Setting up Retropie on a Raspberry Pi 3 for an Arcade Cabinet

[@tehandroidmaster]

You know the funny thing is that I watched this video years ago to set up my own Raspberry Pi 3 B+, and then I completely forgot about your channel. I feel so bad to say that it was David's video on the Apple 1 that got me to check out your channel again all these years later. Seriously man, I hope you've been doing well and I also wanna say that your content today is just as fantastic, if not more so than what I watched all those years ago. Definitely remembering to Like and Subscribe this time!

[@jerbear1978]

I am having trouble finding your video of you setting up your arcade controls with the RaspberryPi.

[@trufantom21]

He didn't make one.

[@croydonsfinest007]

Bought your blue print for the bartop arcade and it turned out phenomenal. I just switched the speakers up where the marquee is. Thanks for all your help. Keep America rolling.

[@GemMintCollectibles]

Can you stretch the screen so the game fills the whole monitor?

[@TheGeekPub]

Gem Mint Collectibles yes but it looks stupid like that.

[@GemMintCollectibles]

TheGeekPub how do you do it?

[@TheGeekPub]

Depends on which emulator and what system. In MAME its on the display settings page.

[@rgriff000]

awesome video. I have watched multiple videos on how to do this and this was by far the most informative and easiest to follow. thank you

[@gregmarquis1886]

yeah right the easiest.....he never mentions where he gets his ROM files from...which website?

[@tenzingngodub641]

Where can you download NES Roms legally & without any virus on the computer, please reply.

[@greenscool]

Wow this is the most helpful and supportive video!! :) considering doing this project myself instead of purchasing an already built custom arcade

[@timbo78641]

You made it look so easy! Well, I dropped about $100 on Amazon, got some gear (newer hardware available), did the full install (new code available), and got Retropie up & running! Vilros kit, SNES controllers, Pi4 2GB, but otherwise the same thing. Cool so far. Now came the Super Mario Bros. ROM test. Unfortunately, none of the buttons work except for the 'A' button, which switches between 1 & 2 players. Otherwise you get a never-ending demo screen with no way to get out unless you're a UNIX/Linux whiz like me and access it remotely. I've had people tell me online it has something to do with Retroarch, but I'm still working through this. Like I said - Linux whiz, RPI newbie. I just booted it this morning for the first time. *sigh*

[@enoughrice]

Thank you! I just gave my mother-in-law's hobby back. She is happy.

[@captcorajus]

You're really knocking out of the park with this series. THANK YOU! Can you provide a pi baker link for Windows?

[@TheGeekPub]

Follow link to article in description.

[@FunnyAsian00]

The easiest instruction video ever!

[@GradientGhoul]

i went out and got a Raspberry Pi 3 as soon as i saw this video.... dude this is the most amazing thing ever! THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR MAKING THIS VIDEO!!!!

[@ckmoore101]

Now in 2022, would there be any updates on this regarding procedure, or newer hardware?

[@EcksGamer]

So this is the simpler method right because i have been thinking of getting a Pi just for some old arcade favorites (mainly 90's arcade games like Killer Instinct as an example).

[@bisonfacelove]

once you finish doing all these steps, how do you apply the retropie to your arcade cabinet so instead of using controller you use the buttons on the arcade?

[@door941]

Great video,when are you doing the video on the bartop arcade button mapping?

[@migs532]

Nice vid, but you missed showing a step. Which is, once you have your USB and load games, where did you extract or downloaded the Mario bros games? You had it already on your desktop screen. Sorry if i'm a little slow but i'm a beginner. Also need to see how you configure the controls from the D pad for an Arcade.

[@morantaylor]

Isn't the first format redundant, the imaging process should reinitialise the cards structure? I am going to give this a go there are a couple of Pi 2's in my parts collection.

[@lucius1976]

9:10 Can you leave the Files zipped? Thought you have to unzip them before you copy it.

[@TheGeekPub]

No. Leave them zipped.

