Built on the shoulders of giants: LessUI is a fork of Launcher, the brilliant work of Shaun Inman. Shaun's vision of a distraction-free, beautifully simple retro gaming experience is what makes this project possible. This fork exists to explore new directions while honoring the elegance and philosophy of the original.
LessUI is a focused, custom launcher and libretro frontend for a variety of retro handhelds.
See all screenshots
- Simple launcher, simple SD card
- No settings or configuration
- No boxart, themes, or distractions
- Automatically hides hidden files and extension and region/version cruft in display names
- Consistent in-emulator menu with quick access to save states, disc changing, and emulator options
- Automatically sleeps after 30 seconds or press POWER to sleep (and wake)
- Automatically powers off while asleep after two minutes or hold POWER for one second
- Automatically resumes right where you left off if powered off while in-game, manually or while asleep
- Resume from manually created, last used save state by pressing X in the launcher instead of A
- Streamlined emulator frontend (player + libretro cores)
- Single SD card compatible with multiple devices from different manufacturers
- Download the latest release (base ZIP for your device)
- Extract to a freshly formatted FAT32 SD card
- Follow device-specific instructions in the included
README.txt - Insert SD card and boot your device
For detailed installation steps and device-specific setup, see the README.txt included in the base download.
Tip
Devices with a physical power switch use MENU to sleep and wake instead of POWER. Once asleep, the device can be safely powered off with the switch.
Base consoles (included with every release):
- Game Boy
- Game Boy Color
- Game Boy Advance
- Nintendo Entertainment System
- Super Nintendo Entertainment System
- Sega Genesis
- PlayStation
Extra consoles (optional download):
- Neo Geo Pocket (and Color)
- Pico-8
- Pokémon mini
- Sega Game Gear
- Sega Master System
- Super Game Boy
- TurboGrafx-16 (and TurboGrafx-CD)
- Virtual Boy
| Manufacturer | Device | Released | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Anbernic | RG35XX | December 2022 | ✓ |
| Anbernic | RG35XX Plus | November 2023 | ✓ |
| Anbernic | RG35XXH | January 2024 | ✓ |
| Anbernic | RG28XX | April 2024 | ✓ |
| Anbernic | RG35XXSP | May 2024 | ✓ |
| Anbernic | RG40XXH | July 2024 | ✓ |
| Anbernic | RG40XXV | August 2024 | ✓ |
| Anbernic | RG CubeXX | October 2024 | ✓ |
| Anbernic | RG34XX | December 2024 | ✓ |
| Anbernic | RG34XXSP | May 2025 | ✓ |
| Miyoo | Mini | December 2021 | ✓ |
| Miyoo | Mini Plus | February 2023 | ✓ |
| Miyoo | A30 | May 2024 | ✓ |
| Miyoo | Mini Flip | October 2024 | ✓ |
| Miyoo | Flip | January 2025 | ✓ |
| Trimui | Smart | October 2022 | ✓ |
| Trimui | Smart Pro | November 2023 | ✓ |
| Trimui | Brick | October 2024 | ✓ |
| Powkiddy | RGB30 | August 2023 | ✓ |
| MagicX | Mini Zero 28 | January 2025 | ✓ |
| GKD | Pixel | January 2024 | Deprecated |
| Generic | M17 | October 2023 | Deprecated |
| MagicX | XU Mini M | May 2024 | Deprecated |
Note
Deprecated devices will continue to work with current LessUI releases but will not receive new features or platform-specific fixes.
Want to build LessUI, create custom paks, or understand how it works?
- Development Guide - Building, testing, and contributing
- Architecture Guide - How LessUI works internally
- Cores Guide - How libretro cores are built and loaded
- Pak Development Guide - Creating custom emulator and tool paks
- Platform Documentation - Technical hardware details for each device