RetroPie Tutorial

RetroPie.md

About

This is a simplifed tutorial for Turing Students wanting to get started in RetroPie with a Raspberry Pi 2 or 3. I'm making the assumption that you have a MacBook with an SD card reader.

What is RetroPie?

RetroPie is a combination of many emulation projects including EmulationStation and RetroArch. These projects are bundled into one system which is built on top of the Raspbian OS. EmulationStation essentially acts as the front end for a bunch of independently designed emulators.

What do I need?

• Raspberry Pi 2 or 3
• MicroSD card (with SD adapter)
• HDMI Cable
• 5V 2.5A Micro USB Power Supply (2A for pi 2)
• USB Keyboard (for initial setup and tweaks)
• USB Gamepad (Bluetooth optional for pi 3)
• Flash Drive (to transfer ROMs to the pi 2)

Installation & Setup

Installation is as simple as writing the RetroPie image to your Micro SD card and plugging that card into your raspberry pi. To complete this process you'll need to download

• RetroPie image (download for raspberry pi 2/3)
• Apple Pi Baker (to write the image to your card)

Write the Image

1. Put the MicroSD card into the SD adapter and stick that adapter into the SD card reader on your MacBook.
2. Open Apple Pi Baker. You should see your card in the Pi-Crust list.
3. Select your card and click "Prep for NOOBs" to wipe the contents and prepare for RetroPie.
4. Once your card is prepared, select your .gz RetroPie IMG and click "Restore Backup." This process takes a few minutes.

First Boot

1. Remove the MicroSD card and put it in your pi.
2. Attach HDMI cable and USB controller.
3. Connect the power and watch the boot screen.

There should be some Raspberries at the top. The pi will run through the initial boot and eventually arrive at a welcome screen where it ask's you to configure your controller. If it ask's for buttons that you don't have, simply hold any already assigned button to skip.

Connect to WiFi

1. Press A to open the RetroPie menu.
2. Scroll down to wifi and press A to launch
3. Select your network and use a keyboard to enter the password.

Transfer ROMs

Before we transfer ROMs, we should SSH into our pi and check out the file structure. Start by clicking show IP in the RetroPie menu. Now, on your computer, open a terminal session and type:

ssh pi@<IP>

Your Mac might ask for confirmation. Type Yes. Then the pi will ask you for a password. The default password for Raspbian is "raspberry".

You're now inside your Raspberry Pi! Lets check out the files:

pi@retropie:~ $ ls
RetroPie  RetroPie-Setup
pi@retropie:~ $ cd RetroPie
pi@retropie:~/RetroPie $ ls
BIOS  retropiemenu  roms  splashscreens
pi@retropie:~/RetroPie/roms $ ls
amstradcpc  atari2600  atarilynx  fds       gb   gbc      mame-libretro  mastersystem  msx  neogeo  ngp   pcengine  psx      segacd   snes     zxspectrum
arcade      atari7800  fba        gamegear  gba  genesis  mame-mame4all  megadrive     n64  nes     ngpc  psp       sega32x  sg-1000  vectrex

As you can see, the roms folder has a bunch of system specific sub folders. These folders correspond with emulators that are installed on your machine. You can simply place roms in their corresponding folder and RetroPie will do the rest.

Some of these emulators can be uncooperative. I'd recommend starting with something like NES or SNES. For this example, I'll be installing the best game: Megaman X.

1. Get a ROM. I can't legally tell you how to do that, but I have faith in your ability.
2. cd into the folder where you put that rom.
3. In terminal type:

scp "Megaman X (USA).sfc" pi@192.168.0.106:~/RetroPie/roms/snes

scp is the command for secure copy file. This is followed by the file name and the address of where you want to copy to. 4. Type the password (raspberry). 5. Go back into RetroPie and restart EmulationStation. 6. You should now see the SNES emulator is available on the homescreen. Navigate there and launch.

Congratulations! You're gaming on your very own RetroPie!

Cool Stuff

Now that you've got a basic RetroPie, you may want to make some personalized modifications. Check out these badass projects for inspiration!

• The Pi-Cade - 3D print your own arcade
• Donkey Kong Bartop Arcade - Go crazy with it
• Super Pi Boy - Stick your pi in an old GameBoy
• Mid-Century-ish Games Table - Take it to the next level
• Wooden Case - Incorporate your woodworking skills
• /r/retropie - Checkout hundreds of other builds on reddit

Great job, Joey. I'm excited to build it this afternoon. Thanks for stepping up and teaching our group how to fiddle with Raspberry Pi's and work with hardware.