[@jordandewolf3606]

Need more info for win32 disk image. Do I read or write the image and to i download retropie directly to the sd card or to computer

[@wippy748s]

hi , did you ever do a vid on wiring up the arcade sticks, i have just made a cabinet with 2 players and was wondering how you go about getting the 2nd player working properly

[@TheGeekPub]

All on my website.

[@TheManShel]

When is the next video coming? I am looking to build a arcade like this!

[@TheGeekPub]

Hopefully this weekend! It's been busy in my personal life lately.

[@TheManShel]

Thanks! I am excited!

[@aztechomie64]

got the sound to work...but the sounds waves up and down... but my question now is when I shut it down to turn it off for the night in the morning or when I leave it come back I plus it back in and it doesn't load just gives me n error code ? Am I string down wrong?

[@fastechsystems404]

I already have an old PC so I would like to see a video or link explaining how to do this using a PC.

[@samball2216]

So I’m making an arcade with retro pie and I don’t have a controller (I’m using arcade buttons and joystick) so do I set up the buttons on retropie with the arcade buttons or do I need a controller

[@elliob]

Great video. How do I change the buttons currently configured for my keyboard? For example, I want to change the A button to point to "A" key on keyboard..B button to point to "S" key on keyboard.

[@FlintG]

Very cool! I am also getting a pi 3 and will be setting up retro pi. I already have a couple snes usb controllers one from iBuffalo and one that is the snes30.

[@rubendelarosaii5713]

Hi, I am running in to an issue. After I baked the SD card, my Mac shows a message about not recognizing the SD card. When i pop the card in the rasberry pi, nothing happens. Any idea whats going on here?

[@csufjeff]

I ran into a really frustrating power problem with the pi. the solution is a independent 12 power supply with a buck down 12 volt to 5 volt circuit from sunfounder. works great....Cheer Jeff

[@woodyofp8574]

One thing I'm a bit worried about, as I haven't ordered anything yet; It's possible to orient the screen rotated at 90°, right? I'm planning to make a mame arcade cabinet with a portrait picture orientation, and I'm just making sure it's possible.

[@TheGeekPub]

Sure, you'll need to resize several of the pieces though.

[@theaussiemanhole2193]

Hi, You said that you would be doing a detailed video on wiring up the raspberry pi, buttons, etc. Did you ever do that?

[@TheGeekPub]

It's on my website...

[@juanmerino7646]

Hi I have a question I have the retropi on my raspberry pie then I put my usb with a folder name retropie I plug it in my raspberry pie ...then after that I dont get the roms folder or anything

[@onyx_lc9517]

This just made me get a Raspberry PI 3 :) I'm gonna be so hyped when it comes xD

[@EmoBoy229]

You forgot about the part where you have to configre how you back to the menus. theres a spesfice button comenation and btw can we see how you intergated it into your bartop?

[@TheGeekPub]

As I mentioned in the video, I will be discussing that very thing in a future video. It's a full video on its own.

[@EmoBoy229]

TheGeekPub Sounds great! looking forword to it. gonna get a pi 3 soon enough, and after that build my own machine/bartop

[@mikeboss416]

Fantastic video. You laid out everything so clearly. Really enjoyed this. I look forward to checking out more of your videos.

[@samball2216]

How do you get game roms? When I plugged back in my USB no rom files came up

[@thewalkingdeadguide]

whats up thanks for the awesome tutorial. I bought the plans but have an old pc monitor i picked up for 1 dollar so wanna use that. any advice on fitting it into my cab? how would i put a vesa mount into it. thankd.

[@mrmustang2000]

Thanks for the video. I'm looking to do a bartop project with Rasberry Pi as well. Can't wait for the video on the cabinet controls!

[@TheGeekPub]

Check my website. I've already got a couple videos on the controls.

[@mrmustang2000]

Thanks I'll check it out. Keep up the good work.

[@girtha1134]

Where's the best site to find the roms? And do they have save points in the games

[@LoneProphet1990]

When I attached my usb to the rasberry pi it didn't not get formatted for the retropie roms folder did I do something wrong?

[@xxlosbanditosxx7203]

question can I use this to play games and movies in my ford expedition rear entertainment system for the kids? would like info on setting it up.

