RetroArch

Last updated

RetroArch
Developer(s) Libretro
Initial releaseMay 26, 2010;15 years ago (2010-05-26)
Stable release
1.21.0 [1]   OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg / 1 May 2025;3 months ago (1 May 2025)
Repository github.com/libretro/RetroArch
Written in C++ , C
Operating system Haiku, Unix-like, Linux, Android, iOS, iPadOS, FreeBSD, macOS, Windows, Xbox Series X and Series S, Xbox One, Xbox, Switch, New Nintendo 3DS, New Nintendo 2DS, GameCube, Wii, Wii U, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2, Vita, PlayStation Portable, PlayStation Classic, tvOS, webOS, AmigaOS, visionOS
Platform IA-32 (x86), x86-64 (x64), ARMv7, AArch64, PowerPC, MIPS, Cell
Available in English, Mandarin, Spanish, German, French, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Dutch, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Vietnamese, Turkish, Arabic, Greek, Persian, Hebrew, Asturian
Type Video game console emulator
License GNU General Public License, version 3.0
Website www.retroarch.com , www.libretro.com

RetroArch is a free and open-source, cross-platform frontend for emulators, game engines, video games, media players and other applications. It is the reference implementation of the libretro API, [2] [3] designed to be fast, lightweight, portable and without dependencies. [4] It is licensed under the GNU GPLv3.

Contents

RetroArch runs programs converted into dynamic libraries called libretro cores, using several user interfaces such as command-line interfaces, a few graphical user interfaces optimized for gamepads, several input, audio and video drivers, and other sophisticated features such as dynamic rate control, audio filters, multi-pass shaders, netplay, gameplay rewinding, cheats, etc.

RetroArch has been ported to many platforms. It can run on several PC operating systems, home consoles, handheld consoles, smartphones, smart TV's, single-board computers and web browsers. [5] [6] As of 1 April 2024, versions for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 3 are not out yet, but are available unofficially. [7]

History

Formerly known as SSNES, initially based on pseudonymous programmer Near's predecessor libsnes, [8] it began its development in 2010 with Hans-Kristian "Themaister" Arntzen committing the first change on GitHub. [9] It was intended as a replacement to bsnes's Qt-based interface [10] but it grew to support more emulation "cores". On April 21, 2012, SSNES was officially renamed [11] to RetroArch to reflect this change in direction.

RetroArch's version 1.0.0.0 was released on January 11, 2014, and at the time was available on seven distinct platforms: OS X, Android, iOS, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii and GameCube. [12] On February 25, 2014, the version for Microsoft Windows was released. It featured cores for systems: SNES, NES, GB, GBC, GBA, Sega Genesis and Nintendo 64.

On February 16, 2016, RetroArch became one of the first ever applications to implement support for the Vulkan graphics API, having done so on the same day of the API's official release day. [13]

On November 27, 2016, the Libretro Team announced that, alongside Lakka (LibreELEC-based RetroArch operating system), RetroArch would be on the Patreon crowdfunding platform to allow providing bounties for developers who fix specific software bugs and to cover the costs for matchmaking servers. [14]

In December 2016, GoGames – a company contracted by video game developer and publisher Sega – approached the RetroArch developers with the intention of using their software in their SEGA Forever project but ultimately the cooperation did not come to fruition due to licensing disagreements. [15] [16]

In April 2018, an input lag compensation feature called "Run-Ahead" was added. [17]

The Libretro Team planned to release RetroArch onto Steam as a free download, integrating Steamworks features into the platform in July 2019. It would have been the first major dedicated emulation title to be released on the platform at the time. [18]

In 2020, the paraLLel libretro core for RetroArch used the GPU to run the Nintendo 64 at full speed on common consumer hardware, with upscaled graphics and the accuracy of bit-exact low-level renderer Angrylion.

