RetroArch has become the best way to enjoy classic games on virtually any device you have on hand. It supports dozens of consoles , is one of the most advanced emulation software programs available, and boasts a huge community that constantly works to bring the program to more and more devices. If you have any questions about how it works and want to learn how to use it, here's a comprehensive guide to help you get this fantastic program up and running.
What is RetroArch?
RetroArch is often described as an emulator, but it's actually a frontend for emulators . Essentially, RetroArch is a program that combines the best open-source emulators into a simple and user-friendly graphical interface. This allows you to play classic video games again without having to install dozens of different emulators. The RetroArch ecosystem lets you quickly update each and every one of its components and organize your backups and save files.
Is RetroArch legal?
Let's answer that question with another question. Is it legal to own a knife? Yes, as long as it's not misused. The same applies to RetroArch and any emulator. As long as you only emulate games you legally own, the law is on your side. If you use the program to run games you don't own, then you're committing a crime.
But beware, RetroArch comes completely empty. It will be up to you to find ROMs to insert them into the app's library. As you know, we can't help you on this side, but it shouldn't be difficult for you after searching the Internet for a while.
What is it useful for?
RetroArch is something like the "One Ring of emulators." Its goal is to allow you to continue accessing your game library on any machine you own , without depending on the original hardware associated with that title. RetroArch lets you enjoy classic games on more modern platforms, without being limited by the Game Boy's awful screen or the Nintendo 64's awkward controller, to name just a few examples. It's also useful if you don't have a TV with an analog input and want to play classic console games. And finally, it's one of your last resorts if you own a damaged game (whether on disc, card, or cartridge) or one you bought digitally from a marketplace that has since closed.
Is RetroArch safe to use?
In general, yes, this is a safe program . The developers of this software usually release regular system updates to prevent vulnerabilities. The only thing you should keep in mind before installing it is to make sure you're downloading it from a primary and trusted source. Only then can you be certain you're not downloading malware.
On computers and other devices like the Raspberry Pi, installing RetroArch is relatively straightforward. However, installing RetroArch on consoles is a different story. Generally, if you want to install this emulator on a console, you'll need to jailbreak it ( or install a modchip to run arbitrary software). Jailbreaking could potentially brick your console, so consider whether the risk is worth it. Once jailbroken, you can install the program without further complications and without putting your device at greater risk, but the jailbreaking process itself is somewhat complex.
What consoles can RetroArch emulate?
RetroArch is capable of running Libretro cores . Not all cores are available for all devices, but generally speaking, these are the most important consoles you'll be able to emulate with this software. Each console supported by RetroArch has one or more associated Libretro cores. Below you'll find a list of consoles supported by the software and the cores needed to emulate games from that platform:
Sony
- PlayStation: Mednafen, DuckStation and PCSX ReARmed.
- PlayStation 2: PCSX2 and Play!
- PlayStation Portable:PPSPP.
SEGA
- Master System: PicoDrive and Genesis Plus GX.
- Mega Drive / Genesis: Genesis Plus GX.
- Saturn: Yabause and Mednafen.
- Dreamcast: Reddream and Recast
- Game Gear: Genesis Plus GX
Nintendo
- NES: higan, Emux, Jnes, FCEUX, Nestopia and QuickNES.
- SNES: Bsnes, Higan and Snes9x.
- Nintendo 64: Mupen64Plus.
- Nintendo GameCube: Dolphin.
- Nintendo Wii:Dolphin.
- Nintendo Game Boy/Game Boy Color: Emux, Gambatte, SameBoy, TGBV Dual and Higan.
- Nintendo Gameboy Advance: Mednafen, gpSP, Meteor, mGBA and VisualBoyAdvance
- Nintendo DS: DeSmuME and MelonDS.
- Nintendo 3DS: Citra.
- Pokemon Mini:PokeMini.
Atari
- Atari 2600:Stella.
- Atari 5200: Atari800.
- Atari 5200: ProSystem.
- Atari Jaguar: Virtual Jaguar.
- Atari Lynx: Mednafen and Handy.
- atari falcon:Hatari
Others
- 3DO: 4DO.
- Arcade: MAME, mess and FinalBurnNeo.
- Commodore 64:VICE.
- MSX: fMSX and blueMSX.
- Neo Geo Pocket / Color: mednafen.
- ZX Spectrum: fuse.
For which devices is it available?