[@TheGeekPub]

I don't see any reason why not.

[@ColinCochranT11]

How is the input lag? A friend of mine built one of these and it suffers from a lot of lag via a SNES like controller and modern HDMI Samsung TV.

[@TheGeekPub]

I have not noticed any lag and I have played hundreds of hours on this thing.

[@MostlyLuke]

I want to make an arcade should I get the latte panda or canakit?

[@pofrani]

Do I really need a case for the Pi in my arcade build?

[@PST101]

Do you have a video explaining how to map/wire buttons to the raspberry pi for a proper mame arcade machine? Thanks in advance.

[@TheGeekPub]

On my website.

[@EvilMP5]

Mike is there a way to put several old classic arcade games on the rasberry pi? I am trying to make my friend a table top version but he wants several classic games on it.

[@TheGeekPub]

You can put as many as you want.

[@frankiel5127]

My question is the speakers....is it cuz you are using a computer monitor with speakers or is it required?

[@enriqueg873264]

wow!!! thanks I almost purchased one from a guy for $100 . it's soo easy to do I'm buying it this week. love your channel and thanks again.

[@anthonypapa8676]

where do you get all the downloads for the different kind of games

[@TheGeekPub]

As mentioned, I can't tell you that. If you don't understand why I am sorry.

[@MaxellAdGuy]

I'm finally diving into the Pi

[@funebral666]

great video. please help me when i play a game i can not hear any sound on tv why?

[@davidhill2444]

Im trying to mod my arcade1up and I plug everything into my arcade1up and my raspberry pi 4 welcome screen wont come on. I though it was a bad pi to I returned and got a new one only to get the same issue. Any ideas?

[@yli_vuori]

So is it possible to have two sds; one with say rasbian and one with retropie? An switch between them whenever you want?

[@TheGeekPub]

Absolutely.

[@alexkapnias9992]

Hi Mike have you done a config video for the desktop arcade buttons and joystick

[@TheGeekPub]

On my site.

[@alexkapnias9992]

TheGeekPub cheers mike

[@terrencelabroix5272]

Hi , I'm considering an HDMI plug in multicade for my tv powered by Raspberry Pi 3. Is there an easy way to find the complete games list? Thanks

[@SpazztasticGamers]

I did everything you said but all I get is the tool sprockets Icon above the retropie name. Everything is accountable for in the files editor. Do I need to do something in the configurations for retropie? I didn't see my SD card on my mac for some reason but it showed when I ran the Pie Baker deal and the formatting. All I see is RetroPie, under that says 13 games available.

[@TheGeekPub]

Move your joystick left and right.

[@SpazztasticGamers]

I did that even too.. Does not move.. I set up the controller right.. even added another and still the same thing.

[@MG-ek7qn]

Hey can you maybe help me out? i'm doing a NES Cartridge Mod, using the retropi 1.3 version board. I downloaded retro pi and have it on the memory card. I have the same NES usb controller u do. It comes to the welcome screen and says 1 gamepad detected and i hold down a button but get nothing. i've tried this with another controller as well? The usb hub i have connected to to the retro pi board works fine i tested it out on my computer. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated? thanks

[@ddarko08]

Extremely helpful video, thank you! I've been thinking about getting a Retro Pie 3 and set up a cabinet, and this is making me really want to pull the trigger soon!

[@pulsar-tm5uq]

Don't do it, you have so much to live for!

[@jaewookim0830]

where did you get the woods

[@uniqe23]

Hey great vid! I was just curious, is it possible to split partitions in 2 or even 3 - in order to have multiple boot (ie. noobs, raspbian, mediacenter os, ect.? ) and have one of them as retropie?

[@TheGeekPub]

No, but there's no reason you couldn't just have multiple SSD cards.

[@jeffhurd60]

do you have a link where I can find a decent price on a raspberry pi to go this setup? Thank you

[@bigbadjohn8207]

How do you do all this with a raspberry pi? Like formatting the sd card and loading the retro pi? I have a pi with rasbian installed

[@therealpanse]

have you watched the video?