In August 2020, someone impersonating a trusted member of the team got access to the buildbot server and the GitHub account for the libretro organization, causing vandalism and server wipes. [19]

In November 2020, RetroArch in conjunction with a PCSX2 libretro core allowed the Xbox Series X and Series S to emulate the PlayStation 2, something that Sony's own PlayStation 5 could not do at the time. [20]

On September 14, 2021, RetroArch was released on Steam. [21]

On May 15, 2024, RetroArch has returned after three years officially on iOS, iPadOS, tvOS and visionOS through the App Store. [22]

Features

Its major features include:

Supported systems

While RetroArch is available for many platforms, the availability of a specific libretro core varies per platform. For example, fewer cores are available for the iOS or Android version, than for the PC.

Below is a non-exhaustive table of which systems are available to RetroArch and what project the core is based on:

System Computer system/video game console emulatorPlatform
3DO 4DO, Opera PC, iOS, Android
Amiga PUAE
UAE4ARM
PC, iOS, Android
Amstrad CPC Caprice32
CrocoDS
PC, iOS, Android
Arcade MAME
MESS
FinalBurn Neo
FinalBurn Alpha
PC, iOS, Android
Atari 2600 Stella PC, iOS, Android
Atari 5200 a5200
Atari800
PC, iOS, Android
Atari 7800 ProSystem PC, iOS, Android
Atari 8-bit computers Atari800PC, iOS, Android
Atari Falcon/Atari ST Hatari PC
Atari Jaguar Virtual Jaguar PC
Atari Lynx Mednafen
Handy
PC, iOS, Android
BBC Micro AcornPC, iOS, Android
ColecoVision blueMSX
Gearcoleco
PC, iOS, Android
Commodore 64 VICE
Frodo
PC, iOS, Android
Commodore 128 VICE PC, iOS, Android
Commodore CBM-II VICE PC, iOS, Android
Commodore PET VICE PC, iOS, Android
Commodore Plus/4 VICE PC, iOS, Android
Commodore VIC-20 VICE PC, iOS, Android
DOS DOSBox
DOSBox-Pure
DOSBox-SVN
PC, iOS, Android
Electronika BK-0010/BK-0011 MPC
Fairchild Channel F FreeChaFPC, iOS, Android
Handheld electronic game GWPC, iOS, Android
Intellivision FreeIntvPC, iOS, Android
Mac II minivmacPC
Mega Duck SameDuckPC
MSX fMSX
blueMSX
PC, iOS, Android
NEC PC Engine / CD Mednafen PC, iOS, Android
NEC TurboGrafx-16 / SuperGrafx Mednafen PC, iOS, Android
NEC PC-8000 / PC-8800 QUASI88PC
NEC PC-98Neko Project II Kai
Neko Project II
PC, iOS, Android
NEC PC-FX Mednafen PC, iOS, Android
NEC TurboGrafx-CD Mednafen PC
Neo Geo Pocket / Color Mednafen
RACE
PC, iOS, Android
Nintendo 3DS Citra
Citra 2018
PC
Nintendo 64 Mupen64Plus
Mupen64Plus-Next
ParaLLEl N64
PC, iOS, Android
Nintendo DS DeSmuME
DeSmuME 2015
melonDS
PC, iOS, Android
Nintendo Entertainment System higan
Emux
FCEUmm
Nestopia UE
QuickNES
Mesen
PC, iOS, Android
Nintendo Famicom Disk System FCEUmm
Mesen
Nestopia
higan
QuickNES
PC, iOS, Android
Nintendo Game Boy / Color Emux
Gambatte
SameBoy
TGB Dual
higan
Mesen-S
PC, iOS, Android
Nintendo Game Boy Advance Mednafen
gpSP
Meteor
mGBA
VisualBoyAdvance
PC, iOS, Android
Nintendo GameCube Dolphin PC
Nintendo Wii Dolphin PC
Nintendo Pokémon Mini PokeMini PC, iOS, Android
Odyssey² O2EM PC
Palm OS MuPC, iOS, Android
Philips CD-i SAME CDi
Cdi 2015
PC
PlayStation Mednafen
PCSX ReARMed
DuckStation
SwanStation
PC, iOS, Android
PlayStation 2 Play!
PCSX2
PC
PlayStation Portable PPSSPP PC, iOS, Android
Super Nintendo Entertainment System higan
Mednafen
bsnes
Snes9x
Mesen-S
PC, iOS, Android
Sega 32X PicoDrive PC, iOS, Android
Sega Dreamcast Redream
Flycast (formerly Reicast)
PC
Sega Game Gear Genesis Plus GX
PicoDrive
SMS Plus GX
Gearsystem
PC, iOS, Android
Sega Master System PicoDrive
Genesis Plus GX
SMS Plus GX
Gearsystem
PC, iOS, Android
Sega Genesis/Mega Drive Genesis Plus GX
BlastEm
PicoDrive
PC, iOS, Android
Sega CD/Mega CD Genesis Plus GX
PicoDrive
PC, iOS, Android
Sega Saturn uoYabause
Mednafen
YabaSanshiro
Kronos
PC, iOS, Android
Sega ST-VKronosPC
Sega VMU VeMUlatorPC
SG-1000 blueMSX
Gearsystem
PC, iOS, Android
Sharp X1 X MillenniumPC
Spectravideo blueMSXPC, iOS, Android
Super Cassette Vision Libretro-EmuSCV [29] [a] PC
Thomson computers Theodore PC, iOS, Android
Uzebox UzemPC
Vectrex Vecx PC, iOS, Android
Virtual Boy Mednafen PC, iOS, Android
Watara Supervision PotatorPC, iOS, Android
WonderSwan Mednafen, Beetle CygnePC, iOS, Android
X68000 PX68kPC, iOS, Android
ZX81 EightyOne PC
ZX Spectrum Fuse PC, iOS, Android

