Batocera Raspberry Pi 5 Emulation Setup Guide

[@psilver03]

This is the best guide I've watched. Thank you. I setup the Pi5 twice and was never satisfied and about to abandon retro gaming until I saw your video on Batocera and now it is so much playable. I also ordered a Linden handgun with recoil. My wife will kill me for the unexpected purchase but it is sooo worth it. :)

[@WagnersTechTalk]

Thank you so much, happy that this guide was helpful to you! Hope we don't get you in too much trouble with your wife. I'm always in the dog house with mine lol

[@psilver03]

@@WagnersTechTalk haha well I know my wife... She'll be upset right now but she's coming home in four weeks, she will play her fave retro game, try the lightgun and she'll forget the entire thing!

[@psilver03]

@@WagnersTechTalk By the way the search words for the bios and rom are very helpful as well although I'm still confused with the bios and how it works. However, it seems to work well anyway with the games I like and tested.

[@Deftone8sd]

What a great video, getting Retropie into Raspberry pi 5 is a bitch, but for the first time, I got Batocera and I'm not going back to Retropie. All your steps worked flawlessly.

[@WagnersTechTalk]

Great news that you found this video helpful!

[@SwampyLantern]

Thank you so much. Such a great guide. It’s my first Raspberry Pi, it only arrived yesterday, and I’m already up and running thanks to watching this. Keep up the excellent work. Thank you.

[@WagnersTechTalk]

Awesome to hear! You're very welcome and thank you for letting me know it was helpful!

[@_specialneeds]

I love batocara. I dual booted it with windows 11 on my onexplayer 2. Its so lightweight and combined with a ryzen 7 its a emulation monster.

[@WagnersTechTalk]

I love Batocera also, probably my favorite emulation platform.

[@HaloAddictedChild]

Amazing guide! This was so helpful! I've got N64 running and I'm having a blast. Although I'm having an overscan issue which is kinda annoying

[@WagnersTechTalk]

Awesome, happy to hear the guide has been helpful to you!

[@chrisumali9841]

Thanks for the demo and info, have a great day

[@WagnersTechTalk]

Most welcome, thank you for watching!

[@anthonywilliams7918]

What a wonderful tutorial. Thank you!

[@WagnersTechTalk]

Happy to hear you found it helpful, thank you for watching!

[@AD-ps8dx]

Thanks for the great setup video. You made this so easy. Quick question: Could you do a video on how to 1) add a second, third and 4th Xbox one wireless controller to Batocera, and 2) how to set up 4-player arcade controls with Batocera? Thank for considering.

[@WagnersTechTalk]

Very welcome and thank you for your recommendation on a follow-up video!

[@steveoliver7587]

Nice video - very informative and easy to follow. Sadly, for some reason I simply can not get Batocera 40 to boot properly on my Pi500: It boots, the BGM plays and the twin blue lines appear in the middle of the screen, but all I get is blue shaded blocks with no text appearing in response to various controller inputs. I can't seem to find any info about problems with this build anywhere, even though I gather from the Dischord that there are now Beta builds of 41 and even 42 upcoming... Has the main website been superceded with more up to date builds or something? At this point, I'm beginning to think RetroPie on my Pi400 was the way forward after all...

[@WagnersTechTalk]

I haven't tried a Pi 500 yet. They hadn't been released at the time of this video. I do have one on order and will check it out when it arrives.

[@galbyman]

After watching this In am dumping Retropie and moving to this platform.

[@thedanielescamilla]

Dude right!!!! I made my son a retro gaming console with retropie and this seems much more straight forward!!!

[@OfflineSetup]

Retropie dumped us.

[@targetrein]

I'm having a horrible time trying to get gamecube games to run on Batocera Pi5 (Dolphin), even at 1x using Vulcan - very, very choppy. Any tips you could recommend on getting these things to run at playable speeds? Great guide btw. All of the older stuff (Dreamcast, SNES, etc) seems to be running perfectly.

