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'''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.  
 
'''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.  
  
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{{Box1 start}}
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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".
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''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".''
 
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{{Boxes end}}
 
  
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==Frontends (launcher)==
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==Attract-Mode==
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;[http://attractmode.org Attract-Mode]: A graphical frontend for command line emulators such as [[MAME]], [[MESS]], and [[Nestopia]]. It hides the underlying operating system and is intended to be controlled with a joystick, gamepad or spin dial, making it ideal for use in arcade cabinets. Attract-Mode is open source and runs on Linux, macOS, and Windows.
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Attract-Mode is a graphical frontend for command line emulators such as MAME, MESS, and Nestopia. It hides the underlying operating system and is intended to be controlled with a joystick, gamepad or spin dial, making it ideal for use in arcade cabinets. Attract-Mode is open source and runs on Linux, OS X, and Windows. [http://attractmode.org [Link]]
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;[[BizHawk]]:
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{{Main|BizHawk}}
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==Emulation Station==
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;[http://emuloader.mameworld.info/emucon/downloads.htm EmuCon]:
 
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EmuCon is a GUI (Graphical User Interface) for many emulators systems: consoles, handhelds, and computers.
 
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;[[EmulationStation]]:
 
 
{{main|EmulationStation}}
 
{{main|EmulationStation}}
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;[http://www.gameex.com/ GameEx]:
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A graphical and themeable emulator front-end that allows access to games in one place, even without a keyboard. It can import custom themes to use, but it doesn't have a large community so there is not an abundance of these. This is the one emulator on here that is made for the Raspberry Pi and is bundled with Retro Pie. Comes with a metadata scraper. It is a great front end, and thanks to some users on the RetroPie Forum, development has been picked up. Some new additions include support for video playback as well as custom carousels. [http://emulationstation.org/#home Official Web Site] ; [https://github.com/Retropie/EmulationStation Fork on GitHub].
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GameEx is a front end that does a lot. It is also used for commercial applications. It has a powerful in-program editor that allows you to customize the front-end's visuals to all lengths. It also has a built-in media player. It has a free version and a registered version. It is a powerful front end.
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;[https://wiki.gnome.org/Apps/Games Games (Gnome)]:
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==GameEx==
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Games is a GNOME application to browse your video games library and to easily pick and play a game from it.
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GameEx is a front end that does a lot. It is also used for commercial applications. It has a powerful in-program editor that allows you to customize the front-end's visuals to all lengths. It also has a built-in media player. It has a free version and a registered version. It is a powerful front end. [http://www.gameex.com/ [Link]]
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;[[HyperSpin]]:
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{{main|HyperSpin}}
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== Games (Gnome) ==
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;[http://scottrice.github.io/Ice/ Ice]:
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Games is a GNOME application to browse your video games library and to easily pick and play a game from it. [https://wiki.gnome.org/Apps/Games Link].
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Ice isn't really a front end, but it's more of a way to add you're old retro and arcade games as executable files that steam can run as it would a regular steam game. It lets you add your ROMs as steam games basically.
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;[https://www.launchbox-app.com/about Launch Box]:
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==HyperSpin==
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LaunchBox was originally built as an attractive front-end to [[DOSBox]] but has since expanded to support both modern PC games and emulated console platforms. LaunchBox aims to be the one-stop shop for gaming on your computer, for both modern and historical games. Probably the most customizable emulator on here, alongside HyperSpin, if you buy a license. You can customize the interface to however you like and the metadata of each game and comes with a metadata scraper. Has integrated support for launching from Kodi (XBMC). There is one version free, but also has a premium version that gives you access to Big Box which is an HTPC version of Launch Box along with some other features..
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{{main|Hyperspin}}
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;[https://www.maximus-arcade.com MaximusArcade]:
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Hyper Spin is a front end aimed primarily for arcade cabinets. Next, to LaunchBox, it is the most personalizable front end on the list. The community for Hyper Spin is gigantic! There is a huge fan-base for Hyper Spin that is constantly coming out with new creations and programs that make it better. If you are looking for a front end for your arcade cabinet, I would recommend this one for sure. [http://www.hyperspin-fe.com/ [Link]]
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Maximus Arcade is Windows-based software that allows you to relive thousands of classic games and creates seamless interaction with multiple arcade and console emulators while keeping the Windows environment hidden. Although best suited for use in computer-based arcade cabinets, it can be configured for use in a kiosk or simply running on a computer with a keyboard, trackball, or arcade joystick.   It is widely-considered the easiest software for reliving classic games with emulators like MAME. It is a commercial software.