RetroArch is supported by multiple operating systems and devices of all kinds. The list is enormous, although installation may be more difficult depending on where you plan to run it.
Computers
Whether you have a desktop computer, a Windows laptop, a Mac, or even a Raspberry Pi, getting RetroArch up and running on it is relatively easy. On the official website itself you can download the installer for the following systems:
- Windows: Retroarch is compatible with Windows 7, 8, 8.1, 10 and 11, both in its 32 and 64-bit versions. However, there are also versions for older Microsoft systems like XP or Vista, as well as the tools to compile the program if you want to make it work on even more retro machines.
- MacOS: You can use RetroArch on Mac computers with Intel processors, Apple Silicon (M1, M1 Max and other Apple ARM-Based SoCs) as well as PowerPC-era computers. In the first two cases, the software will run on top of Metal.
- Linux: Like all free software, RetroArch also works like a charm on Linux machines.
- Raspberry Pi: Although there are specific Linux distributions for emulation with RetroArch, you can also install the app independently if you use Raspbian.
Mobile devices and TV-Box
If you have an Android phone , you can download RetroArch from the Google Play Store. For iOS, RetroArch can also be installed on an iPhone, iPad, or Apple TV, but you'll need to jailbreak your device first.
Regarding Android devices, RetroArch is also compatible with Android TV and Google TV televisions and dongles.
Consoles
RetroArch is also available for a multitude of consoles . However, installing it on these devices isn't for everyone. This is because in most cases, you'll need to modify the console and install custom firmware before installing a homebrew application like RetroArch. The supported consoles are as follows:
- PlayStation: Vita, PSP, PS2, PS3 and PS4 via custom firmware.
- Nintendo: 2DS, 3DS, GameCube, Wii, Wii U and Switch via custom firmware.
- Xbox: One S, One X, Series S and Series X.
- Steam: Either to run the emulators on any computer or to use it officially on the Steam Deck. You can download RetroArch for SteamOS directly from the Steam Deck App Store.
- Other portable consoles: Steam Deck-style portable consoles like the AYANEO are also compatible with the Windows version of RetroArch. There are also custom versions for Raspberry Pi-based consoles and ARM laptops like Anbernic consoles.
Xbox Series S, the paradise of RetroArch
Since the launch of the new generation in November 2020 and the arrival of the Xbox Series S at a price of €299, the RetroArch scene has almost unanimously proclaimed this Microsoft console as the best option for enjoying any retro video game you want to relive on your bedroom screen or living room TV. So much so, that many users admit to having bought one exclusively for this purpose: to indulge in old gaming glories.
This proclamation is based, above all, on the price but also on its extraordinary hardware, which has more than enough power to emulate any title from a past generation , making it easy for us to enjoy old releases with a quality that they surely didn't even have when we played them on their original console.
Proof of how well the Xbox Series S works with RetroArch is the results it achieves when running Dreamcast, PlayStation 2 (they look amazing!), or Gamecube games, etc. This is especially true on platforms with 3D games, where the power of its processor and graphics card works wonders, and there's no need to worry about reaching 4K resolution.
How to Use RetroArch: Emulator Settings
The RetroArch interface is virtually identical across all platforms . It has a sidebar where you can navigate between different menus, and to its right are the lists where you configure the emulator, launch games, and organize your library.
Main Menu
This first menu offers a variety of quick options that you can also adjust from the Settings menu. You can also update RetroArch, load new cores, and add new files to the system.
Settings
Here lies all the complexity of RetroArch. Covering each of the configurations in this section could lead us to do a doctoral thesis, so we will stay with the basic sections that you must touch to make the emulators work correctly at the user level. First of all, the first thing you should do is set the language to Spanish. To do this, go to Settings > Users > Language and set the Cervantes language if it hasn't been applied to you by default. With that done, let's talk about the most important settings:
- Controladores: in this first section you will be able to control everything that refers to drivers within your emulator. You will be able to adjust the input controllers, the controller, the video, the camera and other technical aspects. If all this sounds Chinese to you, you better not touch it.
- Video & Audio: In these two options you will be able to adjust the audio and video output of RetroArch. Video scale, force full screen, force synchronization in case your device is giving an analog signal to the television...
- controls: Here you can modify both the total number of users you have in RetroArch and the configuration of the controls. You'll be able to remap the buttons, assign an Xbox controller as the main one, or play with a keyboard and mouse, among thousands of options. It also gives us the ability to adjust the dead zone, assign a turbo button, and disable vibration in case it bothers us.