[@walledrodeo8126]

Great video very helpful thank u I have a question I have a 4tb hard drive of games now since there only a 128 gig sd card how do I get all my games on it

[@WagnersTechTalk]

I've not personally used this option, but you may find it helpful: wiki.batocera.org/store_games_on_a_second_usb_sata_drive

[@joehernandez5663]

Same. I'm trying to use an m.2 4tb nvme ssd on the raspberry pi 5. Can't find a video guide. Any suggestions?

[@T3AMWITBATTL3CHANN3L]

Hello Wagner! big fan of your tutorials. I'm having 2 issues with the initial setup: 1. When I click "Enable WIFI", enter my SSID and KEY and back out, it doesnt connect. However, when I directly connect ethernet cable it does. I obviously want WIFI though. 2. I'm not getting any sound even though it says music is playing on the emulator selection screen. Any help would be appreciated!

[@WagnersTechTalk]

Thank you for watching, I appreciate it! I've not encountered a situation when Batocera couldn't connect to an SSID with the correct password. However, there could be a difference in WiFi configurations that may cause it. Please see Batocera's page on WiFi here, there is a troubleshooting section that may be helpful: wiki.batocera.org/wifi_ssid . If you're not getting sound, check the Advanced Settings Audio Output and see if there are any other audio options to try. If not, swap the HDMI cable (I have had a similar issue that was fixed by replacing the HDMI cable).

[@jamieardenit7080]

Great guide thank you, how do I get the cool looking console bezels around the edge of the screen when in game like you have?

[@RZR-Sector9]

Hey there! I'm hoping that although this video is a few months old now, before I go through all the roms/bios "issues" that can often take some time, I was wondering if hypothetically speaking, if I owned an rg35xx with all of the roms and bios for that, if they would transfer directly to the roms and bios as a "copy/paste" method from the sd cards in the Anbernic RG35XX to the Pi 5 8gb or if due to different board/chip architecture, if somehow this method would not work? If you see this and can get back to me, please let me know. I think this would save many of us handheld users the trouble of finding separate rom/bios catalogue/libraries and just allowing a library of each to function for both a pi 5 emulation station as well as our rg35xx/whatever else handhelds. Thanks in advance, despite the answer being good or bad news lol!

[@WagnersTechTalk]

Often yes, you can copy the bios/roms from an existing device to another. I've done this several times over the years. Those type of files are independent of the underlying architecture being used to run them.

[@RZR-Sector9]

@@WagnersTechTalk Thanks so much for the quick answer! I'll get on this right away and let you know after completed how everything went! I appreciate it! If I run into any problems, I'll let you know! Thanks again!

[@stuandrews1975]

Excellent video. Thanks :) One question, can you play roms directly from a usb stick? Rather than having to copy them to the SD card?

[@WagnersTechTalk]

Yes, you can. You can also install batocera and roms to the usb stick and boot from it. Thank you for watching!

[@Dkline08]

Can you recommend a light gun similar to the shotgun in the sense that it’s pretty much just plug and play so I don’t have to set too many things up. My only problem with the shotgun is just kind of cumbersome so ideally a handgun would be preferable.

[@WagnersTechTalk]

I also have the Sinden Lightgun and it works well also: sindenlightgun.com/

[@Th3DarkCanuck]

Great video, thanks!

[@WagnersTechTalk]

You're very welcome, thank you for watching!

[@jonathanharth7206]

Hey Wagner, thank you for this superb tutorial! Is it possible to upscale the resolution of games (e.g. PSX) to 2x or up? If so, how and where could I do this? Thx

[@WagnersTechTalk]

Very welcome and thank you for your kind comments! Regarding upscaling, don't have any detailed information for you at the moment. Once I do, I'll let you know.

