u/AJMitchell777

I’m finally thinking about making the switch away from ES-DE on my AYN Thor and am trying to decide between Cocoon and iiSU.

For those who have used both recently, which one are you sticking with in August 2026, and why?

I know this has been asked a bunch of times, but both launchers have had some pretty significant updates lately, so I’m curious where things stand now. iiSU in particular seems to have come a long way, including custom collections and improved performance/responsiveness.

The things I care about most are:

- Minimal battery drain, especially when sitting idle/standby

- Smooth, snappy performance

- Stability/reliability — I don't want to constantly troubleshoot the launcher

- Custom collections are a must — I want to be able to make collections containing games from multiple different systems/emulators (Mario, Pokémon, favourites, etc.)

- Good overall experience on the AYN Thor / dual-screen setup

- Reasonably easy customization without having to constantly rebuild everything after updates

I've been using ES-DE for a while and really like it, but I'm starting to get frustrated with some of its quirks on the Thor and am ready to try something else.

For people who have actually used both Cocoon and iiSU on the Thor, which would you recommend right now?

Also interested in hearing specifically about battery/standby drain and performance, since those are probably more important to me than having the prettiest UI.

Cocoon or iiSU — and what ultimately made you choose one over the other?

I was one point off from a $260,000+ payout via lotto 6/49 in Canada. If the second number was a 22 instead of a 21 I would have gotten 5/6.. I'm genuinely so devasted. Words could not describe how much that kind of money would mean to my wife and I..... I will probably never get this close again.... So sad.

A build was released for the RG Rotate yesterday or today for patreon members. Curious to know if anyone's tried it yet and if it's worth the switch?

If you’re looking to pick up custom buttons for your Anbernic RG Rotate, I’ll leave the link below. I finally got mine installed and I’m really happy with how they turned out — they completely change the look of the device.

A couple things to note: when rotating the screen up, I can slightly feel it brushing against the buttons as it slides out. Also, I had requested an Xbox-style ABXY layout and the seller confirmed it was possible, but after waiting several months they arrived with the standard retro layout instead. Neither issue is a dealbreaker though, and overall I’m really happy with the quality and how these buttons look on the RG Rotate.

https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/4516386443/anbernic-rotate-hq-button-set-includes

After about 60 hours with Crimson Desert, I think I've finally come to terms with something that I don't often admit: this game just isn't for me.

I kept pushing because I paid full price for it, and there's always that feeling of guilt that says, "You've come this far, just finish it." But I think this is one of those rare games where I'm never going to see the credits.

I could make a long list of things that didn't click for me, but honestly it all comes down to one simple thought:

It's just... too much game.

I've realized I much prefer a more streamlined experience with a strong, engaging story that keeps pulling me forward. Crimson Desert feels like the complete opposite for me. There's so much going on that instead of feeling immersed, I just feel overwhelmed.

I'm around Chapter 8, I've been playing on and off for months, and if I'm being honest... I have almost no idea what's happening in the story anymore. Every time I come back, I feel more lost than before.

Ironically, I ended up replaying Assassin's Creed Odyssey (my first playthrough was back in 2018), and it's kind of crazy to say this, but in a lot of ways I'm enjoying it more. Yes, it's very much the classic Ubisoft formula, but it's easy to jump into, the story keeps me invested, and I always feel like I'm making meaningful progress.

Maybe my gaming tastes have just changed over the years. Not every game has to be for everyone, and I think I've finally accepted that.

Does anyone else ever have that one critically acclaimed game that you gave dozens of hours to before finally admitting, "This just isn't for me"? Or am I on an island with this one?

Trying to 100% Spiderman 2018 for the first time and I'm noticing it says there's two research stations in the Upper West Side area but I can clearly only see one, that I've completed. Is this a glitch??

Meet my Thoreo 2.0. A couple of months ago I posted after swapping the top and bottom panels on my AYN Thor to black, and I’ve now taken it a step further by replacing the R1/R2 and L1/L2 buttons with black ones as well. I feel like this really completes the look, and I’m honestly really happy with how it turned out.

