UPDATE: ES-DE is no longer on the Amazon Appstore, but available directly from the developer via their Patreon as a one-time purchase. Here is an updated video: th-cam.com/video/DJSmGgTofZU/w-d-xo.html This setup guide still applies in all respects other than where to get the app itself!
One little thing I would love to see is a bit of extra android functionality (like opening settings, apps as game list, etc). Curious how it will evolve!
You forgot to add it's monthly payment if you want to continue to support him, or you can support for one month and cancel and you still have access to the file and future updates. Bit of key information from the page @es-de_frontend
Great video Russ! There was just one killer feature you forgot to mention and that's the built-in PDF manual viewer, you can scrape game manuals and view them directly from the gamelist view, exactly as in the other ES-DE ports on Linux, macOS and Windows :)
How can I get this to load on my Chinese device. It loads the Amazon app store but it's not showing this particular item I purchased because I guess it's restricted in that country? I have it loaded on my other handhelds but this one I purchased that is made in China the LG Wing snow cake it just won't let me see it in the Amazon Android App Store for some reason
This all looks amazing @ES-DE_Frontend!!! If I already have my Emulation Station-DE portable setup with all my roms and scraped art on my laptop, will it be as simple as dragging and dropping the files and the media files into the same directories on the android version and they will immediately all work?
@@deadfred69 Sorry I have no idea how Amazon conducts business in China. I have at least not deliberately limited distribution to any countries. But you are using the Amazon Appstore app on your Android device, not the Amazon App? Because these are two completely different things. And it is running Android 11 or later? Because otherwise it will for sure not show up in the app.
@@jordandiaz5526 Yes it's very easy to migrate to Android from another ES-DE installation on another operating system. You may get some warnings about incorrect alternative emulators on startup, but you just need to reset that in the Alternative emulators interface in the Other settings menu.
thank you so much. It's because of your channel, videos and help that I've purchased an Odin 2, it brings me so much joy and memories. Setting up the device and seeing how cool the device becomes with every additional step, partly also thanks to your videos, is a fun journey. Keep doing what you're doing, it's great.
Oh my gosh YES!!! Took forever but we FINALLY have ES for Android! Now if you'll excuse me I'm going to spend the next 10 hours reconfiguring all my android devices and wiping all traces of Daijisho from my memory.
@@Baumie11Fully agree, while ES for Android is cool and all, the developer behind Daijisho has done (is doing) a tremendous job, and I for one will continue using it :)
I just started using dig a couple days ago because of your video on it 😂 it has been nice, but I didn't even have to think two seconds about switching to ES. It's just everything I want in an emulation frontend, and the main reason I was still using my Linux handhelds more than my Odin 2.
Still think I prefer Daijisho... no need to install 3 other apps to get full android functionalitiy... Although I am a huge fan of ES-DE on steam deck and windows
Gotta say Russ, this is an absolute game changer on the RP2S. As much as I love Daijisho, this setup works so much better for that smaller 4:3 screen. You've clearly thought of everything too and I really appreciate the clever workarounds for some of the shortcomings.
Man oh man. My introduction to handheld devices was an RG351M, and following your guide for that device, where I remember you first pointing out the screensaver function. And since then, I've been using the RP3 and my android phone, and the only thing I missed was that Emulation Station interface from the 351. This will likely be what I put on my phone. Great news, and thanks for the update.
Looks great and I love how Russ made sure to include the work-arounds in the video to keep the android experience seamless! I think I’ll be sticking ti Daijisho just a bit longer though. I didn’t like it at first but it just works so well as an android front end 👌
If anyone gets stuck booting a rom with a standalone emulator, the folders are case sensitive. so it needs to be ROMs not ROMS and psx not PSX, when setting up automatically DE won't see this and you will have to change it yourself. Then you will need to specify the case correct version in the emulators
Found this out when I already had a roms folder. ES said it was generating the folders and didn't error out. Didn't realize it didn't make a new one as it didn't know ES needed ROMs not roms....took me a minute to realize I had to delete that folder and let it generate the proper name.
Awesome video, Russ! It's great to finally EmulationStation see on Android devices! I actually just received my Retroid Pocket 4 Pro in the mail, so this was perfect timing! It's also great to see that EmuDeck will be coming to Android eventually as well!
Dude for real. I stopped watching this when you said “now there’s 3 more apps you have to install” and then I came back and saw what you wrote about the pluses and minuses and that short video and screensaver feature make this really cool. Great job Russ you convinced me to get it
Emulation station across ALL THE THINGS! Have it on a dedicated PC at home for Retro gaming, have it on my steam deck, and now for my retroid flip, oh yes.
@@rinebeckUnless people are buying Odin 1 that is trash get Odin 2. Like I did PS2, runs at 6x that's 4k, GCN, Wii, Dream Cast, and Sega Saturn runs well above 3x resolution. At full speed. Everyone uses aethersx2 but I use nethersx2 latest version that got unofficial fan made patch. No more ads, games runs incredibly fast, and smooth no problems no issues after 3 months of using it. Another solid handheld is Retroid Pocket 4 and Anbernic RG556!