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;[https://www.metropolis-launcher.net Metropolis Launcher]:
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==Ice==
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Metropolis Launcher has been created to be a great old-school launcher, emulation front-end and an extensive offline database of video game metadata thanks to MobyGames and their strong user base. Over 50 fields of metadata are supported by Metropolis Launcher's Main Screen. You can search-as-you-type, filter, group, and sort by any combination of them. Metropolis Launcher already ships with MobyGames based metadata, no web-scraping for this data is needed.
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Ice isn't really a front end, but it's more of a way to add you're old retro and arcade games as executable files that steam can run as it would a regular steam game. It lets you add your ROMs as steam games basically. [http://scottrice.github.io/Ice/ [Link]]
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;[http://www.mgalaxy.com/index.html mGalaxy]:
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mGalaxy is a minimalistic front end aimed at arcade cabinets. It does, however, have some really good features such as picking a random game out of your library, background music, favorites, top ten most played and more.
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==Launch Box==
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;[https://github.com/quinton-ashley/nostlan Nostlan]: Designed for UHD displays, Nostlan (formerly Bottlenose) is a high quality electron based front-end launcher that supports many popular video game emulators. Open source and available on Linux, macOS, and Windows.
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LaunchBox was originally built as an attractive front-end to DOSBox but has since expanded to support both modern PC games and emulated console platforms. LaunchBox aims to be the one-stop shop for gaming on your computer, for both modern and historical games. Probably the most customizable emulator on here, alongside HyperSpin, if you buy a license. You can customize the interface to however you like and the metadata of each game and comes with a metadata scraper. Has integrated support for launching from Kodi (XBMC). There is one version free, but also has a premium version that gives you access to Big Box which is an HTPC version of Launch Box along with some other features. [https://www.launchbox-app.com/about [Link]].
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;[https://github.com/mmatyas/pegasus-frontend Pegasus]:
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A cross-platform, customizable graphical frontend for launching emulators and managing your game collection. Runs on Linux, Windows, all Raspberries, and Odroids.
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==MaLa==
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;[https://playnite.link/ Playnite]:
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An arcade emulator that seems to be good for cocktail arcade cabinets. It has on-the-fly screen orientation and great support for hotkeys. Has lots of great plugins available. [http://malafe.net/ [Link]]
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Playnite is an open source video game library manager with one simple goal: To provide a unified interface for all of your games.
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;[http://quickplay.sourceforge.net/ QuickPlay]:
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==Metropolis Launcher==
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QuickPlay is a windows-only powerful universal emulator 'frontend-of-frontends', which has support for countless emulators and systems, old and new, with a philosophy of being quick and easy for new users, yet comprehensive and flexible for old-timers. It was written in the heyday of RAD and OO frontends (as such it's written in Delphi), and like other frontends of the time, its very powerful and able to support considerable complexity and customisation (think MAMEUI, but on steroids). However unlike many other frontends of the time, its also very flexible and adaptable, and still updated by enthusiastic supporters. It takes a fresh approach to the backend which, in particular, gives blisteringly-fast search over large and diverse romsets.
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Metropolis Launcher has been created to be a great old-school launcher, emulation front-end and an extensive offline database of video game metadata thanks to MobyGames and their strong user base. Over 50 fields of metadata are supported by Metropolis Launcher's Main Screen. You can search-as-you-type, filter, group, and sort by any combination of them. Metropolis Launcher already ships with MobyGames based metadata, no web-scraping for this data is needed. [https://www.metropolis-launcher.net [Link]]
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;[[RetroFE]]:
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 +
==mGalaxy==
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mGalaxy is a minimalistic front end aimed at arcade cabinets. It does, however, have some really good features such as picking a random game out of your library, background music, favorites, top ten most played and more.[http://www.mgalaxy.com/index.html [Link]]
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 +
== Pegasus ==
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A cross-platform, customizable graphical frontend for launching emulators and managing your game collection. Runs on Linux, Windows, Mac, all Raspberries, Odroids. [https://github.com/mmatyas/pegasus-frontend GitHub].
 +
 
 +
NOTE: Pegasus DOES NOT run on Mac.
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 +
== RetroFe ==
 
{{main|RetroFE}}
 
{{main|RetroFE}}
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;[http://romjacket.github.io skeletonKey]:
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A good frontend, open source and available for Windows and Linux : [http://retrofe.nl/ RetroFE].
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skeletonKey is an open-source ROM-Library management tool which functions as both a Launcher and as a deployment backend.
 
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[http://github.com/romjacket/skeletonkey/releases [mirror]]
 
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;[https://snowflakepowe.red/ Snowflake]:
 
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An extensible framework and frontend for modern emulators.
 
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;[https://github.com/doZennn/steam-rom-manager Steam Rom Manager]:
 
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An easier, still active alternative to Ice.
 
