After three alpha releases and one beta, version 4.2.0 of 
RomM (ROM Manager) reaches official stability, confirming itself as a self-hosted ROM manager capable of organizing, enriching and playing emulator games in a centralized way, without the limitations of proprietary software or cloud services.

This release introduces console mode, designed for large screens and easy navigation with a controller or remote control, and native support for PSP and DOS, allowing you to launch games without additional configuration.

EmulatorJS ‘s global configuration has been expanded with customizable options per core and dedicated control maps, while new scheduled tasks allow for incremental progress synchronization to RetroAchievements and automatic image conversion to WebP, improving gallery speed and quality.

Also included are numerous minor interface improvements, performance optimizations, and bug fixes related to caching, ROM viewing, file management, and component compatibility.

Other updates include development tools, dependency management, logo and icon updates, as well as security patches and general improvements to ensure a more stable and comprehensive experience when managing game collections.

Characteristics

• Scan and enrich your game library with metadata from IGDB , Screenscraper , and MobyGames .
• Retrieve custom artwork from SteamGridDB .
• Show off your achievements from Retroachievements .
• Metadata available for over 400 platforms .
• Play directly from your browser using EmulatorJS and RuffleRS .
• Share your library with friends with limited access and permissions.
• Official apps for Playnite and muOS .
• Supports multi-disc games, DLC, mods, hacks, patches and manuals.
• Analyze and filter by tags in file names.
• View, load, update, and delete games from any modern browser.

RomM installation is made accessible primarily through Docker, with a guided setup that includes MariaDB database management, API keys for metadata retrieval, and ROM folder structuring.

For less experienced users, the web interface allows drag-and-drop uploading and automatic file scanning. The community also plays a key role, with over 3,600 active Discord members contributing complementary projects such as bots, Electron clients, and Android apps .

RomM also fits into a larger ecosystem of retrogaming tools, with interesting integrations such as Steam ROM Manager , RetroDECK and other managers compatible with different platforms, allowing for unified management of modern and retro games.

Combining advanced organization, metadata enrichment, browser-based playback, and community support, RomM now represents a complete and indispensable solution for those who want to experience and share their passion for retro gaming with a high degree of customization and control.

Changelog

• Console Mode: The new console interface is designed for large screens, with easy navigation via controller or remote. It features a grid layout, large icons, and a streamlined menu to enhance the couch gaming experience. You can launch it from the navigation bar or by going directly to /console. ( #2314 )
• Out-of-the-box PSP and DOS emulation: Out-of-the-box support for PSP and DOS without the need for additional proxy configurations or browser launch parameters. Compatible games now display launch buttons, although performance depends on the browser’s WASM engine. ( #2356 + #2376 )
• EmulatorJS Global Configuration: The file config.ymlnow accepts a section emulatorjsfor custom per-core settings and control mappings. The option debug: trueprints the available options to the browser console, while the block controlsallows you to assign custom mappings for each core. The default settings apply to all cores if not configured. ( #2360 )
  For more details on control mapping, visit EmulatorJS Control Mapping .
• RetroAchievements Incremental Sync: Introduced a scheduled task to regularly sync RetroAchievements progress for all users who have enabled the feature. The frequency can be customized via environment variables. ( #2325 + #2352 )
• Convert images to WebP: New task scheduled to convert all uploaded images to the WebP format .webp, which is much smaller than JPG/PNG, reducing gallery loading times. The conversion can be done manually or scheduled. ( #2334 )
• Minor improvements: Previous/next game navigation, console interface optimizations, forced display of titles on game cards, additional Gunicorn configurations, and optimizations to web server variables like concurrency, timeout, and keepalive. ( #2330 , #2366 , #2377 , #2399 , #2322 )
• Bug Fixes: Extensive cache fixes, PostgreSQL single-ROM handling, gallery hover slowdowns, reloading windows when EmulatorJS closes, control handling, filename sanitization, ignoring RetroAchievements manuals when scanning, screenshot and file tagging handling, removed PSP and DOS support in console mode, fixed NeoGeo Pocket icons, and other minor optimizations. ( #2350 – #2408 )
• Other updates and development tools: Created an adapter for the IGDB service, unified button logic with PlayBtn, Vite server with HTTPS, devcontainer fixes, external plugin support for mdeditor, Prettier import sort plugin, replaced localStorage with vueuse useLocalStorage, optimized scroll listeners, updated modern hooks and methods for MetadataHandler, identified first-party modules for isort, backend dependency updates, updated EmulatorJS and Ruffle logos to high-quality SVG, added and updated platform icons, Docker documentation fixes, updated joserfc to address CVEs, and JSON utilities for the database. ( #2235 – #2409 )

Source: Github, biteyourconsole