Anybody rocking RetroPie/Raspberry Pi?

[BortLicensePlate | 652]

I was debating getting into the mister fpga project, but its a bit expensive. It got me thinking about retropie, I guess because its also a little box you can load a bunch of games into. 

Anybody here have a reteopie setup? I'm just curious how well it works and how much it cost to build. I believe it'll be cheaper than putting together a mister fpga, and I'm assuming the emulation is pretty good for the most part. 

Anybody have any experiences they wanna share with these?

[Tulpa | 3,537]

I have a Raspberry Pi Zero W for playing Genesis, TG-16, Atari, and a few others. Pi Zeros are good for 8 and 16 bit systems and computers, but if you're looking at PS1 or N64, you might want to go for a Pi4.

Pi Zero W kits that have everything (power supply, microSD card, case, microUSB and microHDMI adapters) but a controller will run about $35-$40.

Pi4s will be about $70 without the microSD card or case, but with a power supply. A complete setup would be around $100, depending on how big the card is and what case you want. They have full USB and HDMI ports, so no adapters are usually needed, and any USB controller should work.

Alternatively, you can save a bit with a comparable Orange Pi or Banana Pi, although the support isn't as extensive as the Raspberries, and the communities are much smaller. They'd use RetrOrangePi or Lakka software, though I haven't looked into what all is offered in those.

Emulation is decent, though N64 has been the toughest nut to crack. For 8 and 16 bit, it's nearly flawless now. Lots of systems and emulators built in. If you have a WiFi enabled Pi, you can load roms over your network. Otherwise, it's a matter of copying a USB image to a thumb drive, connecting it to the Pi, and powering it on. If you've worked with emulators and everdrives, you'll find a lot of the Pi stuff very similar.

My dinky Pi setup.

Edited February 12, 2021 by Tulpa

[BortLicensePlate | 652]

11 hours ago, Tulpa said:

I have a Raspberry Pi Zero W for playing Genesis, TG-16, Atari, and a few others. Pi Zeros are good for 8 and 16 bit systems and computers, but if you're looking at PS1 or N64, you might want to go for a Pi4.

Pi Zero W kits that have everything (power supply, microSD card, case, microUSB and microHDMI adapters) but a controller will run about $35-$40.

Pi4s will be about $70 without the microSD card or case, but with a power supply. A complete setup would be around $100, depending on how big the card is and what case you want. They have full USB and HDMI ports, so no adapters are usually needed, and any USB controller should work.

Alternatively, you can save a bit with a comparable Orange Pi or Banana Pi, although the support isn't as extensive as the Raspberries, and the communities are much smaller. They'd use RetrOrangePi or Lakka software, though I haven't looked into what all is offered in those.

Emulation is decent, though N64 has been the toughest nut to crack. For 8 and 16 bit, it's nearly flawless now. Lots of systems and emulators built in. If you have a WiFi enabled Pi, you can load roms over your network. Otherwise, it's a matter of copying a USB image to a thumb drive, connecting it to the Pi, and powering it on. If you've worked with emulators and everdrives, you'll find a lot of the Pi stuff very similar.

My dinky Pi setup.

Thanks, some great info here! I didnt know about banana pi or orange pi, I'll have to look into those. 

I dunno what to do, I feel like probably the pi zero would be enough. As right now I only really play 8 bit and 16 bit games. Though I do wanna get into arcade stuff as well, not sure how mame works on the pi zero. But I think it would still be nice to have the option to play PS1, PSP and Dreamcast on the Pi4. But that raises the cost a fair bit, meaning I could probably put that money towards a mister fpga. I also have an extra Wii I could load some emulators on, there's just so many options haha.

No issues with input lag or anything like that? You play shooters on that thing?

[nesmaster14 | 436]

I think it's hard to go wrong with a Pi 3B+. I have a bunch of them, and all the others (I use them outside of gaming as well) It's easy to setup as it has multiple USB ports, wired ethernet and Wi-Fi. it'll smoothly run all the 8/16-bit classics, arcade gaming to the mid 90s or so, and PS1 (PS1 even ran fine on Pi 2's).  For whatever reason N64 emulation on Pi is still catching up a bit.  I think the Pi 4 will handle it, but I don't dabble in N64 much myself.  I mainly use my Pi setups for arcade gaming /MAME and PC Engine CD.  The downside of the Mister is most arcade machines aren't included yet, but are being worked on.