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;[https://terminallaunch.blogspot.com/ Terminal Launcher]:
 
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Terminal themed (DOS look) front end. User emulators, easy setup. This one is as simple as they come. Designed to setup quickly, and access any game you choose without the weight and eye-candy of the bigger front ends
 
  
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===Comparison of supported platforms===
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==skeletonKey==
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{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center;"
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skeletonKey is an open-source ROM-Library management tool which functions as both a Launcher and as a deployment backend. [http://romjacket.github.io [Link]] [http://github.com/romjacket/skeletonkey/releases [mirror]]
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! scope="col"|Name
 
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! scope="col"|Windows
 
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! scope="col"|Linux
 
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! scope="col"|macOS
 
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! scope="col"|Android
 
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! scope="col"|Raspberry Pi
 
−
|-
 
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|[http://attractmode.org Attract-Mode]
 
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|{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✓}}
 
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|-
 
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|[[BizHawk]]
 
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|{{✓}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}}
 
−
|-
 
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|[https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/coinopsproject/next-gen-f85/ CoinOPS]
 
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|{{✓}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}}
 
−
|-
 
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|[http://emuloader.mameworld.info/emucon/downloads.htm EmuCon]
 
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|{{✓}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}}
 
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|-
 
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|[[EmulationStation]]
 
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|{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✓}}
 
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|-
 
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|[http://www.gameex.com/ GameEx]
 
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|{{✓}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}}
 
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|-
 
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|[https://wiki.gnome.org/Apps/Games Games (Gnome)]
 
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|{{✗}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}}
 
−
|-
 
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|[[HyperSpin]]
 
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|{{✓}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✗}}
 
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|-
 
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|[http://scottrice.github.io/Ice/ Ice]
 
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|{{✓}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}}
 
−
|-
 
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|[https://kodi.tv/ Kodi]
 
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|{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✓}}
 
−
|-
 
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|[https://www.launchbox-app.com/about LaunchBox]
 
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|{{✓}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✗}}
 
−
|-
 
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|[https://www.maximus-arcade.com/ Maximus Arcade]
 
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|{{✓}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}}
 
−
|-
 
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|[https://www.metropolis-launcher.net Metropolis Launcher]
 
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|{{✓}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}}
 
−
|-
 
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|[http://www.mgalaxy.com/index.html mGalaxy]
 
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|{{✓}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}}
 
−
|-
 
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|[https://github.com/quinton-ashley/nostlan Nostlan]
 
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|{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}}
 
−
|-
 
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|[https://github.com/mmatyas/pegasus-frontend Pegasus]
 
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|{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✓}}
 
−
|-
 
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|[https://playnite.link/ Playnite]
 
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|{{✓}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}}
 
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|-
 
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|[http://quickplay.sourceforge.net/ QuickPlay]
 
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|{{✓}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}}
 
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|-
 
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|[[RetroFE]]
 
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|{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}}
 
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|-
 
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|[http://romjacket.github.io skeletonKey]
 
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|{{✓}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}}
 
−
|-
 
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|[https://snowflakepowe.red/ Snowflake]
 
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|{{✓}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}}
 
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|-
 
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|[https://github.com/doZennn/steam-rom-manager Steam Rom Manager]
 
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|{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}}
 
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|-
 
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|[https://thegamerx.com/ Terminal Launcher]
 
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|{{✓}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}}
 
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|}
 
  
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For more information, see the [[Comparison of Emulator Frontends]] page.
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==EmuCon==
 +
EmuCon is a GUI (Graphical User Interface) for many emulators systems: consoles, handhelds, and computers. [http://emuloader.mameworld.info/emucon/downloads.htm [Link]]
  
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==Frontends (libretro)==
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==Lakka==
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These are frontends that only work with [[libretro]] cores.
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{{main|Lakka}}
  
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===Comparison of supported platforms===
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==RoM-Jacket==
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{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center;"
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{{main|RoM-Jacket}}
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! scope="col"|Name
 
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! scope="col"|Windows
 
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! scope="col"|Linux
 
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! scope="col"|macOS
 
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! scope="col"|Android
 
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! scope="col"|Raspberry Pi
 
−
|-
 
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|[[RetroArch]]
 
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|{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✓}}
 
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|-
 
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|[[BizHawk]]
 
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|{{✓}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}}
 
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|-
 
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|[http://www.blast16project.com/ Blast16]
 
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|{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✓}}
 
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|-
 
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|[[Lakka]]
 
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|{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✓}}
 
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|-
 
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|[https://github.com/Swordfish90/Lemuroid Lemuroid]
 
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|{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✗}}
 
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|-
 
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|[https://ludo.libretro.com/ Ludo]
 
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|{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}}
 
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|-
 
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|[https://github.com/Alcaro/minir minir]
 
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|{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}}
 
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|-
 
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|[[Phoenix (frontend)|Phoenix]]
 
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|{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}}
 
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|-
 
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|[http://www.sneses.com/ SNESES]
 
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|{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✓}}
 
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|-
 
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|[https://vintagesimulator.com/ Vintage Simulator (VSIM)]
 
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|{{✓}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}}
 
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|}
 
  
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[[Category:Tools]]
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[[Category:FAQs]]
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[[Category:Frontends]]
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[[Category:Tools|*]]

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