Nah the Daisho launcher is def the way to go for a front end. This, while cool, is using too many workarounds to be considered as a daily driver. Use it on my Odin lite
Oh HELL yes, I've been waiting for this for ages! Really hoping they'd be able to get an Android section or something added to ES so we don't have to use those workarounds, although I will admit having something to open an apps drawer from the notification bar seems like it'd be super handy to have anyway.
You're so good at guides my dood... I don't have an android specific retro handheld... but your videos scratch this thoroughness itch that's so satisfying. Thanks.
Emulation station is the best front-end imho, I love Daijisho (as far as Android goes) as well but Emulation Station is a seamless experience and has some really nice themes, and its super easy to configure compared to the other stuff out there especially when it comes to the metadata or importing your own for that matter. So glad its finally on Android and its worth much more than $5, one step closer to using this frontend on all devices. Love it, love it, love it, thanks Russ!!
man I honestly can't believe my eyes, this brought so much joy you have no idea man, I can browse games see gameplay previews AND the manual just by linking a free account? I definitely paying the patreon for screen scraper, and I am thankful to have supported Emulation station, this is a dream come true man thanks for putting this guide, with all your power combined I am a happy nostalgic gamer enjoying the best emulation has to offer
Thanks, Russ! Looks so much easier than I imagined and your guide prompted me to purchase it for my Odin 2 even though I'm happy with Daijisho (will still keep it on my RP3+).
Well it wasn't a 50 plus minute video lol. Russ if you see this I'd like to get some help getting Oden tools working on my Retroid Pocket flip.... I can't get it on there Obtainium would work properly
Great video as always. I did this with my Alldocube iPlay Mini Pro tablet with a modded Game Sir Galileo controller and it's awesome as a dedicated gaming setup.
This really seems amazing. I think I'll dig my Retroid Pocket 2+ out of whatever drawer I threw it in and give this a try (if it's compatible). Sounds like a fun Saturday afternoon project to get running.
Fantastic video, I will be using this on all my Android devices from here on. I have been using EmulationStation on my PC and Steam Deck, and love the look and options it provides. Along with the videos, I like the option to download the games manuals. I love sitting back and flipping through the manuals on my Steam Deck, it brings me back to the old days.
It‘s just great to see that EmulationStation, one of the best retro gaming frontends (if not THE best) found it‘s way to a popular system like Android. I always emphasized this frontend for it‘s clean UI, customization utilities and system support. Thanks for the quick video, right on release-date 👍🏻
Great to hear from you, old friend! Yeah, ES is amazing, I still remember your old video about getting the very rudimentary version up and running on the RG350 :)
@@RetroGameCorps Always glad to see and hear you in your videos my friend :) Yea, your video reminded me to the time back when ES was able to run on a RG350 for the first time. Now we have it on Android devices for the first time ;) And i‘m glad you covered the steps to make ES the default launcher on your Android device. Good job!
Awesome video!!!! I always wanted retroie on my Odin 2, but no support for that at least not yet. Had no idea ES was coming to Android! Oooouuuuuuuu can't wait to get this up and running! Currently using Arc Browser, but I much prefer ES!!! THANK YOU for the video
Thanks for this great video again!This setup is so much easier to maintain compared to Pegasus. It has the same scraper engine, but now I can scrape and tweak everything on the android (Odin) device.
I'm currently setting this up to try it out, but my gut feeling is that using ES as a PC version ported to Android and not an Android App version of ES makes it challenging to use it as a default Launcher. I think it would tip the scale highly if it had the native home app integration and Android apps integration in it's interface. Otherwise, Daijisho still has the high ground when it comes to Android IMO. It's a great step towards a dream coming true for those who use their android device for emulation though ! :)
My Retroid 4 just arrived do I'm in heaven. Thanks for the wonderful guide as always. And congrats to everyone in the community, it's a huge win for everyone
😂 I've never got far in a game enough to save it I've had these Chinese hand helds since 2017 and the problem with them is you have so many games and so many systems that you just don't really play anything you'll probably play a game for nostalgic purposes but that gets really old really fast and you're just trying new games and you only play like half a level and never touch them again
This is so tempting, but I’ve spent hours getting my Odin 2 set up JUST right with Reset Collection, which seems to offer a very similar experience and presentation. A good front end is absolutely game-changing, though, whichever way you end up going. Glad this is here for people who have been waiting patiently for a port!
As much as I LOVE Reset Collection (and I did spend a while getting that to look how I want it), you just can't beat Emulation Station and all of its themes, this is so amazing 😭😭
EmulationStation beats circles around any other Android Front end. I own Launchbox for Android (about 25 bucks for lifetime) I will never use that from now on ES is THAT good.
@@Servaas I'll agree with that as well. LaunchBox is in a league of its own on Windows PC and it's the top of them all. However, this fork of EmulationStation for Android is the best I've tried among the several frontends for the Android OS
Hi Russ, great video as always, and very helpful. I wanted to give some feedback. I recently purchased the RG556 and went through your written guide and videos in the order you have it on your website. That means I set up all the emulators one by one, and then the frontend (Emulation Station) at the end. This caused me to redo a bunch of work, because I had my ROM folders set up with custom names, but Emulation Station creates its own folders and expects you to use their naming convention. I would recommend folks start with the front end, so that the ROM folders are created. Then have folks copy their games to the proper Emulation Station folders, set up their emulators for each game system, and then finalize their front end at the end. This way, they won't have to go and fix the emulators they previously set up by having to re-point each emulator to the new ROM folders. It also means folks won't have to move their games from one folder to another, system by system. Not sure if Daijisho also works like this, as I decided I wanted to use Emulation Station instead. Thank you for your amazing channel and videos!
