Playing retro games is the trend of the moment. Manufacturers are cleverly responding to this by releasing the classic game computers in a slimmed-down form. Very generous, but the real smarty knows that the PC has been able to do this trick for much longer. You don't have to wait for your favorite game console to see the light again for this, but use emulators. In this article, we'll show you how to turn your PC, tablet, and smartphone into a dream console.
A few years ago, for every game console you wanted to emulate (the technical word to mimic a computer system), you needed a separate emulator. Each emulator had to be installed and configured. That was quite a job, especially since one emulator supported certain video drivers or controllers and the other did not. These days it's a lot easier with RetroArch. This front-end application can download so-called cores (the main elements of the emulator) for a whole arsenal of game systems. These cores are downloaded from the Libretro website. This website gives everyone free access to their applications and cores. For example, the developers of RetroArch can focus on improving the application and another group of developers with the emulation.
01 The first steps
Download the correct version of RetroArch from the website www.retroarch.com. For Windows 10/8/7/Vista you can do this easily with the Installer which automatically installs the correct files. You can start the program immediately after installation. RetroArch uses an XMB (cross-media bar) interface that is very similar to the XMB on the PlayStation 3. The interface consists of a horizontal bar with icons that serve as categories. Below the icons you will find the options within that category. Although the interface can also be set in Dutch, the translation is incomplete and is regularly updated. To avoid confusion, we chose to make the steps based on the English interface. If you prefer to change the language to Dutch after following the course, you can do so via Settings / User / Language.
02 Configure control
The easiest way to control RetroArch is through a controller. For example, as soon as an Xbox One or PlayStation 4 controller is connected, RetroArch automatically configures it. You can also link multiple controllers and connect them to other users. For example, the first player can use an Xbox controller and the second player a PlayStation controller. You can link a controller to a player via Settings / Input. Go to Input User 1 Binds and choose next to User 1 Device Index the controller you want to use. In addition to the standard configuration, you can also set 'hotkeys'. With this you can, for example, make snapshots a shortcut, or assign a rewind function to a certain key, which can be especially useful when playing a difficult game. Go to Setting / Input and choose Input Hotkey Binds. Select the desired hotkey and choose the button and key you want to add to it.
Retro Hardware
It is of course nice that the controllers of Xbox One and PlayStation 4 are automatically configured, but that is not really retro. If you would like to play the old games in an authentic way, it is best to go to 8bitdo and Retro-bit. 8bitdo offers wireless bluetooth controllers in NES, SNES and Sega Mega Drive style. They even offer mod kits on their website, www.8bitdo.com so that you can convert the original controllers into a modern wireless controller. The 8bitdo controllers can also be used universally. You can use them on your PC, smartphone, tablet and Nintendo Switch via Bluetooth. There are also adapters that make the Nintendo Classic Minis and even the original game consoles compatible. Retro-bit offers slightly cheaper wired controllers from the NES, SNES, N64 and Game Cube, among others. You can easily connect this to your PC via the USB port.
03 Cores Download and Update
After you have configured the controller, you can download the necessary cores (the emulators). Set the correct storage location of the cores to be downloaded in advance at Settings / Directory. Select the desired item, for example core, go to the location and choose Use this directory to confirm that the cores should be stored in it. You can then Main menu / Load Core / Download Core download the core. Because the cores are regularly updated, keeping them updated is just as important. Go to Main Menu / Online Updater / Core Updater to update the cores.
04 Add Roms
Once the cores have been added, you will not see them in the XMB yet. That only happens when the ROMs are added. There are two ways you can add roms. The first is through the XMB itself. Go to Import Content and choose Scan Directory. Then go to the location of the rom files and choose Scan This Directory. If the correct cores are installed, a new category will automatically be added to the XMB with the rom files below it. Select a rom and choose run. Then launch the appropriate emulator and click again run to start the rom. It is a somewhat cumbersome way, so the alternative way may suit you better. Go to Main Menu and choose Show Desktop Menu. A configuration window opens with which you can do a lot more than via the XMB. Open the tab File Browser and choose in the right-click menu for Scan directory to add a folder of roms to RetroArch. Click under the tab playlist right-click a category and choose Associate Core to assign an emulator to the category. This way you don't have to choose an emulator every time you start a rom.
