Awesome and DIY Retro Gaming Console: How to Make Guide!

Welcome to the ultimate journey through time, where pixels reign supreme and nostalgia runs deep. Prepare to embark on a retro gaming odyssey like no other with RetroPie - the gateway to a universe where classics never age and memories are reborn. In this Instructable, I'll unravel the magic behind RetroPie, guiding you through the creation of your very own retro gaming haven. Whether you're a seasoned gamer seeking to relive the glory days or a curious enthusiast eager to explore gaming history, join me as I dive into the realm of timeless treasures and unlock the secrets of RetroPie mastery. Get ready to press start and rewind to a world where every pixel tells a story.

This project is built with and supported by RetroPie. Donate to them here.

Supplies you need:

1.Raspberry Pi 4

2.Display (4K, 1080p, HD doesn't really matter as long as it supports HDMI)

3.USB Controller (Generic and Non-Generic doesn't matter)

4.Casing

5.HDMI Cable

6.64 GB SD card (I recommend this because you'll be saving games very often and PS1 games do take a lot of memory)

Or you can buy all of the above excepting the controller here.

Software:

1.Raspberry Pi Flasher

2.FileZilla

Okay, so the first step is to flash the software onto the SD card. For this you can use Etcher or Rufus but I prefer the Raspberry Pi Imager. You also don't have to download the extremely big .IMG file from the RetroPie website and waste your time as the Raspberry Pi Imager comes pre-loaded with all the necessary files.

You can download the Raspberry Pi Imager here. After downloading it, setup the application like any other.

Steps to format the SD card for use with Raspberry Pi 4:

• Open the Imager
• Go to the Select Device option
• Select Raspberry Pi 4
• Go to the Select OS option
• Select the Emulation and Game OS option
• Select the RetroPie 4.8 RPI 4/400 option
• Select your storage aka your SD card
• Click next

You're done!

The Imager will write to the SD card, format it, etc. After a few minutes, the process will be complete and you can pull out the SD card.

Okay, so you may say that I'm lazy, but the fact is that all printable models off the Internet(free) are just so bad I just can't stand it. And the really good models are needed to be purchased. So why buy a good model while you can get a really good model off Amazon??

So I bought this kit online, and man was I impressed! The kit is sturdy, the cables are good quality, and the parts like the SD card are good quality too!

So, if you are getting started with Raspberry Pi, I definitely recommend this kit!

Update: 28/04/2024

I still recommend the kit above, but I contacted a good friend(and classmate) of mine who is a awesome designer in TinkerCAD. His name is Aman Sharma. Anyways, he built this awesome PS2 case for the Raspberry Pi. I've linked the files below.

Kudos, Aman!

Okay, now is the time is to connect the controller(s) and display! Plug the controller(s) into any of the four USB 2.0 and 3.0 ports and connect the display to any one of the four micro HDMI ports.

NOTE:

RetroPie will support at max 2 USB controllers. After that the game will get glitchy and slow and anyways, why connect more than 2 controllers?

Also, DO NOT connect dual displays. Even if the Raspberry Pi 4 can support 2 4K displays, do not use both at the same time or it will result in very undesirable effects and glitches.

Okay, lets get on with the configuration!

Okay, I admit, this step is by far the hardest to execute. The problem is that RetroPie started out as a simple OS, but then they started to add more and more "little features", until the IMG file became so big that some wifi networks just crash downloading it. I mean, I don't regret having a media player and Kodi installed, but why??

But anyways, the GUI is pretty cool and 3D until you come to the... configuration part. Yeah, we're gonna work with what has to be the worst user interface in the world.

I've broken this into two steps so as to make it easier.

All groans apart, here are the steps to configure:

• Connect the Raspberry Pi to power. First, it should do some resizing garbage that even I don't fully understand. Then it should reboot. If it doesn't do that, go eat some pizza, drink a can of Coke and try again.
• Now, you should be greeted with a Gamepad Configuration screen. Its pretty easy what to do. You just press the buttons said and progress down the list. I've also given a controller map for extra help.
• After that, you should see the menu. There are loads of options, but the one we need is the "Raspi-Config" one. Select that one.
• Then we get thrown in the blue-grey TUI. Select "Localisation Options". Use the gamepad up, down, left and right buttons to navigate. I couldn't get this step on camera because my screen toppled at the same time.
• Select "L4 WLAN Country". After that you should see a huge list of countries. Select yours.
• Now, if you're using a CRT, skip this step. If you noticed, RetroPie makes black bars around the the UI. We need to disable that if you're using a flat screen display because it looks ugly. Go to the display options tab. Go to Underscan option. When the dialog box appears, just select no. Select "OK"
• Select "Finish" and when it asks you to reboot, select "Yes".

Pro Tip:

Whenever RetroPie asks you to reboot just do it.

Okay, lets get going again.

• Go to the Wifi option.
• Go to the "Connect to Wifi" option.
• Select your network. I'm making this Instructable in a densely populated apartment so there are millions of networks around me.
• Type your password. This is a bit complicated, and and there is no other option as of this Instructable.
• When you select OK, you should see a "Current IP" and a "Wireless IP" option. Copy any one of them.
• Exit and go back to the "Raspi-Config" option.
• Go to the "Interface Options" option.
• Select "P2 SSH" or whatever it is. Seriously, at this point I'm literally seeing the stars.
• Select "Yes"
• Select "Finish", reboot and etc.

Don't do anything, but keep the setup on.

Woohoo!! We did it! We successfully configured RetroPie!! :) =)

To play games, we need to load a few game ROMS. Check out the full definition of game ROMs here.

I personally chose a few really good games and put them to download here.

How to Get Games On The RetroPie:

• First we need FileZilla to transfer the game files. Download the Client Version here.
• Setup the application.
• Download the whole RetroPie ROM folder in the link above from Google Drive.
• Open FileZillla. Then look at the left panel. That is where our host or computer files are.
• Navigate to the place where you downloaded the RetroPie ROM folder.
• You'll see that there are three folders: Playstation 1, Nintendo 64 and Nintendo Entertainment System. Those are the respective game ROMs for the respective game platforms.
• Type this in the host box, near the top left corner: sftp://your_ip , where in the place of your_ip, type the wireless IP you copied in Step 5.***
• Type in "pi" as the user and "raspberry" as the password without the quotes.
• Press Quickconnect , you don't need to fill in the port.
• If you did exactly as I told, the right side should populate with the Raspberry Pi's filesystem.
• Go into roms > nes, and copy all the NES game files into it.
• Go into roms > psx or ps1 and copy all the PS1 game files into it.
• Go into roms > n64 and copy all the N64 game file into it.

Woohoo! We loaded all the game ROMs!

*** What black magic did I do there, with SFTP and :// and all those stuff?

SFTP stands for Secure File Transfer Protocol. We're using it to SSH(Secure Shell) into the RetroPie filesystem so we can modify the filesystem remotely without taking out the SD card. We(computer nerds) can also do it via the terminal, but as this is a Instructable, I went through the GUI process.

To break the command down, sftp tells FileZilla to connect via Secure File Transfer Protocol with SSH, the "://" tells FileZilla that the server IP it wants to connect to is proceeding this sign , and the wireless IP is the server IP.

Well, now's the time to play all your favourite retro games on your custom built Raspberry Pi console!

Thanks for reading my Instructable. If you made this project, share it in the I Made It section! If you liked it , press the follow and favourite button to help my channel!

Until next time!