RetroArch
From PCGamingWiki, the wiki about fixing PC games
Developers | |
---|---|
Libretro | |
Release dates | |
Windows | May 26, 2010 |
macOS (OS X) | 2011[citation needed] |
Linux | 2013[citation needed] |
Taxonomy | |
Monetization | Free-to-play |
RetroArch(pronounced /ˌrɛtroʊˈɑːrtʃ/) is a free, open-source, cross-platform front end for emulating a variety of classic computers, retro consoles, arcade machines and game engines. It is the reference implementation of the libretro API, designed to be fast, lightweight, portable and without dependencies. It is licensed under the GNU GPLv3.
General information
Availability
Source | DRM | Notes | Keys | OS |
---|---|---|---|---|
Official website | ||||
itch.io | ||||
Steam |
- A browser-based version is also available.
- RetroArch can be compiled to run in DOS but no official builds are available.
DLC and expansion packs
- RetroArch uses plug-ins called "cores" for emulating specific systems. They can be downloaded and installed by using the Online Updater feature.
Name | Notes | |
---|---|---|
Home computers | Amstrad CPC Atari ST, STE, TT, Falcon Commodore PET, CBM-II, VIC-20, 64, Plus/4, 128, Amiga Elektronika BK-0010, BK-0011M MSX, MSX2, MSX2+, MSX TurboR NEC PC-8000, PC-8800 (PC-88), PC-9800 (PC-98) Sega SC-3000, SF-7000 Sharp X1, X68000 Sinclair ZX81, ZX Spectrum Spectravideo SV-318, SV-328 Thomson TO7, MO5 |
|
Home consoles | Atari 2600, 5200, 7800, Jaguar Coleco Industries ColecoVision Fairchild Channel F GCE Vectrex Magnavox Odyssey 2, Phillips Videopac+ G7400 (Odyssey 3) Mattel Intellivision NEC TurboGrafx-16/PC Engine, TurboGrafx-CD, CD-ROM², Super CD-ROM² NEC PC Engine SuperGrafx, PC-FX Nintendo NES/Famicom, SNES/Super Famicom, 64, GameCube, Wii Panasonic 3DO Sega SG-1000, Master System, Mega Drive/Genesis, CD, 32X, Saturn, Dreamcast SNK Neo Geo CD Sony PlayStation, PlayStation 2(PCSX2) Uzebox |
|
Handheld consoles | Atari Lynx Bandai WonderSwan, WonderSwan Color Dedicated handheld electronic games Nintendo Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, DS, 3DS Nintendo Pokemon Mini, Virtual Boy Sega Game Gear, VMU SNK Neo Geo Pocket, Neo Geo Pocket Color Sony PlayStation Portable |
|
Arcade machines | Capcom CPS-1, CPS-2, CPS-3 Cave Data East DEC-0, DEC-8, DECO IC16 Galaxian based hardware Irem M62, M63, M72, M90, M92, M107 Kaneko 16 Konami LaserDisc games Neo-Geo NMK16 Pacman based hardware PGM Psikyo 68EC020 and SH-2 based hardware Sega NAOMI, ST-V, System 1, System 16, System 18, X-Board, Y-Board Super Kaneko Nova System Toaplan 1, 2 Taito F2, X, Z and others |
|
Multi-system | MAME 2015, 2016 MESS 2015 UME 2015 |
|
Virtual machines | CHIP-8 DOS (DOSBox, DOSBox SVN/Glide) Java ME Palm OS TIC-80 |
|
Game engines | ChaiScript Lutro (LUA Game Framework) RPG Maker 2000, 2003 ScummVM |
|
Game ports and clones | 2048 Boom3 (Doom 3) Cannonball (Out Run) Craft (Minecraft clone) Dinothawr ECWolf (Wolfenstein 3D) FloppyBird (Flappy Bird clone) Mr. Boom (Bomberman / Dynablaster clone) NXEngine (Cave Story) OpenLara (Tomb Raider) PrBoom (Doom) REminiscence (Flashback: The Quest for Identity) The Powder Toy TyrQuake (Quake) vitaQuake 2 (Quake II) vitaQuake 3 (Quake III Arena) vitaVoyager (Star Trek: Voyager - Elite Force) XRick (Rick Dangerous clone) |
Game data
Configuration file(s) location
System | Location |
---|---|
Windows | <path-to-game>\retroarch.cfg[Note 1] <path-to-game>\retroarch-core-options.cfg[Note 1] |
macOS (OS X) | |
Linux | <path-to-game>\retroarch.cfg <path-to-game>\retroarch-core-options.cfg |
- General program settings are stored in
retroarch.cfg
, whereas specific core (emulator) options are saved inretroarch-core-options.cfg
.
Save game data location
System | Location |
---|---|
Windows | <path-to-game>\saves\[Note 1] <path-to-game>\states\[Note 1] |
macOS (OS X) | |
Linux | <path-to-game>\saves\ <path-to-game>\states\ |
- Emulated in-game saves are stored in the
saves
directory, whereas manual "snapshots" instates
.
