So this year I've been using DOSBox emulator, playing some of my old favorite PC games, but I've wanted to look at getting a good Rasperry PI emulator that would give me access to all the best gaming systems of the 80s to mid 90s.
What I am most curious about is does anyone own one of these systems, I see a bunch on Ebay for around $100 USD, you add your own games but these look quite slick and worth the money.
Pretty simple to install Retropie yourself. Amazon has had the Canakits for $80 CDN recently, which has everything in this kit but the controllers and mouse. I would think on ebay you could get a DIY kit/case/controller for cheaper than one that has Retropi pre-loaded.
There's a Pi thread kicking around here somewhere as well.
Right, so if you download the All Killer ISO, or any other for that matter, you write it to your SD card, which is going to wipe out the pre-loaded one anyway, so now you've paid that premium for nothing.
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lol excellent point, how about a kit that has everything I need minus the loaded stuff?
Yeah, that can make enough sense.
It really depends on what you want for controllers/keyboard/etc. and the price difference between a full kit like the one you posted (there's also some sellers on ebay which let you customize a bit) and just ordering a Canakit (or similar), and the case and controllers you want.
I don't think you'd pay much extra for the pre-assembled kits, providing it doesn't have stuff you already own. Just don't pay for the pre-loaded software.
Last edited by DownhillGoat; 12-31-2018 at 11:28 AM.
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Don't bother with a kit that includes a power supply and/or controllers, they are almost always junk that you'll end up replacing. For controllers get the 8bitdo SNES controllers if you want wireless, or the Buffalo SNES controllers if you want wired. For power supplies you want a quality one rated at least 5 volt 2.5 amp. Some cheap ones will fluctuate, so even if they're rated 5/2.5 you could see a flashing voltage warning in Retropie
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I still have an original NES and SNES. Sadly, the NES is all rusted inside and no longer works. The SNES is still functioning albeit needs new controllers.
Don't bother with a kit that includes a power supply and/or controllers, they are almost always junk that you'll end up replacing. For controllers get the 8bitdo SNES controllers if you want wireless, or the Buffalo SNES controllers if you want wired. For power supplies you want a quality one rated at least 5 volt 2.5 amp. Some cheap ones will fluctuate, so even if they're rated 5/2.5 you could see a flashing voltage warning in Retropie
Would you be willing to link to the above mentioned 8bitdo wireless? I have been looking to replace my wired ones, but all of the well rated options seem to be just for the official nintendo versions and don't look like they have usb adapters.
I still have an unopened https://www.allcade.ca/ 16 bit and an 8 bit. I would be willing to trade one for just a raspberri pi kit. I was going to just convert it to start messing around with some LED lighting projects.
Last edited by fundmark19; 01-02-2019 at 12:45 PM.
Would you be willing to link to the above mentioned 8bitdo wireless? I have been looking to replace my wired ones, but all of the well rated options seem to be just for the official nintendo versions and don't look like they have usb adapters.
The 8bitdo ones are sweet. Works with the Switch too, if you have one.
Another retro gaming option to consider is the Nvidia Shield. It's more expensive than a full RetroPie setup, though it regularly goes on sale in the $180-190 range, but it gives you way more options. It's powerful enough to install Dolphin on and play Gamecube and some Wii games with no issue, has no issue with N64, and can play Dreamcast and DS games as well. Plus if you have need of any of the Shield's other capabilities (Android TV, Chromecast, game streaming, GeForce Now) it's really a no brainer. I replaced 4 devices that were hooked up to my TV (Xbox One, Chromecast, HTPC for Steam streaming/emulation, and an IPTV box) with the Shield, so much nicer having one interface for everything instead of 4
The one downside of using it for emulation is that it requires more manual setup than a Retropie, as there are no pre-built configurations you can use. But if you're familiar with setting up Retroarch on any other device it doesn't take that long to get up and running. The biggest time sink is setting up a launcher like ARC Browser to put all of the emulators in one place and make everything look pretty with boxart. But once you do it looks just as good as any Retropie setup
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I've been playing with Launchbox this weekend, am looking at buiding a micro emulation PC, but the Sheild is also very tempting!
If you've got the budget then a full PC setup is the way to go. But any micro PC with enough power to run Dolphin is going to be at least $500, which is what makes the Shield so appealing. A Windows based machine lets you get into PS2, Wii U, and even PS3 emulation though if you've got deep enough pockets. I've always had a decent gaming rig for PC games, so what I did when I got the Shield is use it for all of the true classic systems, then for the PS2/Gamecube era and beyond where I wanted upscaled graphics I run them on the big machine and stream them to the Shield. Works quite well
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I use a $300 windows tablet and run emulators for NES, Genesis, SNES and PSX and either stream to the TV or plug in with a HDMI cable. Xbox one controllers work well on PC through bluetooth.
Retro Gaming advice - discussion
