This app was mentioned in 10 comments, with an average of 2.00 upvotes
I just set mine up yesterday and I Highly reccomend all of Robert Broglia's emulators
They autodetect the shield controller as well as the 8bitdo wireless snes remotes that I have so no set up needed. If you are interested in NES and Genesis definitely buy nes.emu and md.emu. I spent the 30 dollar credit that came with the shield tv on all his emulators and it was definitely worth it.
Also if you are interested there is a frontend designed for the shield tv called Hyperspin
It takes some time setting up but once you've done it you'll have a full Interface for launching games without ever even having to open the emulators
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.shieldcade.hyperspin&hl=en
The app itself mentions it works with the Nvidia Shield. Why is this so much better than other emulators?
Edit: I think i figured it out. a few of the links for info on it were blocked at work. It's basically like the Kodi of emulators, correct? just makes everything thing pretty and organized
Yea if you need help let me know, been doing setups for hyperspin for a long time now and its much easier to get working on android than on PC.
For now check out the forum. I linked you to the Android section but the whole site has lots of useful info.
And you can get hyperspin for free on the playstore, but bear in mind you need your hyperspin folder setup before it will actually work. Just running without the folder brings you right back to the shield tv menu.
Hope that helps!
It's live
(from app posting)
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.shieldcade.hyperspin
IMITED ANDROID DEVICE SUPPORT -- currently limited to Android 4.4+ and devices with NVIDIA OpenGL drivers. Have confirmed it works with the Nexus 9 and NVIDIA Shield devices (portable, tablet, and Android TV box).
video demo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Lm6-7C3fBA
TL:DR Not only is it great at streaming and native android gameplay, but it is the most robust Emulation station I've had hooked up to my Media center in a long time.
I picked up the 500gb model because I was hoping to move my entire rom collection to the device
Running stock
Emulation (I'll expand on that below) and streaming
1080p
Replaced several set top devices I had been juggling (htpc,ouya,roku,chromecast).
Really wish it had the nvidia gamepad mapper. so many great games out there to add to the awesomeness of the device
I have the remote, very nice but I find myself using my harmony more. I recommend it if you don't have a harmony or are really into voice commands.
I sideloaded several emulators as well as an apk extractor and a diskusage app just for utility.
My main reason for buying the Shield Tv was for emulation. I've been into emulation as a hobby for many years and have built a handful of htpc's to get the most seamless experience for playing my favorite retro games. I even went as far as to build a htpc into an snes. These had worked for me in the past but there were limitations in performance due to the size of the system I wanted, as well as issues with the frontend and bluetooth not always working. It was functional but not perfect. I thought ouya would be the answer but it was very disappointing. So I bought the shield hoping for the best, and preparing for the worst. I can honestly say its the best purchase I've made in the past year. Not only is it great at streaming and native android gameplay, but it is the most robust Emulation station I've had hooked up to my Media center in a long time. Not only are all the low level emulators like SNES and NES easy to configure ( thank you Robert Broglia ) But higher level Emulators like PSP and Dreamcast run amazingly. There's even working Nintendo DS and Semi working Dolphin builds that are improving every day. Couple all that emulation power with The recent release of hyperspin for android And I have an emulation setup thats looks and feels like the pc setups I have built in the past with out all the fuss and a smaller footprint. Once it gets Native HBOgo, Amazon Instant video, and twitch apps, it will replace every other set top streaming device I have. To be honest It already has.
Heres an early clip of my emulation setup on the device. As of now I have 15 emulators setup and have been using 8bitdo retro Bluetooth controllers to play the games.
I would recommend this device to anyone interested in emulation.
Currently I'm using hyperspinFE. From This Video you can see a very early verison of my setup. Since then I've changed the skins and added many more systems and games. Of all the FrontEnds available on android, hyperspin is probably the most complicated to set up because all games, boxart, and logos have to match the included databases. So collecting all that and matching everything does take time. The work didnt bother me though since I had always used HS on pc and wanted my new setup to be similar.
If you want a more set and forget type setup similar to emulation station check out these other alternatives that are more automatic.
Here's some..
Happy Chick
Hyperspin
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.shieldcade.hyperspin
https://hyperspin-fe.com/online/
RetroArc
there is also HyperSpin
Never tried it.
Hyperspin is now live on Google Play.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.shieldcade.hyperspin