Games have changed so much over the years. They are extremely graphical intensive and you are probably going to need at least a 5500xt GPU to play AAA titles on playable frame rates Gamecube HDMI Adapter. But games weren’t always like this. If you are as old as I am, then you probably still want to play retro games from the 90s. If you want to revisit those old memories, you can do that by building your very own retro console through a Raspberry Pi board. So buckle up as this is a quick and comprehensive guide to build a RetroPi console.
Step 1: Get Your Gear
Hardware
For hardware, get your Raspberry Pi board, a micro SD card, a USB flash drive and a Raspberry Pi case.
Software
You are going to need to download RetroPi from the RetroPi website. RetroPi is a Linux based variation of Retroarch emulator running at the backend that supports emulation for almost all the retro hardware.
Step 2: Setup Your Raspberry Pi Board
Raspberry Pi is pretty much plugged and play. You don’t need much set up here. All you got to do is to mount the board in the Raspberry Pi case and you are all good to go. Make sure to get a case that corresponds to the holes in your Raspberry Pi.
Step 3: Setup the Software
So this board is useless without any software on it. Turn on your computer and go to the RetroPi site and download the RetroPi software. It will download a ‘.img’ file. Save that file on the computer. Now, pay attention. You can’t just copy the image file to the card and expect it to work.
Download software called etcher that will allow you to burn the RetroPi image file onto the card. Use a card reader for that. Once finished, plug out the card and plug it again. The computer will ask you to format it. Don’t! Leave it like that. Don’t copy any file, don’t move any file from it, and don’t touch anything on it.
Step 4: Setup Retropi on Raspberry Pi Board
Insert the card into one of the SD card slots of the board and turn it on. It should automatically turn on without having to short any jumpers. You will see different Linux commands and it will boot in a while. This will take you to the RetroArch interface
Step 5: Setup Your Controller
The next step is to plug in your controller and configure it. It is configured the same way as you would on a PC. Before we move on further, plug your flash drive into the Raspberry Pi. Wait for a moment and then plug it out. This creates all the necessary folders to run the games.
Step 6: Set Up Your USB Flash Drive
If you have come this far then you already know you are just one step away from playing your favourite games. Put the games that you legally dumped from your retro cartridges on to the “ROMs” folder and your BIOS files in the “Bios” folder. That is all.
Plug the USB in the board and wait for it to copy. It might take a while so be patient. After that, the RetroArch system will automatically classify your games based on their relevant system. Navigate to the game and enjoy.
Final Word
Don’t worry if you aren’t able to do it the first time. You can always revisit our guide to do it right. Also, take a look at this cool Gamecube HDMI adapter to play GC games on your screen.
