Wiki/wiki-rtd/docs/wiki_emulator_guides/retroarch/retroarch-guide.md
2025-01-24 12:59:33 +01:00

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RetroArch - General Guide

RetroArch is a multi-emulator that play games with emulator cores.


Libretro - Webpage

Libretro - Docs

RetroArch - Github

ES-DE User Guide: Supported Game Systems

Here follows various quick bookmarks to specific section of the RetroArch Docs that is good to read and always updated with the lastest information.

RetroArch - BIOS Guide

RetroArch - Navigation Guide

RetroArch - Cheat Guide

RetroArch - Arcade Systems Guide

RetroArch - Shaders Guide


Where to put the games?

RetroArch supports a multiple of systems under:

retrodeck/roms/<multiple>

RetroDECK follows the ES-DE folder layout:

The ES-DE User Guide (above) has an always updated list on what subfolder under retrodeck/roms/ corresponds to what RetroArch core.

What file formats are supported?

Different for each system / core.

Check each system on the RetroArch Docs and the ES-DE User Guide for the latest information (above).

Does RetroArch require BIOS or Firmware?

It depends on the core.

Check each system on the RetroArch Docs and the ES-DE User Guide for the latest information (above).

Folder structure

Type Folder Comment
ROMs Folder retrodeck/roms/<multiple>
Saves Folder retrodeck/saves/<multiple>
States Folder retrodeck/states/<multiple>
Config Folder ~/.var/app/net.retrodeck.retrodeck/config/retroarch/