Wonder if there is a way to add a section for android games/apps? Would be great to easily go through android games, game pass, ps streaming, steam link etc.
I've always been more of a Launchbox user, but this looks fun to mess with too, so I'll give it a shot. Thanks for the video! Very informative and useful! I'll try this on my Retroid Pocket 3+ It'd be cool to see you make a similar video for Launchbox, setting everything up and stuff.
As I mentioned in a previous post, LaunchBox/BigBox is in a league of its own and is absolutely the best choice for Windows PC. However, its Android version is decent but far from the best. This fork of EmulationStation for Android is a much better choice
I spent waaay too much time configuring Daijisho and it works perfectly and looks exactly like this..I think I'm good but I would give it a shot if I was starting from scratch..
I was going to get another Retro device, but had to replace my phone first. So I decided to use Retroarch and ES-DE on my new S24 Ultra and a new 8bitDo SN30 Pro. I bought a dock to use sometimes it with my TV via Samsung Dex. Honestly, i'm impressed with emulation with this setup With the Phone + Controller + clip setup, it's pretty great; although i haven't tested above PSX. Using the Tv, I definitely need the dock because casting wirelessly has noticeable to severe lag even on NES. I'm happy with this setup with ES-DE; if it wasn't on Andoid I probably would have picked up an Odin. Thanks to your videos I was pretty familiar with using Retroarch and translating that usability to Android was much smoother than it would have been otherwise.
Great video. After all the setup and configuration, it seems finally possible to have on Android an experience similar to having a PC running Batocera Linux. For me personally, the only thing left would be to completely stop/block Android system updates (and checking) after I have everything working how I want. To avoid anything breaking, or new notifications popping up. (Sorry if that is covered in the video, I did not watch all parts 100% yet)
I've heard you mention the seamless nature of emulation station on Linux many times. I'm sure you are over the moon about this! Finally Russ!! FINALLY!!!😂
I just bought an Odin 2, and was contemplating frontends so this being ported to Android came just in time. Hopefully I will get it next month. This looks awesome and I will definitely be using it from the jump. Great work as always Russ!
Thanks Russ! Can you share your Android config files for Retroarch? The guides videos are great, but I think a lot of people just want the config files so it's easier/faster, thanks!
As a launcher setup I would suggest the one that already exists (I don't really remember the name of it but it's pretty much designed for these handhelds) and launching ES-DE from there You can access your other stuff while being able to also use ES-DE as a frontend
i'm not really seeing anything to different from daijisho tbh. your start-up guide for daijisho along with others in the community made it seamless for me to dive into daijisho and i don't really feel there's anything wrong with it but nonetheless, ES still has me thinking "yeah man, i wanna do it" on some other device someday :3
Not sure how many people this will help but just in case, I wanted to confirm you can get this on the RP2+ as well. It involves going out of your way to update to Android 11 (which can't be done OTA as far as I know, but isn't overly complicated) as well as making sure your Retroarch/AArch64 is updated to a recent version!
Hey I appreciate your full walkthrough on how to do this, I just set this up with the Odin 2, next I'm doing the RP4 Pro. I understood everthing very well, now just scraping my box art for all the games I have on the device. That's about to take a long time.....
I’m realizing patience and planning is everything when it comes to set up on these devices. Having to re-set up everything is much harder than setting up from scratch. Waiting for these front ends to drop before really fine tuning everything seems like the best bet for now.
Thanks so much for this video. I don't think this is for me but such a thorough video gave me a great view on it as an option and why I don't think it's quite the right pick for me.
Same for me. I like ES on my smaller RG351 handhelds, but I'm REALLY liking Daijishou as my home on the Odin 2 now that I've gotten used to how it works.
Just what we need, another front end on Android, lol. But seriously, this is a great one on Linux, nice to see it cross over to the dark side 😊Looks like a fun app to play with, nice job as always Russ!
Unironically yes we need more Android frontends, there still isn't a perfect one. Daijisho still has many annoyances and it's not being updated anymore, other frontends are either paywalled or lack key features.
@@steel5897Couldn't agree more. After watching this video it looks like this isn't gonna be the end all either sadly. Android needs less set up and more fun, it's a real downer with every single one of these unfortunately.
This front end is amazing! Absolutely blown away with it. Screescraper is giving me fits, though. Scraping just 200 games shows as 20000 scrapes on their site. I can't believe each game is averaging 100 scrapes(!). So strange...
Hey Russ have you ever thought of making a Playnite guide? I installed it and I'm using it on a windows machine with my pc and emulation library as a couch gaming setup on a TV, the good thing is because it's highly customizable, I was even able to get cover images for hack roms that i never got to on emulationstation on batocera, theres a full screen mode that can be controlled with game controllers. The only thing that is kind of "hard" is because you have to customize all the standalone emulators with things like shortcuts for closing the game like the star-select defaults of ES on batocera, but that depends from person to person, I'm really enjoying it so far.
