Reading time: 3 minutesAre you looking for a DIY console that emulates old gaming systems?
There are various distros for retrogaming that you can download for free.
RetroPie allows you to turn your Raspberry Pi, ODroid C1/C2, or PC into a retro-gaming machine. Uses EmulationStation as Frontend. Keyboard is recommended for the best user experience.
Pro: runs most systems, good built-in Scraper (retrieve Cover Image and Game Description)
Cons: the configuration files are in various folders, the joypad configuration is different for each emulated system, not suitable to be used on a CRT TV.
Recalbox is a retrogaming platform that runs on Raspberry Pi, PC (32 and 64 bit), Odroid hardware. Uses EmulationStation as Frontend. Keyboard is recommended for the best user experience.
Pro: accurate emulation of systems and features. Nice selection of shader presets, nice background Music inspired by popular games, good built-in Scraper (retrieve Cover Image and Game Description).
Cons: not suitable to be used on a CRT TV.
Lakka lightweight Linux distribution that transforms a small computer into a powerful retrogaming console. It’s available for Linux, Windows, Mac OS X and for various platforms like Raspberry Pi, Odroid, Banana Pi, Cubieboard 1/2, etc…
Official libretro Frontend, no Keyboard needed.
Pro: user friendly Setup, interface and Joypad configuration (ton of preconfigured profiles), easy access to menu.
Cons: too many Shader Options compared to RetroPie and Recalbox, no background music in Frontend, Scraper not as good as in Retropie and Recalbox.
Batocera is an open-source and completely free retro-gaming distribution that can be copied to a USB stick or an SD card, there are downloads available for PC, Apple, Intel NUC, handheld consoles, Raspberry Pi, Odroid and also devices with Rockchip, Amlogic chips and other devices.
You can find a useful page regarding system / emulators compatibility.
Pro: easy to use thanks to user friendly interface,many things are pre-configured and work right out-of-the-box, it’s a Recalbox fork but has more built in emulators.
Cons: less customizable.
Every system offers almost the same features, like:
– boot from SD Card
– easy way to add roms via network
– browse games per system
– save and load game states
– enable cheats
If you are passionate of 8/16 bit (Commodore 64, Amiga, NES, Master System, SNES, Mega Drive, Neo Geo, ecc…) 32 bit (Playstation, Sega Saturn, ecc…) gaming systems you should try these distro.
