RetroArch - One emu to rule them ALL!

abhi89492i

RetroArch is one thing I couldn't believe was possible with software but happened nonetheless.

Emulators are complex softwares, much more than you or I could imagine. To create ancient hardware envioronment in virtual software, so the game 'thinks' its being run on the original piece is naturally awe-inspiring. But it also makes thosee emulators unique and complicated.

What RetroArch did was even more amazing.

They provided a sort-of framework for emulation of VARIOUS DIFFERENT CONSOLES, WITHIN A SINGLE OVERARCING SOFTWARE.

RetroArch itself doesn't come with any emulatioon capabilities as such, rather it provides a huge set of 'Liberto CORES' that are compatible with its framework.
These 'Cores' are the actual emulators.

What does it mean?


It means you don't have to download separate emulators for each console you're trying to play on your PC/Phone

What's even better is it works on both PC and Android! Plus a lot of other platforms

Ofcourse some more options are present on PC version but nothing ever comes close to it on android, in terms of versatality.

A 'non-exhaustive' list of cores/systems supported by RetroArch (from wikipedia)

System	Based on
3DO	4DO
Arcade	MAME MESS FB Neo FinalBurnAlpha
Amstrad CPC	Caprice32 CrocoDS
Atari 2600	Stella
Atari 5200	Atari800
Atari 7800	ProSystem
Atari Jaguar	Virtual Jaguar
Atari Lynx	Mednafen Handy
Atari Falcon	Hatari
ColecoVision	blueMSX
Commodore 64	VICE
Dreamcast	Redream Reicast (now named Flycast)
Famicom Disk System	Nestopia higan
Game Boy / Color	Emux Gambatte SameBoy TGB Dual higan
Game Boy Advance	Mednafen gpSP Meteor mGBA VisualBoyAdvance
GameCube	Dolphin
Game Gear	Genesis Plus GX
MSX	fMSX blueMSX
Neo Geo Pocket / Color	Mednafen
NEC PC-98	Neko Project II
Nintendo 64	Mupen64Plus
Nintendo Entertainment System	higan Emux FCEUmm Nestopia UE QuickNES
Nintendo DS	DeSmuME
Nintendo 3DS	Citra
Odyssey²	O2EM
PC-FX	Mednafen
32X	Picodrive
Mega CD/Sega CD	Genesis Plus GX
Mega Drive/Genesis	Genesis Plus GX
Master System	PicoDrive Genesis Plus GX
PlayStation Portable	PPSSPP
PlayStation	Mednafen PCSX ReARMed
PlayStation 2	Play!
Pokémon Mini	PokeMini
Sega Saturn	uoYabause Mednafen
Super NES	Bsnes higan Snes9x
Thomson computers	Theodore
TurboGrafx-16 / SuperGrafx	Mednafen
TurboGrafx-CD	Mednafen
Vectrex	VecXGL
Virtual Boy	Mednafen
Wii	Dolphin
WonderSwan	Mednafen
ZX Spectrum	Fuse
ZX81	EightyOne

I used it to play NES, and PS1 games on android, and they worked flawless. Twisted Metal and Marvel vs Capcom ran like breeze on PCSX Rearmed.  Nestopia and QuickNES were used for Contra-6 and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles touranment fighters. It also instantly recognized and bound the necessary controls to my stretchable iPega bluetooth controller. No fuss.

There are also other benefits like resolution upscaling, rewinding (yeah, I know, that way you'll never get killed! Alwasy be back from the dead!), fastforwarding a game, shaders and audio enhancements, controller support, netplay (local multiplayer) and others.

It is, admittedly, a bit too...intimidating for a novice but there are a lot of tutorials, and YouTube videos for solution and the pros vastly outweigh the cons once you get the hang of it. You can alwasy ask about this stuff here on crax-me too...

Website :

https://www.retroarch.com/index.php



GooglePlay:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.retroarch&hl=en_IN

Dev

What a great emulator bro. I will surely try both versions.

Dev

Bro RetroArch supports online multiplayer. We can host some contests if the online mode works well. Do you know something about it?

abhi89492i

Dev 6-6-2020 01:56 PM
Bro RetroArch supports online multiplayer. We can host some contests if the online mode works well.  ...

@Dev, I've definitely seen the option, but in my group, sadly, there were no tech-enthusiasts. Much less gamers. I couldn't bring them to even local multiplayer tables, the best we did was Counter Strike: Condition Zero (Old), on a local multiplayer. To convince them for retro games was an uphill battle I was desxtined to lose and lose I did.

So, yes, unforetuantely I have no experience in that but alwasy willing to try