It was eagerly awaited by many of you, and it’s finally here! The Theme Manager has arrived in Recalbox V10.0-Patron-4! Here’s a full breakdown of what’s new:

As you know, V10 has been an opportunity for Recalbox to get a fresh new look. A new theme has been available since Patron 3, giving patrons the chance to vote for their favorite style — and more than 160 of them participated! The default theme you’ll discover in the final V10 release will be the direct result of this vote.

We would like to warmly thank our patrons for their participation and involvement: we carefully read all their feedback and comments, each more insightful than the last.

While this new theme is fully customizable through the menu so that everyone can tailor it to their taste, some users prefer more distinctive interfaces through different themes. That’s why we’re introducing the Theme Manager.

Directly accessible from the main Recalbox menu, the Theme Manager lets you select radically different themes to give your interface its own identity — both in the “systems” view and in the “games” view. Neo Retro, Minimalist, Xbox… some themes are completely opposite in terms of aesthetics. New themes will be added over time.

Note that some themes may be compatible with CRT, HDMI, and TATE formats, while others may support only one of the three display types (you’ll get a message if you try to apply an incompatible one). Icons will show you which formats are supported by each theme.

You can switch themes on the fly, without rebooting — either through the Theme Manager or directly in the user interface options, as long as the theme has been installed once through the Theme Manager (these two menus will be merged later on).

But that’s not all: to thank our Patrons for their support and participation in shaping the new theme, they will enjoy two exclusive themes:

• The “Astro” theme, created by Beudbeud: a 100% CRT theme inspired by the AstroCity universe, perfect for arcade lovers.

• The “Art'nPop” theme, created by Bounitos: compatible with all formats and featuring a unique illustration for each system.

Finally, if you’re a “theme maker” yourself, you can submit your creation to the Recalbox team so it can be made available directly in the Theme Manager for everyone (and of course, you will be credited!). And if you decide to embark on the theme-making adventure and need help, our Master Theme Makers are available on the #themes channel on Discord!

Feel free to share your favorite themes with us on Discord or the Facebook group — it will mean a lot to the creators. And if you want to submit your own themes, we’re all ears!