windows?act=showonly&id=4227 MedSat]

|[[Mednafen]] (Saturn core)

|?

|}

==See also==

* [[Comparison of Emulator Frontends]]

[[Category:FAQs]]

[[Category:Tools|*]]

[[Category:Frontends|*]]