If you've ever felt Nostalgic about playing retro games, then you're not alone. Even though these retro 8-bit and 10-bit games were a thing from the past, a healthy portion of people still want to play those amazing, fun and vibrant retro games.
Your best bet is to run an emulator on any device such as a phone or a relatively huge computer such as a laptop or a personal computer.
But, you can't get the best experience from an emulator application.
Meet Raspberry Pi, your best bet to get most close to retro gaming. If you have some bucks to spare and a couple of hours, then you'll easily be able to get a standalone retro gaming console with a few other retro peripherals.
Today, we'll cover everything you need to know to start gaming on your Raspberry Pi.
A Glance
The plan for today is to buy the required peripherals and components, Load up the Retropie Emulation system onto Raspberry Pi, install some ROMs and have loads of fun.
However, it rather easy said than done. Sourcing the components might become a little difficult since the availability of these components are rather unpredictable. You might run into unexpected errors, or all this might seem just a little too intimidating.
I've gone as elaborate as possible, to help you a get a clear understanding more easily, even for a non-techie person. However, if you are stuck midway, don't hesitate to comment it below.
It might well take more time if you're trying to figure out some errors, or even trying to source the required components. Just save this article somewhere accessible, and you're good to go.
I've also tried my best mentioning the most affordable and high quality components but if you've found something better, feel free to buy that.
The operating system is completely free though, so if you have all of these components, you won't spend a dime out of your pocket.
With all these said, it's time already to get started.
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Photo by Lorenzo Herrera on Unsplash |
What platforms are supported?
Before purchasing these components, take a look at the list of systems and file formats Retropie can support.
- 3do
- Amiga
- Amstrad CPC
- Apple II
- Atari 2600, 7800, 800 & 5200, Jaguar, Lynx, ST-STE-TT-Falcon
- Coco
- Colecovision
- Commodore 64/VIC-20/PET
- Daphne
- Dragon
- Dreamcast
- Famicom Disk System
- Gamboy Advance, Colour, Gameboy
- Gamecube
- Game Gear
- Game & Watch
- GemRB
- Genesis/Megadrive
- Intellivision
- Love
- Macintosh
- Master System
- MESS
- MEX
- NEC PC8800,9800
- Neo Geo Pocket, Pocket Colour
- Ninendo 64, NES, SNES, DS
- OpenBOR
- Oric
- PC Engine
- PC
- Playstation 1, 2, PSP
- Sam Coupe
- Saturn
- ScummVM
- Sega 32X
- Sega CD
- Sharp X1, X68000
- SG1000
- Thomson MO/TO
- TI-99
- TRS-80
- Vectrex
- VideoPac/Odyssey 2
- Virtual Boy
- Wii
- Wonderswan Colour, Wonderswan
- Zmachine
- ZX Spectrum
It is a full fledged retro gaming operating system that lays a platform for you to enjoy and play those classic retro video games. It can also be used on top of an existing operating system.
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RetroPie is the only emulation system you'd ever need. |
This is one of the plethora of available reasons why we chose this over others. If you're bit of a geek, then you can search for other emulators and choose what's right for you.
But the main idea of installation is pretty much same across the board.
The components
There are a plenty of options as I said, but here's my base list of components required.
For the heart of this build, a Raspberry Pi from anything above the Pi 3 will suffice. As a matter of availability, I've gone with the Raspberry Pi 3B+, which has 1 gigabytes of RAM and a healthy availability of connectivity options.
Raspberry Pi 4 has 2 Gigabytes of RAM and more, along with these connectivity options, so if you have some extra bucks to spare, you should probably buy it.
As a matter of precaution, don't ignore to buy a case to protect and power adaptor, since they are as necessary as the Pi itself.
I've a fan installed in mine, to improve the thermals and performance, so if you can find a case with a fan installed, it's definitely going to step up your game. I recommend you to also buy a thermal pad to increase the Pi's efficiency.
You'd need a keyboard and mouse, preferably wireless, and a gamepad, again preferably wireless, to get you going. You need a gamepad to run this system and play a variety of games.
You'd also need a SD Card, a system with Windows, Linux or macOS, and an active and stable internet connection.
Finally, you should have an external display such as a Television or a monitor.
Here's a quick list on what's required for this build. You can always upgrade to a better component if you have some extra bucks to spare.
- A Raspberry Pi (3B+ or 4)
- Case for Raspberry Pi
- A certified power adaptor
- A micro SD Card
- Keyboard and mouse
- Joystick
- Cooling Fans (Recommended)
- Thermal Pads (Recommended)
- A System with an active internet connection
- An external display
- A HDMI Cable
If you want the real retro aesthetics, then there are a variety of options to choose from. Feel free to check them out too.
Installing Retropie on Raspberry Pi
Installing Retropie can be easier or tough depending upon what type of installation you're doing: Standalone or Installing on top of existing Operating Systems.
To keep it simple, we'll install it as a standalone Operating system, which is more faster and error free or the margin of error is minimal.
Download Retropie from https://retropie.org.uk/download/ by choosing the right model and platform, and save it in an easily accessible place.
To flash the image.I use my most trusted tool of all time to flash .img files to a SD card, Balena Etcher.
A free and open sourced tool available to download on https://balena.io/etcher, it is available for multiple platforms such as Windows, Linux and macOS which makes it really versatile.
Shipping with an eye-pleasing UI, I also find it much faster than other tools. Go ahead and download it!
- After the installation, allow all the permissions when asked.
- Click on Flash Image, and choose the downloaded image of Retropie.
- Plug in your SD Card into the machine with the help of an adaptor, or use the SD card port if available.
- Click on flash storage and choose the SD card.
- Click on Flash and within a few minutes, depending upon you computer speed, you should be ready with a SD card that's flashed with RetroPie.
Now that you are ready with the Flashed SD Card, its time to make your Raspberry Pi into a full fledged retro gaming console.
- Plug in the SD Card into the SD Card port that's available on the bottom end of the Raspberry Pi.
- Make sure you perfectly plug in the SD card carefully. Bending the pins can make your SD Card unusable.
- Plug in the power adaptor to Pi, then to the wall socket.
- Connect the Raspberry Pi to display through a HDMI Cable.
- Turn on both Raspberry Pi and display simultaneously.
- You should see the typical rainbow screen succeeded by Raspberry Pi Bootscreen instantaneously.
- Then you should see the RetroPie splash screen for a while. Wait till it installs.
After the installation you should see a prompt. Congrats! You have successfully completed installing RetroPie on the Pi. Now, it's time to set it up.
Setting up RetroPie and installing Games
While most of the boring part is complete, we are yet to set it up and make it game ready. There are quite a few things you should set up before loading anything into it.
Connect your Joystick into it and Assign each key for each control. After that you should be able to see the RetroPie menu which can be controlled by the Joystick.
From this, things get a little easier. Go to the Rasp-Config and set the correct date and time. After that, go to the Network Options and connect to the correct network. Note the IP Address of the system meanwhile.
Sideload Games
It is very easy to Sideload games. Unlike the old school way of transferring apps and games through a flash drive, you can directly transfer files through FTP (File Transfer Protocol).
Just type //the-ip-address and then you'll connect to RetroPie. Go to roms > folder of the required game system. Transfer the whole folder of the ROM to the main folder and then reboot the RetroPie. You'll see the game systems names.
Click on that to see the game ROMs. That's it, We've done it.
Now you can play those games you've craved for, forever. A day that you'll cherish for, forever.
Fine that was a little too much, but I hope you've found it helpful. Stay tuned for more updates.
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