Yeah... Amazon clearly doesn't care much about the law or doing what's right... they just care about profit. They're notorious for treating workers poorly, and they've created an entire ecosystem of Amazon-exclusive ways to scam customers, but they also ban people like ES-DE trying to do legitimate business.
@@pieceofschmidtgamer its laughable because they say "facilitates piracy" thats so reductive and broad you could apply it to almost anything. Better not sell hard drives and sd cards. Better not sell computers. 😅
Thanks Russ for this great video and for taking the time to cover this unfortunate event. But like you stated in the video, hopefully this will lead to something better in the long run. And to clarify, I think there is near 0% chance that there will ever be a Google Play release of ES-DE. Patreon is likely the way to go.
The great part about ES is that I also use it already on many devices and keeping the scraped content is really helpful instead of having it to scrape again, like with Daijishō. Plus having a familiar frontend is also great.
Took me two minutes to get the refund. That being said, they said they’d do it as an “exception” for being an excellent customer. No, you delisted the app, I have a right to a refund lol.
They said exactly the same to me: "as a one off exception we can process a refund". My response was "I'm not happy that you're trying to make out you're doing me a favour by doing something that you are mandated to do by law"
Meanwhile, despite having spent like 15 years posting detailed reviews about products in a field where I have deep expertise, marked by thousands of people as "helpful", I'm now banned from posting Amazon reviews for reasons they refuse to explain. I'm guessing it's because I sometimes point out when the product descriptions are false, and give the actual correct specs.
@@ToyKeeper Wait, did I just stumble upon _the_ ToyKeeper of Anduril fame in these comments? I love my Anduril flashlights and they have unironically made my life as a visually impaired person just that little bit better, so thank you!
They're happy to profit from things which are illegal or immoral, but as soon as something is actually good for the end user or threatens any big corporations, they pull out the banhammer.
Thanks Russ, I am having problem with Amazon anyway and I am grateful that you have been providing updated on ES-DE swiftly. I have followed the Patreon path and get ES-DE now. Thanks again for you effort put in this channel.
@@thatguywiththevoice2309 That's the question. It's not illegal or legal atm but Nintendo is arguing it's instructions to break their encryption so it should be illegal.
Thanks for this video. I subbed to the Patreon and will keep it subbed for a few months or so to support the developer. I have been waiting for Emulationstation on Android for years.
@@alfwok Well, the truth is that Nintendo expects some level of piracy. But they are REALLY agitated by the likes of Valve and the SteamDeck. Also by the AYN Odin2 to some extent. That's who they really would like to target.
Also I think Nintendo is a lot at fault here with the NSwitch. Let's just say they made it pocketable.... well, now it's a different category of device. Or better yet, if they took my advice instead: use modern technology! If they had it with 8x Cortex A73, downclocked to save power, and with 256GB Storage and 8GB RAM to allow modern game development. And have the chipset built using 14nm FinFet instead of the 22nm-Planar silicon. Maybe make the iGPU decent to be able to pull off something like 720p, 30fps, Low Settings. Then when you attach it to the Dock, it does a few things. It Fast Charges the device, it cools it down with Fans, it ramps up the CPU clocks, and lastly it activates the eGPU. That way you this hypothetical "Kangal Switch" actually has decent performance behind it, and it gets ports for games that were also released for the XB1 and PS4. Also this higher ceiling of performance actually SLOWS the development and the speed of emulation. The Wii released in late 2006 and was cracked instantly. The Wii was much weaker than its direct competitor PS3, and that last one wasn't hacked or emulated until over a decade. In fact, the 2002 Xbox itself is much more powerful than the Wii, it is laughable. Nintendo saves BILLIONS by selling hardware at exorbitant prices whilst using cheap components. Greedy. Well the result of that is emulation. You can't have it both ways.
Daijisho for me for now. I have got it all perfect on my flip. Thinking of jumping on Odin 2 , or RP4 Pro or maybe wait for next gen odin or maybe flip. So i am on holding pattern now. Watching where the market goes. With a new device i will definitely check ES 😁
@@heavenly2k I will rephrase because I use Google translate to better express my doubt. in some Front-Ends when you start the game they give errors... The daijisho from what I researched: when it doesn't open the game it at least opens the Emulator. My question is, did you experience any problems? Have there been any errors using Daijisho? I'm researching to find out which is the best Front-End...
"Except that Patreon is something that the devs can actually control". Except for all those times Patreon screwed over it's creators. I get the point, but this statement is still funny to me.
Ordered ES-DE as soon as knew it was available. Mainly got it for my Android Cell phone but, I use it with my KT-R1 and your other video worked awesome for the loader.
The Nintendo vs Yuzu lawsuit will be quite interesting. From what I undertand, Nintendo is trying to frame Yuzu as being aware and intentionally working on that emulator to play commercial games on an unauthorized device, pointing out the instructions they provide to use a hardware vulnerability to obtain an ecryption key and pirate games and also conversations and statements that has been circulating in the Discord server. I do wonder about the outcome legally of this lawsuit. I think Nintendo tries to stretch the truth as far as they can (as always) to prove how emulation is closely related to piracy and condemn emulation as piracy as a whole, but I don't think it will be seen that way. As for the whole "Yuzu being an enabler in piracy", they may have a case here though.
Not only will people that don't already know hear, about it. This will prod people to dump their games and share. More specifically, a rush to download the entire Nintendo catalog, just in case.
@@washuaisorry to burst your bubbles but there’s no streisand effect to this. The emulation frontend (NOT emulation) market on mobile OSes is still a niche market. Those who are really keen on using a frontend will most probably know how to sideload the app on Android then call it a day.
@@arvs7356 These events bring unwanted attention to the emulation scene. The dev should have never had tried to sell his app through Amazon to begin with. Nintendo is already breathing down Yuzu's neck. Legacy sites like Vimms Lair are always in danger the more and more "influencers" talk about it. This is all very much related and not localized in the emulation frontend department.
I have been using EmulationStation since the Raspberry Pi 3 and I loved it. I am happy that it is available on Android. I installed on my RP4Pro and It works great. I can't wait for future updates.
