During this summer we published an article in which we talk about webamp. The name of this project combines the names "web" and "winamp" because that is precisely what it does: allow you to use Winamp from the browser and on any web page. Also during these last months we wrote several articles about games with RetroArch and EmulationStation Desktop Edition as the best combination. What we bring you today is something that combines the best of both worlds, and its name is EmulatorJS.
The project has been around for a few years, and there are at least two different ones that share the name. It seems that first came the «dot com", but "dot-org» is the one that is being developed with more frequent updates. What they have done in both cases is use JavaScript, combine it with the colors of RetroArch and allow play from browser, even from your mobile.
Games in your browser thanks to EmulatorJS
En this link there is information to execute almost any of our roma in the browser. They even have a code editor to create the HTML file for us. From the editor we can raise the rom itself, tell it if we want it to create a single file, some more configurations and it will download an HTML file, along with the rom separately if we have not chosen the single file, and what would remain would be to open the file with a compatible browser, which should be all of them but there are mobile devices that do not support direct and local opening.
The currently supported systems are:
- 3DO.
- arcade
- Atari 2600.
- Atari 5200.
- Atari 7800.
- Atari Jaguar.
- Atari Lynx.
- MAME 2003.
- NES-Famicom.
- Nintendo 64.
- nintendo ds.
- Nintendo GameBoy Advance.
- Nintendo Game Boy.
- PlayStation.
- Sega 32X.
- SegaCD.
- Sega Game Gear.
- Sega Master System.
- Sega MegaDrive.
- SegaSaturn.
- SNES-Super Famicom.
- Virtual Boy.
If we want to do a test, or play in the browser without complications, we can do it on your demo page. You just have to drag one rom in the box, choose one of the systems and then load it. If there are no errors, we will see the game in the browser. Almost all of the supported consoles are usually compatible, but those of recreational machines are a totally different topic; There are so many options that it may not work. By default it uses FB Neo, but there are also MAME versions.
Options menu and mobile buttons
Depending on the version of EmulatorJS being used, the options may be in one part or another. In the last one, what we find in the "dot-com" version is a hamburger that is on the right side, as seen in the header screenshot. On a desktop computer, they will appear below when you hover over them. What we find in this section is:
- Reload: Restart the game.
- Pause.
- Save: will download a file with the current state.
- Load: allows you to load the file to resume a game.
- Control settings: in this section we can configure the controls, both on the keyboard and if we are using a controller.
- Cheats: tricks and "cheats".
- Cache manager: here we can delete the data that has been saved per game.
- Export/Import saved.
- Volume control.
- Options: from this section we will control things like textures, slow motion or if we want to see the FPS.
- Fullscreen.
All options are in English by default, and I recommend not changing it or we may find ourselves with erroneous translations such as the "e" key instead of... right now I don't know exactly what, but it is clear that there is no key like that.
Have everything in the browser
EmulatorJS.org too It also allows you to have everything in the browser. The steps to follow are available at this YouTube video, and the result is similar to what the EmulationStation Desktop Edition that I like so much offers. docker is available here.
If we choose one of the options that allow us to create the HTML page, it can be played even on the most restrictive mobile phones, such as the Apple iPhone, although not with Safari. The bad thing is that it is difficult to control, but with this we can always take our games with us.