THE GREAT FRONTEND WAR of 2024
We’ve been using Hyperspin since the dawn of time. Recently we’ve added Big Box and found that Hyperspin still had some advantages, so we thought we’d let our users try them both and provide feedback before we declare a winner. For the next few months we’re shipping both frontends installed and you pick your frontend on system boot each time. It only adds a couple seconds to the boot, but if you’d rather skip that selection screen we’ll only install your preferred option. Let’s talk details…
HYPERSPIN VS LAUNCHBOX (or BIGBOX)
Tried and true, we’ve been on Hyperspin for a very long time. Not without it’s faults, but it’s very flashy (literally!) and fast end with an excellent search feature. Get your game going quickly with no fuss as you zip between game titles and view large, animated themes. It’s easy on drive space too, which is a nice bonus.
PROS
Startup and navigation is lightning fast
Large on-screen graphics
Search feature shows exactly what you’re looking for
CONS
Prone to crash with extended use (5+ hours)
Based in Flash, has ever-narrowing longevity
De-syncs with LED buttons sometimes
All platforms on the same main menu, no category view
New and modern with swappable themes, Big Box has a large and active community with multiple releases a year. The themes we use reflect modern browsing preferences where you’re looking at game boxes and reading game descriptions. With all the extra integrations finally available we jumped back in after an 8 year long hiatus.
PROS
Utilizes a modern look
Discovery Center to find games to play
More reliable LCD marquee and LED button hooking
CONS
Prone to crash in Attract Mode with current version ( under 2 hours)
Initial load can be very slow
Search function is very bad, nearly useless depending on which game you search for
Some of the metadata and scraping is too fuzzy, causes inaccuracies and bloat