I followed your video from last week and installed Emulation Station on my Retroid Pocket 4. What's really strange is our received a update from the Amazon app store for Emulation Station this morning and it's still working no problems at all and it's still showed it listed on the store still as well. I'm in Australia so I don't know if it makes any difference but I wouldn't think it would, but it's truly bizarre that a front end has been stopped for emulation even though it does not emulate anything itself.
and this is why it's important to own LOCAL external RELIABLE hard drives, stop using cloud online services and keep your retro gaming data offline from any prying eyes, i've already recently preserved my GB, GBA, GBC games onto reliable OFFLINE flash carts and a good old GBA SP IPS V2, no internet required
Thanks for the update Russ! I setup ES on my android device per your video. But ended up with Daijisho because I can choose which version of dolphin I want to use per game. Unless there’s a way to do that with ES, I’m sticking with Daijisho for now
I dig Daijishou but I really don't like how there is no offline backup option and if you set it up on one memory card then later want to upgrade to a larger card, you have to set up directories all over again.
@@arbbo1675 yeah I totally see the benefit of that. It was easy to reinstall ES after it was dropped from Amazon. But I don’t change android devices often so setting up Daijisho is t the bothersome to me. Hopefully Daijisho will add this feature in the future. I also really like that all the setting are hidden in ES and with one button press you bring them up. Keeps the UI clean and simple.
@FireLordOzai001 My issue with Daijishou is not necessarily about changing devices, but changing cards. Daijishou doesn't give you access to it's database. I would like to be able to make an offline backup to go from one card/device to another without setting directories again. ES is also more of a standard and I have it on multiple devices and I have all the same games/artwork/themes on all of them.
I think Amazon got scared due to Nintendo's lawsuit to Yuzu Either way I prefer the Patreon route since it is DRM free, it does not require any secondary store and it gives access to everyone worldwide, the Amazon app store is unavailable in Latin America
I just wish ES-DE will add custom folder pointing for ROMs folder and per system just like what we have with Daijisho. For someone who loves to maximize every inch of space on the odin2, this is a showstopper for me to port over to ES
Thanks for the tips on this. Much appreciated. Like on my Odin2, i split my ROMS between internal and external storage. Do you know if the XML path modification can recognize both the internal and external path?@@1337brian2
@@1337brian2 do you know if using the xml to specify custom rom path, it can recognize both the internal and external storage on Odin2? I have had my ROMS split between those two unfortunately.
Emulation is completely legal and I wish more people would speak up about why vilifying emulators is wrong. Now if you don’t own the games you’re emulating, that’s a different story. I’d go the extra step and say it should be completely legal to emulate or download ROMs for games which you’ve paid for. You should be able to strip DRM off your own games and do whatever you want with them (except distribute them).
I think part of the problem with this is that there's monetary gain involved. Nintendo and other companies have left this stuff alone until money changed hands. You don't see them going after Retroarch etc.
@@Bob_Smith19Bleem won lawsuit on completely different matter, not it being commercial. There was another emulator that won on profits stuff, but a lot has changed since then.
This is simply wrong. Nintendo is cracking down on emulation because it's popular. They are going to sue regardless of taking money. And we really need to stop discouraging devs from making a profit. At least thanks to their patreon, the yuzu devs got something in exchange of all their work.
@@Bob_Smith19 1. I didn't say they weren't allowed to turn a profit. What I'm saying is Nintendo doesn't like that. 2. It's clear Nintendo is trying to just make yuzu fold under pressure.
It seems on Reddit many people have recently updated ES on Steam Deck and the ROMs all go missing because ES redirects the directory pointer. Can you address this?
I prefer Daijisho for now for the simplicity of the interface, but I'm looking forward to the day ES-DE will fully integrate Android ecosystem functionality :)
Thanks for the head's up, Russ! I definitely am interested in getting ES-DE on my Retroid Pocket 4 Pro as it was already so amazing on my Steam Deck. It is a shame that the developer is having issues with Amazon and Google Play, but I am happy to support them directly via Patreon instead! Daijisho is decent, but I just prefer EmulationStation in general.
Hey! I love how you customised your Odin 2. Do you think you could do a video tutorial xplaining how you did it and where you bought the buttons and everything?
@@monki_sudoIt matters, because legal action hurts the creators, slows development, makes things harder for the users, and causes what lawyers call a "chilling effect" or a "SLAPP". It's enough of a problem that some places have "SLAPP-back" laws to protect people from this type of harmful lawsuit.
@And Nintendo will threaten them with a C&D and cite this lawsuit in the letter, like they do with fan projects and mods all the time. I'm honestly amazed they haven't shut down PrimeHack by now.
If Yuzu goes down, that sets the precedent for any emulator (especially paid ones) to also go down. In this era of the supreme court, it's irrelevant if existing rulings protect emulators; they can simply overturn what they don't like. 😢
i really think that having in a appstore it was a bad choice i use phone as emulator console i don't use any store, the patreon maybe is the best choice.
Giving people the updates even after moving to Patreon is a real chad move. I reckon most people would have just kept that side effect of monthly subscriptions. Love to see it.
Emulation from day one, which I consider to be the first release of MAME, was always about preservation first moved forward by volunteers with the primary interest of preservation first. A lot of viewers aren’t old enough to remember the drama of the early days of emulation, but the unwritten rule that came from it is you don’t talk about where to get ROMS’s, you avoid emulating supported systems that are still sold because that isn’t about preservation and you don’t expect any money to move the project forward. Expecting money for anything related to emulation, whether it be the emulator itself or emulation adjacent like launchers, makes it clear your project is not preservation and you are going to subject it to scrutiny. It doesn’t matter other emulators charging money aren’t taken down, it doesn’t matter how shit Amazon is as a company, it doesn’t matter that Amazon has double standards and sells 1000 in 1 ROM carts. Everyone reading this should be smart enough to know when a project is OK, when one starts to blur the lines and when one is clearly not about preservation and is actively under mining a supported system. Spruiking any projects related to emulation that charge money is not a great move IMO.
Paying for a menu is why prefer Daijishō. No need to pay, and the integration and menus are sleek
9 місяців тому+2
Russ do you think it may be a good idea to edit and repost the original video so you don't unintetionally send people to those scam apps on the Amazon App Store?
Can you get 3D box art on EmulationStation like on LaunchBox/BigBox? Just deciding which to set up. Maybe a deep dive comparison vid of these launchers would be neat? 👐
I used the windows screenscraper app to do this, i selected the videos, 3D box art, and metadata and then transferred it over to all my emulation devices that use emulation station :P you will never have to scrape again
Emulation station doesn't emulate or allow the pirating of games in any way shape or form. It's essentially just a file browser that links to other apps. I don't understand how it can be taken down, while things like Retroarch are totally fine.