Can you download roms?
Downloading ROMs is definitely not legal, even if you have the original game. Now that old games are increasingly being offered again, companies are taking an increasingly active role against the providers of ROMs. Recently, the largest website, www.emuparadise.me, had to take its loss and took all ROMs offline by order of Nintendo. This was a bitter pill to swallow for fans of retro games, as this website offered not only released games, but also manuals, old magazines, unreleased games, and game betas that enabled enthusiasts to collect puzzle pieces from gaming history. Emuparadise was the largest archive there was. The result is not that fans now stop downloading the old and often unavailable games, but are looking for alternatives. Dozens of new websites have since surfaced. Some try to take the place of Emuparadise, but other websites hide trojans, viruses or even ransomware in the software. So make sure that your computer is well protected when you look for ROMs on the internet. Those who really want to use ROMs legally (and safely) can also make a dump (backup) of their original cartridge. You do need special hardware for this, such as the INLretro Dumper-Programmer (formerly kazzo).
05 Download Thumbnails
While navigating through the categories and games it is nice to see a preview of a game. This evokes just a little more nostalgia and memories. The so-called thumbnails of the box art, the title screen and a screenshot of the gameplay can be added very easily via the window that we opened in step 4. Go back to the tab playlist and right click on a category of your choice. Open Download All Thumbnails and choose This Playlist or Entire System to download the images. The images are now added automatically when the corresponding game is found.
06 Tailor to your taste
A modern monitor naturally gives a razor-sharp image, and therefore does not offer the nostalgic feeling of an old-fashioned CRT picture tube. To give you back that old feeling, RetroArch has a number of functions that allow you to simulate, for example, the scan lines, blooming, the curvature of the picture tube and signal distortion. You can set the so-called shaders per core, so that an arcade game looks completely different than on a modern Playstation. RetroArch gives you a large package of shaders. Which shaders you can use depends on the video driver. The drivers default to gl. This driver can use both GLSL and Cg shaders. Do you use the d3ddriver, then you can only use Cg shaders. The volcanodrivers use the snake shaders, but not every computer can handle it. It's a bit confusing, so it's best to start with the most compatible GLSL shaders. To set up a shader, open a rom. When the rom has started, go back to the menu (via the F1 key) where you choose the option shaders and Load Shader Preset opens. Then open a shader of your choice, for example shader_glsl/crt/crt-geom.glslp, and pair with Save Core Preset the shader to the core so that games are opened with this shader by default.
07 Netplay and Trophies
To make you feel like playing games is rewarded, RetroArch allows you to earn trophies. For this you need to create an account. Then in RetroArch go to Settings and open Archives. Put the button behind Enable Archives on on and fill in username and password enter the details of your newly created account on RetroArchievements. Then also go to Settings / User / RetroArchievements and enter the same information there. To make sure you get the right trophies, you need to use the right rom with the right hashtags. On RetroAchievements you can find more information about the use of the hashtags. Unfortunately, for legal reasons, we can't help you find the right rom.
If you want to play a game with someone else, you can of course do that via a split screen, but RetroArch goes one step further and also offers the possibility to play via a network. Go to the category Netplay Rooms and click Start netplay host to start a host. Then start the game you want to play together. The other player chooses under Netplay Rooms for the option Connect to netplay host. Then enter the host's IP address and start the game. If you want to play the game over the internet, make sure that port 55435 is forwarded to the computer via the router.
08 Streaming and recording
What could be more fun than recording your gameplay or sharing it with others? With RetroArch you don't need any third party programs. You arrange it directly from the application. To stream your gameplay, go to Settings and open you User. Then go to YouTube or Twitch and enter the stream key. Then go to Settings and open recording. If necessary, set the quality a little higher and change the streaming mode to the desired stream. Optionally add a title and then start a game. To start the stream, open it Quick Menu (via the F1 key) and choose the option Start Streaming. For recording videos, you can also Quick Menu justly. Then don't choose Start Streaming but Start Recording. Optionally, you can adjust the storage location as described in step 3.
