ares - General Guide
ares is a multi-emulator.
⚠️ W.I.P Article - Not yet in RetroDECK ⚠️
ares Links
| Resource | Link |
|---|---|
| ares - Website | Link |
| ares - Compabilty | Link |
| ares - Github | Link |
Where to put the games?
ares supports a multiple of systems under:
retrodeck/roms/<multiple>
| System / Platform | Experimental | Path |
|---|---|---|
| 32X | No | roms/sega32x/ |
| Arcade | No | roms/arcade/ |
| Atari 2600 | Yes | roms/atari2600/ |
| ColecoVision | No | roms/colecovision/ |
| Famicom Disk System | No | roms/fds/ |
| Game Boy | No | roms/gb/ |
| Game Boy Advance | No | roms/gba/ |
| Game Boy Color | No | roms/gbc/ |
| Game Gear | No | roms/gamegear/ |
| Master System / Mark III | No | roms/mastersystem/ |
| Mega CD | No | roms/segacd/ |
| Mega Drive / Genesis | No | roms/genesis/ |
| MSX | Yes | roms/msx/ |
| MSX2 | Yes | roms/msx2/ |
| My Vision | No | roms/arcade/ |
| NES / Famicom | No | roms/nes/ |
| Neo Geo (AES/MVS) | Yes | roms/arcade/ |
| Neo Geo Pocket | No | roms/ngp/ |
| Neo Geo Pocket Color | No | roms/ngpc/ |
| Nintendo 64 | No | roms/n64/ |
| Nintendo 64DD | No | roms/n64dd/ |
| PC-Engine / TurboGrafx | No | roms/pcengine/ |
| PC-Engine CD / TurboGrafx CD | Yes | roms/pcenginecd/ |
| PC-Engine SuperGrafx | No | roms/supergrafx/ |
| PlayStation | Yes | roms/psx/ |
| Pocket Challenge V2 | No | roms/supervision/ |
| Satellaview | No | roms/satellaview/ |
| SG-1000 | No | roms/sg-1000/ |
| SNES / Super Famicom | No | roms/snes/ |
| SuFami Turbo | No | roms/sufami/ |
| Super GameBoy | No | roms/sgb/ |
| WonderSwan | No | roms/wonderswan/ |
| WonderSwan Color | No | roms/wonderswancolor/ |
| ZX Spectrum | Yes | roms/zxspectrum/ |
What file formats are supported?
Different for each system.
Check each system on the ares Website for the latest information (above).
A general guideline is to use compressed formats:
| File Format | Description | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| .zip | Compressed archive file | For non-disc systems like 8-bit or 16-bit consoles (e.g., NES, SNES) |
| .chd | Compressed Hunks of Data file | For disc systems (e.g., PlayStation, Sega CD) |
Does ares require BIOS or Firmware?
Yes, but not for all systems. The following need BIOS:
| Emulator | Type | Region |
|---|---|---|
| ColecoVision | BIOS | World |
| Famicom Disk System | BIOS | Japan |
| Game Boy Advance | BIOS | World |
| Game Gear | BIOS | World |
| LaserActive (NEC PAC) | PAC-N10 | US |
| LaserActive (NEC PAC) | PAC-N1 | Japan |
| LaserActive (NEC PAC) | PCE-LP1 | Japan |
| LaserActive (NEC PAC) | System Card 1.0 | Japan |
| LaserActive (NEC PAC) | Games Express | Japan |
| LaserActive (SEGA PAC) | BIOS | US |
| LaserActive (SEGA PAC) | BIOS | Japan |
| Master System | BIOS | US |
| Master System | BIOS | Japan |
| Master System | BIOS | Europe |
| Mega CD | BIOS | US |
| Mega CD | BIOS | Japan |
| Mega CD | BIOS | Europe |
| MSX | BIOS | Japan |
| MSX2 | MAIN | Japan |
| MSX2 | SUB | Japan |
| Neo Geo AES | BIOS | World |
| Neo Geo MVS | BIOS | World |
| Neo Geo Pocket | BIOS | World |
| Neo Geo Pocket Color | BIOS | World |
| Nintendo 64DD | BIOS | Japan |
| Nintendo 64DD | BIOS | US |
| Nintendo 64DD | BIOS | DEV |
| PC Engine CD | System Card 1.0 | Japan |
| PC Engine CD | System Card 3.0 | Japan |
| PC Engine CD | System Card 3.0 | US |
| PC Engine CD | Games Express | Japan |
| PlayStation | BIOS | US |
| PlayStation | BIOS | Japan |
| PlayStation | BIOS | Europe |
| SuperGrafx CD | Arcade Card | Japan |
Directory structure
| Type | Directory | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| BIOS | retrodeck/bios/ |
|
| Config | ~/.var/app/net.retrodeck.retrodeck/data/ares/ |
|
| Logs | retrodeck/logs/ares/ |
|
| ROMs | retrodeck/roms/<multiple> |
|
| Saves | retrodeck/saves/ares/ |
|
| Screenshots | retrodeck/screenshots/ares/ |