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RetroArch - General Guide

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

RetroDECK ships all available cores from the stable branch and if no stable core exist RetroDECK will take the latest Beta version of the core.

Libretro - Webpage

Libretro - Docs

RetroArch - Github

Where is the RetroArch folder located?

/.var/app/net.retrodeck.retrodeck/config/retroarch/

Does RetroArch require BIOS or Firmware?

It depends on the core

RetroArch - BIOS Guide

RetroArch - Navigation Guide

How to enable Cheats

RetroArch - Cheat Guide

Arcade Systems Guide (FBNeo and MAME cores)

RetroArch - Arcade Guide

Shaders

RetroArch - Shaders Guide

Core List

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
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
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
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 Nintendo DS
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 UE 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/Phillips 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