This is great news, because it means that the handheld industry can move to more powerful ARM-hardware offering great performance, battery life and sleep functionality while still offering a great user experience! Not to mention that you aren't limited to emulation. Being able to play modern indie/native games like Stardew Valley, Dead Cells, Streets of Rage 4 definitely adds value and makes it more into a gaming machine, rather than just an emulation machine.
Daijisho can filter by game genre - example, you wanna play a platforming game but no specific one in mind. Just filter all platforming games and choose from there. Can ES-DE do that too?
It has the ability to set up custom collections, it’s a bit involved to set up and definitely not as seamless as just toggling on genres in Daijisho, but it’s there. The ES-DE documentation (linked in description) can walk you through it.
This is the big feature I’m looking for in a Front End: Franchise collections. Give me a separate collection for Mario, Sonic, Final Fantasy, Street Fighter, Pokemon, etc.
Tks Russ for all the great clips. I brought myself a RP4P to recall my childhood memories 😎. On ES-DE it gives rom folders cps1, cps2 etc but my mame roms are all stored in a single folder, is there a tool to tell the rom’s system and put them in to different folders?
I like daijisho because I can press R1 and see all of my apps, the widget area is great too. I just really wish they updated it so that I can login to retroachievements:/
You can put in your credentials but it won't login unfortunately, i was looking forward to having a widget for it. it still shows up while playing a game in retroarch tho.
They need an android system game category then it'd be even better. Like the Reset collection frontend, or the widgets FROM daijisho I guess (but those never worked well for me)
UPDATE: ES-DE is no longer on the Amazon Appstore, but available directly from the developer via their Patreon as a one-time purchase. Here is an updated video: th-cam.com/video/DJSmGgTofZU/w-d-xo.html
This setup guide still applies in all respects other than where to get the app itself!
One little thing I would love to see is a bit of extra android functionality (like opening settings, apps as game list, etc).
Curious how it will evolve!
I hope they manage to list it on play store soon ! 😊 thank you for this amazing thorough review/ guide
You forgot to add it's monthly payment if you want to continue to support him, or you can support for one month and cancel and you still have access to the file and future updates.
Bit of key information from the page @es-de_frontend
Hey Russ, did you see ES-DE is now available for Android 10? That means the Odin 1 can now have it
.. questions..
Great video Russ! There was just one killer feature you forgot to mention and that's the built-in PDF manual viewer, you can scrape game manuals and view them directly from the gamelist view, exactly as in the other ES-DE ports on Linux, macOS and Windows :)
How can I get this to load on my Chinese device. It loads the Amazon app store but it's not showing this particular item I purchased because I guess it's restricted in that country? I have it loaded on my other handhelds but this one I purchased that is made in China the LG Wing snow cake it just won't let me see it in the Amazon Android App Store for some reason
This all looks amazing @ES-DE_Frontend!!! If I already have my Emulation Station-DE portable setup with all my roms and scraped art on my laptop, will it be as simple as dragging and dropping the files and the media files into the same directories on the android version and they will immediately all work?
@@deadfred69 Sorry I have no idea how Amazon conducts business in China. I have at least not deliberately limited distribution to any countries. But you are using the Amazon Appstore app on your Android device, not the Amazon App? Because these are two completely different things. And it is running Android 11 or later? Because otherwise it will for sure not show up in the app.
I don't know if somebody had said to you this but this is probably The Killer App the Android Emulation Environment needed.
@@jordandiaz5526 Yes it's very easy to migrate to Android from another ES-DE installation on another operating system. You may get some warnings about incorrect alternative emulators on startup, but you just need to reset that in the Alternative emulators interface in the Other settings menu.
thank you so much. It's because of your channel, videos and help that I've purchased an Odin 2, it brings me so much joy and memories. Setting up the device and seeing how cool the device becomes with every additional step, partly also thanks to your videos, is a fun journey. Keep doing what you're doing, it's great.
Oh my gosh YES!!! Took forever but we FINALLY have ES for Android! Now if you'll excuse me I'm going to spend the next 10 hours reconfiguring all my android devices and wiping all traces of Daijisho from my memory.
I love Daijisho too much to completely forget about it. Made my RP3+ look awesome and now my RP4 Pro.
@@Baumie11Fully agree, while ES for Android is cool and all, the developer behind Daijisho has done (is doing) a tremendous job, and I for one will continue using it :)
Is it just a UI preference or is there more reason to contemplate a switch?
I just started using dig a couple days ago because of your video on it 😂 it has been nice, but I didn't even have to think two seconds about switching to ES. It's just everything I want in an emulation frontend, and the main reason I was still using my Linux handhelds more than my Odin 2.
Still think I prefer Daijisho... no need to install 3 other apps to get full android functionalitiy... Although I am a huge fan of ES-DE on steam deck and windows
Gotta say Russ, this is an absolute game changer on the RP2S. As much as I love Daijisho, this setup works so much better for that smaller 4:3 screen. You've clearly thought of everything too and I really appreciate the clever workarounds for some of the shortcomings.