Core List

RetroDECK always try to ship all cores in RetroArch

RetroArch - Core List

Core System/Machine Notes
2048 Game A port of the popular puzzle game 2048 to libretro
3D Engine - This is a test core; it demonstrates how to create a hardware-rendered core in a libretro context
4DO 3DO
a5200 Atari 5200
Anarch Game A port of Anarch, 90s-style Doom clone shooter game
Ardens Arduboy A simulator for the Arduboy FX
Arduous Arduboy A emulator for Arduboy, a handheld game console with open source software, based on the Arduino hardware platform
Atari800 Atari 5200
Beetle bsnes Nintendo SNES/SFC
Beetle Cygne Bandai WonderSwan/Color
Beetle GBA Game Boy Advance
Beetle Lynx Atari Lynx
Beetle NeoPop Neo Geo Pocket/Color
Beetle PC-FX NEC PC-FX
Beetle PCE NEC PC Engine/SuperGrafx/CD
Beetle PCE FAST NEC PC Engine/CD
Beetle PSX Sony PlayStation
Beetle PSX HW Sony PlayStation A fork of Mednafen's PSX providing GPU-accelerated renderers for OpenGL and Vulkan
Beetle Saturn Sega Saturn
Beetle SuperGrafx NEC PC Engine/SuperGrafx
Beetle Supafaust Nintendo SNES/SFC
Beetle VB Nintendo Virtual Boy
BK BK-0010/BK-0011(M)/Terak 8510-a A port of the PDP11 emulator to libretro. This core emulates the PDP-11/03 platform.
BlastEm Sega Genesis (Mega Drive)
blueMSX MSX/SVI/ColecoVision/SG-1000
bnes Nintendo NES/Famicom
boom 3 Game engine A port of the Doom 3 engine to libretro. There is a separate core for it's expansion pack 'Resurrection of Evil'.
boom 3 xp Game engine (See boom 3 note)
bsnes Nintendo SNES/SFC
bsnes 2014 Accuracy Nintendo SNES/SFC
bsnes 2014 Balanced Nintendo SNES/SFC
bsnes 2014 Performance Nintendo SNES/SFC
bsnes C++98 (v085) Nintendo SNES/SFC
bsnes-hd beta Nintendo SNES/SFC
bsnes-mercury Accuracy Nintendo SNES/SFC
bsnes-mercury Balanced Nintendo SNES/SFC
bsnes-mercury Performance Nintendo SNES/SFC
Cannonball Game engine A port of the Cannonball, enhanced OutRun engine to libretro
Caprice32 Amstrad CPC
CDi 2015 Philips CDi
ChaiLove Game engine A free, open-source framework used to make 2D games in ChaiScript
Citra Nintendo 3DS
Citra 2018 Nintendo 3DS
Citra Canary Nintendo 3DS Based on Citra development branch
Craft Game A basic clone of the Minecraft sandbox game
CrocoDS Amstrad CPC
Cruzes Game (Further information required)
Daphne Arcade
DeSmuME Nintendo DS
DeSmuME 2015 Nintendo DS
Dinothawr Game engine A push-the-block-in-a-straight-line puzzle game in the spirit of Kickle Cubicle
DirectXbox Xbox
Dolphin Nintendo GameCube/Wii
DOSBox DOS
DOSBox-core DOS Provides some improvements over the DOSBox-SVN trunk, including native MIDI support, cycle-accurate OPL3 (YMF262) emulation, MT-32 emulation and experimental 3dfx Voodoo support
DOSBox-Pure DOS A port of DOSBox with a goal of simplicty and ease of use and gameplay. This core includes a streamlined workflow for launching games directly from ZIP archives with automated mapping of controls to gamepads and a native onscreen keyboard.
DOSBox-SVN DOS This core is based on DOSBox-SVN trunk and allows on-the-fly configuration and different sync methods
doukutsu-rs Game engine An open-source reimplementation of the Cave Story engine compatible with all official (and some unofficial) releases of Cave Story
DuckStation Sony PlayStation
Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup Game A preliminary port of the Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup strategy game
EasyRPG RPG Maker 2000/2003
ECWolf Game engine A port of the Wolfenstein 3D engine to libretro
EighyOne Sinclair ZX 81
Emux CHIP-8 CHIP-8
Emux GB Game Boy/Color
Emux NES Nintendo NES/Famicom
Emux SMS Sega Master System
EmuSCV Super Cassette Vision
Ep128emu Enterprise 128
FAKE-08 Pico-8 A port of the FAKE-08 open-source reimplementation of the PICO-8 fantasy console to libretro
FB Alpha Arcade/Console/various (See FB Neo note)
FB Alpha 2012 Arcade/Console/various (See FB Neo note)
FB Alpha 2012 CPS-1 CPS-1
FB Alpha 2012 CPS-2 CPS-2
FB Alpha 2012 CPS-3 CPS-3
FB Alpha 2012 Neo Geo Neo Geo