09 RetroArch on your mobile
RetroArch for Android can be downloaded from the Google Play Store. While any device can download the program, performance depends a lot on the power of your Android device. An older device may not be able to run PlayStation games, but a Game Boy or Commodore 64 emulation should be no problem for most devices. Setting up RetroArch is almost the same as on the PC. The biggest difference is that the Anroid version does not have the nice XMB interface and has to make do with slightly fewer cores. Once you've launched RetroArch, go to Load Core. Open Download Core and tap the cores you want to download.
10 Configure Controls
Like the PC version, RetroArch on Android also has quite a few controllers preset. Our iPega and Samsung controller were found and set up automatically without any problems. To change the controls, go to Settings by tapping the gear on the bottom right. Tap on Input and go to Input User 1 Binds. below Input Hotkey Binds you can give extra functions to buttons, such as rewind, quick save or cheats. Of course you can also just play via the touchscreen. In that case, know that you can change the buttons that appear on the screen by adjusting the overlay. To do this, first fire up a ROM and then tap the RetroArch icon to open the Quick Menu to open. Tap on Onscreen Overlay and Overlay Preset. Choose gamepads and find the desired overlay.
11 Add Roms
On Android, adding ROMs is a bit more difficult than on the PC. For example, RetroArch cannot access an external memory card due to security restrictions. So ROMs should be kept on the local storage. In the directory displayed when the unit is connected (storage/emulated/0/), is a folder RetroArch to see. In that folder is the folder Downloads. This is therefore the easiest location to save the ROMs because RetroArch sets it as the default folder. If you prefer to see your roms stored in a different location, you can set that via Setting/Directory/File Browser. You open a rom via the Main Menu by op Load Content but you can also add the roms to the playlist. Open the Playlist by pressing the middle icon at the bottom of the screen and for Scan Directory to choose. Go to the roms folder and tap Scan This Directory. Roms are automatically added and categorized.
12 LaunchBox
If you are looking for more emulators and still want to use a program for them, you will quickly find LaunchBox. Compared to RetroArch, LaunchBox is a lot more work to configure. All emulators need to be downloaded and set up separately. To configure the many emulators in LaunchBox, an explainer video has been made. It is quite a job to add all emulators, but once everything is running properly, you get a very extensive program in return. In addition to playing games, you also get to see nice-to-know information such as the review score, what kind of game it is and screenshots. The free version of LaunchBox is a common desktop program that requires little from the system. The information is clearly presented, but is clearly intended for a standard desktop PC. The premium version also includes a GUI that you can easily control via a controller. This version is therefore more intended for a PC that is connected to the television.
13 Raspberry Pi
You can of course use your PC as a retro machine, but if you have a Raspberry Pi, you can also use it as a game console. The best known software for the Pi is RetroPie. With this very complete operating system you can turn the compact computer into an emulation monster. RetroPie uses EmulationStation as its frontend application, but many of the emulators come from Libretro. RetroPie runs on Raspbian. Installation can be done via an image or via Raspbian. An alternative to RetroPie is Lakka. This distribution installs RetroArch on the lightweight operating system LibreELEC. The program only takes up 300MB, leaving enough space for ROMs and cores. In addition, you use RetroArch's clear XMB interface, so you can follow most parts from steps 1 to 7.
14 Classic Minis
Of course you can do a lot with the PC, but you only get the real feeling with the original. There's nothing like blowing out an original cartridge, but the old game consoles are becoming scarcer and more expensive. An original Super Nintendo with a nice collection of games can now cost just 500 euros. The Minis are therefore a very good alternative. The game consoles have a limited game library, but if you search a bit on Google, you will soon find software that can also be used to install ROMs on a mini game console. Commodore has such a function built in by default. You can load and play back-ups of your original tapes, floppies and cartridges via a USB stick.