[@melkert81]

Hmm thanks for this. I was over complicating this. Sounds like i need to use my xbox 360 controller, have it plugged into the port first before having it boot. I was just trying to use a USB keyboard to move around the menus on the PI to find the bluetooth menu, nope, key bindings don't work... Some keys do work, just not the arrow keys. Thanks man, I'll give it a go with my 360 wired controller to start with and then attempt to pair some other wireless ones. Does the USB keyboard have move arrow and enter functionality whatsoever to add controllers?

[@WagnersTechTalk]

Hey, you're very welcome! You certainly can use the keyboard. Here's some that I can remember from within Emulation Station: F1 = Built-in File Manager ENTER = Menu Select = A Back = B / ESC Arrows = Up/Down/Left/Right Hotkey = C (may be wrong on this) I'm sure there are others that I'm overlooking.

[@MABst3r]

I'm sorry to bother but I can't get my pi5 to boot Batocera. I try flashing the image as you show on the video but I'm never able to safely remove the sd. When starting the pi it powers on but nothing boots up

[@WagnersTechTalk]

It may be that the card is defective. Try re-formatting the microSD using this: wagnerstechtalk.com/common/#Format_as_FAT32_Pi_Imager . Then, try re-imaging. If it still doesn't work, I'd try a different microSD. What brand are you using, if you don't mind?

[@garybryan33]

Very informative video. Thank you. I am having an issue with the Atari 5200 games. I get an error message that some bios files are missing, but the games seem to launch and play. Also, after applying the global "core provided" aspect ratio it only works with the mame games. Any pointers are truly appreciated.

[@WagnersTechTalk]

Very welcome! If the error message states the bios files are missing, it could be that Batocera isn't picking it up due to an invalid checksum. Go into the bios checker and see what it's saying. Then, try to find the exact same bios file somewhere and replace it, rerun the bios check. On the per-system configuration for any emulator, you should be able to adjust the video there.

[@izrailmoiseevic2844]

Thanks! It's good guide!

[@WagnersTechTalk]

Glad it helped, I appreciate ya watching!

[@devincurrie4145]

Great video, I have played different frontend and I like both EmuStation and Batocera. Which console system that RPi 5 cannot emulate yet at this time? E.g. PS3

[@WagnersTechTalk]

Thank you! You can check out the supported emulators for various devices here: batocera.org/compatibility.php

[@DjSoundcrusher]

Is it possible to emulate gamecube games with the pi 5? The 4 isn't powerfull enough, will this do the trick?

[@zlac]

Some games allegedly work, but not many, it's just not powerful enough. Pi4 was already choking on N64, but N64 works good on Pi5.

[@andrebradley1924]

Can you use pi 5 to play retro gaming hard drive or can you do that with the jetson orin nano super developer kit

[@WagnersTechTalk]

If the image was built for the Pi 5, you could connect it via USB or use an NVMe drive.

[@rcigv5422]

Hello, loved your video. I am trying to get the official raspberry pi 7 in monitor to work on a portable setup with the pi 5. Do you have any video for this? I appreciate it.

[@WagnersTechTalk]

I only have this video on a 7" Touch Screen, not sure if it's the same exact display though: kzbin.info/www/bejne/hJfPZoSljb-Igq8

[@richardkelleher1580]

I have the Pironman 5 setup, is there a way to install Pironman software to enable the display and LED lights with Batocera?

[@WagnersTechTalk]

Sunfounder has some information on their website that should work (I've not personally tried it): docs.sunfounder.com/projects/pironman5/en/latest/set_up/set_up_batocera.html

[@richardkelleher1580]

@ I’ll check it out, thanks!

[@chrisgibson1592]

Followed your exact instructions to download stuff, couldn’t get any games to work, then realised they have to go in the appropriate ROMS file👍. Still can’t get any other bios to download though…N64, ps2…any advice please..

[@WagnersTechTalk]

See 12:53 to see to check what bios files are missing (if any).