I bought this without a moment's hesitation. Time for the Odin 2 to become my new go-to emulation handheld! This is incredible. Thanks for the video!
Man oh man. My introduction to handheld devices was an RG351M, and following your guide for that device, where I remember you first pointing out the screensaver function. And since then, I've been using the RP3 and my android phone, and the only thing I missed was that Emulation Station interface from the 351. This will likely be what I put on my phone. Great news, and thanks for the update.
Lol same for me but from the 353m. Lasted less than a month
A front-end that I’ve been waiting for a long time, has finally arrived 🎉 Thanks Russ , Love from Turkey
Woohoo! Finally! I've been waiting for this setup for my Android based devices for what seems like forever. Can't wait to try this out.
I really like how you are spelling everything out, step by step.
Really appreciate that, this is something world was really missing of.
Looks great and I love how Russ made sure to include the work-arounds in the video to keep the android experience seamless! I think I’ll be sticking ti Daijisho just a bit longer though. I didn’t like it at first but it just works so well as an android front end 👌
If anyone gets stuck booting a rom with a standalone emulator, the folders are case sensitive. so it needs to be ROMs not ROMS and psx not PSX, when setting up automatically DE won't see this and you will have to change it yourself. Then you will need to specify the case correct version in the emulators
Found this out when I already had a roms folder. ES said it was generating the folders and didn't error out. Didn't realize it didn't make a new one as it didn't know ES needed ROMs not roms....took me a minute to realize I had to delete that folder and let it generate the proper name.
Russ is a gift that keeps on giving, may your emulation days last for a long time fren!
Awesome video, Russ! It's great to finally EmulationStation see on Android devices! I actually just received my Retroid Pocket 4 Pro in the mail, so this was perfect timing! It's also great to see that EmuDeck will be coming to Android eventually as well!
Thanks Russ, bought it yesterday and I am setting it up on my Odin 2 Max today. Looks really good !!
Is that the device he's using ?
He’s using the Odin 2 Pro (it is the same as the other versions of the Odin 2 - each version has a different amount of RAM).
Just finished my Odin 2 configuration for ES. This guide is pure gold and you, Russ, our emulation hero.
Dude for real. I stopped watching this when you said “now there’s 3 more apps you have to install” and then I came back and saw what you wrote about the pluses and minuses and that short video and screensaver feature make this really cool. Great job Russ you convinced me to get it
💚 We're grateful for your sharing! Looking forward to your next update. Enjoy your day to the fullest!
Emulation station across ALL THE THINGS! Have it on a dedicated PC at home for Retro gaming, have it on my steam deck, and now for my retroid flip, oh yes.
yup emulation station is the end all front end no doubt, so amped its finally on android (also on my pc, odin 2, and steam deck!)
"...as long as its running Android 11 or higher."
I love getting new reasons to regret buying the Ayn Odin (android 10) last year.
Brutal. Sorry to hear man. These bloody devices aren't cheap mate. I feel your pain lad.
I use Beacon on my Odin 1 and it looks and works really cool
@@rinebeckUnless people are buying Odin 1 that is trash get Odin 2. Like I did PS2, runs at 6x that's 4k, GCN, Wii, Dream Cast, and Sega Saturn runs well above 3x resolution. At full speed.
Everyone uses aethersx2 but I use nethersx2 latest version that got unofficial fan made patch. No more ads, games runs incredibly fast, and smooth no problems no issues after 3 months of using it.
Another solid handheld is Retroid Pocket 4 and Anbernic RG556!
Nah the Daisho launcher is def the way to go for a front end. This, while cool, is using too many workarounds to be considered as a daily driver. Use it on my Odin lite
There's some things that are easier on older versions of android, before the storage security changes.
WOW! This is such great news, can't wait to get it running on my Odin 2! Thanks for the great work as usual, Russ!
Awesome video, thanks Russ! Used this for my Anbernic RG556 and it works brilliantly.
Oh HELL yes, I've been waiting for this for ages!
Really hoping they'd be able to get an Android section or something added to ES so we don't have to use those workarounds, although I will admit having something to open an apps drawer from the notification bar seems like it'd be super handy to have anyway.
You're so good at guides my dood... I don't have an android specific retro handheld... but your videos scratch this thoroughness itch that's so satisfying. Thanks.
Emulation station is the best front-end imho, I love Daijisho (as far as Android goes) as well but Emulation Station is a seamless experience and has some really nice themes, and its super easy to configure compared to the other stuff out there especially when it comes to the metadata or importing your own for that matter. So glad its finally on Android and its worth much more than $5, one step closer to using this frontend on all devices. Love it, love it, love it, thanks Russ!!
I just bought an Odin 2 Max last week so this has me incredibly happy!!!!
This was so helpful. Just finished getting set up with this as the front-end on my anbernic rg405v. It's so much better looking than the stock one.
Bless you Russ, I can't wait to try to get this going on my RP2+ later today!
man I honestly can't believe my eyes, this brought so much joy you have no idea man, I can browse games see gameplay previews AND the manual just by linking a free account? I definitely paying the patreon for screen scraper, and I am thankful to have supported Emulation station, this is a dream come true man thanks for putting this guide, with all your power combined I am a happy nostalgic gamer enjoying the best emulation has to offer
OMG i've been praying for this. Amazing.
