RetroForge 0.5.1 beta

WHAT'S NEW IN 0.5.1

• GameCube, Wii and PS2 now play in the built-in player (Dolphin and LRPS2 on Vulkan).
• Fixed: RetroForge sometimes wouldn't open again (until the phone restarted) after being closed while a
  game video or game was loading from a network drive.
• Fixed: the back gesture now opens the in-game menu on Android 16.
• Fixed: film thumbnails crashed on Android 8 and 9.
• New Retro tab tile style: game art with the console in front.

RETROFORGE - FULL FEATURE LIST
Version 0.5.1 beta, 29 October 2026
Made by Darren Glancy, built with AI (Claude).

PLAYS GAMES ITSELF (built-in player, nothing to set up)

• Emulators download in the background during setup. No RetroArch, no cores to install.
• Systems: Game Boy, Game Boy Color, GBA, NES, SNES, Mega Drive/Genesis, Master System, Game Gear,
  SG-1000, 32X, Mega CD, PC Engine and PC Engine CD, Neo Geo Pocket, WonderSwan, Atari 2600, Lynx,
  Virtual Boy, DS, PlayStation, Nintendo 64, PSP, arcade (FinalBurn Neo, MAME 2003-Plus, CPS1-3, Neo Geo),
  Saturn (experimental), Dreamcast and 3DS. Naomi and Atomiswave are in but not tested yet.
• GPU rendering in the player (N64, PSP, Dreamcast, 3DS), with Resolution from 1x up to each emulator's
  most (PSP and Dreamcast 10x, 3DS 9x, GameCube and PS2 8x, N64 4x) per system.
• Graphics: OpenGL or Vulkan for GameCube, PS2 and PSP, per system (Vulkan by default for GameCube and PS2).
• Games play straight from their folder or network drive (streamed), so even big disc games start at once;
  or copy them to the phone first for slow Wi-Fi.
• Texture packs: one-tap downloads of free N64 HD packs (Super Mario 64, Mario Kart 64, Smash Bros.,
  Majora's Mask, Ocarina of Time), or add your own N64 or PSP pack folder. Switched on by themselves.
• Swipe in from the left or right edge for the menu: save and load states, fast-forward, change disc,
  take a screenshot, restart, quit; then Picture (screen shape, filters, console look, widescreen,
  resolution, graphics, Cardboard VR, FPS counter), Sound and controls (volume, touch controls, remap
  buttons) and Emulator (its own settings, cheats, switch emulator mid-game).
• Screen filters: sharp pixels, smooth, CRT scanlines, curved CRT, LCD grid, LCD with ghosting, Scale2x.
• Screenshots saved to Pictures/RetroForge. FPS counter you can switch on.
• Widescreen switch for N64 (restarts the game by itself) and Dreamcast.
• Touch controls drawn per console: PlayStation pad with both sticks, N64 pad, six-button Saturn pad,
  Mega Drive A/B/C and more. Console look on by default. Portrait and landscape; bigger buttons for
  two- and three-button systems in landscape. DS screens side by side when turned.
• Touch controls hide as soon as a controller connects, and come back when it disconnects.
• Remap buttons: controller buttons and on-screen buttons, per system.
• Controllers, TV remotes, hotkeys, hold R2 to fast-forward, carry on where you left off.
• Cheats from libretro's database or your own codes.
• Multi-disc games: change disc from the menu.
• Dual-screen handhelds (AYN Thor, AYANEO Pocket DS and similar): DS touch screen on the second display,
  and (optional) a game box on the second screen while browsing: key art, or the open game's cover,
  name and description. Both switched in Settings -> Dual screen.
• VR tab: Cardboard / phone-in-headset play, the picture once per eye; Virtual Boy in real 3D; 3D films.
  Can be on by default for every game.
• Time played per game.
• Home computers and more: C64, Amiga, MSX, ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST/800, PC-88/98, X68000, DOS,
  ScummVM, 3DO, Jaguar, Neo Geo CD, Vectrex, Intellivision and dozens more (77 more systems in all).
• Keyboard (real, or Android's on-screen one) and touchscreen trackpad mouse for computers.
• GameCube/Wii (Dolphin) and PS2 (LRPS2) in the built-in player, drawn with Vulkan. New in 0.5.1 and
  less tested than the rest; the Dolphin and NetherSX2/ARMSX2 apps are offered too.
• DOS games kept as folders (RetroBat's "Game.pc") play as they are.

