The Play Tab

The Play tab is your main screen for playing games in Playback. It shows game information before you start, then transforms into the emulation screen when you launch a game.

Before playing

When you insert a cartridge, the Play tab displays:

• Game artwork on the left side of the screen
• Title of the game
• Description with a short summary
• Developer who made the game
• Release date when the game was originally published
• Review written by our team
• Rating in stars

Cartridge authenticity

Below the game information, Playback shows whether your cartridge is:

• Official — a legitimate, original cartridge
• Unofficial — a reproduction or flashcart
• Unrecognized — couldn’t verify authenticity

Main controls

On the right side of the Play tab, you’ll find:

• Start — Launch the game
• Settings (cog icon) — Open settings menu
• Vault (next to Settings) — Access the Save Vault for this game

You can also access the Vault from the menu dropdown (click the Playback logo in the top-left corner).

During emulation

When you click Start, the Play tab transforms into the emulation screen. Your game appears with a control bar at the bottom.

Emulator control bar

The control bar appears during gameplay with these buttons:

Rewind, Fast-forward, Soft Reset, and Picture-in-Picture buttons only appear if you’ve enabled them in Settings > Playback.

Exiting emulation

There are two ways to exit emulation:

• Press Escape — Pauses the game and shows the exit dialog
• Click the Play or Data tab — Returns to the main interface

If you’re in fullscreen mode, press Escape first to exit fullscreen, then press Escape again or click a tab to exit emulation.

Tips

• Make sure your cartridge is fully inserted before launching a game
• If the game doesn’t appear, try removing and reinserting the cartridge
• Clean your cartridge contacts if you’re having detection issues