Retro game consoles have always found to be delivering the best gaming experience when played in home computer systems. Getting that feel while playing games easy now, you can just install the RetroPie on Raspberry Pi and your own gaming rig will be ready.
There are numerous emulators available, and RetroPie is one of the most popular gaming console. In this column, we’ll be discussing about how to install RetroPie on Raspberry Pi. There are some pre-requisites before starting it, make sure you’ve all of them.
Material Required
- Raspberry Pi 4 (goes well with Raspberry Pi 3, too)
- SD card with the Raspbian system image
- Raspberry Pi’s compatible power cable
- Micro HDMI cable
- A monitor
- A keyboard, a mouse, and a way to attach them to the Raspberry Pi
- A gaming controller is also recommended but not necessary
After checking with all the requirements, it’s time to start the process of installation.
Steps to Install RetroPie
Step 1: Install Raspberry Pi
- In one of our previous columns, I’ve already explained how to install Raspbian OS in Raspberry Pi.
Step 2: Install RetroPie in Raspberry Pi
Once, we’ll come to the Raspbian screen, we’ll begin with the second part i.e. the downloading of RetroPie set up script. we’ll undergo the following series of steps to do so-
- Select the ‘Terminal’ icon to launch it from the Raspbian toolbar. And type the following command (as it is)
sudo apt-get install git lsb-release
2. Clone the RetroPie setup script-
cd git clone --depth=1 https://github.com/RetroPie/RetroPie-Setup.git
3. Run the setup script-
cd RetroPie-Setup chmod +x retropie_setup.sh sudo ./retropie_setup.sh
4. A message will pop-up on the screen, read it, and tap on ‘Ok’. Now, it will be redirected to the RetroPie setup window.
5. From the image below, select ‘Basic Install’ and press ‘Enter’
6. When it will be done, tap on ‘Yes’, the required settings will be installed to run the RetroPie SD image. After the installation is done, reboot the RetroPie by running the following terminal command.
emulationstation
Configuration of Game Controller
While running RetroPie for the first time, you need to configure the device first.
Initially, attach the controller to the Raspberry Pi through the USB controller. Then, press any button of the controller and RetroPie will search for the controller on its own.
The RetroPie will tell you about the process of configuring the controller attached. Once the process is done, you have to make sure of RetroPie ROMs of the game you want to play.
Different games have different ROM, download the required ROMs from the reliable sources by surfing and searching about it on google. This will protect you from any type of infringement of terms and policies.
When your ROMs are downloaded, place them in the “~/RetroPie/roms/console” folder where the ‘console’ is named after a console, such as SNES or NES.
Play Games on Your Configured RetroPie
For your new game, launch the emulator and you can play your games anytime. Opt for the game of your choice from the screen with the controller and you can play that game.
Based on the game, you may need to set up a little, but RetroPie will guide you through it. Hence, the set up is ready. Your own configured vintage gaming is waiting for you to experience it on your gaming rig.