[@chrisgibson1592]

@@WagnersTechTalk there are loads missing, but how do you get them and install them please?

[@HossHopf_Rabbithole]

Thank you brother

[@WagnersTechTalk]

Very welcome!

[@TAZWK65]

What do you think raspberry pi 5 or beelink mini pc for running batocera?

[@WagnersTechTalk]

It really depends on the type of games you're wanting to play. If you're looking playing games starting around 2001 upwards, then a mini PC will perform a bit better. Otherwise, the Pi5 will suffice. Keep in mind, this is just a ball-park estimate. There are many games created beyond 2001 that will play just fine on the Pi5 with Batocera and it will continue to receive enhancements. Also, if you're interested in virtual pinball, VPX Standalone is included in the x86 builds and not yet available on the Pi5. Another point to consider.

[@gaboaaa23]

hey, what is the pro and con of batocera vs retropie? I heard that you only can install retropie with manual installation and that part scares me cause im not into raspberry pi language writing.

[@WagnersTechTalk]

A public release of RetroPie (stand-alone image) isn't yet publicly available for the Pi 5. For that reason, you may prefer to start with Batocera and or Recalbox. RetroPie does have some benefits in that you can add more emulators easily, but for the most part, Batocera or Recalbox should cover most systems you may want to play. More on both here: wagnerstechtalk.com/rpi5/#Retro_Gaming_Emulation

[@gaboaaa23]

@@WagnersTechTalk i see! I just want to use Ps1, Sega Mega Drive, N64, And old arcade games cause i want to use the pi in my arcade cabinet. Does batocera also have all these settings like resolution, autostart the emulation when the Pi is booting up, and Scanlines ?

[@WagnersTechTalk]

Yep, what you asked for is doable within Batocera. I'm also one that prefers scanlines for classic systems.

[@gaboaaa23]

@@WagnersTechTalk :) nice! So batocera is a streight forward process right? Just installing pi os and then batocera? Im totaly new to this stuff. :)

[@WagnersTechTalk]

Please rewatch this video, it is straightforward but you don't install PiOS first. You're installing Batocera which is it's own self-contained Linux OS.

[@PremiumWill]

Hi! You know if Virtua Striker Works and Ps2?Thanks

[@WagnersTechTalk]

I don't know for sure

[@PremiumWill]

@ ok,also for Ps2 you don’t know?

[@marcodeso4468]

In model 2 add roms but not present in the system ... work in raspberry pi5?

[@WagnersTechTalk]

It should work, here's more details on the Model 2: wiki.batocera.org/systems:model2

[@mikem3431]

Is there a way to completely shutdown the system so light turns off?

[@WagnersTechTalk]

You can add a usb-c power switch or unplug the pi5.

[@lawrenceroadloonie3847]

Ive just bought a pi 5 with os bookworm pre installed should i just download bacotera from there website the same way?

[@WagnersTechTalk]

Or grab a new microSD card and install using Pi Imager see 02:37. If you don't have a separate computer, you can use Pi Imager with bookworm + new microSD card using a microSD to USB adapter like this one: amzn.to/4fN3LUo

[@FlanFanNetwork]

Have you tried the new pi5 with 2GB ram? It’s giving me issues that the 4 and 8ram did not.

[@WagnersTechTalk]

I've only tested with a Pi5 with 4 & 8GB, I don't own a 2GB version to test. What kind of issues are you having? I'll update the video description once I know. Thank you for bringing this to my attention.

[@chefe2682]

Hello, short question. Where can I get Batocera, because the main page is down for download

[@WagnersTechTalk]

Looks like whatever issue they had is fixed now.

[@chefe2682]

@@WagnersTechTalk Hello, I have now loaded the image. But always have a black destop. I listen to music but it doesn't work. Unfortunately. I read online that many people have the same problem. I have the PI 5 with 8GB. Need a solution PLEASE

[@steveoliver7587]

@@chefe2682 I'm having the exact same isuue with my Pi500: You are the first person I have found describing the same problem. I wonder if the image got messed up when the site went down for maintenance somehow...

