ROMKADE Manager

Everything ROMKADE Manager does

Nine families of features, designed for a Linux or Android retro handheld connected to your network. Known limitations are shown next to each feature.

Duke, the AI assistant

He knows your games, answers your questions and controls the console when you ask him to.

  • In-game help: controls, objectives, tough bosses, secrets, RetroArch cheat codes
  • Finds games in your library: “a two-player game”, “a Mega Drive racing game”
  • Knows your collection: favorites, consoles, number of games, latest sessions
  • Acts on the console: launch a game, quit, save, adjust the volume Nothing is sent to the console until you click to confirm. Launching a game depends on the firmware.
  • Explains ROMKADE Manager itself: adding games, saves, controllers, Bluetooth
  • Free local AI (Ollama, LM Studio) or online AI with your own key (Claude, ChatGPT, Mistral, Gemini)

Example: “Launch Sunset Riders”, then “set the volume to 40%”: each time a button appears, one click, and it's done on the console.

Library

The console's microSD card, organized and readable from your browser.

  • Read-only sync of the card's inventory: nothing is changed while it is read
  • Browse by console, then by genre and subgenre
  • Box art grid view or table view
  • Genre, format and region filters; sort by title, date added, file date or size
  • Box art, images already on the microSD card, console artwork
  • Duplicates, missing games and sync history
  • Games added without the app are detected automatically

Example: In two clicks you find all your European Super Nintendo platformers, without digging through the card's folders.

Illustrative preview — demo data.

Smart search

A single search bar that understands typos.

  • Typo tolerance: “castlvania”, “stret fihgter”
  • Titles, consoles, genres and subgenres, publishers, developers, franchises, years
  • Regions and genres in French, English and Spanish (“Japon”, “Japan”, “Japón”)
  • Suggestions as you type, open the game page straight from the keyboard

Example: You type “zelad”: the franchise, its games and their consoles show up before you finish the word.

Illustrative preview — demo data.

Game pages

Everything you need to know about a game, in one place.

  • Genre and subgenre, regions with flags, release date
  • Publisher, developer, franchise, Wikipedia links in your language and GameFAQs
  • YouTube trailer Searched in the app with a free YouTube API key; without a key, youtube.com opens.
  • Summary in French, English and Spanish, marked “by AI” when it was written or translated by AI
  • The game's saves and file details

Example: Before launching a game you don't know, you read its summary, watch the trailer and check whether you still have a save.

The “by AI” label

AI descriptions are optional. They use the AI you connect: a free local model (Ollama, LM Studio) or an online service with your own key (Claude, ChatGPT, Mistral, Gemini), billed by the provider. Every AI-written text is labeled as such.

Console control

The console answers to your computer, without leaving the couch.

  • Launch a game, or resume straight from a save state Depends on the firmware: see compatibility.
  • Save now and quit the current game
  • Tracks the game being played, even when launched from the console's menu
  • Volume and mute during play Fine adjustment and the console's volume buttons: for games launched from ROMKADE Manager; otherwise, mute only.
  • Assign controllers to each player
  • Bluetooth: controllers, speakers and headphones, audio output selection
  • Sets the console's clock (date, time and time zone)

Example: Dinner's ready: you save and quit your child's game from your phone.

Which features for which firmware?

Illustrative preview — demo data.

Add games over Wi-Fi

Drop your files, ROMKADE Manager takes care of the rest.

  • Drag and drop ROMs, disc images and archives
  • Destination console suggested from the format
  • Warnings: duplicate, name rejected by the card, not enough space
  • Copy verified by checksum, never overwrites without your consent
  • Live progress, resumes an interrupted transfer

Example: You drop ten games: each one lands in the right folder, verified, and shows up in the library right away.

Saves

Your progress, kept safe.

  • Every save on the card, linked to its game
  • Full copy on the computer, downloadable as a .zip
  • Restore and delete, each preceded by an automatic copy
  • Guide to the save shortcuts actually configured on the console

Example: Before lending the console, you copy all the saves in one click.

Playtime and alerts

Know how long you play, and when to stop.

  • Today's time, the last 7 days and total
  • 14-day chart, time per game, latest sessions
  • Alert after N hours, in the interface and on the console's screen

Example: An alert appears on the console's screen after an hour of play.

Settings and diagnostics

A connection that explains itself when something goes wrong.

  • Guided 6-step connection test, with advice for each failure
  • Help with the macOS “Local Network” permission
  • Detects the console's firmware, several systems supported Only one profile verified on a real console so far.
  • Interface in French, English and Spanish; light and dark theme; mobile
  • Installable as an app from the browser (PWA)

Example: The console stops responding: the diagnostic shows that the console's Wi-Fi is off, not that a password is wrong.

Screenshots

The previews on this page reproduce the app's layout with demo data (made-up titles, abstract thumbnails instead of box art).