RESET Collection 2.0 Brings Dual Screens, New Themes and Six New Systems to Android

RESET Collection 2.0 is out, and it is the biggest update the retro-styled Android frontend has had since it first launched back in 2020. Dual-screen support, new skins and layouts, a setup helper called the RESET Genie and six new systems all arrive in one go.

The update landed on Google Play on 4 November, and RetroHandhelds picked it up this week after hearing from the developer. If you run a Retroid Pocket, an AYN Thor or any other Android handheld and fancy a frontend that looks like it belongs under a CRT, this one is worth a look.

What’s new in 2.0

According to the Play Store listing and RetroHandhelds, the headline changes are:

• Dual screen support for the AYN Thor, Retroid Pocket Duo and more. The game or system you are on shows its backdrop, logo and overview on the second screen, and video snaps can play there too, while you keep navigating on the main screen.
• Four skins (RESET Dark, Clean Light, Pixel/CRT and Synthwave Chrome) and theme presets (Old School, Studio, Neon and Classic 2020), or mix your own.
• New layouts: Classic, Showcase and Shelf for the Games Library, RetroGrain for All Games, and Retro Channel Surfing, which flips through your systems like TV channels.
• The RESET Genie, which walks you through permissions, your look, the database setup and adding your first system. No login or API keys are needed for artwork and game info.
• A Quick Select Menu, navigation sounds and haptics, background music for every system and a bouncing logo screensaver.
• Six new systems: DOS, ScummVM, PS3, PS4, Xbox and Xbox 360.
• A brand new Settings screen, redesigned dialogs and plenty of fixes.

How it works

RESET is a launcher, not an emulator. You point it at the folder holding your own game files, it pulls box art, screenshots and game info from online databases, and when you pick a game it hands off to the emulator you have chosen. If that emulator is not installed, RESET sends you to its Play Store or GitHub page. Three face buttons do the heavy lifting: B for System Select, Y for the Games Library and X for All Games, and L1 and R1 jump ten at a time. There is even a Play Random option for when you cannot decide.

Already scraped your media on PC with something like Skraper? You can point RESET at that instead, as long as the file names match your games.

What’s next: RESET 3.0

The developer, Javier of Retro Lounge Lab, told RetroHandhelds that work on RESET Collection 3.0 has already started. The aim is to tackle a problem plenty of us know too well: loading up a huge library and then scrolling for twenty minutes without playing anything. The plan is for RESET to be a frontend for people who care about the 16-bit, 32-bit, CD-ROM and early 2000s era, with menus inspired by classic console designs like Atari’s wood panelling and mini console menus. No dates for 3.0 yet.

Our take

Android frontends are a crowded field right now, but RESET has always had a look of its own, and 2.0 gives it the features to keep up. The second-screen support is the big one: it follows LaunchBox for Android adding dual-screen support in October, so owners of the Thor and the Duo now have a proper choice. The Synthwave Chrome skin alone might win a few of you over.

Which frontend is running on your handheld right now? Tell us in the comments.