Steam provides a free client to manage the titles we purchase through that service. After that, each emulator has its own way of running games, and the same extends to other options like DOSBox. To bring all these platforms under one roof, the LaunchBox application gives us a simple interface and a very precise metadata collection system that keeps the details of each game up to date, including its description and available screenshots.
Right now I have on my main computer a copy of Nestopia (Nintendo NES), another of CCS64 (Commodore 64), and a couple more installed games, in addition to my Steam library. Running each of these environments is a manual task, whether by double-clicking a shortcut or visiting the corresponding folder. When it involves as few games as in my case, this doesn't represent a major challenge, but it's likely that some users want to manage their games more precisely, perhaps in the way MAME does, with some graphical improvements and more technical information about each title.
That's where LaunchBox steps in. Its installation is "almost" portable (everything is saved in a dedicated folder in "My Documents"), and its interface is quite pleasant, adopting a copy of our desktop wallpaper to place each registered game on top of it. However, LaunchBox is much more than a simple manager. It also includes two built-in builds of DOSBox and ScummVM, which make running old DOS games on current Windows versions much easier. The metadata comes from a local database (quite complete, I must admit), the service TheGamesDB.net, and Wikipedia, while images and fan-art are obtained directly from the web.
LaunchBox offers the possibility of importing games installed on Steam, but this requires making our profile public. The program also offers a premium version where you can customize the interface, as well as navigate it with a gamepad, among other things. The license is quite expensive, about 20 dollars per year, so unless you want to support the developers, it's not very convenient.
