EmulationStation-DE 3.5.0 adds dual-screen Android support

The developers behind EmulationStation Desktop Edition have released version 3.5.0, bringing dedicated dual-screen controls and tighter RetroArch integration to Android devices. The update is available today across all supported platforms.

ES-DE originated as a continuation of Alec Lofquist's 2012 EmulationStation project. It eventually became the default graphical frontend for portable PCs like the Steam Deck and a massive variety of Android emulation handhelds. This new patch leans heavily into that mobile ecosystem.

Routing games on two screens

Foldable and secondary-screen Android devices have become increasingly common, but getting emulators to launch on the correct display is usually a headache. Version 3.5.0 adds per-system and per-game settings to dictate exactly which screen a game should boot on. You can toggle this globally in the settings menu or edit the metadata for individual games. It's a small change that saves a lot of manual configuration.

The update also changes how custom browsing events run. They're now non-blocking by default. This eliminates most of the stuttering and latency you get when scrolling through massive game lists, particularly when using the ES-DE Companion App. If it causes file locking issues on Windows, you can revert to the old sequential behavior in the settings.

No more RetroArch black screens

Anyone who has set up an Android handheld knows the pain of launching a game only to stare at a black screen because the required RetroArch core is missing. ES-DE now queries RetroArch for installed cores before attempting a launch. If the core isn't there, the launch is aborted. It's currently an experimental feature that requires manual activation, but the developers plan to make it the default once it gets enough testing. I want to see if this actually catches every missing core edge case, but the premise alone is a massive quality-of-life upgrade.

There's also a concession for the Google Play Store version of RetroArch. Because of Play Store policies, that version relies on the Storage Access Framework (SAF) and lacks proper storage permissions. ES-DE 3.5.0 adds a toggle to support SAF mode. The developers strongly recommend just downloading the standard APK from the RetroArch website instead, which is usually the correct move anyway.

PS4 and Wii U emulation support

The update expands the list of supported systems across multiple operating systems. Android users get profiles for the Sony PlayStation 4 via the BachataS4 emulator, along with Atari Jaguar CD support. On Linux ARM devices, the frontend now recognizes the Nintendo Wii U through Cemu and the PlayStation Vita via Vita3K. Cemu transitioned to open-source in 2022 and has made steady progress on Linux since, so having it natively mapped in ES-DE makes sense.