▷ How to install retropie on raspberry pi: the best console emulator

Not long ago we taught you what it takes to emulate consoles like Super Nintendo, NES, Megadrive or Nintendo 64 on the Raspberry Pi, and we gave the steps to take to install RecalBox OS. In this article, instead, we show you the second main emulation alternative on Raspberry Pi, RetroPie and which is considered by experts as the main and most compatible option on the market. Do not miss it!

Index of contents

How to install RetroPie on Raspberry Pi step by step

The first step is to download the following: software

Win32DiskImager: to be able to flash and make images of the Raspberry SD on a Windows PC. RetroPie OS: already configured on the official page. You have to choose the version corresponding to the RPi model that we are going to use. You do not have to choose BerryBoot because it is the case of wanting to configure a dualboot and this is not covered in this guide. Alternative: We can manually install RetroPie on a Linux-based OS by following GitHub instructions, but this is not covered in this guide either.

Step 2: Flashing the OS on the SD card

Installation using Win32DiskImager is the easiest step.

Run Win32DiskImager.exe. Click on the folder icon and show the program where the RetroPie OS .img file is located. Insert the SD card to the computer if we have not already done so. Select what letter the SD disk has.Flashear pressing Write. Safely extract the SD.

Step 3: Configure the BIOS

The BIOS of the Raspberry Pi is accessed from the terminal using raspi-config. With it we can configure network connections, such as Wi-Fi. To access it from RetroPie, follow these steps:

Once RetroPie OS loads, we connect a keyboard and press F4. It does not matter if it is the first time and we have not yet configured the controls. Having left the RetroPie, it will ask us to press any key to go to the terminal. Enter the Raspberry configuration screen, type sudo raspi-config and press Enter.

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There we find the BIOS, in which we can modify various parameters. Keep in mind that they apply when you restart the system. There are several values that can be modified to improve the RetroPie experience, we will cover the most interesting ones, except that the Wi-Fi are optional:

Expand the filesystem. With this, it indicates to the operating system what size it has, and it is interesting to take advantage of the full potential of our SD. Press Expand Filesystem, and Enter. Overclock (we must take into account if our model needs cooling). Enter Overclock and play with the presets. If the Raspberry Pi were to freeze and it was not possible to access the BIOS for that reason, reflashing the image in the SD will leave it as before. Increase the size of the VRAM, that is, the portion of RAM dedicated to video. Go to Advanced Options / Memory Split. Increasing that value is not necessary in current versions of RetroPie, although if we receive white screens this is the solution. Activate SSH to access the system via IP in the future. To do this choose Advanced Options / SSH / Enable / Press ok. Set up the Wifi. This option is more convenient from the RetroPie OS system. Once in it, enter the emulationstation settings and configure the Wifi. In the menu, follow the steps to choose the SSID and enter the password.

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Step 4: Add controls

Now is the time to connect the controls via USB and follow the RetroPie setup wizard. The official tutorial indicates which numbers correspond to the buttons on the most typical controls. To configure more controls, press Start, go to Configure Input, connect the control, hold A on that and follow the wizard again.

Step 5: Add ROMs

Now is the time to add the ROMs that the emulators will run. These are not selectable until the system has a ROM for that emulator. To introduce them there are several methods, and the most common is the use of a USB memory. The synchronization process is almost automatic and goes like this: Use USB to synchronize ROMs

Make sure the USB is formatted in FAT32. At the root of the USB disk, create a folder with the name retropie. Eject the flash disk and insert it into the Raspberry by running RetroPie. The system will find the directory that we have created and will create the necessary subdirectories in it in about 10 seconds. Connect the memory in the PC again. In the folder retropie / roms there will be subdirectories for all the emulators that the system has. ROMs must be copied to the appropriate directories, and .zip files are allowed. When ROMs have been copied, we can extract the flash memory and put it in the Raspberry.

Synchronize ROMs in RetroPie

With the USB on the Raspberry, RetroPie needs to restart. It is not necessary to restart the entire OS but only RetroPie, so it is useful to do it by pressing Start and Quit EmulationStation. Wait for RetroPie to synchronize all the ROMs and they can be used. It should be noted that the ROMs in the USB folder are only added, they are not deleted from RetroPie if they are no longer in the USB when synchronizing.

Step 6: Enter Metadata

It is always more pleasant to have images and descriptions in the graphical interfaces. To do this, RetroPie must have metadata, which can be automatically entered with Scraper.

Press Start and Scraper. You can choose from which database the metadata is obtained. Press Scrape Now. Deactivate “User decides on conflicts” so that it does not bother us repeatedly.

To play!

After all these steps it should be possible to play emulators of "old" consoles in RetroPie. As they are cumbersome and repetitive, it is a good idea to make an image of the SD by clicking Read on Win32DiskImager and save it safely. If the system had to be recovered to an earlier point, the moment after the configuration is a convenient one.

Did you know RetroPie or did our tutorial help you? What is the best ROM emulator for you? As always we invite you to continue reading our tutorials and learn together.