How to install emulator on raspberry pi: nintendo nes, snes, megadrive

Today we bring you the way how to install emulator on Raspberry Pi with retro consoles: Nintendo NES, SNES, Megadrive, GameBoy, Nintendo 64 and more… with the Recalbox emulator, a good alternative to RetroPi . You want to know more? We teach you everything you need to know to mount your favorite emulators on the Raspberry Pi 3.

As the years and video game technology advance with them, we have new and more refined ways to enjoy: kidnapping animals in Augmented Reality (Pokemon Go), hallucinating with what virtual reality promises us, being the brother-in-law with the most fps of the family…

But many of us still sigh with that console that made us have such a good time, and stop talking to our cousin in others. Out of melancholy or nostalgia, at some point we want to make mistakes again choosing Bulbasaur, and emulating is the solution so that we can do it comfortably. Keep in mind that emulation is a strategy to combat obsolescence, and has advantages such as improved graphics and save status.

Why emulate on a Raspberry Pi?

An emulator is basically a program that, on top of our OS, will imitate the software emulated on our hardware, allowing us to run the game file. If there are a lot of emulators to run on Windows, and the power of our desktop computer lets you emulate without messing around, why would we use a less powerful Raspberry Pi ?

The answer comes from the comfort and experience that these old consoles gave us, in portable format or playing them in the living room with our friends. Also, being a widely used minipc, it receives a lot of interest and maintenance from developers.

Also, depending on the constructive and electronic skills we have, we can venture to create our own portable console to emulate.

It is worth using the Raspberry Pi minicomputer before other options because of the update support that emulators and OS have, being very common. Many other devices sometimes have options, but they are just ports of the Raspberry.

Which Raspberry Pi model do I need?

If we decide to install any emulator on the Raspberry Pi, we must choose the model that best suits us. If we will always connect it directly to a PC or TV monitor and power is not a problem, the answer is clear: the most current and powerful model (right now the Raspberry Pi 3).

Instead, there are two other main cases in which other models can do well: if it will be part of a portable console or if we already have one. In the event that it is the heart of our console project, we are especially interested in the consumption of the board. If instead we already have one, we will want to know if it is worth buying another more powerful model.

How do we know which model works for us? Simply asking ourselves what we want to play. If we want to play more powerful consoles like N64 or PS1, we will have to be more careful if the RPi model runs well the game we are looking for for that console. On the other hand, if we want to play much less powerful consoles such as GBA or SNES, most likely the RPi we have or the Zero if we will make a laptop will give us what we are looking for.

Luckily, there is a lot of information and videos where fans do these tests and recommend how to configure our emulator. Depending on the platform and game, some plugins and options will make a difference. What hardware do I need?

This question is as important as the previous one, because although buying the most expensive Raspberry Pi well costs about 40 euros, accessories can make the final sum exceed twice that value. Again we must assess what accessories we have and which ones to buy.

For basic operation, the RPi requires an SD or microSD depending on the model, HDMI cable, power and peripherals. With 8GB of storage we are doing well, and with such low prices, with 16 or 32 GB we can configure a dual boot.

Will we also need a heatsink? It depends on how we use it, so once we start emulating, the demand for CPU and GPU will be intense. As seen in these images, the top two models (2B and 3B) need cooling. Luckily, installing a heatsink is pretty straightforward.

Power: Can I use an Android charger or better buy one?

The consumption of the Rapsberry Pi board allows us to perfectly use a 5V 1A microUSB charger. The problem, as the FAQs warn us, is that the consumption of the rest of cables and peripherals is significantly higher than that value of 1A.

Here comes the danger: if our charger promises higher amperage, we must know what method it uses. The solution for many devices has been backfeed, (such as Qualcomm's Quickcharge), which uses the data pin to send power as well. Those solutions work with compatible devices, but can harm the rest.

That is why it is worth having a more powerful charger, which provides all the amperage for the power pin. In order not to break the head, the officer is perfectly suited for the worst possible scenario, or we can choose kits that already take this into account.

Peripherals: Do I need a specific remote control? Also mouse and keyboard?

Although having a mouse and keyboard will help us configure the OS, we can use the ones on our PC at the beginning and forget about it. Also, like all Linux, we can connect it to a computer and control it with the terminal through VNC. One of the great advantages of having the system on a microSD, as we will discuss later, is that we can make copies and flash them later. Thanks to that, we will configure it once and we can always leave it in that state again.

As for the other peripherals, as we seek to emulate the most practical thing is to use a command that we already have and can easily connect, or buy one that we like and to be able to have a USB port. To adapt a command that we already have, if it is analog, we will have to buy an USB adapter or connect it with the GPIO terminals. This option requires playing a bit with the system, and we leave it for a post on building portable emulators.

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The choice of command is personal, and depends on whether we want something general or to play that particular console that still robs us of sleep.

How to configure the Software

Okay, okay, here we are. Now comes the time to choose which platform will allow us to better emulate on our Raspberry Pi. As it can not be otherwise there are many options, but the main ones are Retropie (we will see later) and Recalbox. Retropie is the most used option, with support and updates, but in some emulators Recalbox works better or simply works, as is the case with N64. In both cases the plugins come to the aid, so it is worth informing us about the operation of the consoles and games that we are looking for on both platforms.

From now on we will explain how to configure Recalbox, since it is intended to require the minimum configuration. The guide on its own website already shows us how fast it is. Retropie can be installed in a similar way, but to have a good experience you have to spend some time configuring later.

Install and configure Recalbox

1. Download RecalboxOS: Format the SD card on your computer to Fat32 and install the latest available version of the OS. You will do this by unzipping the.zip file and copying everything that is extracted from it to the SD card. That simple. Connect: SD to your Raspberry, power cable, HDMI and keyboard. Let the installer work while petting your cat. We are not responsible for any evil plans you make in this step. Set up the controller automatically: If you have an Xbox 360 controller, you can skip this step. If you have a PS3 controller and a decent bluetooth adapter, connect the adapter and controller using a miniUSB (mini, not micro) cable and wait ten seconds. Disconnect the cable, press the PS button and hit shots. Configure the remote manually: If the remote you want or have is a regular USB remote, on the home screen press Enter with the keyboard and select Configure Input with the S key. Select Configure Controller also with the S and follow the instructions to map the buttons on your controller to the buttons on the screen, which are named after the ones on the Nintendo SNES. It has been said to emulate!

Enjoy, and don't forget to take the dog for a walk. They say there is a Dragonite in the park, take it out to get out of doubt

One more tip: if you have dared to download your favorite games and configure the OS more as it suits you, make an image with Win32diskimager of how the SD is at the moment. It takes a few seconds and if one day you have to reinstall everything, flashing it instantly will leave it as you have it now.

Has this article helped you? Are you going to use your Raspberry Pi to emulate, or have you already? Would you like to see more articles with Raspberry Pi tutorials? Let us know your opinion!