[@bigbadjohn8207]

Yes but you use a pc to load the operating system on the sd card

[@bigbadjohn8207]

Can’t you do that with the usb/sd card adapter thru the raspberry pi’s usb? If I already have the pi running on raspian on the main sd slot on the bottom

[@bigbadjohn8207]

I bought the pi to use as a pc

[@therealpanse]

@@bigbadjohn8207 with a second sd card and a card reader plugged into the pi, yes. but you can't flash a new image over the running system on the sd card

[@MajesticVoid]

Great Video! Although I would have to say I think the heat sinks are more then necessary, especially when running running Retropie. You can gain improvements in fps with more graphically demanding games such as the ones on The PS1, N64, Dreamcast etc. by implementing a small overclock in the Retropie config. The heatsinks will definitely make a difference in that situation. Also, the added heat dissipation that the heatsinks provide will surely prolong the life of your components.

[@TheGeekPub]

The makers of the RPI3 have an article on their website in which they confirm the heatsinks are not needed. Don't take my word for it.

[@jamesjohnson6882]

How do you get the games to drag into the usb drive?

[@murshid.k7339]

Came to watch this video and it was tempting me more to watch all other videos on this channel. Subbed ofcourse. Great videos.

[@victorsanchez8318]

What's the biggest size sd card you can add to the pi ?

[@Ryanndotcom]

do i need to leave the usb in at all time is there a way to transfer files to sd card?

[@robinlewis1975]

Awesome video the usb stick was everything

[@TB-nf6bs]

When I dropped Roms into the nes or snes folders and I didn't unzip them they did not appear. So I unzipped them and they work now. A new problem though is Segax32 those are zipped and do not appear on emulation station when I unzip them it creates 3-6 different Roms in its own folder (this is in progress right now) I'm having a feeling since in the unzipped folder for let's say sonic has 3-5 of the same file just with a different version on the end that it will now work. If this doesn't work I think I'm stuck with transferring select Roms instead of a compilation what else can I do

[@amidarren]

hi there so the sd card acts as a hard disk and holds the os (retropie)? if i take another sd card and use it with raspbian ...i can just swap it out? or do i need another raspberry pi? thanks

[@Phurdy]

Great video. Since I am new, where is the best place to locate game zip files to load into the raspberry?

[@ozbaz99]

Great video. You have helped make a 10 year old boy very happy

[@hiramrichmond7584]

could you send the link to the kit you bought?

[@TheGeekPub]

It's all on my website.

[@hiramrichmond7584]

thanks!

[@tenminutetokyo2643]

That is one heck of a nice bookshelf.

[@clindgren316]

Do you have a video on how to set up the joystick process?

[@TheGeekPub]

Uhm... in this very video... starting around 7:20.

[@jlor00jl]

What do you think a good size monitor to use for a machine setup?

[@flpennstater305]

is it possible to put the roms directly on the sd card instead of an external usb (use a 128gb card). Are the same directories on the sd card as get populated on the usb stick? Once formatted and imaged with retropie, can you still read the sd card on a pc to add the games to the appropriate folders?

[@TheGeekPub]

The roms get copied to the internal SD Card. They do not live on the USB stick.

[@Javi-sk4gz]

How do I know when the files are done downloading from the pi and it's okay to remove the stick?

[@TheGeekPub]

You don't. Just wait 30 seconds. That's more than enough time.

[@JRLopez13]

So, to play games you'll always have to have the USB stick in the PI with the Roms or they automatically get copied in the SD card?

[@TheGeekPub]

They get copied...

[@Dogman690]

would I need 2 separate micro SD cards for this? would it make it so it always only boots into the retro stuff?

[@llamarvasquez1803]

How did you get your raspberry PI 3+ game video play smooth mines all pixelated jagged edge on all games is there a special setting or what do I have to do to make it smooth like yours

[@TheGeekPub]

Nope. It just works. I'd reimage and reinstall.

[@gop305]

Once the RetroPie recognized Super Mario Bros does it automatically save it to the Retro Pie? Or to play those games would you always need the flash drive?

