When a small team gets together to create something beautiful for the Retro Gaming community, we can't help but soak up their passion for their craft. The team over at Koji, led by BrocoDev, have been creating a new emulator frontend for Android handhelds that looks and feels like you're playing on a 3DS. It adds a more modern, polished OS that feels nostalgic to those Nintendoheads out there.
We recently covered Socket, a front-end emulator that concentrates on cartridge art and, in turn, reminds us of Beacon. It turns out that even though we get new consoles, all we really crave is that old-style UX that gives us nostalgic feelings.
BrocoDev has aimed to recreate the 'familiarity of the 3DS home menu,' with 'the modern layout of the Nintendo Switch, fused into one launcher.' Koji will work on the likes of the AYN Thor, creating a more polished UX that feels familiar even though this is the first time I've come across it. It does look quite a lot like iisu
There are currently only two people working on Koji, with the team looking to expand to include a Video Editor / Motion Graphics artist. The frontend launched has comprehensive theming for WiiU, 3DS, OLED, and more. It comes with a built-in store, Discord integration for chatting while planning, and lots more features, including integration from RetroAchievements.
Koji is in active development with no release date as of yet. We've been speaking to BrocoDev via email, who has explained to us when talking about the topic of AI that ' it isn't an active factor in the development of Koji". You know our stance on AI and vibe coding when it comes to creators in the retro gaming space, so it's nice to hear that BrocoDev and his team of two have been doing this the old-school way and putting their heart and soul into the project.
Koji is very much in the early stages of development, but we're loving what we've seen so far! Head to the Koji Website for more information!