FB Neo Arcade/Console/various Full list of supported systems: https://github.com/finalburnneo/FBNeo/wiki
FCEUmm Nintendo NES/Famicom
FFmpeg Media player A port of FFmpeg library which allows playback of a variety of audio and video formats
fixGB Game Boy/Color
fixNES Nintendo NES/Famicom
Flycast Sega Dreamcast/NAOMI
Flycast GLES2 Sega Dreamcast/NAOMI
fMSX MSX/MSX2/MSX2+
FreeChaF Fairchild ChannelF
FreeInv Mattel Intellivision
FreeJ2ME J2ME a port of Java 2 Micro Edition emulator
Frodo Commodore C64
FS-UAE Commodore Amiga
Fuse Sinclair ZX Spectrum
Gambatte Game Boy/Color
Game Music Emu Music player A port of Game Music Emu which allows playback of a wide variety of video game music formats
Gearboy Game Boy/Color
Gearcoleco Coleco ColecoVision
Gearsystem Sega MS/GG/SG-1000
Genesis Plus GX Sega MS/GG/MD/CD
Geolith SNK Neo Geo AES/MVS Highly accurate emulator for the Neo Geo AES and MVS Cartridge Systems
gpSP Game Boy Advance
Gong Game A clone of Pong written for libretro
GW Handheld Electronic A simulator of various Game and Watch-style handheld electronic games
Handy Atari Lynx
Hatari Atari ST/STE/TT/Falcon
HBMAME Arcade/Console/various HBMAME (HomeBrew MAME) is a derivative of MAME, and contains various hacks and homebrews
higan Accuracy Nintendo SNES/SFC/Game Boy/Color
Imageviewer Imageviewer A basic core for viewing still images in a libretro frontend
Ishiiruka Nintendo GameCube/Wii
JAXE CHIP-8/S-CHIP/XO-CHIP
Jump 'n Bump Game engine A reimplementation of the engine of Jump 'n Bump, a open-source MS-DOS multiplayer video game by Brainchild Design
Kronos Sega Saturn/ST-V A port of the Kronos, which is itself a fork of Yabause emulator
LowRes NX Game engine A port of the LowRes NX fantasy console to libretro
Lutro Game engine An experimental Lua game framework for libretro, based on a subset of the LOVE API
M2000 Philips P2000T A port of M2000, the portable Philips P2000 emulator to libretro
MAME (Current) Arcade/Console/various Based on MAME development branch. Full list of supported systems: http://adb.arcadeitalia.net/mame.php
MAME 2000 Arcade/Console/various (See MAME note)
MAME 2003 Arcade/Console/various (See MAME note)
MAME 2003 Midway Arcade/Console/various (See MAME note)
MAME 2003-Plus Arcade/Console/various (See MAME note)
MAME 2009 Arcade/Console/various (See MAME note)
MAME 2010 Arcade/Console/various (See MAME note)
MAME 2015 Arcade/Console/various (See MAME note)
MAME 2016 Arcade/Console/various (See MAME note)
melonDS 2021 Nintendo DS
melonDS DS Nintendo DS/DSi Enhanced remake of the melonDS core based on a newer version of the emulator.
Mesen Nintendo NES/Famicom
Mesen-S Nintendo SNES/SFC/Game Boy/Color
MESS 2015 Multi (various) (See MAME note)
Meteor Game Boy Advance
mGBA Game Boy Advance
Microw8 Game engine A port of a WebAssembly based fantasy console to libretro
Minivmac Mac II MacII variant of minivmac emulator
mpv Media player An port of MPV media player to libretro
Mr.Boom Game A clone of the classic Bomberman series
Mu Palm OS An emulator for the Palm m515 OS ported to libretro
Mupen64Plus-Next Nintendo 64
Mupen64Plus-Next GLES2 Nintendo 64
Mupen64Plus-Next GLES3 Nintendo 64
Neko Project II NEC PC-98
Neko Project II Kai NEC PC-98
NeoCD Neo Geo CD
Nestopia Nintendo NES/Famicom
nSide Balanced Nintendo SNES/SFC/Game Boy/Color
Numero TI-83 A TI-83 Emulator for Libretro
NXEngine Game engine An open-source reimplementation of the Cave Story / Doukutsu engine
O2EM Magnavox Odyssey2/Philips Videopac+
Oberon Oberon RISC machine An emulator for the Oberon RISC machine, ported to libretro
OpenLara Game engine A port of the OpenLara free/open re-implementation of the engine used by the original Tomb Raider series
OpenTyrian Game A port of the OpenTyrian clone of the classic Tyrian shmup, ported to libretro
Opera 3DO
ParaLLEl N64 Nintendo 64
PascalPong Game A free and basic clone of the classic Pong game, written for libretro
PCem IBM PC
LRPS2 Sony PlayStation 2
PCSX ReARMed Sony PlayStation