[@TheGeekPub]

That's not what I demonstrated. Watch it again. ;-)

[@LVNITUPM8]

Awesome video. Whats the ptogram to put the retropie on the sd card for windows and where do you get the games

[@mirakles305]

Thanks for the video. I have seen others build a cabinet and they leave all of this out, which is kinda important.

[@LazyBunnyKiera]

Not sure if anyone has told you yet. But you're definitely going to want to use a heatsink, or even a larger heatsink with a 25mm mini fan. The pi3 will thermal throttle pretty bad. :( They'll hit 80c. If you want to go fanless, just get a decent enough heatsink, and possibly a couple small copper pieces to raise it up a couple mm, so you can fit a larger heatsink over the camera and hdmi connectors.

[@TheGeekPub]

I can tell you that I have an RPi 3, running without a heatsink in a dedicated arcade cabinet (see my bartop cabinet). It is in a non-air conditioned environment, running 24/7 and has never crashed or had a single problem. Whoever started this whole "RPi needs a heatsink for an arcade machine" needs a swift kick in the ass.

[@LazyBunnyKiera]

Much hostile, very aggressiveness, wow. Also i didn't say "need". Just a suggestion. It won't crash, it'll just thermal throttle. If you're running like.. pacman you're not going to notice, but if you're running something a bit more demanding like n64, mame, psx, dreamcast etc... You'll likely get a bit of thermal throttling. And it's specific to the Pi3. The pi2 and pi1s won't need a heatsink of course. Maybe have an OSD show your clock speeds, and temps, see if it's throttling. Also, the Rpi foundation guys are the ones suggesting the heatsink on the pi3. Especially if it's in a smaller enclosure. So i guess you can give them a swift kick in the ass. Afterall if there's anyone that doesn't know what they're talking about with the pi3's thermal throttling, it's definitely the RPi foundation guys!

[@TheGeekPub]

I'm not being aggressive.. I am stating facts. Here's a link to the official manufacturers page where their own FAQ says and I quote "No heatsink should be required unless you are overclocking." You can't get anymore from the source than that: www.raspberrypi.org/help/faqs/#performanceHeatsink

[@LazyBunnyKiera]

There's a few videos on it. Can search Pi3 Thermal Throttle. The people aren't even overclocking it, just running benchmarks. and getting 80C which is around where it'll thermal throttle. Plenty even show when it starts to thermal throttle. Lets not make a big deal out of this. Cause i don't care of you use a heatsink or not. But other people who are doing this, may want to consider it. After all. for about $3, and a little ventilation around the heatsink, and you simply don't even need to worry about it getting too hot. $3 won't break the bank. Hell if someone has an ancient motherboard from the last 10 years laying around, there's probably a north/south bridge heatsink you can use. Just supply a very tiny amount of thermal paste.

[@flipmanonline]

Can you also use the baking software on windows? I only saw a ios download? And can i play gameboy games on it?

[@aztechomie64]

hi finally got it to work but now I have no sound ?how do I fix that I have it connected to my flat screen hdmi?

[@roosk1423]

aztechomie64 use a audio to audio jack cable and plug it from the pi to your tv

[@Ciceronic]

I found this at the net, and tried. It fixed my HDMI sound issues: 1) elinux.org/R-Pi_Troubleshooting#Sound really did the trick - in \boot\config.txt , uncomment hdmi_drive=2 2) Next I did : sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get upgrade sudo apt-get install alsa-utils sudo modprobe snd_bcm2835 Nothing changed, but then 3) I ran this command - amixer cset numid=3 2 (yes I put the space after the 3 and then the 2) And sound now works beautifully The other thing that really helped was getting the sound to come out louder. I fixed that by doing this: Enter the command 'alsamixer' and use the control to check that the volume is up (arrow keys) and that the output is not muted (M key).

[@simmayu3279]

after you finish downloading the software can you play on the TV instead of the computer.

[@TheGeekPub]

Simma Yu that is a TV.

[@simmayu3279]

@geek pub great!!ok then I think I will be better off with this ten a Nintendo Nes! thanks for sharing.

