Android @lemmy.world tester1121 (moved) @lemmy.world 6 mo. ago

Is there a good "all-in-one" emulator for Android?

I used to use iOS, and there was a great emulator called "Delta". It was open source and free, and it was so easy to add games to it's library. Is there such an app for Android? I would very much like it if the app was open source and free.

22 comments

Retroarch is what you are looking for.

I would recommend using individual emulator apps for those that exist on Android, such as PPSSPP or Citra.
- Just to underscore this, Anbernic makes handheld gaming devices that run Retroarch and other emulators, and some like the rg353v come with Android and Linux dual booted.
- Do you know if Retroarch has controller support?
  
  It does.
- Retro Game Corps has some great tutorials on setting up retroarch.
  
  https://youtu.be/v4-RWJg7od8
  
  https://youtu.be/icGYGriNkF4
  
  I also recommend Daijisho as a front end for browsing and launching if you have multiple emulators.
  
  https://youtu.be/l-AhfEGuMao
Retroarch is fantastic and allows for many numerous emulators. It is FOSS.

I synch my roms and saves using Google Drive and DriveSynch; free, but not necessarily a FOSS process.
- Alternatively I use Syncthing to keep my saves synced between my phone, PC and home server.
  
  I'm slowly collecting the things I will need to build a home NAS. That sounds interesting, and I'll be glad to check it out.
- Play Store won't let me download it saying its for an older version of android. Would you happen to have a recommendation for the second best place to download it?
  
  I'm not sure what's going on with your device. That's where I installed it from.
  
  Do you have gapps side loaded on a custom ROM? You might need to update your image or gapps.
Retroarch is your best option, but the learning curve can be very steep for some. There are great tutorials on the web about it. At the same time, if you have any questions, feel free to ask.
- Lemuroid is way easier to set up and use on Android than retroarch.
  
  Yeah, it's true, easier to set up (by quite a lot), but too limited on the settings, which cores you can use, etc.
I have Lemuroid and it emulates a lot of systems, plays Gran Turismo pretty well with a controller
Lemuroid is my favorite. Available on fdroid and the play store
I tedted both, my brief summary:

iOS sucks for retro gaming. Possible but tedious (In general, i am an iOS person, but gaming made me consider android.)

android emulation is more versatile snd allows for tweaking, which is required for many hardware/game/emulation mixtures --Retroarch works best up to 16 bit systems --N64 and up works best with dedicated emulators (mupen64 plus FZ, Dolphin, duckstation, aethersx2)

Maybe this helps you.
Daijisho works in conjunction with retro arch. It has a nice frontend, which calls retroarch for running the games.

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