Yes, it can. ArkOS includes a built-in scraper that looks up each game in your library online and downloads its cover art and details for you, which is why ArkOS R36S box art appears across a whole collection without you hunting down a single image by hand.
When you first set up ArkOS R36S, the game lists are usually just names in a row, and the menus look plain compared with the polished libraries you see in other people’s photos. Scraping is the process that closes that gap, turning file names into a visual library with covers, descriptions, and ratings.
This article explains what scraping actually does behind the scenes, why it needs an internet connection, and how your game file names decide whether the scraper succeeds. It also covers what to expect while a big library is being processed, and why a handful of games almost always stay blank.
What Scraping Means and Where the Artwork and Game Details Come From
Scraping is an automatic lookup. For each game file on your card, the scraper takes the game’s name, searches an online database of game information, and when it finds a match, it downloads the goodies attached to that game: the box art, a short description, and details such as the release year and genre.
Those databases are community-built collections of game information covering decades of releases. ArkOS does not create the artwork itself and does not guess; it simply asks the database what it has for a given title and brings back whatever is stored there. The quality of your finished library therefore depends on the quality of the database’s records.
Why the Information Matters as Much as the Pictures
Once downloaded, the art and details live on your card alongside your games. The menus then show the cover next to each title and the description when you browse, which makes a large library far easier to explore, especially for anyone who has never seen your collection before.
The extra details are more useful than they first appear. Knowing a game’s genre, year, and how many players it supports helps you browse with intent instead of scrolling blindly, and descriptions jog your memory about titles you added months ago. Scraping is usually sold as decoration, but the information it brings back is half the value.
Why Scraping Needs an Internet Connection and What That Means for Dongle Models
Every lookup happens live. The handheld sends a game name to the database and waits for pictures and text to come back, and there is no offline copy of that enormous catalogue stored on your card. No connection means no answers, and the scraper simply has nothing to work with.
This is where the R36S’s split personality matters. Models with built-in WiFi can scrape from the couch, while models without it need a USB adapter before the scraper can reach the internet at all. If your handheld never seems to find anything, read up on why some R36S models need a WiFi dongle before blaming the scraper.
Making a Weak Connection Work, and the Offline Alternative
Connection quality matters more than connection speed. Each lookup is small, so even a modest network keeps up, but a connection that drops every few minutes will stall the process and leave gaps. If your home WiFi is patchy where you sit, scraping near the router, or sharing a phone’s connection for the session, usually works better.
There is an offline alternative worth knowing about. Scraping tools also exist for computers, and artwork gathered on a PC can be copied onto the card with the games. It is more manual, but for owners of dongle-less models who never plan to connect the handheld, it achieves the same tidy result.
How Game File Names Decide Whether the Scraper Finds a Match
The scraper only knows what your file names tell it. It reads the name of a game file and searches for that title, so a file named clearly after the real game gives it an easy job. Clean, complete titles that match how the game is officially known are the single biggest factor in a successful scrape.
Names get in the way when they have been shortened, heavily abbreviated, or decorated with extra notes. Files carrying long strings of brackets, region tags, or the marks of a modified or translated version can confuse the match, because the database is looking for the standard title and your file is describing something more specific.
Multi-Disc Games and Other Awkward Cases
Multi-disc games deserve a mention of their own. Each disc is normally a separate file with a disc number in its name, and the scraper may match the first disc beautifully while ignoring the rest, or match all of them to the same entry. Either outcome is harmless, but knowing why disc two looks different saves you from fixing a problem that is not really a problem.
Tidying Names Without Losing Your Saves
The fix is boring but effective: tidy the names of the games you care about before scraping, keeping them close to the official title. You do not need to rename an entire library; just clean up your favourites and any game the scraper has already failed on, then let it try those again.
One caution if you rename games you have already played: saves and save states are tied to the game file they were made with. Renaming a file can leave its old saves looking disconnected, so rename before you start playing a game, or keep a note of the original name for the titles you care about most.
What the Handheld Does While a Large Library Is Being Scraped
Scraping is patient, repetitive work. The handheld goes through your games one at a time, asks the database about each, downloads what comes back, and moves on. On the screen you will see progress as it works through a system, and the pace depends on your connection and on how responsive the database is at that moment.
For a big library, expect this to take a while, and treat it as a job you start rather than a job you watch. Plug the handheld in or make sure the battery is healthy, let it sit connected, and check back later. Breaking the work up system by system is a sensible approach: scrape one console’s games, admire the result, then continue.
Space and Patience: The Two Things a Long Scrape Needs
Remember that everything downloaded lands on your card. One cover image is small, but thousands of covers, descriptions, and screenshots together occupy real space, and a nearly full card can stop a scrape partway through. If a long scrape keeps failing late in a system, check remaining space before blaming the connection.
Avoid interrupting a scrape in progress by switching the handheld off. Games already processed keep their artwork, so nothing is ruined, but a half-finished system means starting that system again next time. Patience once is cheaper than repetition.
Why a Few Games Always Stay Blank and What You Can Do About Them
Some blanks are simply gaps in the database. Obscure releases, regional oddities, homebrew games, and fan-made projects may have no record at all, and no scraper can download artwork that nobody has ever uploaded. These are not failures of your handheld; the information genuinely is not there.
Other blanks are near misses. A game might exist in the database under a slightly different title, a different region’s name, or as part of a compilation, and the scraper’s first guess missed it. Searching the database yourself, or adjusting the file name towards the alternative title and scraping again, rescues many of these.
Two Low-Effort Ways to Shrink the Blank List
It is also worth simply trying again another day. The databases behind scraping are community projects that grow constantly, as volunteers add missing games and correct entries. A title that returns nothing this month may scrape perfectly next season, so a short re-run over your blank games once in a while steadily shrinks the list without any effort from you.
For the stubborn remainder, adding artwork manually is the final answer. An image saved with the game, gathered from your computer, fills the gap permanently, and for a handful of favourites the five minutes it takes is worth it. Most owners end up with a library that is ninety-something percent scraped automatically and a tiny, hand-finished remainder, which is a perfectly good outcome.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does scraping change or delete any of my games?
No. Scraping only adds artwork and information alongside your games. Your game files, saves, and save states are not altered by the process.
Why did the scraper pick the wrong cover for a game?
Usually because a similar title exists, or the same game was released in different regions with different covers. Checking the file name and scraping that game again after tidying it resolves most wrong matches.
Can I scrape box art without WiFi on my R36S?
Not on the handheld itself, because scraping is a live online lookup. The alternative is to gather the artwork on a computer with scraping tools there and copy it onto the card with your games.
How long does scraping a full library take?
It depends on the library size and your connection, but large collections are measured in long sessions rather than minutes. Scraping one system at a time keeps each session manageable.
Conclusion
So, can ArkOS R36S box art really fill your library automatically? Yes, with two honest conditions: the handheld needs an internet connection to reach the databases, and your game files need names those databases can recognise. Give it both, and the scraper will quietly turn a plain list of files into a proper visual library, leaving you only a handful of oddities to finish by hand.