[@letskickshellcollecting448]

ive been having trouble, you made so simple, and i dont know when i have the retropie dowload write with win32, it is successfully completed. then i put the sd into the raspberry pi 3 but nothing shows on my screen. ive check the connections and the power light is on. have the steps 10 times, no results. any suggestions? im using windows pc.

[@brixinvestmentgroup4407]

where do you go to download all the games for different systems?

[@albertosalazar6597]

@Matt S. You would have to do an online search for that. There are plenty of resources online.

[@alfonsoafricano8415]

Thank you for the video…. One question, can you watch movies with it such as media files or apps

[@michaelzielinski7969]

Mike, I completed this project and all worked great. Just one thing. Could you throw me some information as to how you have your SNES 9x now called SNES 2010 configured. The problem with Retropie vs say Recalbox is that it's not ready to go out of the box. My games look terrible on Retropie as they are VERY pixelated. Any tutorials on this?

[@TheGeekPub]

Retropie is most definitely ready to go out of the box. It is plug and play. Sounds to me like your using a VGA monitor adapter instead of a native HDMI.

[@michaelzielinski7969]

I figured out my problem. I had initially followed someone's videos on Recalbox and used it for about a week. Retropie is in fact ready to go. However, Recalbox came with Video Smoothing turned on. My eyes were "used" to seeing the games rendered that way. With Retorpie, I thought something was wrong just because my games looked different. Thanks for your videos. This has been a great project for the holidays. I'm really looking forward to getting into your arcade builds ;)

[@yodom5461]

Do I have to connect speakers or will the hdmi output supply the sound as well? Oh and I saw in another video that I would have to replace the wall plug for some reason. Is that something I have to do or can I plug it in with the one that's provided.

[@TheGeekPub]

If your TV or monitor has speakers you can certainly use them over HDMI. I didn't replace the power supply and I have built several of these.

[@yodom5461]

TheGeekPub thank you sir I truly enjoy your videos!!!!

[@jaimebermudez606]

Will u still have smariobros on raspberry pi after taking out usb stick from the rspby pi

[@TheGeekPub]

Yes. That's exactly what I demonstrated. ;-)

[@victoriamorgan444]

I got the retro pie screen up and configured my PS3 controller to use, but I can't scroll from game to game. it says there is 13 games available. Please help

[@icedt5617]

Victoria McDonald I have the exact same problem right now, did you ever figure it out?

[@GapeBurrito]

How would you map the tabletop arcade buttons to the Pi3 and the MAME emulator

[@melannieworld]

once, I've configure the control. It displays the main screen which I cant scroll to the left or right. Also it tells me that there's games installed. Please help me.

[@hughjasoul7698]

great job bro, when you gonna do the video for hooking up arcade buttons to pi? Hopefully for xin-mo pcb

[@TheGeekPub]

Check my site!

[@hughjasoul7698]

+TheGeekPub I did but didnt see it , I'm probably not looking at the right video, unless you are talking bout a web site? Sorry for the noob questions.

[@TheGeekPub]

+Hugh Jasoul yes. Thegeekpub.com. Not all of my content is on KZbin. :-)

[@hughjasoul7698]

+TheGeekPub. Sweet , I will check it out. Thanks. P.S. Ive shared your vid on twitter, facebook , instagram , kakao, and reddit already with multiple accounts . ;)

[@iAttestJesus]

Can the raspberry pi 3 have the ability to use gameshark and action replay?

[@JohnEBlaze-fm8go]

I have to do all my work in a tablet.i went to the website but u said not to use windows or mac..so which formatter do I use? The one you used in the video or can I use the one for android since I'm using a table to install retro pi?

[@lildapp76]

Very cool!! Where do you get more games from ?

[@hoopyloops80]

It is considered a form of piracy so I don't believe anyone will give you a direct link. It is a fairly simple google search away though. Just google (system name) roms. eg NES ROMS or Genesis Roms. Sometimes you will find a download for a full set of roms for a system. You have to be careful with these though because when they say full set they actually mean EVERYTHING. You will want to spend some time curating this list to games that are actually good and get rid of all but the most recent revisions.