[NEW 2024 VIDEO BELOW] The Easiest Emulator Frontends For Retro Gaming EVER 2023

okay so this is a little video in response to a post I put on my community a little while back um there seems to be some people out there who comes across my channel and they'll ask me from time to time uh which front ends do I prefer so uh you know sure I release a lot of videos for retro bat but is that really my favorite front end and it's also going to be a bit of feedback for people watching this video and my subscribers uh to walk you through each one of them and really tell you which one is the best so I've selected a few of my preferred front ends in this video and yeah I'm gonna just go through them bit by bit so I check this video out thank you okay so if you liked today's video just hit notifications if you've not already done it and press subscribe I'm always releasing new retro emulation content and I got plenty more to come so first off today we're starting with lunchbox uh so I'm going to just give you a quick run through all lunch boxes it pretty much runs on Windows and a few other platforms as we can see we've got Android here and yeah you can actually download this on your phone as well so it's multi-purpose um but allegedly you can download this one on the Google Play app so you want to use your phone to actually download this here uh anyways so launchbox is a great system um up until we get to big box and then you've got to pay for that privilege uh whereas other front-end systems in this list are gonna be free uh some people swear by launch box it's a little bit tricky for new people to front-end systems um you know a lot of the time with launchbox you're gonna need to link things up link emulators up and this and that you know so launchbox is a great system if you're prepared to pay for big bucks it's very good but like I say it's pretty tricky for people starting out with front end emulation that's no question about it so you can start off with lunchbox by using retroarch but there's certain systems that retroarch doesn't cover or if it does cover it then it's not too easy to work with launchbox and retro watch at the same time so I thought I'd start this one off because from time to time I do release videos on um launchbox and yeah so Launch Box I would probably give for beginners um I'd probably suggest another one in this video but we're going to get to that at the end of this video so anyway that's launchbox down and obviously I've got plenty of tutorials in my playlist for a launch box at this point and I'm going to be releasing some more but give launch box out but like I say just be prepared it's not necessary the easiest system to get into so just be prepared for a bit of a struggle if you're new to front-end systems next up on my list I'm looking at retroarch uh so retro watch is kind of like the Bare Bones it's a bit of a new Thrills uh emulation system where you can download What's called chorus and chords are kind of like smaller versions I suppose of emulators so uh chords work with retroarch and there's plenty of cores to use which comprises of many different systems uh retro watch is used on a number of different platforms from PlayStation to even switch to Android to Linux so uh the Retro watches are very good system to use if you're looking at putting it on different platforms and it runs just fine on Windows too uh the problem is with retroarch is that I think even the most seasoned uh emulation fans out there sometimes find it a little bit tricky to put things together if gameplay isn't right there it's a hell of a lot of settings in retroarch and it's definitely definitely definitely not for the fake heart especially if you're a beginner uh not gonna say there's a hell of a lot of settings in retroarch and the truth is retro watches used as the skeleton behind most front-end systems so at some point you will run across it but nevertheless use a retro watch is a standalone system rather than having it in the background or something see like batasera or retro bat It's Tricky stuff um one pro I would give with retroarch is that if you was to use this alone it's going to be more lightweight rather than having it running as a skeleton in the background so obviously when you're playing a game if you've got more processes going on in the background then games and frame rates are going to struggle so in that sense retro watch alone isn't a bad alternative especially if you're looking at running higher end games so retro watch definitely wouldn't recommend this one for beginners uh it's very Advanced this is far as I'm concerned and yeah there's a lot of uh bits and pieces for this one and next up like I said at the beginning of my video we've got a lot of video content on just Jamie for retro bat um it's one of my favorite systems I'm not sure if it's actually the favorite system that I play around with uh but let me tell you about retro about if you're new to retrobat it's a very easy or I perceive this very easy system which runs retroarch in the background like I just said on retro watch acts like a skeleton with retro bat there's a lot going on here and it's absolutely free so don't need to pay a subscription you don't need to go to any patreon although the developer is a retro back do recommend giving them a few pounds or a few dollars just for a little contribution for a hard work and efforts they put into the program so it's a very good program and aesthetically it's beautiful it covers around I'm gonna say around 100 different consoles uh maybe a little more so retrobat I think for beginners it's a really easy alternative but having said that if you want to go into the more obscure systems things like techno parrot or virtual pinball systems uh things can get complicated if you're a beginner very quickly so with retro about obviously this is a Windows front end and it's only for Windows uh do I recommend retro back yes I really do recommend retro but it is good okay next up something I've covered a few times now on my channel we got bat Sarah and we're currently on bat Sarah Linux 37. uh the reason it's called batter Sarah Linux is that it's actually based on a Linux operating system so very similar to Retro back uh battle Sarah needs to be flashed onto something like a USB drive like I've covered on my channels before but in essence batasera runs very similar to Retro bat so roughly it's got the same amount of systems on it minus a couple that batter Sarah doesn't cater for uh techno para as I'm recording this video is one of the systems that you won't find on batter Sarah so I'm not sure right now for upon this video if it's technically possible to run technopower but I looked the other day and it couldn't do it but having said that batacero is another free distribution and it's a very good front-end system uh if you want an arcade system then something like that Sarah flashing the software to a USB drive and plugging it into an old PC is a very good way to go with getting an arcade system up and running I would recommend about Sarah it's not particularly hard to get into once you get to grips with booting it up and perhaps entering bios or however you do it is something you get into very easily and let's say it's got a good compatibility with many systems and it's free so it's a very good system to use [Music] okay so next up we have got play night so this is one I briefly touched up on on my channel and play night is essentially a bit of a clone of lunchbox uh with play