For anyone who doesn’t know, you can email AYN directly and request replacement parts in different colours for pretty cheap. I believe all in, I spent around $35 plus shipping for all the parts. Installation was pretty straightforward. 10/10 would recommend.

I know everyone is super hyped on iiSU and Cocoon for the Ayn Thor, but in my personal opinion, ES-DE paired with the ES-DE Companion App on the bottom screen is still the best front-end setup for the Thor.

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It definitely takes some time to get everything dialed in, but once you do, the experience is incredibly smooth. Everything feels snappy, games launch quickly, and there are little to no glitches. Most importantly, it just gets out of the way and lets you play your games, which is the whole reason we bought these devices in the first place.

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I've tried both iiSU and Cocoon, and while I can definitely see the appeal, they still feel a bit too buggy for me right now. I've run into issues with certain games or emulators not launching properly, along with a variety of other small quirks that add up over time. PLUS, ES-DE is still the only front end that has video scraping / video playback support. Because of that, I keep finding myself going back to ES-DE.

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Maybe I'm just boring and prefer stability over flashy features, but ES-DE has been the most reliable experience on the Thor by far.

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Curious if anyone else feels the same way, or if there's another front end you're using that you prefer?

The unreleased GoldenEye 007 remake by Rare runs surprisingly well on the Xbox 360 emulator for Android, I'm using X360 Mobile.

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I was honestly impressed with how playable it is on mobile. There are some frame pacing issues here and there, but considering the app is still in beta, that’s pretty understandable and likely to improve over time.

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It’s a really fun way to revisit a classic. One cool feature is the ability to toggle between the updated visuals and the original graphics, similar to the Halo Anniversary remasters.

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Overall, definitely worth checking out if you’re interested in revisiting the game in a new way.

Running Beacon Launcher with custom system backgrounds and stumbled across these awesome PS1-style rotating console GIFs. You can grab them from the Cocoon Launcher Discord—they’ve got a massive asset library to dig through.

I’m absolutely obsessed with this thing so far. Every time I tweak something, I end up spending another hour customizing instead of actually playing games.

What frontends is everyone else running on their Rotate? 👀🎮

Such a classic game, bumped the resolution up to 3x and it looks great and plays perfectly 👍

Has anyone else had this happen? Just curious what it means. I've never seen this before...

My RG Rotate order has been showing it landed in Nova Scotia since the start of this past week. I'm on Vancouver Island, so literally the opposite side of the country. Still no movement as of this morning. I was hoping I'd see the device by the end of this week but I guess not..

Was kinda wanting to make an impulse buy and grab the Base Odin 2 Portal but it's currently out of stock. Has it been frequently going in and out of stock? Just wondering what the odds are that it goes back in stock.. I'll keep refreshing the page for the next few days..

Just rolled credits on Retro Game Corps’ full review of the RG Rotate.

One of his negatives / concerns was that when the device sits in a pocket or bag, the power button can get pressed, the screen turns on, and later the device is found very hot.

My confusion is: doesn’t Android have a simple screen timeout setting (30 seconds, 1 minute, etc.) that would shut the screen off automatically? I’m not sure why this would be an issue if that setting exists.

Am I missing something here? Seems a bit silly to me.

I ordered my RG Rotate at 3:01 a.m. last Monday, so I was probably one of the first to grab one. Just waiting for it to arrive so I can test this myself.

Got The Twilight Princess PC Port Dusk running on the Ayn Thor and honestly, it runs amazingly well.

I also installed the Henriko HD texture pack and it completely transforms the game. This is easily the best way I’ve ever seen or played this title.

Funny enough, I actually just finished a full playthrough about a year ago using Dolphin Emulator, but I’m already jumping back in again because this setup feels like a completely different experience.

Right now I’m playing it at 120 FPS with HD textures enabled, and I’ve also flipped on mirrored mode just to shake things up a bit. It actually makes the game feel surprisingly fresh even after a recent playthrough.

If anyone is on the fence about trying this setup, I’d highly recommend it. Installation is way easier than I expected too.