RetroDECK

RetroDECK brings an environment to catalog and play your retro games directly from SteamOS and it's tailored specifically for the Steam Deck.

It's inspired by embedded emulation systems like AmberELEC, EmuELEC, CoreELEC, Lakka, and Batocera.

Powered by EmulationStation Desktop Edition, which uses RetroArch and other standalone emulators to allow you to import and play your favorite retro (and even not-so-retro) games in a tidy environment without flooding your Steam library.

Join our Discord!

What does it mean to be "tailored for the Steam Deck"?

It means that all the configurations are ready to go and tweaked to get the best graphics and performance on the Deck without having the hassle of choosing, installing and configuring tons of emulators: just put your games in the roms folder, provide your own bioses and start your games.

Do I have to partition my disk to install it?

No partitioning or formatting is required. RetroDECK (differently from AmberELEC, Batocera and others) comes as a flatpak: just install it as any other application and launch it from your desktop or Steam library. You still retain the ability to return to SteamOS by pressing the Steam button or opening the Quick Access menu while using RetroDECK.

Is it available on Windows?

No, RetroDECK doesn't support Windows, but the project is fully open source so you can port it if you wish. As an alternative, Retrobat offers similar functionality (but may not be compatible with RetroDECK's rom paths).

Can I help?

Of course, any help is appreciated, and not only byp rogramming, just check out our Discord!

Developer notes: build instructions

If you want to build the RetroDECK flatpak on your machine for developing or just testing purposes:

cd ~
git clone --recursive https://github.com/XargonWan/RetroDECK.git
cd RetroDECK
git submodule init
git submodule update

install flatpak flatpak-builder p7zip-full with your distro's package manager.

flatpak install -y org.kde.Sdk//5.15-21.08 org.kde.Platform//5.15-21.08 io.qt.qtwebengine.BaseApp/x86_64/5.15-21.08 org.freedesktop.Sdk.Extension.llvm13

To build the stable release:

flatpak-builder --user --install --force-clean --repo=local ~/RetroDECK/retrodeck-main ~/RetroDECK/com.xargon.retrodeck.yml
flatpak build-bundle local ~/RetroDECK.flatpak com.xargon.retrodeck

Or alternatively, to build the cooker (experimental) release:

git checkout cooker
flatpak-builder --user --install --force-clean --repo=local ~/RetroDECK/retrodeck-cooker ~/RetroDECK/com.xargon.retrodeck.yml
flatpak build-bundle local ~/RetroDECK.flatpak com.xargon.retrodeck

Install RetroDECK:

flatpak install com.xargon.retrodeck

Run RetroDECK:

flatpak run com.xargon.retrodeck

Uninstall RetroDECK:

flatpak uninstall com.xargon.retrodeck