PicoDrive Sega MS/GG/MD/CD/32X
Play! Sony PlayStation 2
Pocket CDG Karaoke player A karaoke music player, ported to libretro
PokeMini Nintendo Pokemon Mini
Potator Watara Supervision
PPSSPP PlayStation Portable
PrBoom Game engine A port of the PrBoom source port of iD's classic Doom engine
ProSystem Atari 7800
PUAE Commodore Amiga
PUAE 2021 Commodore Amiga
PuzzleScript Game engine A port of PuzzleScript, open source HTML5 puzzle game engine
PX68k Sharp X68000
QUASI88 NEC PC-8000/PC-8800 series
QuickNES Nintendo NES/Famicom
RACE Neo Geo Pocket/Color
Redbook Music player A libretro core for playing back Redbook-formatted audio, such as commercial audio CDs
REminiscence Game engine A port of the REminiscence engine, a reimplementation of the engine used by Delphine Software's Flashback
Retro8 Game engine A port of the Retro8 open-source reimplementation of the PICO-8 fantasy console to libretro
Rustation Sony PlayStation
RVVM RISC-V Virtual Machine
SameBoy Game Boy/Color
SameDuck Mega Duck (Cougar Boy) An adaptation of SameBoy to play Mega Duck games
SAME CDI Philips CDi SAME CDi is a S(ingle) A(rcade) M(achine) E(mulator) for libretro, forked from MAME, which only includes the Philips CD-i driver
ScummVM Game engine A fork of the ScummVM adventure game engine ported to libretro
SimCoupe SAM Coupe
SMS Plus GX Sega MS/GG
Snes9x Nintendo SNES/SFC
Snes9x 2002 Nintendo SNES/SFC
Snes9x 2005 Nintendo SNES/SFC
Snes9x 2005 Plus Nintendo SNES/SFC
Snes9x 2010 Nintendo SNES/SFC
SquirrelJME Java ME A port of the SquirrelJME Java ME 8 Virtual Machine emulator to libretro
Stella Atari 2600
Stella 2014 Atari 2600
Super Bros War Game engine A fork of Super Mario War, a fan-made multiplayer Super Mario Bros. style deathmatch game
SwanStation Sony PlayStation SwanStation is a fork of the Duckstation emulator
TempGBA Game Boy Advance
TGB Dual Game Boy/Color
Theodore Thomson MO/TO
TIC-80 Game engine A port of the free and open source fantasy computer TIC-80 to libretro
The Powder Toy Game A port of the Powdertoy physics sandbox/simulation engine to libretro
TyrQuake Game engine A port of the tyrquake engine
UAE4ARM Commodore Amiga
UME 2015 Arcade/Console/various (See MAME note)
Uzem Uzebox A port of Uzem, the official emulator for the Uzebox
VaporSpec Game engine A virtual game platform with capabilities similar to 80s game consoles
VBA-M Game Boy Advance VisualBoy Advance-M is a active fork of VisualBoy Advance emulator
VBA Next Game Boy Advance
vecx Vectrex
VeMUlator SEGA Visual Memory Unit A port of VeMUlator, a SEGA Dreamcast VMU emulator originally developed for Android
VICE x64 Commodore C64
VICE x64sc Commodore C64
VICE x128 Commodore C128
VICE xcbm2 Commodore CBM-II 6x0/7x0
VICE xcbm5x0 Commodore CBM-II 5x0
VICE xpet Commodore PET
VICE xplus4 Commodore Plus/4
VICE xscpu64 Commodore C64 SuperCPU
VICE xvic Commodore VIC-20
Vircon32 Game engine A port of Vircon32 game console to libretro
Virtual Jaguar Atari Jaguar
VirtualXT DOS Runns PC/XT class software. Mainly intended for PC booters from the 80's.
vitaQuake 2 Game engine A port of the VitaQuake 2 source port of iD's Quake 2 engine to libretro. There is a separate core for each of the Quake 2 mission packs, 'Rogue', 'Zaero' and 'Xatrix'.
vitaQuake 2 (Rogue) Game engine (See vitaQuake 2 note)
vitaQuake 2 (Xatrix) Game engine (See vitaQuake 2 note)
vitaQuake 2 (Zaero) Game engine (See vitaQuake 2 note)
vitaQuake 3 Game engine A port of the VitaQuake 3 source port of iD's ioquake3 engine to libretro
vitaVoyager Game engine A port of the Lilium Voyager engine, which runs the Star Trek: Voyager - Elite Force game and is itself based on the ioquake3
WASM-4 Game engine WASM-4 is a open source low-level fantasy game console for building small games with WebAssembly
X Millennium Sharp X1
XRick Game engine A port of the XRick, an open-source clone of the Rick Dangerous engine
YabaSanshiro Sega Saturn A port of the YabaSanshiro, which is itself a fork of Yabause emulator
Yabause Sega Saturn