Well, at the least I'm glad there isn't a big issue setting up the APK if the Amazon version has been configured. That said, I'm gonna roll with my current install for the time being, if there's a major update before this hits the Play store (if it does at all) I'll go the Patreon route, but I'd just rather have it downloaded through a service that will keep it updated rather than doing it manually moving forward. Just a couple of weeks ago I replaced both my kids' tablets from Amazon Fire ones to Samsung Galaxy Tabs mostly because I was so sick of dealing with Amazon's garbage restrictive ecosystem, and I'm feeling even between about that call today. I do hope that the ES dev gets the payout from Amazon for downloads that weren't refunded 🤞
Awesome front end. Love it on my Steam Deck and will buy it for Android and Windows when all these shenanigans are done. We really cannot have nice things.
I don't emulate on Android with new devices anymore anyways because of scoped storage. Breaks my syncing saves between all the platforms I game on. There are quite a few emulators that take that into account that automatically direct the save folder outside the android folder and a few more that allow you to choose because of that, but it is not ubiquitous and unfortunately one or two that don't take that garbage into account is enough to break the device for my purposes. Really horrible. Used to be the open source platform, now they're worse than Apple with restrictions!!!
Android pretty much destroyed the good community-based open-source mobile platforms. It was never about bringing open-source to phones; it was about making open-source less hostile to corporate interests (like profit and control), by making it more hostile to the user. It's basically a proprietary OS built from open parts.
Not only ironic for Amazon to boot EmulationStation while hosting emulators on the Amazon App Store, but all the Chinese "retro consoles pre-loaded with 10,000 games" for sale on Amazon...
Thanks for all the updated info Russ! The Yuzu/Nintendo thing is interesting for sure, Yuzu doesn't supply any bios/keys for the games so it'll be interesting (read: scary) to see how this goes. Off topic: I've been thinking of grabbing another MiniPC just for setting up as a Media Server for Plex etc & digitizing my tv dvd/blu sets with how ridiculous streaming services are now. Do you have a MiniPC you'd recommend for that? Thanks again as always for these helpful and entertaining videos!
Honestly I wanted to get it on the Amazon store but since I already had paid for dig I didn't want to pay for another front end without some kind of demo to see if I like it. a video just won't cut it I'd actually need to be able to use it first since there's a upfront time investment to fully set a front end up
So Amazon heard of the Yuzu Nintendo incident and they remove anything remotely related with emulation even if there's nothing to emulate on a frontend ....
That's a shame. Fantastic app, I just set it up on Odin 2 and It's transformative. I was slightly biased towards Linux for my handhelds before (even with Dajisho) but ES-DE single-handedly changed that, I will certainly buy it again from their website. On a side note, does anyone know how to remove the lower black border when disabling UI help ? Theme is Artbook Next if it matters.
Interesting coverage! I have a question, and am hoping you'll know: What would be the major differences between something like ES-DE on Android... and another frontend like Daijisho? I already use the latter - is there anything noteworthy to make it worth switching to Android ES-DE?
Have been using ES-DE on a Raspberry Pi 400 via Batocera, and it's pretty awesome. I try to avoid Android though, and Amazon, Apple, and really anything proprietary or corporate. Can't post how I feel about them though, at least not without tripping a content filter. :P
Yuzu was always going to be skating on thin ice simply because it's not *as* defensible as many other emulation options on the market. it's a technical marvel, sure, but it's emulating something that is still out there making money, and there is a far stronger case for piracy there than, say, someone who's just playing a decades old game gear rom. As for emulation station being delisted, makes zero sense if both they and play store host many other types of front end, but I was more than happy to sign up to the patreon to get it because it is by far the best frontend i've used on the RP3+
Hello Russ, been watching for a year. Love your videos, first comment for me. Would love a tutorial on where you bought your black and colored accessories on odin 2 and how to install. My odin 2 is coming in a week and your white odin 2 with your changes convinced me to buy it.
You sir, have made me buy a GameSir G8, Emulation Station and made me download hundreds of Gigs of RetroGames. If i get addicted, i will hold you responsable! :)
I really wish another one of these frontends would have the gameplay time tracking. This is a non negotiable feature for me since I love keeping a playtime history of all the games I have, and Dig is still the only one I've found that has it so I still use Dig even with its pretty archaic setup.
Its funny that samsung has an insanely good and extremely complete game tracking in their gaming hub on their phones. Would love any frontend to copy this
I think Nintendo going after Yuzu is totally fair. To me, emulation should be reserved for games that aren't really being offered on the market at the moment. If the money I have to spend on a game is not going to the creators or distributors in any way, I have no qualms with emulating it. When it comes to brand new games, and especially indie games which many of the Switch emulated games are, give the money where it is due. Going after a current system that is trying to make money seems like asking the big companies, especially Nintendo, to come crash this good thing we have going.
If I pay one month on their patreon and become a member, then cancel it. Can I download the app anytime I want? on different devices (same Google account if that matters). I have multiple devices and I hope I dont have to pay for multiple devices and/or installs.
I don't think Nintendo has any justification to sue Yuzu. I'm pretty sure what Nintendo is counting on is scaring the Yuzu devs to the point where they take down the emulator themselves, similar to what happened with Skyline. Nintendo will threaten years of legal drama and if the Yuzu devs can't afford it they might not think it's worth the trouble to keep the emulator up. Whether or not the Yuzu devs could win the lawsuit doesn't matter because they might not be able to afford to take the risk.
On a different note we now have a working virtual boy emulator working in 3d on the 3ds and it's awesome u can even change screen colours called red viper
The webserver can't really handle this file size with so many downloads at the same time, I'm investigating a different place for the APK for the next release. This was just something temporary I had to throw together as the Amazon takedown was obviously completely unexpected.
I hope you'll talk about Nintendo suit at some point on your own channel. A teaser about some other thing I have to like and subscribe to to get the good stuff has me nostalgic for small channel Retro Game Corps.
Hey Russ! Love your videos! Been watching for a few years now. I wanted to ask your opinion on what handheld would be a good fit for what I'm looking for. I'm looking for a good handheld with a premium feel to it, maybe something with a metal case but under $200, and can play PSP games well. I like the horizontal format, like a switch. Any suggestions?