A few other tidbits:

If you want to play on a CRT,  you can get composite output on most Pi's via the TRS 3.5mm port. You just need the right cable (readily available). With a cheap HDMI-Component adapter (no lag) you can even play RGB/Component through CRT as well.  I tried it last October and it looked incredible.  I used my RetroPie mainly for arcade gaming and PC Engine CD.  Of course, if you wanna just play on HDMI, it's all their built-in ready to go.

Pi 4 requires USB C power supply and you'll need a micro HDMI cable or adapter, but it'll run N64 and PSP a bit better.

Pi Zero W  will definitely run the 8/16 bit classics, it just doesn't have full-size USB ports built-in so you'll need a micro-usb to full size adapter and also a Mini HDMI cable or adapter.

 

[a3quit4s | 4,126]

I had one setup with the raspberry pi 7" inch screen using the pi model 3b with a USB Super Nintendo pad. Its pretty awesome. I used to have I setup at work to play during downtime. I haven't used it in forever. In fact, if you want the whole setup, PM me. The memory card was wiped so you can have the fun of setting it all up as well (Its stupid easy).

7" touchscreen made by Pi

Pi Model 3B V1.2

AC adapter

Fairly certain 32-64gb microsd

RetroLink SNES USB pad

@BortLicensePlate

Edited February 12, 2021 by a3quit4s

[TDIRunner | 2,775]

I'm using one for my Wii U kiosk that I got from GameStop several years ago.  It was obviously missing the demo Wii U console, so I put a Retro Pie in it's place and use it to run emulators.  It makes for an interesting conversation piece when we have people over and it allows for playing video games in the garage.  I'm obviously not a huge fan of emulation, but if I want to play the real thing, I have all of that in my basement.  The Retro Pie in the garage is just for fun.  I don't remember which version it is, but it was the nicest one you could get at the time I bought it.  It was always my plan to put the Retro Pie inside the guts of an old broken Wii U console because that would look really cool with the Kiosk, but I never got around to that.  

[Tulpa | 3,537]

7 hours ago, BortLicensePlate said:

No issues with input lag or anything like that? You play shooters on that thing?

Not that I've noticed. I play some TG and Genesis shooters. Blazing Lazers and Super Star Soldier seem to work just fine. Raiden, too, though it kicks my ass.

Canakit is a pretty good Pi seller out of Vancouver. Mine's one of theirs. They sell direct and through Amazon.

But definitely shop around. There's so many kits and boards out there that you can comparison shop easily.

[TDIRunner | 2,775]

9 hours ago, BortLicensePlate said:

No issues with input lag or anything like that? You play shooters on that thing?

I definitely notice lag, but I'm also running mine through a fairly cheap LCD TV, so that could be making it worse.  While the lag is noticeable, for me, it's really only a problem on games that I've developed muscle memory for.  For example, any of the Mario games for the NES or SNES are more difficult because I know those games so well.  I don't have the issue on games for other systems such as TG16 because I simply haven't played those games enough to feel the difference.  In other words, the lag doesn't make the games unplayable.  

[Tulpa | 3,537]

Yeah, it's definitely TV and emulator dependent, though that's a factor with all software emulation at some point.

Also, ETA PRIME has some fantastic tutorial videos on YouTube. Pretty much any configuration of a Pi style retro gaming setup, he'll have some video explaining what to do.

[BortLicensePlate | 652]

11 hours ago, a3quit4s said:

I had one setup with the raspberry pi 7" inch screen using the pi model 3b with a USB Super Nintendo pad. Its pretty awesome. I used to have I setup at work to play during downtime. I haven't used it in forever. In fact, if you want the whole setup, PM me. The memory card was wiped so you can have the fun of setting it all up as well (Its stupid easy).

7" touchscreen made by Pi

Pi Model 3B V1.2

AC adapter

Fairly certain 32-64gb microsd

RetroLink SNES USB pad

@BortLicensePlate

Appreciate the offer! Still researching stuff and I feel like I'm leaning towards a Pi 4 because of the Dreamcast emulator but ill keep it in mind and let you know