Save game cloud syncing
System | Native | Notes |
---|---|---|
Steam Cloud | In order for the Steam Cloud sync to work correctly, default directories shouldn't be changed to other locations.[1] |
Video
Graphics feature | State | Notes | |
---|---|---|---|
Widescreen resolution | |||
Multi-monitor | |||
Ultra-widescreen | |||
4K Ultra HD | |||
Field of view (FOV) | Core (emulator) dependent. | ||
Windowed | |||
Borderless fullscreen windowed | |||
Anisotropic filtering (AF) | Core (emulator) dependent. | ||
Anti-aliasing (AA) | Core (emulator) dependent. | ||
Vertical sync (Vsync) | |||
60 FPS | |||
120+ FPS | |||
High dynamic range display (HDR) | [2] | ||
Color blind mode | Various color schemes can be selected. |
Input
Keyboard and mouse, touch | State | Notes |
---|---|---|
Remapping | ||
Mouse acceleration | ||
Mouse sensitivity | ||
Mouse input in menus | The default UI is optimized for gamepads. The GLUI skin is much more mouse-friendly. | |
Mouse Y-axis inversion | ||
Touchscreen optimised | ||
Controller | ||
Controller support | ||
Full controller support | ||
Controller remapping | ||
Controller sensitivity | ||
Controller Y-axis inversion |
Controller types |
---|
XInput-compatible controllers | ||
---|---|---|
Xbox button prompts | Core (emulator) dependent. | |
Impulse Trigger vibration |
PlayStation controllers | ||
---|---|---|
PlayStation button prompts | Core (emulator) dependent. | |
Light bar support | ||
Adaptive trigger support | ||
DualSense haptic feedback support | ||
Connection modes |
Generic/other controllers | ||
---|---|---|
Button prompts | Core (emulator) dependent. |
Additional information | ||
---|---|---|
Controller hotplugging | ||
Haptic feedback | Core (emulator) dependent. | |
Digital movement supported | ||
Simultaneous controller+KB/M |
Audio
Audio feature | State | Notes |
---|---|---|
Separate volume controls | Core (emulator) dependent. | |
Surround sound | Core (emulator) dependent. | |
Subtitles | ||
Closed captions | ||
Mute on focus lost | Listed as "Don't run in background" in User Interface options. |
Localizations
Language | UI | Audio | Sub | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
English | ||||
Dutch | ||||
French | ||||
German | ||||
Greek | ||||
Italian | ||||
Japanese | ||||
Korean | ||||
Norwegian | ||||
Polish | ||||
Portuguese | ||||
Brazilian Portuguese | ||||
Russian | ||||
Spanish | ||||
Latin American Spanish | ||||
Swedish | ||||
Turkish | ||||
Vietnamese |
- The optional AI Service feature can grab a screenshot of the emulated content and translate the in-game text between 63 languages.
Network
Multiplayer types
Type | Native | Notes | |
---|---|---|---|
Local play | The number of players and multiplayer modes depend on the emulated game. | ||
LAN play | The number of players and multiplayer modes depend on the emulated game. | ||
Online play | The number of players and multiplayer modes depend on the emulated game. |
Connection types
Type | Native | Notes |
---|---|---|
Matchmaking | ||
Peer-to-peer | ||
Dedicated | ||
Self-hosting |
Ports
Protocol | Port(s) and/or port range(s) |
---|---|
TCP | 55355, 55400, 55435 |
- This game supports Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) for automatic port configuration.
Other information
API
Technical specs | Supported | Notes |
---|---|---|
Direct3D | 9, 10, 11, 12 | |
OpenGL | ||
Metal support | Metal 2 version available for High Sierra (10.13) or higher. | |
Vulkan |
Executable | PPC | 32-bit | 64-bit | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
Windows | ||||
macOS (OS X) | ||||
Linux |
Middleware
Middleware | Notes | |
---|---|---|
Audio | Platform dependent | DirectSound, WASAPI, XAudio2, CoreAudio, OpenAL, SDL, ALSA, JACK, PulseAudio |
Interface | Platform dependent | DirectInput, SDL |
Input | Platform dependent | DirectInput, XInput, HID, SDL |
System requirements
Windows | ||
---|---|---|
Minimum | Recommended | |
Operating system (OS) | 95 | 10 |
Processor (CPU) | Intel Pentium 4 AMD Athlon 64 |
Intel Core series AMD Phenom II series |
System memory (RAM) | 32 MB | 512 MB |
Hard disk drive (HDD) | ||
Video card (GPU) | Intel HD Graphics 4000 OpenGL 2.0 compatible DirectX 9 compatible Shader model 2.0 support |
DirectX 11 compatible Shader model 3.0 support |
macOS (OS X) | ||
---|---|---|
Minimum | ||
Operating system (OS) | 10.5 | |
Processor (CPU) | PowerPC G4 867 MHz | |
System memory (RAM) | 512 MB | |
Hard disk drive (HDD) |
- A 64-bit operating system is required.
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 When running this game without elevated privileges (Run as administrator option), write operations against a location below
%PROGRAMFILES%
,%PROGRAMDATA%
, or%WINDIR%
might be redirected to%LOCALAPPDATA%\VirtualStore
on Windows Vista and later (more details).
References
- ↑ https://store.steampowered.com/newshub/app/1118310/view/4645982290506568438
- ↑ RetroArch 1.9.9 released! - last accessed on 2021-09-14
- "We have now added HDR (High Dynamic Range) support to RetroArch’s Direct3D 11/12 driver thanks to a generous contributor!"