I feel like the metal Retroid Pocket 3+ would have been a perfect fit for this use case, but sadly I don't see it on their store any more so you may have to look on eBay or Amazon to see if someone is selling one. It's generally under $200, premium feeling, and can play PSP at a 3x upscale. I made a video about it last year if you want to check it out! ua-cam.com/video/DEdA11yN_fI/v-deo.htmlsi=Uj-6Rg8g8z6-NmKd
I was originally gonna say "well shucks but I already got my games scraped so I'll just deal" but then you said THE SCRAPES GO ALONG FOR THE RIDE? Yeah you guys win I'll get the patreon version
Im not sure if you clarified this or not - but you should put in your video how to setup Emulation Station to use a different ROM folder than the default one. It stops you from having to move your ROMs if folders are named differently
Doesn't make sense coz Amazon is selling tons of emulation devices with emulation software :D Anyway, I love this frondend and as long as I have accsess to it with full update support: This is the way...
Ayaneo Pocket Air has an issue. When you start ES-DE it always asks to have permission to access the controller. When you select a game (say Genesis with RetroArch) ES-DE seems to keep hold of the controller so RA assumes there isn't one connected. Only way to make RA start using the controller is to swipe down, disable Hand Lever and re enable. Then controls work. The other system I tested Flycast behaves the same way. Pocket Air presents it's controls as an Xbox controller. Hand Lever is the built in feature to disable the controller so that USB file transfer can happen.This doesn't happen with other launchers like Beacon or Daijisho.
This has (hopefully) been fixed and will be a part of the next update. But just pressing "CANCEL" when the popup is shown should fix the issue as a workaround.
I had daijishou and i really didn't like it that much on my odin lite. Then going on reddit after watching your last week es-de video, and reading the comments of people sharing the similar sentiment towards front ends, i removed it then. I like es-de video that you made but i found that i like my android apps and games and emulators like vita3k alot. Now i just have a nova launcher set up. It looks super clean with all the standalone emulators that i use on the homepage in a honeycomb fashion. I think it looks more modern if i had to use a word to describe it. Also now i can finally put a background and it Looks way too good! Also fuck Nintendo
Wanna buy a handheld to play retro games up to PS1, screen between 5" to 6", less than 200$, high quality screen and material, and a decent design are my priority, what handheld do you recommend?
@@HUYI1 it’s at the end of Russ’s video. Nintendo suing them for a bunch of copyright claims which, to me, seem bogus but I’m sure Nintendo has a much bigger legal budget than Yuzu so I don’t have high hopes However, I imagine a new emulator will come out instead
This from Amazon that sells a sea of cheap Chinese devices that are full of thousands of completely illegal ROMs.
I have about 4 of them 😅
Yeah... Amazon clearly doesn't care much about the law or doing what's right... they just care about profit. They're notorious for treating workers poorly, and they've created an entire ecosystem of Amazon-exclusive ways to scam customers, but they also ban people like ES-DE trying to do legitimate business.
Not just handhelds too, but R4s as well.
lets.....not draw attention eh
they probably arent aware or are being purposefully dumb to avoid legal issues
@@documentthedrama8279
Dummies gonna dumb. This is garnering unneeded attention to the emulation scene by a big company like Amazon.
Doesn't amazon sell those 5000 in one game carts that are just roms lol
I literally bought my RG351P that was preloaded with ROMs and BIOS files on Amazon, lol...
@@pieceofschmidtgamer its laughable because they say "facilitates piracy" thats so reductive and broad you could apply it to almost anything. Better not sell hard drives and sd cards. Better not sell computers. 😅
They even sell usb drives stuffed full of rooms even 😂
Those are older gen games. It's perfectly understandable for Nintendo to be touchy about its current gen being emulated so widely.
Allegedly
Thanks Russ for this great video and for taking the time to cover this unfortunate event. But like you stated in the video, hopefully this will lead to something better in the long run. And to clarify, I think there is near 0% chance that there will ever be a Google Play release of ES-DE. Patreon is likely the way to go.
Thanks for the clarification!
A shame indeed. Guess we are coming to Patreon.
Thank you for this front end - you are a rock star!
I guess this was for the best for everyone, I hope you get enough people to support your amazing work. I’ll be there as soon as my RG556 arrives.
Is there any chance, that you will expand ES into something like RetroArch at some point?
Like RA and ES combined into one application?
The great part about ES is that I also use it already on many devices and keeping the scraped content is really helpful instead of having it to scrape again, like with Daijishō. Plus having a familiar frontend is also great.
Took me two minutes to get the refund. That being said, they said they’d do it as an “exception” for being an excellent customer. No, you delisted the app, I have a right to a refund lol.
They said exactly the same to me: "as a one off exception we can process a refund". My response was "I'm not happy that you're trying to make out you're doing me a favour by doing something that you are mandated to do by law"
Meanwhile, despite having spent like 15 years posting detailed reviews about products in a field where I have deep expertise, marked by thousands of people as "helpful", I'm now banned from posting Amazon reviews for reasons they refuse to explain. I'm guessing it's because I sometimes point out when the product descriptions are false, and give the actual correct specs.
companies always say this bs lol
@@ToyKeeper Wait, did I just stumble upon _the_ ToyKeeper of Anduril fame in these comments? I love my Anduril flashlights and they have unironically made my life as a visually impaired person just that little bit better, so thank you!
@@ToyKeeperdoing god's work 🫡
LOL. Amazon allows sellers to sell like 8TB filled with pirated games.
the irony right? LOL
They're happy to profit from things which are illegal or immoral, but as soon as something is actually good for the end user or threatens any big corporations, they pull out the banhammer.
And prohibited weapons
no, not amazon, check the seller again.
Thanks Russ, I am having problem with Amazon anyway and I am grateful that you have been providing updated on ES-DE swiftly. I have followed the Patreon path and get ES-DE now. Thanks again for you effort put in this channel.
Considering Nintendo is suing yuzu right now I can only hope this isn't the start of a big emulation crackdown.
Nintendo managed to be worse than Oracle.
They're not exactly suing about the emulator. They're looking at their instructions on getting keys and such.
Doesn’t it tell you how to get the keys legally? Like from your own switch?
Wouldn't really matter. The apps don't need a storefront in order to be installed on your devices. You can just sideload it.
