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RetroArch is cancer to the emulation scene. Multiple emulator devs despise RetroArch and users don't like it because of the confusing UI. It's sad that standalo

RetroArch is cancer to the emulation scene. Multiple emulator devs despise RetroArch and users don't like it because of the confusing UI. It's sad that standalone emulators for homebrewed console (e.g. Switch) have gotten so rare "thanks" to RetroArch.

bluescrn 2y ago
That 'confusing UI' is fully functional with a game controller, and consistent across many cores. Which is a massive win when you want to run emulators on devices without mouse/keyboard, and more than makes up for minor performance issues or having out-of-date cores.
- recursivecaveat 2y ago
  I've run many of the underlying emulators' software that got repurposed into cores. I loved XMB on the PS3 and PSP, and I really wish Sony didn't drop it. Retroarch's UI is a complete disaster. It is on the whole the most confusing software I have ever encountered.
- Lammy 2y ago
  That's actually one of my reasons for preferring standalone emulators on Android. My device's hardware L and R work by emulating screen touch, and the touch positions are assigned per-app, so with something like RetroArch it would be a pain to make sure an appropriate L/R target is in the same place for each emulated system.
Shekelphile 2y ago
The shittiest part is the RA 'team' (really just daniel) forks the most popular emulators and profits off them while never updating their forks with upstream improvements and never pushing any of the money they profit back to the emudevs doing actual work. It's really sad that he still hasn't been pushed out yet.
- ranger_danger 2y ago
  They only fork the projects that are extremely difficult to work with the upstream authors of; DuckStation is a prime example. And I guarantee you nobody on the libretro team is "profiting" off of other emulator projects unless you consider the RetroArch patreon donations to be part of that, but that money often goes back to developers funding bounties and other work/hardware for development... and it exists irrespective of any cores they might support. The claim that they never update their forks is also demonstrably false. There are some cores that lack a maintainer, but it's not like they are actively being hostile in some way by not updating something. Also keep in mind that they host hundreds of different cores and all the builds for them across a dozen+ platforms, which is thousands of different build combinations, something I've never seen in ANY other single software project on earth (unless you count an operating system I guess). And some people only want to work on certain cores, or just RA. I think attitudes like this is exactly why nothing ever changes in the emulation scene.
theshackleford 2y ago
I like retroarch and I don’t find anything confusing about the RA UI. Sure normies might be confused by its UI but then again they most likely get confused by a start menu.
bigstrat2003 2y ago
I don't find the UI confusing at all, and I like it just fine. Honestly the software works for me so I'm just a quietly happy user.
your_drunk_dad 2y ago
Confusing UI for who? Martians? It literally unites many cores under one simple control scheme. Couldn't get any easier than that.

bluescrn 2y ago

That 'confusing UI' is fully functional with a game controller, and consistent across many cores. Which is a massive win when you want to run emulators on devices without mouse/keyboard, and more than makes up for minor performance issues or having out-of-date cores.

recursivecaveat 2y ago
I've run many of the underlying emulators' software that got repurposed into cores. I loved XMB on the PS3 and PSP, and I really wish Sony didn't drop it. Retroarch's UI is a complete disaster. It is on the whole the most confusing software I have ever encountered.
Lammy 2y ago
That's actually one of my reasons for preferring standalone emulators on Android. My device's hardware L and R work by emulating screen touch, and the touch positions are assigned per-app, so with something like RetroArch it would be a pain to make sure an appropriate L/R target is in the same place for each emulated system.

Shekelphile 2y ago

The shittiest part is the RA 'team' (really just daniel) forks the most popular emulators and profits off them while never updating their forks with upstream improvements and never pushing any of the money they profit back to the emudevs doing actual work. It's really sad that he still hasn't been pushed out yet.

ranger_danger 2y ago
They only fork the projects that are extremely difficult to work with the upstream authors of; DuckStation is a prime example. And I guarantee you nobody on the libretro team is "profiting" off of other emulator projects unless you consider the RetroArch patreon donations to be part of that, but that money often goes back to developers funding bounties and other work/hardware for development... and it exists irrespective of any cores they might support. The claim that they never update their forks is also demonstrably false. There are some cores that lack a maintainer, but it's not like they are actively being hostile in some way by not updating something. Also keep in mind that they host hundreds of different cores and all the builds for them across a dozen+ platforms, which is thousands of different build combinations, something I've never seen in ANY other single software project on earth (unless you count an operating system I guess). And some people only want to work on certain cores, or just RA. I think attitudes like this is exactly why nothing ever changes in the emulation scene.

theshackleford 2y ago

I like retroarch and I don’t find anything confusing about the RA UI. Sure normies might be confused by its UI but then again they most likely get confused by a start menu.

bigstrat2003 2y ago

I don't find the UI confusing at all, and I like it just fine. Honestly the software works for me so I'm just a quietly happy user.

your_drunk_dad 2y ago

Confusing UI for who? Martians? It literally unites many cores under one simple control scheme. Couldn't get any easier than that.