- Latency: You should not modify anything in this section if you do not control the subject very well. Allows you to delay frames, assign audio latency, and other very strict settings.
- Configuration: this section will ask us if we want to save a global configuration file or if we prefer to use independent files for each kernel.
- Saved here you can set automatic 'save states' and other similar more advanced options.
- File Browser: Allows you to create filters to later locate files in the explorer, as well as show or hide certain system folders.
- Recording: Allows you to use an integrated recording engine, either to process the video later or to stream the games directly on platforms such as Twitch automatically.
- User interface: Offers the possibility to change the visual aspect of RetroArch to a friendlier interface with title images, animations and custom themes.
- AI service: It is likely that this function is disabled by default. It is used to stop the game and automatically translate the text that appears in the image.
- Energy: This function is available on mobile phones and consoles. Allows you to adjust power options.
- Red: from this option you can create your own local game with other players, as well as protect your connection with a password so that only the users you want can participate. It also allows you to use an Internet server as an intermediary if you have one.
- User: here the different RetroArch profiles are created, the privacy settings are applied and the interface language is selected.
- Directories: It's a huge list where RetroArch will tell you where the assets it uses to work are. You can change them if you want, though be careful.
How to use RetroArch: Cores
To run RetroArch, you'll need the cores for the various emulators . By default, the application comes with all the cores pre-installed, and you'll have to download each core you intend to use.
At this point, you have several options. If you have plenty of space, you can search the internet for a folder with all the cores and manually add it to your emulator. If you are only going to emulate a couple of consoles, the most sensible thing to do is to download the ones you are going to use.
To make this process less confusing, let's look at an example. A game I own but can't play because the cartridge no longer allows saving due to the internal battery is Pokémon Gold . I need a core for the Game Boy Color , which is the console that originally ran that title. Looking at the cores listed above, we'll choose Gambatte . Next, we'll go to Main Menu > Load Core and download the Game Boy Color core. If you downloaded it manually, you can load it using the Load Core option.
You will have to repeat these steps for each kernel you are going to use. Although, as we told you before, if you don't want to complicate your life, look for a complete pack, copy it into the RetroArch directories and load them from the Main Menu.
How to use RetroArch: Game Emulation
start the emulator
Once your cores are loaded, you'll be all set to emulate. You'll need to download your own backups from the internet and place them in a folder on your system. Once you've done that, go to Main Menu > Load Content . From here, you can access the ROM you downloaded earlier. Clicking Start will run the content.
Quick menu
The quick menu will activate in one way or another depending on the keyboard or controller you have configured. From here you can close the emulator, save states , load games , and even take a screenshot.
Create lists
Another key feature of RetroArch emulation is the ability to create lists of games that run using the same cores . These lists appear at the end of the sidebar. In our case, we can create a list of Game Boy Color games, and all the titles we have available will appear there.
To create the lists we will click on the 'Import Content' option in the sidebar. Then click on 'Search in directory'. The file explorer will open and you will be able to scan different folders. Select the folder where you have located all the roms of the same type and accept. Immediately afterwards, all the games that belong to the same console will appear grouped in your main menu.
Alternatives to RetroArch
As is normal in successful applications, clones and alternatives always appear with which to offer users the same thing with one more twist or a different point of view. What's interesting is that RetroArch is so powerful that many of the alternatives are based on just such software, but offer a different interface with which to present other features and port the software to other specific devices.
RetroPie : This case is quite well-known. RetroPie is software designed specifically for Raspberry Pi boards, and part of its core is based on RetroArch. It also includes other frontends like Emulation Station, which is considered a comparable alternative.
Emulation Station : This is a frontend that brings together different emulators and can organize your stored ROMs. It's arguably the most direct alternative to RetroArch. It's very popular due to its graphical interface, which can recognize ROMs and add cover art, artwork, and descriptions.
LaunchBox: A powerful frontend designed specifically for PC. Its incredible capabilities allow you to build a massive ROM cataloging system, and it can also handle DOS games and much more.
OpenEmu : Possibly the best emulator manager for macOS. Its attractive bookshelf-style interface displays game covers so you can easily choose the one you want to play. It uses separate emulators to emulate each platform.
HyperSpin : A highly visual Windows frontend designed for powerful bartop arcades. Its main strength is its ability to handle large video libraries to bring even interactive marquees to life.