[@gregdixon9443]

Thanks for the help

[@WagnersTechTalk]

Any time!

[@Breakbeats92.5]

Can you flash the SD card using Rufus? I'm using a fork of Batocera on an Anbernic and the scraping function rules.

[@WagnersTechTalk]

If you're going to use it on a Pi5, then you'll want the Pi5 image. From there, you can copy your bios/roms from your Anbernic device.

[@Dkline08]

Interesting I never thought about doing it this way I always have done it through balena etcher

[@ystebadvonschlegel3295]

I have an old Wells Gardner D9205 CRT monitor with VGA only input. Will this system work with old CRT VGA outputs? I've struggled to get normal windows to even boot to it and most front ends aren't designed for that small screen size.

[@WagnersTechTalk]

I've used a USB to VGA adapter on an older Arcade cabinet using RetroPie years ago and that worked well. I've not personally tried that with Batocera, but it may work too. Some tinkering and perhaps reaching out on the Batocera Discord, if any additional drivers are needed, may be necessary.

[@kipper2k]

hi, do you have a vid on HDD/SSD setup ?

[@WagnersTechTalk]

I have two that are how to setup an NVMe SSD, not specifically using Batocera though. Those are: kzbin.info/www/bejne/r2rGeXmhfKhpd9k and kzbin.info/www/bejne/iKmchoGIm9-df5Y . Hope they're helpful to you!

[@kipper2k]

@@WagnersTechTalk Awesome. Thx :)

[@TimothyGray022]

Get the active cooler it is way better at cooling and allows you to overclock

[@mouhabuntu]

Which game controller 🎮 do you recommend?

[@WagnersTechTalk]

There are so many good ones out there. Here's a cheap one that I use frequently: wagnerstechtalk.com/retrobat

[@opium_apple]

I already have raspberry pi os installed on my pi5 4gb, and I am struggling to get emulation station to launch from terminal. Can this do that?

[@WagnersTechTalk]

You'll want to install Batocera to a separate microSD card. Like PiOS, Batocera is it's own operating system. But yes, Emulation Station is part of Batocera.

[@opium_apple]

@@WagnersTechTalk thank you

[@Remert467]

Any recommandations for pinball games with a pi5 running batocera?

[@WagnersTechTalk]

I think there are some for PS1 that were pretty well-done. Also know that the Batocera team is working on providing tables for VPX (on x86). I don't know if there are any plans for VPX on the Pi5 (I'm going to assume no, at this point, due to architecture differences)

[@MaverickM1]

Under amiga emulation Pinball Dreams and Pinball Fantasies from Digital illusions. Under Amiga Aga emulation Slam Tilt Aga from Liquid Dezign.(never played better flipper game ever)

[@Remert467]

@@MaverickM1 this looks awesome, thank you!! I also got a Williams pinball game from the wii working great on the pi5 for anyone that’s interested

[@richardjohansson9749]

My kids wants a Ps5 and I was like "hell no, far too expensive crap that my PC runs eights around." So I was looking at a Raspberry and begun thinking it seems like a bit of a hassle, but after watching this video, I can see that it's not much of a hassle at all. So here I am at work, looking at this video and got my brand new Pi and some peripherals right beside me waiting for me to come home and hook it up. I'll reference this video if I run across any problems.

[@WagnersTechTalk]

Yeah, not too much hassle. If I can be of assistance, just let me know.

[@richardjohansson9749]

@WagnersTechTalk when loading the SD card up with the Batocera for the first time, on your computer, can you fill the card with roms before even inserting it into the Pi?

[@WagnersTechTalk]

No, boot once as it will need to resize the microSD. Then, copy the files.

[@pmk8781]

All good but what if you don't have a Mac keyboard

[@WagnersTechTalk]

I don't use a Mac, any keyboard will do. Official Pi keyboard or most any USB keyboard.