Thanks, Russ! Looks so much easier than I imagined and your guide prompted me to purchase it for my Odin 2 even though I'm happy with Daijisho (will still keep it on my RP3+).
Russ was so pumped to get started he forgot to remind us to grab our favourite snack and drink...
I mentioned it in the middle of the video, have patience my friend!
@@RetroGameCorpsThat'll teach me to post a comment when I'm only 5 minutes in 🤣 Great stuff mate, can't wait to try this out on my RP3+ later!
Well it wasn't a 50 plus minute video lol. Russ if you see this I'd like to get some help getting Oden tools working on my Retroid Pocket flip.... I can't get it on there Obtainium would work properly
@@RetroGameCorpsI almost starved, again.
Excellent video as always, I was scratching my head with set this up with standalone emus , thanks man
So I tried downloading it but it looks like it’s not at the store right now. 😢
Great video as always. I did this with my Alldocube iPlay Mini Pro tablet with a modded Game Sir Galileo controller and it's awesome as a dedicated gaming setup.
This is finally going to make Android feel right at home to me. Thanks Russ
Can you do a comparison video of ES-DE, Daijisho and Beacon Game Launcher?
👀
@@BeaconLauncherlol, didn't think I would see you here 😂
@@KnightlySpartan The Beacon is always watching you. Alllllwaaayyss watching.
This really seems amazing. I think I'll dig my Retroid Pocket 2+ out of whatever drawer I threw it in and give this a try (if it's compatible). Sounds like a fun Saturday afternoon project to get running.
Thank you Russ for the tutorial I have been waiting for a long while and it’s finally here 👍🏼😃
This is awesome!! Can’t wait for the preordered Base models to start shipping out :)
Thanks!
Thanks for the video and the setup workaround for the launcher! This working great on my RG505 (With Gamma OS)
Came here to check whether this would work. Thanks!
Russ, your the man! Love the content. Thank you for all your hard work.
Works amazing on my Logitech G Cloud!! Still doing a little tweaking and tuning but so far, fantastic!
Fantastic video, I will be using this on all my Android devices from here on. I have been using EmulationStation on my PC and Steam Deck, and love the look and options it provides. Along with the videos, I like the option to download the games manuals. I love sitting back and flipping through the manuals on my Steam Deck, it brings me back to the old days.
Hyped for this! Still waiting on my Odin 2 to ship. 🙏
It‘s just great to see that EmulationStation, one of the best retro gaming frontends (if not THE best) found it‘s way to a popular system like Android.
I always emphasized this frontend for it‘s clean UI, customization utilities and system support.
Thanks for the quick video, right on release-date 👍🏻
Great to hear from you, old friend! Yeah, ES is amazing, I still remember your old video about getting the very rudimentary version up and running on the RG350 :)
@@RetroGameCorps Always glad to see and hear you in your videos my friend :)
Yea, your video reminded me to the time back when ES was able to run on a RG350 for the first time. Now we have it on Android devices for the first time ;)
And i‘m glad you covered the steps to make ES the default launcher on your Android device. Good job!
Awesome video!!!! I always wanted retroie on my Odin 2, but no support for that at least not yet. Had no idea ES was coming to Android! Oooouuuuuuuu can't wait to get this up and running! Currently using Arc Browser, but I much prefer ES!!! THANK YOU for the video
Thanks for this great video again!This setup is so much easier to maintain compared to Pegasus. It has the same scraper engine, but now I can scrape and tweak everything on the android (Odin) device.
I'm currently setting this up to try it out, but my gut feeling is that using ES as a PC version ported to Android and not an Android App version of ES makes it challenging to use it as a default Launcher. I think it would tip the scale highly if it had the native home app integration and Android apps integration in it's interface. Otherwise, Daijisho still has the high ground when it comes to Android IMO. It's a great step towards a dream coming true for those who use their android device for emulation though ! :)
Thanks for the video! I will definitely be switching to ES-DE on my RG405M
Brilliant, as always, Russ! I’m going to run (not walk) to setup my Pocket Flip accordingly!
Phenomenal guide as always Russ. Seems like a lot of work for setup and wouldn't work for my phone, but the video is just outstanding.
My Retroid 4 just arrived do I'm in heaven. Thanks for the wonderful guide as always. And congrats to everyone in the community, it's a huge win for everyone
Awesome Video! I preferred Linux Devices over android because I just was not a fan of Daijisho This is amazing!
Thank you for this great guide, like always your contents are fun, useful, and most importantly helpful.
Thanks! I just finished your guide and set up Daijisho yesterday, but might switch over to ES now. Hopefully they can get Redream working on the Odin2
Extremely hype to try this out. A little nervous about how moving my saves works but I'll just back up before hand.
😂 I've never got far in a game enough to save it I've had these Chinese hand helds since 2017 and the problem with them is you have so many games and so many systems that you just don't really play anything you'll probably play a game for nostalgic purposes but that gets really old really fast and you're just trying new games and you only play like half a level and never touch them again
@@CHICKENmcNUGGIESMydudethat’s why I play 3ds, GameCube, ps2 plenty of great games that I will actually play
Ditch everything else, ES-DE (AKA the King) is here! Thank you ES-DE team, thank you for a great video Russ!