@@thatguywiththevoice2309 That's the question. It's not illegal or legal atm but Nintendo is arguing it's instructions to break their encryption so it should be illegal.
I'm just glad we can still get the app and also agree going through Patreon seems like less of a hassle.
Thanks for this video. I subbed to the Patreon and will keep it subbed for a few months or so to support the developer. I have been waiting for Emulationstation on Android for years.
This situation is ridiculou. Hope everything works out for the best
I know righ.
Solid video Russ. Now it’s not on the Amazon App Store, I’m happy to take the plunge and support developers directly.
I agree that, in the long run, the move to Patreon is likely for the best. I hope this isn't a crackdown on emulation on Android though.
No, it's not good. Patreon is shit. They'll deplatform you just because
@@alfwok
Well, the truth is that Nintendo expects some level of piracy. But they are REALLY agitated by the likes of Valve and the SteamDeck. Also by the AYN Odin2 to some extent. That's who they really would like to target.
Also I think Nintendo is a lot at fault here with the NSwitch. Let's just say they made it pocketable.... well, now it's a different category of device.
Or better yet, if they took my advice instead: use modern technology! If they had it with 8x Cortex A73, downclocked to save power, and with 256GB Storage and 8GB RAM to allow modern game development. And have the chipset built using 14nm FinFet instead of the 22nm-Planar silicon. Maybe make the iGPU decent to be able to pull off something like 720p, 30fps, Low Settings. Then when you attach it to the Dock, it does a few things. It Fast Charges the device, it cools it down with Fans, it ramps up the CPU clocks, and lastly it activates the eGPU. That way you this hypothetical "Kangal Switch" actually has decent performance behind it, and it gets ports for games that were also released for the XB1 and PS4.
Also this higher ceiling of performance actually SLOWS the development and the speed of emulation. The Wii released in late 2006 and was cracked instantly. The Wii was much weaker than its direct competitor PS3, and that last one wasn't hacked or emulated until over a decade. In fact, the 2002 Xbox itself is much more powerful than the Wii, it is laughable.
Nintendo saves BILLIONS by selling hardware at exorbitant prices whilst using cheap components. Greedy. Well the result of that is emulation. You can't have it both ways.
@@alfwoknot true, read the document there is zero mention of a Patreon
You can sell emulators. There is no law against it. Stop simping.@@alfwok
Daijisho for me for now. I have got it all perfect on my flip. Thinking of jumping on Odin 2 , or RP4 Pro or maybe wait for next gen odin or maybe flip. So i am on holding pattern now. Watching where the market goes. With a new device i will definitely check ES 😁
Daijisho, Does it give an error? I mean, do you ever have any problem using daijisho?
To an outsider, you just spoke gibberish lol. Like you're just saying nonsense if you know nothing about emulators
@@heavenly2k I will rephrase because I use Google translate to better express my doubt.
in some Front-Ends when you start the game they give errors... The daijisho from what I researched: when it doesn't open the game it at least opens the Emulator.
My question is, did you experience any problems? Have there been any errors using Daijisho? I'm researching to find out which is the best Front-End...
"Except that Patreon is something that the devs can actually control".
Except for all those times Patreon screwed over it's creators.
I get the point, but this statement is still funny to me.
Patreon is considerably less risky than google or amazon.
@@vexorian Agreed, but still ironic
Ordered ES-DE as soon as knew it was available. Mainly got it for my Android Cell phone but, I use it with my KT-R1 and your other video worked awesome for the loader.
The Nintendo vs Yuzu lawsuit will be quite interesting. From what I undertand, Nintendo is trying to frame Yuzu as being aware and intentionally working on that emulator to play commercial games on an unauthorized device, pointing out the instructions they provide to use a hardware vulnerability to obtain an ecryption key and pirate games and also conversations and statements that has been circulating in the Discord server.
I do wonder about the outcome legally of this lawsuit. I think Nintendo tries to stretch the truth as far as they can (as always) to prove how emulation is closely related to piracy and condemn emulation as piracy as a whole, but I don't think it will be seen that way. As for the whole "Yuzu being an enabler in piracy", they may have a case here though.
I paid for ES via patreon, downloaded and installed in a few mins. Super easy and totally worth the money.
Can't wait for the streisand effect to start
Not only will people that don't already know hear, about it. This will prod people to dump their games and share. More specifically, a rush to download the entire Nintendo catalog, just in case.
@@washuaisorry to burst your bubbles but there’s no streisand effect to this. The emulation frontend (NOT emulation) market on mobile OSes is still a niche market. Those who are really keen on using a frontend will most probably know how to sideload the app on Android then call it a day.
@@arvs7356
These events bring unwanted attention to the emulation scene. The dev should have never had tried to sell his app through Amazon to begin with. Nintendo is already breathing down Yuzu's neck. Legacy sites like Vimms Lair are always in danger the more and more "influencers" talk about it.
This is all very much related and not localized in the emulation frontend department.
I downloaded Yuzu for my phone (it works by the way, but coverage is spotty!) only after I found out Yuzu was shutting down
Thanks for the update! I just purchased the Patreon app.
I have been using EmulationStation since the Raspberry Pi 3 and I loved it. I am happy that it is available on Android. I installed on my RP4Pro and It works great. I can't wait for future updates.
I followed your video from last week and installed Emulation Station on my Retroid Pocket 4.
What's really strange is our received a update from the Amazon app store for Emulation Station this morning and it's still working no problems at all and it's still showed it listed on the store still as well.
I'm in Australia so I don't know if it makes any difference but I wouldn't think it would, but it's truly bizarre that a front end has been stopped for emulation even though it does not emulate anything itself.
If you already own the app then you can update it on your device, but it won't be getting any future updates.
Between CDromance, Yuzu, and this, I'm honestly worried about the future of emulation.
yeah. emuparadise too, though that was a while ago
CDROMANCE Links are working again.
noticed that @@xFEARxPHOENIXx
There’ll be plenty of places that let you steal games popping up in the near future. Just like a hydra
and this is why it's important to own LOCAL external RELIABLE hard drives, stop using cloud online services and keep your retro gaming data offline from any prying eyes, i've already recently preserved my GB, GBA, GBC games onto reliable OFFLINE flash carts and a good old GBA SP IPS V2, no internet required
Thanks for the update Russ! I setup ES on my android device per your video. But ended up with Daijisho because I can choose which version of dolphin I want to use per game. Unless there’s a way to do that with ES, I’m sticking with Daijisho for now
I dig Daijishou but I really don't like how there is no offline backup option and if you set it up on one memory card then later want to upgrade to a larger card, you have to set up directories all over again.
