“Starboard runs unmodified ARM64 Linux game binaries – the same PortMaster ports you know from Linux handhelds – directly on Android gaming handhelds like the Retroid Pocket, AYN Thor and Mangmi Air X. No root, no flashing, no custom firmware required.”
Find Starboard here: https://github.com/get-starboard/starboard
I have been a really big fan of PortMaster. It’s one of the main reasons I typically load a custom firmware package that includes it on my Linux handhelds as soon as available.
PortMaster
If you aren’t familiar with PortMaster there is a team that works with developers to get their games playable on low powered devices. Some of these are dead games which include the files and others like GTA require you to bring over your Steam or GOG files in combination with the game files created by the PortMaster team.
They have really been cooking the last couple years and it’s fun to follow the PortMaster Discord, if for no other reason than to get the monthly updates with new games. I’ve been more than impressed by their port library of more than 1,375 games which can be found on the PortMaster Wki.
Storyboard
Starboard is filling that gap of PortMaster only being available on Linux devices by bringing the application to Android. There have been a lot of people myself included who have been begging for this.
The Starboard app works with dual-screen handhelds as well as integrates with the popular ES-DE front end. You also get touch controls you can use for the one-tap catalog to browse and install games.
This is all accomplished by creating a “genuine Linux execution environment on your device” which will likely prompt runtime on your first walk through.
There may be games you are currently playing in PortMaster that you won’t see in Starboard as of yet due to differing runtimes. You can unhide these games in the settings, but for me that just created more work figuring out what I could play.
Starboard isn’t open source though some devs have dug through what they can of the code and so far have found nothing concerning. There are a lot of reasons they could have chosen to drop this app closed source, though that always brings our approach with caution.
Thoughts
This is so awesome, I’ve been waiting impatiently for years for PortMaster to come to Android. It may not be as important now thanks to apps like GameNative giving x86 support on Android to Steam, GOG, Amazon Games and EPIC, but PortMaster ports almost always have smaller install files and use less overhead.
This is a win for the handheld gaming community. You can find more information on the Starboard GitHub [it has been pulled and then reposted as of this article fyi].
What is the first port you are going to play with Starboard? Are you as excited as we are for the ability to play PortMaster games on Android?
GameOn
CellPhish
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