As a child of the 70s and 80s, I’ll always have a soft spot for what we today call “retro” games. I’m talking about gaming on the Atari 2600, Intellivision, and the original Nintendo Entertainment System, or NES. You get the picture. Going back and playing those games from my childhood and teenage years is a blast, but I don’t want to try to locate and buy every classic gaming system to recreate that nostalgic experience.
Luckily, I don’t have to. Instead, I took a Raspberry Pi 5 and turned it into my retro gaming console. That way, I can play games from over 50 gaming systems on one device. This includes the Atari 2600, the NES and Super Nintendo Entertainment System, GameCube, and many others which I spent days on end playing in my youth. There’s even support for most of the arcade classics I used to feed quarters into.
If this sounds like a project you want to do for yourself, I can tell you that it’s fairly easy. It’s maybe not as simple as the Ayaneo Retro Mini PC our own Adam Conway turned into a gaming console, but it’s still fairly painless. Like Adam, I went with Batocera, but there are other options you might choose.
Choosing Batocera over another option
RetroPie and Recalbox and Batocera, oh my!
There are several options for running classic games on your Raspberry Pi. In the past, I’ve used RetroPie, Lakka, and Recalbox. Each has its perks, and RetroPie has the most community support of any of the retro gaming emulators available for the Pi. Unfortunately, it also requires the most manual configuration and tweaking. Even though I’m fine doing that, I wanted something that was mostly plug-and-play.
Couple that with the fact that RetroPie hasn’t released a new disk image since 2022, which means no Raspberry Pi 5 image. I wasn’t a big fan of the menu themes in Recalbox or Lakka, while Batocera is known for having the best Bluetooth controller support of them all. So, that’s the one I went with.
What you absolutely need to get started
Plenty of options, no matter your budget
Batocera runs on a ton of different hardware. I’m focusing on a Raspberry Pi 5, but you can also comfortably install and run the emulator on many other options. If you’ve got an Odroid SBC, Orange Pi, Rockchip-based SBC, or many others, you’re in luck.
In the Raspberry Pi arena, you can use a Raspberry Pi 5, like I did, or even go with a less powerful choice. The original Raspberry Pi can run Batocera, along with every other model. Even the Raspberry Pi Zero is supported.
The drawback with older SBCs is that you won’t have support for the Sony PlayStation or newer game consoles. The Raspberry Pi 5, on the other hand, can emulate gaming consoles as recent as the Nintendo Wii, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3.
So, gather your Raspberry Pi, a fresh microSD card, and let’s get gaming.
Installing Batocera on your Raspberry Pi
A few easy prep steps, then slide into action
To begin your retro gaming adventure, you’ll need to make sure you have the required hardware. This includes:
- Your Raspberry Pi: Almost every Raspberry Pi can run Batocera, but if you want to be able to play the newest possible games, I recommend a Raspberry Pi 4B or 5. Make sure you have an official power supply, or equivalent, as well as an HDMI-to-mini-HDMI cable.
- An empty micro SD card: Make sure you use one large enough not just for Batocera itself, but also for any game ROM files you want to install.
- A computer to flash the micro SD card: You'll need to have PC or Mac available with an SD card reader (or dongle) and a micro SD card adapter, in order to be able to load Batocera onto the aforementioned micro SD card.
- A TV or other display: A television is likely your preferred option here, but you could also plug it into your favorite computer monitor.
- A game controller: USB or Bluetooth, it’s up to you. However, it’s important to note that if you plan on using an Xbox Series S|X controller, you’ll need to be running a recent version of Batocera.
- A keyboard: You’ll likely need this only for initial setup, but be sure to have a USB keyboard on hand when you first boot your new gaming device. It will make connecting to Wi-Fi and installing new game files much easier.
Once you’ve downloaded the appropriate Batocera image for your Raspberry Pi, you need to flash it to the micro SD card. You can use Balena Etcher or the official Raspberry Pi Imager for this.
Once the image is flashed, eject the micro SD card, remove it from the reader, and plug it into your Raspberry Pi. Hook up the Pi to your TV or other display, plug in the power, and you’ll be gaming soon.
First steps with your Batocera gaming system
Enjoy this distro preloaded with retro games
When Batocera boots for the first time, you’ll see it resize its image to make all of the storage space on the microSD card available. This is an important step, since you’ll need room for your favorite games, right? You’ll notice the Raspberry Pi reboot once or twice, then open to the main screen showing the available game systems.
Using your keyboard, open the main Batocera menu with the Spacebar. Use the arrow keys to access the Controllers menu, where you can pair your Bluetooth game controller. If you’re using a USB controller, you can skip this.
I found that for my Xbox controller, automatic pairing wouldn’t work; instead, I manually paired my Xbox controller to Batocera.
Now you should be ready to start playing some of your favorite retro games. Explore what’s available preinstalled, and get familiar with which controller buttons perform various functions in the main menu and your games.
Expanding on your retro gaming library
Fine tune your experience
You may find that some of your favorite games aren’t already loaded in Batocera. If you can find a ROM file for the game, though, you can easily add it. I can’t tell you precisely where to find those, but a good search engine should offer you solid leads.
Once you’ve got the ROM files you want, you need to get them onto your Batocera console. The easiest way is through the built-in network share Batocera creates, but you can also copy your games from a USB drive. This is where your USB keyboard and mouse will come in handy again, so you can use the file manager to move everything into the right place.
Again, the network share is the easiest option. By default, it’s called BATOCERA, and you can access it from any computer on the same network. On Windows, open File Explorer and look in Network. Mac users, open Finder, then click Go > Connect to Server > Browse to find the share.
As long as you copy your ROM files into their appropriate folders in the ROMS folder, the games will appear in Batocera within a few minutes. If they don’t show up, you can reboot Batocera or choose Main Menu > Game Settings > Update Game Lists.
Next steps for your retro gaming experience
Manifest your vision
I’m using a stock Raspberry Pi 5 with a case I 3D printed. The journey doesn’t end there, however. My plan is to add an NVMe SSD to the Pi so I can enjoy faster speeds and more storage.
I’m also looking to move everything into a case more reminiscent of those vintage gaming consoles. Several ready-made options exist that lend the appearance of a Nintendo Entertainment System or SNES to your Raspberry Pi. I might take the more difficult route, though, and design one to resemble the Atari 2600, which was my favored platform in my youth.