This is so tempting, but I’ve spent hours getting my Odin 2 set up JUST right with Reset Collection, which seems to offer a very similar experience and presentation. A good front end is absolutely game-changing, though, whichever way you end up going. Glad this is here for people who have been waiting patiently for a port!
Did you try Beacon?
As much as I LOVE Reset Collection (and I did spend a while getting that to look how I want it), you just can't beat Emulation Station and all of its themes, this is so amazing 😭😭
@@soroceanuloredana635: I haven’t. Once I got on the Reset train, it was hard to justify getting off to look at alts. That’s a good one, though?
EmulationStation beats circles around any other Android Front end. I own Launchbox for Android (about 25 bucks for lifetime) I will never use that from now on ES is THAT good.
@@Servaas I'll agree with that as well. LaunchBox is in a league of its own on Windows PC and it's the top of them all. However, this fork of EmulationStation for Android is the best I've tried among the several frontends for the Android OS
Hi Russ, great video as always, and very helpful. I wanted to give some feedback. I recently purchased the RG556 and went through your written guide and videos in the order you have it on your website. That means I set up all the emulators one by one, and then the frontend (Emulation Station) at the end. This caused me to redo a bunch of work, because I had my ROM folders set up with custom names, but Emulation Station creates its own folders and expects you to use their naming convention. I would recommend folks start with the front end, so that the ROM folders are created. Then have folks copy their games to the proper Emulation Station folders, set up their emulators for each game system, and then finalize their front end at the end. This way, they won't have to go and fix the emulators they previously set up by having to re-point each emulator to the new ROM folders. It also means folks won't have to move their games from one folder to another, system by system. Not sure if Daijisho also works like this, as I decided I wanted to use Emulation Station instead.
Thank you for your amazing channel and videos!
Thankyou Russ, great video (as usual) but the Android app suggestions have been a game changer for me 😊
Wonder if there is a way to add a section for android games/apps? Would be great to easily go through android games, game pass, ps streaming, steam link etc.
This is the one thing that would put me over the edge.
As far as I've seen it doesn't. That's why I would still prefer daijisho, it's even free and this is not
I've always been more of a Launchbox user, but this looks fun to mess with too, so I'll give it a shot. Thanks for the video! Very informative and useful! I'll try this on my Retroid Pocket 3+
It'd be cool to see you make a similar video for Launchbox, setting everything up and stuff.
As I mentioned in a previous post, LaunchBox/BigBox is in a league of its own and is absolutely the best choice for Windows PC. However, its Android version is decent but far from the best. This fork of EmulationStation for Android is a much better choice
@@bundangkorea why is it better than launchbox on android?
I spent waaay too much time configuring Daijisho and it works perfectly and looks exactly like this..I think I'm good but I would give it a shot if I was starting from scratch..
I was going to get another Retro device, but had to replace my phone first. So I decided to use Retroarch and ES-DE on my new S24 Ultra and a new 8bitDo SN30 Pro. I bought a dock to use sometimes it with my TV via Samsung Dex. Honestly, i'm impressed with emulation with this setup With the Phone + Controller + clip setup, it's pretty great; although i haven't tested above PSX. Using the Tv, I definitely need the dock because casting wirelessly has noticeable to severe lag even on NES. I'm happy with this setup with ES-DE; if it wasn't on Andoid I probably would have picked up an Odin. Thanks to your videos I was pretty familiar with using Retroarch and translating that usability to Android was much smoother than it would have been otherwise.
Great video. After all the setup and configuration, it seems finally possible to have on Android an experience similar to having a PC running Batocera Linux. For me personally, the only thing left would be to completely stop/block Android system updates (and checking) after I have everything working how I want. To avoid anything breaking, or new notifications popping up. (Sorry if that is covered in the video, I did not watch all parts 100% yet)
I've heard you mention the seamless nature of emulation station on Linux many times. I'm sure you are over the moon about this! Finally Russ!! FINALLY!!!😂
I loved emulation station on my raspberry pi console. I'm actually excited.
I just bought an Odin 2, and was contemplating frontends so this being ported to Android came just in time. Hopefully I will get it next month.
This looks awesome and I will definitely be using it from the jump. Great work as always Russ!
me too. I ordered the Base version. this guide came at the right time. now I can't wait to get mine. Finally get to play Gamecube games flawlessly
Thanks Russ! Can you share your Android config files for Retroarch? The guides videos are great, but I think a lot of people just want the config files so it's easier/faster, thanks!
As a launcher setup I would suggest the one that already exists (I don't really remember the name of it but it's pretty much designed for these handhelds) and launching ES-DE from there
You can access your other stuff while being able to also use ES-DE as a frontend
i'm not really seeing anything to different from daijisho tbh. your start-up guide for daijisho along with others in the community made it seamless for me to dive into daijisho and i don't really feel there's anything wrong with it
but nonetheless, ES still has me thinking "yeah man, i wanna do it" on some other device someday :3
I agree… daijisho works just fine barring redream
@@eazyste100 i haven't checked out redream; will do now tho!