Reception

RetroArch has been praised for the number of systems and games it can play under a single interface. [31] [32] [33] [34]

It has been criticized for how difficult it is to configure, due to the extensive number of options available to the user, [32] [31] and at the same time has been praised for the more advanced features it possesses. [35]

On Android, it has been praised for the fact that overlays can be customized, for the expandability of the libretro cores it supports, for its compatibility with several USB and Bluetooth controller peripherals, in addition to the app being free and having no ads. [34] [36]

Kyle Orland, writing for Ars Technica, said that RetroArch's 'Run-Ahead' feature is "arguably the biggest improvement to the experience the retro gaming community has yet seen". [17]

See also

References

  1. "Release 1.21.0". May 1, 2025. Retrieved May 1, 2025.
  2. "libretro/RetroArch". GitHub. Archived from the original on October 23, 2018. Retrieved October 1, 2017.
  3. "libretro/libretro-samples". GitHub. October 12, 2021. Archived from the original on June 12, 2018. Retrieved October 31, 2017.
  4. "Home – Libretro". www.libretro.com. Archived from the original on August 3, 2017. Retrieved August 2, 2017.
  5. Marín, Daniel. "RetroArch, tutorial: how it works, compatible consoles, games and more". El Output. Archived from the original on May 22, 2023. Retrieved August 5, 2024.
  6. Pablinux (December 12, 2023). "RetroArch Web Player, retro console games in the browser". Linux Adictos. Archived from the original on August 5, 2024. Retrieved August 5, 2024.
  7. Aurora (December 28, 2019). "News: RetroArch FINALLY gets released on PlayStation 4 with 25 cores including PS1, MAME and experimental Nintendo 64 emulators..." Wololo.net. Archived from the original on December 30, 2019. Retrieved August 5, 2024.
  8. "Libsnes - libretro/snes9x2010 Wiki". GitHub. Archived from the original on October 18, 2020. Retrieved August 6, 2017.
  9. "SSNES · libretro/RetroArch@eed8e2b". GitHub. Archived from the original on December 10, 2021. Retrieved August 2, 2017.
  10. "SSNES - The SNES emulator that sucks less. / Community Contributions / Arch Linux Forums". bbs.archlinux.org. Archived from the original on September 13, 2014. Retrieved August 2, 2017.
  11. "SSNES · libretro/RetroArch@9ab51ad2". GitHub. Archived from the original on December 10, 2021. Retrieved August 16, 2017.
  12. "RetroArch v1.0.0.0 release information – Libretro". www.libretro.com. January 11, 2014. Archived from the original on January 15, 2014. Retrieved August 2, 2017.
  13. "Day 1 Vulkan support – Libretro". www.libretro.com. February 16, 2016. Archived from the original on February 19, 2016. Retrieved August 2, 2017.
  14. "We are now on Patreon! – Libretro". www.libretro.com. November 27, 2016. Archived from the original on August 3, 2017. Retrieved August 2, 2017.
  15. Matulef, Jeffrey (June 21, 2017). "Sega releases classic games on mobile, for free, but at what cost?". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on April 23, 2019. Retrieved August 3, 2017.
