How I turned my Android cellphone right into a mini Wii

I’m always on the lookout for enjoyable and quirky third-party Android launchers, and one specifically not too long ago caught my eye: Revo Launcher. As with other launchers, Revo is a full house display screen substitute, with the flexibility to pin and launch apps, dig via a number of customization settings, and extra.

The twist? Revo Launcher forgoes the tried-and-true grid of house display screen icons in favor of one thing way more joyful. Inside seconds of putting in and launching the app, it presents a full-blown Wii Menu interface on display screen, full with channels, sound results, and different goodies impressed by Nintendo’s 2006-era Wii video game console.

To be clear, Revo is not emulating the Wii Menu, and it is not an emulation front-end within the fashion of RetroArch. Fairly, it is a devoted Android launcher constructed utilizing authentic code, designed to evoke the feel and appear of the Wii. At first, my expectations weren’t significantly excessive, however after utilizing it on my Pixel 9 Pro, I am impressed by its craftsmanship.

Via and thru, Revo Launcher is a devoted adaptation of the unique Wii Menu, with the identical general styling, design touches, and even navigational inertia. The app UI is optimized for telephones in portrait orientation, adapting parts to raised work with the tall, vertical shows discovered on our trendy Android handsets. Curiously, there isn’t any panorama help — a little bit of a missed alternative to actually hone in on the widescreen Wii expertise of yore.

By default, Revo presents ten empty app slots (every stylized as an impartial channel) on every of its 4 horizontally paginated house display screen pages. Tapping on every channel opens an oh-so-familiar splash display screen, with choices to Begin or to return to the Revo Menu.

There are a selection of configurable choices inside the launcher’s most important settings web page, together with the flexibility to regulate grid dimension, the variety of pages, the transition velocity, and varied gestures. Extra themes and animations might be loaded into the app, with a primary darkish mode and a cool Matrix theme preloaded by default.

Cue the nostalgia

The Nintendo Wii was first launched again in 2006, and it rapidly grew to become a cultural phenomenon. Anecdotally, nearly everybody I do know appears to be like again on the house console with fondness, reminiscing about Wii Sports activities and Mario Kart Wii. The system stays memorable as a result of its heavy emphasis on movement controls, in addition to its distinctive TV-remote-shaped sport controller.

The Wii went on to sell over one hundred million units throughout its lifetime, and it stays one of many best-selling online game consoles of all time. Past quirky management schemes and family-friendly sport titles, the Wii is notable for being the primary Nintendo house console to make use of a devoted menu for system navigation (its predecessor, the GameCube, had an OS that was solely current when no software program was loaded into the unit).

So far as sport console working techniques go, the Wii Menu stays one in every of my favorites. It cleverly presents utility icons as ‘channels,’ roughly approximating the paradigm of conventional cable TV stations. The interface itself is clear and minimalistic, whereas providing a ton of attraction and whimsy. Nice sound results are current all through, animations are fluid and cohesive, and skeuomorphism is executed with out evoking a way of cheesiness.

In my expertise, Revo Launcher has confirmed to be a wonderful blast-from-the-past, melding collectively my love for retro gaming and my fascination with novel Android house display screen launchers. It is definitely not feature-packed or refined to the identical diploma as, say, main OEM launchers, nevertheless it’s surprisingly well-executed and responsive for an indie venture.

Going ahead, I can definitely see myself utilizing Revo as a devoted floor for rapidly accessing all my Android emulation apps. After experiencing Revo for a number of days, all I can take into consideration is how a lot I might like to see an equal launcher made within the fashion of the Xbox 360’s iconic blades UI, or maybe even the 3DS’s underappreciated menu system.

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There are tons of superior Android launchers out on the Play Retailer, however I discover Niagara to be far and away the most effective of all of them.