Nearly six months after the previous Android release, 3.4.1-58 on April 10, EmulationStation Desktop Edition (ES-DE) was updated today to version 3.5.0-65.
Today’s release is a fairly significant Android update, particularly for dual-screen handhelds and RetroArch users.
The biggest part of this release is improved dual-screen support. All you AYN Thor users can rejoice, as ES-DE can now specify which screen games launch on a per-system or per-game basis. No longer do you have to rely on a single global setting.
ES-DE can also process browsing events without waiting for companion apps to respond, reducing menu latency and stuttering when using dual-screen integrations.
For example:
Old behavior:
Move to next game → send event → wait for event to finish → continue browsing
With non-blocking events:
Move to next game → send event → keep going
To download the Android APK, you do have to subscribe to ES-DE’s Patreon. Once you’ve subscribed for at least one month, you’ll continue to receive subsequent updates even if you’re no longer a subscriber. In fact, they emailed me a short time ago with the direct download link for the latest APK.
Some people have had issues with downloading the APK from Gmail specifically. If you experience this problem, you can read about a workaround in the Android FAQ.
| Feature | What’s New |
|---|---|
| RetroArch Core Detection | Experimental feature that checks for required RetroArch cores before launching, helping prevent black screens caused by missing cores. |
| Google Play RetroArch | Adds support for the SAF-based Google Play version of RetroArch, although ES-DE still recommends using the version downloaded directly from RetroArch. |
| New Systems | Adds support for PlayStation 4 and Atari Jaguar CD. |
| Video Scraping | TheGamesDB can now be used to scrape game videos. |
| Emulator Support | Adds support for a large number of additional emulators. |
| Theme Engine | Expands theme functionality and adds new options for theme designers, with the NXE Menu theme planned to showcase the improvements. |
| Translations | Adds Czech (cs_CZ) translation support. |
| Source | Description |
|---|---|
| ES-DE Patreon | Official ES-DE Patreon page for Android releases, updates, and project support. |
| ES-DE GitLab | Official ES-DE source repository, documentation, changelog, and development history. |