  16. Robinson, Martin (June 26, 2017). "Sega defends Sega Forever launch after fan outcry". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on June 26, 2017. Retrieved August 3, 2017.
  17. 1 2 "Better than reality: New emulation tech lags less than original consoles". April 19, 2018. Archived from the original on April 19, 2018. Retrieved May 4, 2018.
  18. Machkovech, Sam (July 13, 2019). "RetroArch will be Steam's biggest emulation launch yet, coming July 30". Ars Technica . Archived from the original on July 13, 2019. Retrieved July 13, 2019.
  19. De Matteis, Daniel (August 16, 2020). "Hacker vandalised our buildbot and Github organization". libretro.com. Archived from the original on August 16, 2020. Retrieved August 20, 2020.
  20. Campbell, Ian Carlos (November 30, 2020). "Enterprising developers are emulating PS2 games on the Xbox Series S and X". The Verge. Archived from the original on November 30, 2020. Retrieved December 11, 2020.
  21. "RetroArch on Steam". Archived from the original on July 13, 2019. Retrieved September 14, 2021.
  22. Davis, Wes (May 15, 2024). "RetroArch brings its free multisystem emulation to the iOS App Store". The Verge. Retrieved May 15, 2024.
  23. "Dynamic Rate Control for Retro Game Emulators" (PDF). github.com.
  24. "RetroArch". retroarch.com. Archived from the original on June 6, 2017. Retrieved August 2, 2017.
  25. "ROMs, Playlists, and Thumbnails - Libretro Docs". docs.libretro.com. Archived from the original on December 26, 2017. Retrieved December 26, 2017.
  26. "libretro/libretro-database". GitHub. October 19, 2021. Archived from the original on June 10, 2018. Retrieved October 31, 2017.
  27. "RetroAchievements.org". RetroAchievements. Archived from the original on November 21, 2012. Retrieved December 10, 2019.
  28. Matteis, Daniel De. "RetroArch 1.7.8 – AI Service – How To Set It Up – Libretro". Archived from the original on August 25, 2019. Retrieved April 28, 2021.
  29. "libretro-emuscv" (in Japanese). Gitlab. Retrieved May 27, 2025.
  30. https://www.maaax.com/emuscv/bin/last/
  31. 1 2 "How to Set Up RetroArch, The Ultimate All-In-One Retro Games Emulator". Archived from the original on August 3, 2017. Retrieved August 3, 2017.
  32. 1 2 Klosowski, Thorin. "How to Set Up an All-In-One Retro Game Emulator with RetroArch". Lifehacker. Archived from the original on August 3, 2017. Retrieved August 3, 2017.
  33. "The NES Classic is sold out, but these emulators do the same thing for free". Digital Trends. March 31, 2017. Archived from the original on August 3, 2017. Retrieved August 3, 2017.
  34. 1 2 Dachis, Adam. "RetroArch Emulates Nearly Every Classic Gaming Console on Android". Lifehacker. Archived from the original on December 26, 2017. Retrieved December 26, 2017.
  35. "Eight Advanced RetroArch Features that Make Retro Gaming Great Again". Archived from the original on August 3, 2017. Retrieved August 3, 2017.
  36. "RetroArch Emulates NES, PlayStation, Gameboy Color/Advance and a Whole Lot More [Android]". MakeUseOf. Archived from the original on December 26, 2017. Retrieved December 26, 2017.
  1. Binaries on the Author Website. [30]