@@arbbo1675 yeah I totally see the benefit of that. It was easy to reinstall ES after it was dropped from Amazon. But I don’t change android devices often so setting up Daijisho is t the bothersome to me. Hopefully Daijisho will add this feature in the future. I also really like that all the setting are hidden in ES and with one button press you bring them up. Keeps the UI clean and simple.
@FireLordOzai001 My issue with Daijishou is not necessarily about changing devices, but changing cards. Daijishou doesn't give you access to it's database. I would like to be able to make an offline backup to go from one card/device to another without setting directories again. ES is also more of a standard and I have it on multiple devices and I have all the same games/artwork/themes on all of them.
You can choose which emulator to use per game from the metadata editor, it's available from the gamelist options menu.
@@ES-DE_Frontend thanks, I’m definitely going to try that out!!
I think Amazon got scared due to Nintendo's lawsuit to Yuzu
Either way I prefer the Patreon route since it is DRM free, it does not require any secondary store and it gives access to everyone worldwide, the Amazon app store is unavailable in Latin America
I love the idea of Daijosho and that it's free but there's just certain things you can't customize that drives me nuts. Can't even resize my box art.
Also it hasn't been updated in like six months, might be abandoned
@@Bugsideits pretty feature complete and extremely stable, so even if its abandoned, it might be fine staying like it is for a while
I just wish ES-DE will add custom folder pointing for ROMs folder and per system just like what we have with Daijisho. For someone who loves to maximize every inch of space on the odin2, this is a showstopper for me to port over to ES
You should be able to change rom path per emulator using the xml file
Thanks for the tips on this. Much appreciated. Like on my Odin2, i split my ROMS between internal and external storage. Do you know if the XML path modification can recognize both the internal and external path?@@1337brian2
@@1337brian2 do you know if using the xml to specify custom rom path, it can recognize both the internal and external storage on Odin2? I have had my ROMS split between those two unfortunately.
Emulation is completely legal and I wish more people would speak up about why vilifying emulators is wrong. Now if you don’t own the games you’re emulating, that’s a different story.
I’d go the extra step and say it should be completely legal to emulate or download ROMs for games which you’ve paid for. You should be able to strip DRM off your own games and do whatever you want with them (except distribute them).
I think part of the problem with this is that there's monetary gain involved. Nintendo and other companies have left this stuff alone until money changed hands. You don't see them going after Retroarch etc.
You are allowed to turn a profit. Bleem won their lawsuit against Sony. But they went bankrupt in the process.
@@Bob_Smith19Bleem won lawsuit on completely different matter, not it being commercial. There was another emulator that won on profits stuff, but a lot has changed since then.
This is simply wrong. Nintendo is cracking down on emulation because it's popular. They are going to sue regardless of taking money. And we really need to stop discouraging devs from making a profit. At least thanks to their patreon, the yuzu devs got something in exchange of all their work.
@@Bob_Smith19 1. I didn't say they weren't allowed to turn a profit. What I'm saying is Nintendo doesn't like that.
2. It's clear Nintendo is trying to just make yuzu fold under pressure.
@@vexoriandoes the "profit" cover the legal fees and stress?
It seems on Reddit many people have recently updated ES on Steam Deck and the ROMs all go missing because ES redirects the directory pointer. Can you address this?
Thanks for the info, I just got refunded via amazon uk with no problems.
I prefer Daijisho for now for the simplicity of the interface, but I'm looking forward to the day ES-DE will fully integrate Android ecosystem functionality :)
Thanks for the head's up, Russ! I definitely am interested in getting ES-DE on my Retroid Pocket 4 Pro as it was already so amazing on my Steam Deck. It is a shame that the developer is having issues with Amazon and Google Play, but I am happy to support them directly via Patreon instead! Daijisho is decent, but I just prefer EmulationStation in general.
I highly recommend the Nerd Nest podcast, one of my weekly go-tos.
Hey! I love how you customised your Odin 2. Do you think you could do a video tutorial xplaining how you did it and where you bought the buttons and everything?
I really hope Yuzu isn't taken down...
@@monki_sudoyes it does because you need updates for new games
@@chiquita683someone else will keep it going and exhaust Nintendo
Its opensource so someone will grab the code and keep evolving it probably under a different name. Opensource projects are unkillable
@@monki_sudoIt matters, because legal action hurts the creators, slows development, makes things harder for the users, and causes what lawyers call a "chilling effect" or a "SLAPP". It's enough of a problem that some places have "SLAPP-back" laws to protect people from this type of harmful lawsuit.
@And Nintendo will threaten them with a C&D and cite this lawsuit in the letter, like they do with fan projects and mods all the time. I'm honestly amazed they haven't shut down PrimeHack by now.
I hope more developers move to Patreon. ❤
Patron sucks they get political
If Yuzu goes down, that sets the precedent for any emulator (especially paid ones) to also go down.
In this era of the supreme court, it's irrelevant if existing rulings protect emulators; they can simply overturn what they don't like. 😢
Just got refunded after only talking to Amazon for a few minutes. Super Easy. I will definitely be backing the Patreon app. Thanks Russ!
Shouldn't even have to talk to anybody. You should immediately and automatically get a refund
i really think that having in a appstore it was a bad choice i use phone as emulator console i don't use any store, the patreon maybe is the best choice.
Giving people the updates even after moving to Patreon is a real chad move. I reckon most people would have just kept that side effect of monthly subscriptions.
Love to see it.
I'm really curious now that almost half a year has passed what your thoughts are now and what are the pro's of ES over Daijisho?
Emulation from day one, which I consider to be the first release of MAME, was always about preservation first moved forward by volunteers with the primary interest of preservation first. A lot of viewers aren’t old enough to remember the drama of the early days of emulation, but the unwritten rule that came from it is you don’t talk about where to get ROMS’s, you avoid emulating supported systems that are still sold because that isn’t about preservation and you don’t expect any money to move the project forward.