YOUR LIBRARY

• Reads a RetroBat or ES-DE roms folder as it is (including gamelist.xml titles, descriptions and
  artwork). Never writes into it.
• Finds games outside system folders by file type (.gba, .nds, .sfc, .z64 ...).
• Rescan by hand, or switch on looking for new games each time the app starts (device folders only).
• Retro tab in the canvas-es style: console pictures and logos downloaded by itself, in RetroForge's
  colours, with the faded key art behind. Only systems you have games for (or all, in Settings).
• Favourites, playlists, recently played, search (exact titles first), edit game details, covers from SteamGridDB.
• Game pages play RetroBat's gameplay video and open the game's manual (built-in page viewer).
• Home: Surprise me opens a random game.
• Network drives built in (shared folders on a PC or NAS): found on the network, no sign-in, keep working
  when the PC's address changes. BIOS found by itself next to a RetroBat folder.
• PlayStation memory cards: see saves, copy between games, delete, import/export card files.
• BIOS check that finds your BIOS files and copies them where they're needed.
• ROM Manager: duplicates, compress to CHD or zip, multi-disc playlists. Every change previewed and undoable.
• Rename game folders as RetroForge shows them.
• Short, familiar system names (Master System, Mega Drive, NES, SNES, FB Neo, CPS1 ...).
• Check my setup: every system's emulator, BIOS and games on one page.
• Import ES-DE custom collections as playlists.

ROM HACKS

• Patcher for IPS, BPS and UPS, including patch chains and readmes.
• The patched copy saves next to the original and appears in the library by itself, with the hack's
  name shown.
• Hack catalogue for NES, SNES, N64, Game Boy Color and GBA, with your own catalogue sources.
• Download and patch: hacks hosted on GitHub download, patch your ROM and land in the library in one go.

OTHER EMULATORS

• RetroArch with the right core per system, for people who know what they're doing.
• 21 standalone emulators (DuckStation, PPSSPP, Dolphin, NetherSX2, Azahar, Eden, Flycast and more),
  default per system.
• Get button opens Obtainium already set up for the app (Emulation Pack setups).
• GPU and drivers: GPU check, plus Turnip driver downloads with search, for Snapdragon phones.

PC TAB

• Ports: games rebuilt to run natively, matched to the games you own.
  • Android ports tab (Ship of Harkinian, Ghostship, SpaghettiKart, Zelda 3, Perfect Dark and more):
    download and install from the official release, open once installed, update.
  • Windows ports tab (Majora's Mask recomp, Jak and Daxter / OpenGOAL, Sonic Unleashed): download
    the Windows version unpacked and ready for GameNative.
  • Prepare files: copies your ROM where the port can find it. Your original stays.
• Windows games: GPU check for DroidDeck, hand-off to GameNative and Winlator, PC tutorial.

MEDIA TAB

• Your films as a poster grid with tidied titles and years.
• Posters, stories, ratings and runtimes from the poster and .nfo files saved next to each film (the
  Kodi/Plex/Jellyfin layout that Media Companion and tinyMediaManager make), or a frame from the film.
  No TMDB key is built in; users can add their own for personal use.
• Plex, Jellyfin, Emby and NAS media servers found on the home network with no sign-in (DLNA, like
  Bigscreen): folders, the server's posters, films stream in the built-in player, 3D libraries play in 3D.
• Films from network drives (shared folders on a PC or NAS), built in.
• Built-in film player with Cardboard modes: 2D cinema, 3D side by side, 3D top and bottom.
• If a film can't play here, it offers another video app.

ANDROID TAB

• Every app on the device, with search, and shortcuts to Android settings, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, display
  and sound.
• Launcher mode: make RetroForge the home screen (handhelds and TV boxes).

LOOKS AND THE REST

• Themes with their own layouts, swipeable previews, and colours plus system art from ES-DE/RetroBat
  themes you own.
• Interface sounds (move tick, select and back chimes), can be switched off.
• Back button (red X) on every page but Home, including Settings groups and main tabs; B on a
  controller goes back.
• Backup and restore: saves, states, cheats and settings in one zip.
• Storage page, with a button to clear copied games.
• Tutorials (with a nod to Retro Game Corps), Links tab with YouTube channels (Modern Vintage Gamer,
  Digital Foundry, My Life in Gaming, The Gaming Historian and more), About page with a nod to
  Mr Sujano (like and subscribe!), Report a problem.
• ScreenScraper and SteamGridDB logins with a show/hide button for the password and key.
• Report a problem: opens a ready-filled bug report on GitHub (github.com/RetroForgeFrontEnd/RetroForge).
• Free, with every feature included. If you want to support it: buymeacoffee.com/darrenglant
• No games or BIOS included. No accounts, no tracking.

KNOWN LIMITS AND COMING NEXT

• GameCube, Wii and PS2 in the built-in player are new (tested on a Galaxy S22 only so far).
• Vulkan is the default for GameCube, Wii and PS2; other systems use OpenGL, with Vulkan as an option.
• Tested on a Galaxy S22 (Exynos). Snapdragon phones, handhelds, TV boxes and real controllers still
  need more testing, so feedback from those is especially welcome.
• Coming next: netplay, save syncing with network and cloud drives, RetroBat controller setup import,
  more console-style themes.