[@pmk8781]

@@WagnersTechTalk I tried 3 different PC keyboards. F4 works but F1 does not

[@richarddukard8989]

2 important CONS for batocera on the pi5 compared to retropie or even other pcs running batocera. 1. Batocera on the pi5 does NOT support ps2. 2. Batocera on the Pi5 does NOT support flatpaks or Wine, so you wont be able to install web browsers, windows games, steam, etc.

[@ProyectK]

I had Retropie on my Raspberry pi 5 and does NOT support ps2. It doesn't support Drastic, so I move to Batocera, at least I can play Nintendo DS games on Batocera...

[@Kk_Lee754]

Whatsa different pi5 2gb,4gb and 8gb?

[@WagnersTechTalk]

It is the amount of RAM (Random Access Memory) on the Pi 5. RAM is fast short-term storage, that is, when you play a game it's loaded for long-term storage (microSD, SSD, etc.) into RAM. When you boot the Pi, the operating system is loaded into RAM as are any programs (or games) that you want to play. For most retro game emulators, 4GB is a good balance. If you want to use your Pi for larger tasks such as office applications, graphics, 3D modeling, etc. then 8GB may be ideal. Hope this helps.

[@Kk_Lee754]

@WagnersTechTalk thanks very much

[@freesaxon6835]

Does it emulate the BBC B computer?

[@WagnersTechTalk]

It can through the MAME Emulator. Here's more info. on the Batocera wiki: wiki.batocera.org/systems:bbc

[@freesaxon6835]

@WagnersTechTalk thanks

[@RonnieMohammed-v8o]

Can any say how to remap buttons when using the FBNEO emulator in Batocera?

[@mhgame]

How much latency you got in arcade controller

[@WagnersTechTalk]

Depends on the controller, how it's connected, etc. Typically, very minimal

[@MyChannel-vm6dw]

Please do an ANDROID curated 1tb image build so we can finally bring turn key emulation to phones.

[@WagnersTechTalk]

Interesting idea, thank you for your request!

[@RonnieMohammed-v8o]

After installing batocera and using fbneo successfully to play roms, is there a way to remap buttons inside the FBNEO emulator. I cant map buttons for roms loaded with FBNEO, can anyone help?

[@kunduz2652]

how to setup chrome in batocera

[@WagnersTechTalk]

Batocera is a special-purpose Linux OS for Retro Gaming, it's not meant for running Chrome. For that, you'll want to likely look at using Pi Desktop or Ubuntu running Firefox/Chromium if you need a browser. Please see this guide for more: wagnerstechtalk.com/rpi5

[@kunduz2652]

@@WagnersTechTalk There are people doing the installation

[@MhEaLcuriAL]

How to auto shutdown batocera?

[@knowel7138]

Dual screens yet???

[@WagnersTechTalk]

Not that I'm aware of.

[@gooseuk1985]

Where is a good place to get all the bios from ? Could do with every one in one place and dragging them over.

[@kiodiekin]

Over clocking does nothing for emulation

[@savekillqqpsounds8473]

Man im still salty batocera had to take out 3ds emulation cuz of fucktendo

[@WagnersTechTalk]

It is a bummer for sure.

[@savekillqqpsounds8473]

@@WagnersTechTalk its my favourite console too i used to have a 3ds xl which i got for christmas when it released as a small child i have so many good memories with it and a lot of games. Sadly i broke the top screen off back then. Nowerdays i could fix it but back then i couldnt and i threw it away so i rlly wanted to play on my rasberry pi 5 but well dont work cuz nintendont want us to have fun

[@omgitsbats]

God I wish they'd stop adding their visuals and logos all over the place. They're obnoxious and hideous. Let people choose themes without forcing the weird branding. Also your LCD "arcade" is pointless. Use a TV at that point it's identical.