Expecting money for anything related to emulation, whether it be the emulator itself or emulation adjacent like launchers, makes it clear your project is not preservation and you are going to subject it to scrutiny. It doesn’t matter other emulators charging money aren’t taken down, it doesn’t matter how shit Amazon is as a company, it doesn’t matter that Amazon has double standards and sells 1000 in 1 ROM carts. Everyone reading this should be smart enough to know when a project is OK, when one starts to blur the lines and when one is clearly not about preservation and is actively under mining a supported system.
Spruiking any projects related to emulation that charge money is not a great move IMO.
This is why MAME is one of my favorite emulators.
Paying for a menu is why prefer Daijishō. No need to pay, and the integration and menus are sleek
Russ do you think it may be a good idea to edit and repost the original video so you don't unintetionally send people to those scam apps on the Amazon App Store?
Can you get 3D box art on EmulationStation like on LaunchBox/BigBox? Just deciding which to set up.
Maybe a deep dive comparison vid of these launchers would be neat? 👐
I used the windows screenscraper app to do this, i selected the videos, 3D box art, and metadata and then transferred it over to all my emulation devices that use emulation station :P you will never have to scrape again
Yes you can - I love this front end!
Emulation station doesn't emulate or allow the pirating of games in any way shape or form. It's essentially just a file browser that links to other apps. I don't understand how it can be taken down, while things like Retroarch are totally fine.
Well, at the least I'm glad there isn't a big issue setting up the APK if the Amazon version has been configured. That said, I'm gonna roll with my current install for the time being, if there's a major update before this hits the Play store (if it does at all) I'll go the Patreon route, but I'd just rather have it downloaded through a service that will keep it updated rather than doing it manually moving forward.
Just a couple of weeks ago I replaced both my kids' tablets from Amazon Fire ones to Samsung Galaxy Tabs mostly because I was so sick of dealing with Amazon's garbage restrictive ecosystem, and I'm feeling even between about that call today. I do hope that the ES dev gets the payout from Amazon for downloads that weren't refunded 🤞
Awesome front end. Love it on my Steam Deck and will buy it for Android and Windows when all these shenanigans are done. We really cannot have nice things.
For Windows, retrobat already exists for free and is the emulation station front end for retroarch
ES-DE is free on Windows.
I don't emulate on Android with new devices anymore anyways because of scoped storage. Breaks my syncing saves between all the platforms I game on. There are quite a few emulators that take that into account that automatically direct the save folder outside the android folder and a few more that allow you to choose because of that, but it is not ubiquitous and unfortunately one or two that don't take that garbage into account is enough to break the device for my purposes. Really horrible. Used to be the open source platform, now they're worse than Apple with restrictions!!!
Android pretty much destroyed the good community-based open-source mobile platforms. It was never about bringing open-source to phones; it was about making open-source less hostile to corporate interests (like profit and control), by making it more hostile to the user. It's basically a proprietary OS built from open parts.
Damn i just finished today setting everything up, thanks for the update
Not only ironic for Amazon to boot EmulationStation while hosting emulators on the Amazon App Store, but all the Chinese "retro consoles pre-loaded with 10,000 games" for sale on Amazon...
"Facilitates piracy" so do PCs, hard drives, and literally anything with an OS and storage, better de-list all that too
Thanks for all the updated info Russ!
The Yuzu/Nintendo thing is interesting for sure, Yuzu doesn't supply any bios/keys for the games so it'll be interesting (read: scary) to see how this goes.
Off topic: I've been thinking of grabbing another MiniPC just for setting up as a Media Server for Plex etc & digitizing my tv dvd/blu sets with how ridiculous streaming services are now.
Do you have a MiniPC you'd recommend for that?
Thanks again as always for these helpful and entertaining videos!
Honestly I wanted to get it on the Amazon store but since I already had paid for dig I didn't want to pay for another front end without some kind of demo to see if I like it. a video just won't cut it I'd actually need to be able to use it first since there's a upfront time investment to fully set a front end up
So Amazon heard of the Yuzu Nintendo incident and they remove anything remotely related with emulation even if there's nothing to emulate on a frontend ....
Nintendo Ninjas like agent 47 🤣🤣
That doesn't make sense within a few minutes into the video. There are still plenty of actual emulators on their store, including Nintendo ones
That's a shame. Fantastic app, I just set it up on Odin 2 and It's transformative. I was slightly biased towards Linux for my handhelds before (even with Dajisho) but ES-DE single-handedly changed that, I will certainly buy it again from their website.
On a side note, does anyone know how to remove the lower black border when disabling UI help ? Theme is Artbook Next if it matters.
Interesting coverage! I have a question, and am hoping you'll know: What would be the major differences between something like ES-DE on Android... and another frontend like Daijisho? I already use the latter - is there anything noteworthy to make it worth switching to Android ES-DE?
Nice video, getting closer to the half million subs!
That Odin 2 looks sick. I gotta get me one of those one day when I have some spare money left 😅
Have been using ES-DE on a Raspberry Pi 400 via Batocera, and it's pretty awesome. I try to avoid Android though, and Amazon, Apple, and really anything proprietary or corporate. Can't post how I feel about them though, at least not without tripping a content filter. :P
I really like Dijisho but it might be time to give ES a try. I’m just torn having my Android and Linux handhelds look the same
Yuzu was always going to be skating on thin ice simply because it's not *as* defensible as many other emulation options on the market. it's a technical marvel, sure, but it's emulating something that is still out there making money, and there is a far stronger case for piracy there than, say, someone who's just playing a decades old game gear rom.
As for emulation station being delisted, makes zero sense if both they and play store host many other types of front end, but I was more than happy to sign up to the patreon to get it because it is by far the best frontend i've used on the RP3+
Thanks for the demo and info, have a great day
I hope I'm wrong. I hope this isn't the beginning of "The Great Purge" in which Nintendo wages war against ALL emulators.
Download everything you can while you still can
Oh, I have!
Just bought it, well worth it for a console like experience
Hello Russ, been watching for a year. Love your videos, first comment for me. Would love a tutorial on where you bought your black and colored accessories on odin 2 and how to install. My odin 2 is coming in a week and your white odin 2 with your changes convinced me to buy it.
I haven’t downloaded Yuzu but, hopefully it doesn’t get taken down like Skyline.
