Raspberry Pi as gaming emulator

[3sixty]

I currently have my main gaming PC for all my major gaming title needs (CS:GO, League of Legends etc) but am interested in perhaps getting a Raspberry Pi to use as a mini emulator to connect to the TV for a quick 30mins when I fancy of some old Amiga games etc.

First question is how far can they go emulation wise? I’d be happy playing some old NES/SNES/Megadrive/Amiga games, but can they cope with say N64 games or old arcade games like Sega Rally, Daytona USA etc? I remember years ago trying to emulate Goldeneye N64 on my PC and it did require some decent specs to get it working.

Secondly, how easy is it to do? I have looked on youtube for some guides and seems straightforward (but then these videos always seem to make it easier than it is). I build my own PCs and am comfortable putting components together, its more if there is any coding/input required that I may struggle (its been a while since my days of cd\ in dos prompts!)

[furtive]

Have a look at this:

http://juansolo.co.uk/stompage/picade.html

Retropie Emulation Station is what you need

[Russ35]

as furtive says, have a look at Retropie. There are plenty of videos and websites about setting one up and also making your own control panels.

I've got an image setup on a Pi2 and using a USB replica SNES controller.

The version of MAME that is used for arcade games is very old, so doesn't play games from recent years. Cannot vouch for other emulators as I've not tried them apart from the old game.

I've not played with it for a while as the Pi I also use as my test/play Pi for other projects/mucking around.

[Eddh]

A fellow league player.

What do you play and what rank are you?

[Ynox]

In the middle of building one of these myself - get some parts tomorrow hopefully.

From what I've heard, Daytona USA / Sega Rally may be a step too far for it sadly. It apparently can just about do PSX emulation, but I don't think there's a working Saturn emulator. Whether a MAME version would run - I'm not sure.

Also legally speaking you need to have original copies of the games that you play on it...

Edit - N64 is apparently ok-ish. Can bit a bit hit / miss. Check out RetroPie to see what state the emulators are in.

[Ynox]

Got my Raspberry Pi today.

Downloaded the RetroPie image. Flashed it onto the SD. Chucked it into the Pi and away it went.

Got it working with an Xbox One controller too. It really couldn't be easier, although I've not tried running any roms yet.

[Some Gump]

Daft question..

Why would you bother making a pi do that, when a modded xbox (the original one) can emulate anything below an n64 really well?

[Ynox]

Smaller, lower power consumption too. More options for controllers.

Also a load easier to get your hands on a Raspberry Pi these days than a hacked original Xbox!

[3sixty]

Thanks for replies guys. Will do some more research at weekend

Eddh said:

A fellow league player.

What do you play and what rank are you?

Newish player. Just got level 30 and into Silver 4 but getting smashed every game (through my poor play and mainly inept team mates)

I main support

[Eddh]

Silver 4 is good to start! I started in Bronze 4 and currently float around s3-s1, not quite made it into gold yet
Add havac if you fancy a few games, if you're fairly new I expect you're making a lot of really easy to correct mistakes that will help you no end with your play.

[3sixty]

Added you eddh

[griffin dai]

I've got retro pi coming from an eBay seller.

Can somebody please suggest a decent retro controller for this? Loads on eBay but will a windows PC version work ok? Am I better off going for a Xbox style or SNES?

And please tell me Super Smash TV is on there!!! Fancy reliving some of my yoof while she's in work next week

[Brilad]

I have the first rasp pi and the best retro experience with it is the BBC and Archimedes emulation. I think the C64 was ok too (apart from joystick mapping probs). Archimedes Elite on it is great.

For console emulation I was not massively sold on it because of performance and controller setup woes.

For SNES and Megadrive stuff - the original Wii is the thing to get, with the classic controller I am happily playing Megadrive and SNES stuff on my telly as God intended. The Wii will also do Gamecube stuff from SD card via the Nintendont loader which can be run from the Homebrew channel.

But - the rasp pi 2 looks great and I know I will get one at some point!!!

[Aphex]

I use my Nvidia Shield for this. Had it running Diablo 2 last week

[Zoon]

I'm running retropie 3 and it is brilliant, can be configured with a usb snes controller and roms can be loaded onto the sd via a USB stick.

[ModMan]

On a related topic, I saw this a while back and will be making one .... one day

http://www.instructables.com/id/Raspberry-Pi-Arcad...

[dai1983]

ModMan said:

On a related topic, I saw this a while back and will be making one .... one day

http://www.instructables.com/id/Raspberry-Pi-Arcad...

thats pretty cool! Can see me playing SF2 with my son on something like that!