Cores with rewind support

Note: Enabling rewinding can cause a big performance hit.

The following cores support the Rewind function.

System/Machine Core
3DO Opera
Amstrad - CPC Caprice32
Amstrad - CPC CrocoDS
Arcade FinalBurn Neo
Arcade MAME 2003
Arcade MAME 2003-Plus
Arcade Arcade (MAME 2010)
Atari - 2600 Stella
Atari - 7800 ProSystem
Atari - Lynx Beetle Lynx
Atari - Lynx Handy
Bandai WonderSwan/Color
Commodore - 8-bit VICE
Commodore - Amiga PUAE
ColecoVision GearColeco
DOS DOSBox Pure
Enterprise - 64/128 ep128emu
Elektronika - BK-0010/BK-0011 bk
Magnavox - Odyssey2 / Phillips - Videopac+ O2EM
Mega Duck / Cougar Boy SameDuck
MSX fMSX
Nintendo - Game Boy / Color SameBoy
Nintendo - Game Boy / Color Gambatte
Nintendo - Game Boy / Color TGB Dual
Nintendo - Game Boy / Color Gearboy
Nintendo - Game Boy Advance Beetle GBA
Nintendo - Game Boy Advance gpSP
Nintendo - Game Boy Advance Meteor
Nintendo - Game Boy Advance TempGBA
Nintendo - Game Boy Advance VBA Next
Nintendo - Game Boy Advance VBA-M
Nintendo - Gamecube/Wii Dolphin
Nintendo - NES / Famicom bnes
Nintendo - NES / Famicom FCEUmm
Nintendo - NES / Famicom Mesen
Nintendo - NES / Famicom Nestopia UE
Nintendo - NES / Famicom QuickNES
Nintendo 64 Mupen64Plus-Next
Nintendo - DS DeSmuME 2015
Nintendo - DS DeSmuME
Nintendo - DS melonDS
Nintendo - Pokémon Mini PokeMini
Nintendo - SNES / Famicom Beetle bsnes
Nintendo - SNES / Famicom bsnes Accuracy
Nintendo - SNES / Famicom bsnes Balanced
Nintendo - SNES / Famicom bsnes C++98 v085
Nintendo - SNES / Famicom bsnes Performance
Nintendo - SNES / Famicom bsnes-mercury Accuracy
Nintendo - SNES / Famicom bsnes-mercury Balanced
Nintendo - SNES / Famicom bsnes-mercury Performanced
Nintendo - SNES / Famicom higan Accuracy
Nintendo - SNES / Famicom nSide Balance
Nintendo - SNES / Famicom Snes9x 2002
Nintendo - SNES / Famicom Snes9x 2005
Nintendo - SNES / Famicom Snes9x 2005 Plus
Nintendo - SNES / Famicom Snes9x 2010
Nintendo - SNES / Famicom Snes9x
Nintendo - SNES / SFC / Game Boy / Color Mesen-S
Nintendo - Virtual Boy Beetle VB
NEC PC-8000 / PC-8800 series QUASI88
NEC - PC-98 Neko Project II Kai
NEC - PC Engine SuperGrafxy Beetle SuperGrafx
NEC - PC Engine / CD Beetle PCE FAS
NEC - PC-FX Beetle PC-FX
Thomson - MO/TO Theodore
SEGA - MS/GG SMS Plus GX
SEGA - MS/GG Gearsystem
SEGA - MS/GG/MD/CD Genesis Plus GX
SEGA - MS/MD/CD/32X PicoDrive
SEGA - Saturn Beetle Saturn
Neo Geo AES / MVS Geolith
Neo Geo Pocket / Color Beetle NeoPop
Neo Geo Pocket / Color RACE
PlayStation Beetle PSX
PlayStation Beetle PSX HW
PlayStation PCSX ReARMed
Vectrex vecx
ZX 81 EightyOne
ZX Spectrum Fuse