Keep up the great vids Russ 👍
Go download it now and save the apk just in case
It so happens I just received a notification that my Odin 2 is being shipped! 🎉🎉🎉
I hope we’ll eventually be able to boot into emulation station directly
You sir, have made me buy a GameSir G8, Emulation Station and made me download hundreds of Gigs of RetroGames. If i get addicted, i will hold you responsable! :)
I really wish another one of these frontends would have the gameplay time tracking. This is a non negotiable feature for me since I love keeping a playtime history of all the games I have, and Dig is still the only one I've found that has it so I still use Dig even with its pretty archaic setup.
Its funny that samsung has an insanely good and extremely complete game tracking in their gaming hub on their phones. Would love any frontend to copy this
I think Nintendo going after Yuzu is totally fair. To me, emulation should be reserved for games that aren't really being offered on the market at the moment. If the money I have to spend on a game is not going to the creators or distributors in any way, I have no qualms with emulating it. When it comes to brand new games, and especially indie games which many of the Switch emulated games are, give the money where it is due. Going after a current system that is trying to make money seems like asking the big companies, especially Nintendo, to come crash this good thing we have going.
Amazon just removed the only reason to install their store. It's back to being ignored lol.
If I pay one month on their patreon and become a member, then cancel it. Can I download the app anytime I want? on different devices (same Google account if that matters). I have multiple devices and I hope I dont have to pay for multiple devices and/or installs.
I don't think Nintendo has any justification to sue Yuzu. I'm pretty sure what Nintendo is counting on is scaring the Yuzu devs to the point where they take down the emulator themselves, similar to what happened with Skyline. Nintendo will threaten years of legal drama and if the Yuzu devs can't afford it they might not think it's worth the trouble to keep the emulator up. Whether or not the Yuzu devs could win the lawsuit doesn't matter because they might not be able to afford to take the risk.
On a different note we now have a working virtual boy emulator working in 3d on the 3ds and it's awesome u can even change screen colours called red viper
What would be the best all in one windows emulator
Anyone else having issues downloading from the link on Patreon? I've tried to download the APK about 10 times now and my download always fails
The webserver can't really handle this file size with so many downloads at the same time, I'm investigating a different place for the APK for the next release. This was just something temporary I had to throw together as the Amazon takedown was obviously completely unexpected.
@@ES-DE_Frontend no worries. Thanks 👍
I hope you'll talk about Nintendo suit at some point on your own channel. A teaser about some other thing I have to like and subscribe to to get the good stuff has me nostalgic for small channel Retro Game Corps.
Doesn't amazon look at good selling products, run to china and copy them and then sell them as "amazon basic".
The irony in them delisting this when I literally bought an RG35XX Plus from them yesterday which was loaded with thousands of ROMs.
Like we needed 1 more reason to hate Nintendo...
Thanks Russ!
Just do the launchbox thing and make it a free app with the choice of buying a license externally
Hey Russ! Love your videos! Been watching for a few years now. I wanted to ask your opinion on what handheld would be a good fit for what I'm looking for. I'm looking for a good handheld with a premium feel to it, maybe something with a metal case but under $200, and can play PSP games well. I like the horizontal format, like a switch. Any suggestions?
I feel like the metal Retroid Pocket 3+ would have been a perfect fit for this use case, but sadly I don't see it on their store any more so you may have to look on eBay or Amazon to see if someone is selling one. It's generally under $200, premium feeling, and can play PSP at a 3x upscale. I made a video about it last year if you want to check it out! ua-cam.com/video/DEdA11yN_fI/v-deo.htmlsi=Uj-6Rg8g8z6-NmKd
Thank you! I'll give it a look!
I was originally gonna say "well shucks but I already got my games scraped so I'll just deal" but then you said THE SCRAPES GO ALONG FOR THE RIDE? Yeah you guys win I'll get the patreon version
Thanks for the heads up brother
Im not sure if you clarified this or not - but you should put in your video how to setup Emulation Station to use a different ROM folder than the default one. It stops you from having to move your ROMs if folders are named differently
Doesn't make sense coz Amazon is selling tons of emulation devices with emulation software :D Anyway, I love this frondend and as long as I have accsess to it with full update support: This is the way...
Just for info, I was planning to follow this tutorial and the Amazon said an update was available for ES-DE
Now I'm currently on version 3.0.0
Ayaneo Pocket Air has an issue. When you start ES-DE it always asks to have permission to access the controller. When you select a game (say Genesis with RetroArch) ES-DE seems to keep hold of the controller so RA assumes there isn't one connected. Only way to make RA start using the controller is to swipe down, disable Hand Lever and re enable. Then controls work. The other system I tested Flycast behaves the same way. Pocket Air presents it's controls as an Xbox controller. Hand Lever is the built in feature to disable the controller so that USB file transfer can happen.This doesn't happen with other launchers like Beacon or Daijisho.
This has (hopefully) been fixed and will be a part of the next update. But just pressing "CANCEL" when the popup is shown should fix the issue as a workaround.
They can just publish the apk somewhere else.
simple right? but these peeps want to put their hands in the gold coins like dam wario LOL
I'm pretty sure that I saw it for sale at Google Play just after your previous video about this came out?
I had daijishou and i really didn't like it that much on my odin lite.
Then going on reddit after watching your last week es-de video, and reading the comments of people sharing the similar sentiment towards front ends, i removed it then.
I like es-de video that you made but i found that i like my android apps and games and emulators like vita3k alot.
Now i just have a nova launcher set up. It looks super clean with all the standalone emulators that i use on the homepage in a honeycomb fashion. I think it looks more modern if i had to use a word to describe it. Also now i can finally put a background and it Looks way too good!
Also fuck Nintendo
Wanna buy a handheld to play retro games up to PS1, screen between 5" to 6", less than 200$, high quality screen and material, and a decent design are my priority, what handheld do you recommend?
Jeez! I hope they don't crack down on Kodi!!!
I wonder if they could put it on F-Droid?
I thought Emulation Station was open sourced. Is the proceeds going to the developers of ES like Retropie?
Surprised we didn’t get an emergency nerd nest podcast due to the yuzu lawsuit
oh please indulge? yuzu lawsuit?! dam
@@HUYI1 it’s at the end of Russ’s video. Nintendo suing them for a bunch of copyright claims which, to me, seem bogus but I’m sure Nintendo has a much bigger legal budget than Yuzu so I don’t have high hopes
However, I imagine a new emulator will come out instead
Russ you’re a champ for explaining all this on your channel