Not sure how many people this will help but just in case, I wanted to confirm you can get this on the RP2+ as well. It involves going out of your way to update to Android 11 (which can't be done OTA as far as I know, but isn't overly complicated) as well as making sure your Retroarch/AArch64 is updated to a recent version!
Finally, something as good as the Linux based systems. I'm setting this up on my Odin this weekend. Thanks!
Wow I just got Daijisho setup, and I'm switching 😂 thanks Russ! Awesome vid
Why Daijisho is free
@@mackw919 I like the way this looks
Hey I appreciate your full walkthrough on how to do this, I just set this up with the Odin 2, next I'm doing the RP4 Pro. I understood everthing very well, now just scraping my box art for all the games I have on the device. That's about to take a long time.....
running pretty smooth. Great that runs on Samsung Dex without the home screen problems that Daijisho and other launcher have after Android 13
Your videos are very relaxing ❤
I’m realizing patience and planning is everything when it comes to set up on these devices. Having to re-set up everything is much harder than setting up from scratch. Waiting for these front ends to drop before really fine tuning everything seems like the best bet for now.
I think im ready for the odin2!! thanks for this video!
Tbh for most, daijisho is fine. Now once emudeck gets fully up and running on android, this makes the ES-DE purchase more valid.
Thanks so much for this video. I don't think this is for me but such a thorough video gave me a great view on it as an option and why I don't think it's quite the right pick for me.
Same for me.
I like ES on my smaller RG351 handhelds, but I'm REALLY liking Daijishou as my home on the Odin 2 now that I've gotten used to how it works.
@@chriswilliams8039 yeah, exactly. pretty sure I'm good with Daijisho
What did you end up doing for Saturn emulation? Yaba Sanshiro 2 Pro isn’t available as an alternative emulator on the frontend.
I used daijisho fir android until now... But that looks promising... Would like to see a performance vs video between those 2
Just what we need, another front end on Android, lol. But seriously, this is a great one on Linux, nice to see it cross over to the dark side 😊Looks like a fun app to play with, nice job as always Russ!
Unironically yes we need more Android frontends, there still isn't a perfect one. Daijisho still has many annoyances and it's not being updated anymore, other frontends are either paywalled or lack key features.
@@steel5897Couldn't agree more. After watching this video it looks like this isn't gonna be the end all either sadly. Android needs less set up and more fun, it's a real downer with every single one of these unfortunately.
Another banger Russ! Keep em coing!
What a great new !!!Emulation on android will be so cool :-)
This front end is amazing! Absolutely blown away with it. Screescraper is giving me fits, though. Scraping just 200 games shows as 20000 scrapes on their site. I can't believe each game is averaging 100 scrapes(!). So strange...
19:26 yes mega man 1 box art is insane
Hey Russ have you ever thought of making a Playnite guide? I installed it and I'm using it on a windows machine with my pc and emulation library as a couch gaming setup on a TV, the good thing is because it's highly customizable, I was even able to get cover images for hack roms that i never got to on emulationstation on batocera, theres a full screen mode that can be controlled with game controllers. The only thing that is kind of "hard" is because you have to customize all the standalone emulators with things like shortcuts for closing the game like the star-select defaults of ES on batocera, but that depends from person to person, I'm really enjoying it so far.
You are simply the best Russ. So fast and informative. Thank you.
This is great news, because it means that the handheld industry can move to more powerful ARM-hardware offering great performance, battery life and sleep functionality while still offering a great user experience! Not to mention that you aren't limited to emulation. Being able to play modern indie/native games like Stardew Valley, Dead Cells, Streets of Rage 4 definitely adds value and makes it more into a gaming machine, rather than just an emulation machine.
Daijisho can filter by game genre - example, you wanna play a platforming game but no specific one in mind. Just filter all platforming games and choose from there. Can ES-DE do that too?
It has the ability to set up custom collections, it’s a bit involved to set up and definitely not as seamless as just toggling on genres in Daijisho, but it’s there. The ES-DE documentation (linked in description) can walk you through it.
This is the big feature I’m looking for in a Front End: Franchise collections. Give me a separate collection for Mario, Sonic, Final Fantasy, Street Fighter, Pokemon, etc.
Thanks for the demo and info, have a great day
Looks great! I guess I'm saying goodbye to Daijisho!
Tks Russ for all the great clips. I brought myself a RP4P to recall my childhood memories 😎.
On ES-DE it gives rom folders cps1, cps2 etc but my mame roms are all stored in a single folder, is there a tool to tell the rom’s system and put them in to different folders?
I like daijisho because I can press R1 and see all of my apps, the widget area is great too. I just really wish they updated it so that I can login to retroachievements:/
I thought it already had retro achievements??? Did it break??
@@germ187the dev is taking a break, so since retroachievements has been updating and daijishio hasn't, it's broken.
@@jesusmetal92107
Can you still run RA through retroarch? Or is that broken too?
@@germ187it did not. I used it yesterday.
You can put in your credentials but it won't login unfortunately, i was looking forward to having a widget for it. it still shows up while playing a game in retroarch tho.
That set of cascading apps to access other Android games is really smart.
They need an android system game category then it'd be even better. Like the Reset collection frontend, or the widgets FROM daijisho I guess (but those never worked well for me)