night it's nice as it looks once it's set up it can get complicated it's a lot like Launch Box you need to link up emulators and put them into place uh put directorus into place that type of thing uh it's like I say very similar to Launch Box in that respect so play Knight is absolutely free the only thing is actually missing is an addition of something like big box so if you were to look at something like play night at first glance you would assume it was launch box but that's the only feature it's missing is that aesthetic that big box has to offer in Launch Box uh play night is for Windows and it's a very good front-end system I've got no Faults with it and I think personally it should be more widely talked about but we got other front and systems which seem more popular so if you've not actually checked out play night check it out like I say it's not necessarily for beginners as I said in my Launch Box part just a minute ago it's um it can get complicated so um there is play night out there and it's absolutely free as well just be prepared not to have that nice look like something like big box would have okay and it's a front end start I don't cover on my channel as of yet but this is retropie so retro pie is probably one of the most popular front-end systems out there on the market it's absolutely free and it runs on a few different platforms nowadays so traditionally this was running on a Raspberry Pi uh today you can run this on Linux and you can even make a bootable USB drive with this to boot straight into it rather than go through Linux operate systems first I could even run on odroid so again the backbone with retro pie is retroarch it's got a very nice look to it as well so almost retro bat in essence with that style and you can download more to the themes for retro pie it covers a vast range of different systems from home consoles to computers and there's a lot there and it's also got emulation station running in the background of it as well it's a I would say as a beginner's type of front end it's just a simple case really of just flashing the image what you can download to on the website onto a SD card or even a USB device in some cases and just literally using its ROMs manager or even configuring it to retromate external drive with your games on it and it really is that simple things can get complicated very quickly they were retro pie you'll have to enter what's known as a terminal so for updates that type of thing it's going to take us into a very old school 1980s looking terminal where you've got entering Linux commands so in some respects retro pie is very good for beginners but like I say I do stress it gets very complex very quickly if you want to experiment with it we also got a lot of different options on retropie or things like enhancing visuals that type of thing and it's very interesting it's very experimental and it's a decent all-round platform to play your old games on so consider retro pie but bear in mind uh Linux commands aren't as simple as they might sound so things get very tricky very easily will retropie and this is going to be a new system to uh people out there you've likely not heard of this one I came across retro virtual machine a couple of months ago when at the time when I found it I made a setup guide on it I was really impressed with it so retro virtual machine mainly covers 8-bit micro computers but it also supports Sega Master System and the Sega sg-1000 uh MSX has also supported and it comes with emulators already pre-installed when you download it so what it does is pretty much gives you the four static of old-school looking TV which is known as a filter or a scalar or whatever but the beauty of retro virtual machine is that it actually shows your cassette tape and the real of it actually loads when you press play on it and it really looks really convincing so a retro virtual machine it's not actually that difficult to use um it keeps getting improved every month or so and it's a really nice looking front ends for sure it doesn't cover everything else which uh most in this list does but it's strictly there for really those micro 8-bit computers of the 80s so like I was saying Commodore 64 amstrad CPC ZX spectrum and the MSX one uh is also compatible with Mac OS and also on Linux as well so if you want a little play around with retro virtual machine and you're not too interested in the console such as Nintendo PC engine or Sega then retro virtual machine is pretty much getting you straight in there and again it's absolutely free and it's very simple to use so definitely check this one out okay and finally I'm talking about recall box so recall box um same sort of principles is about Sarah really so you flash recoil box onto say SD card or a USB device and you boot it up with your system so a recoil box I did a little setup guides a little while back and truth be told when I was attempting to play PlayStation 2 with a very good setup on my laptop it did struggle to run PS2 games even at Native settings um having said that recoil box has got a really nice looking aesthetic to it um really nice uh would I recommend it for beginners I probably would it's probably a simplified to use as something like retro bat or batasera it's just a case sometimes I'm just just entering bios and configuring how to boot straight from the USB drive in terms of adding your own games to it that's another simple process as well everything's in there just like are several in retro bar so we got retroarch running in the background as what I called a skeleton and it's a good system to use if you want a bootable USB drive which takes you straight into a front end okay so that's my little rundown on each front-end system that I've catered For on my channel so what I am gonna say and I hate saying this but I started this video say that retro back wasn't necessarily my favorite system but I'm going to tell you now yes it is uh it's my favorite system because it's very easy to use and although it's got its parts in it where things become complicated they're not actually that complicated so when you've got guides and there's also tutorials and you've got a retro back Forum to use as well which is in three different languages and of course there's an English section on that as well um adding emulators to it it's also a really good feature so it mainly runs on retroarch and just like the other systems pretty much do which I've covered in this video but you can add emulators as well to this and they're tailored to work with retrobat so that's it hoopo helped out some people out there who's been asking me over time about which front end is my favorite I think it's probably inevitable a lot of you is going to realize that retro back was my favorite so just comment below and tell me what you think is the best front-end system is there anything I've missed so until next time stay retro [Music]

Channel: Just Jamie

Views: 22,271

Keywords: Batocera, Best emulator frontends, Emulation for beginners, Frontends for windows, Launchbox, Playnite, Recalbox, Retroarch, Retrobat frontend, Top emulator frontends, Top emulator frontends for windows, Top emulators for pc, Top frontend emulators for pc, Which is the easiest emulator frontend for pc, best emulator for low end pc, emulation, emulationstation, emulator, retro gaming, retrobat, retrobat build, retrobat pc, retrobat windows, retropie, best frontends 2024, just Jamie

Id: OZhapDSZLlk

Length: 16min 42sec (1002 seconds)

Published: Mon Jul 31 2023