One of the Raspberry Pi attributes that has most attracted the attention of its users, is its great versatility and ability to adapt to the needs of the user, by becoming practically anything.
In the field of entertainment it is no different, since one of the which can be used to emulate old games. For this, one of the best options is the distribution known as Batocera.
In the next few paragraphs, you will learn step by step everything you need to know about Batocera and the methods you can use to install it on your Raspberry Pi, until turning it into an entertaining retro console.
What is Batocera and what is it for in Raspberry Pi single board computers?
batocera is a distribution for Linux and focused on the emulation of various classic consoles. To the be from , it is completely free and has really simple installation procedures. It is a Linux project specialized in retrogaming, and that we can obtain very easily from the official project page, and implement them on our computer or Raspberry Pi console as a Bootable medium, without the need to install anything.
Batocera Features and Functions What can we do with it on a single Raspberry Pi board?
A project based on a distribution as versatile as Debianhas many qualities that allow a high degree of customization and a wide variety of consoles to emulate.
Among the most outstanding characteristics of Batocera, we can mention:
- High customization capacity, through themes, shaders, and bevels.
- compatibility with more than 50 retro consoles.
- great stability to emulate the most demanding consoles.
- Since it can be used on a bootable medium, It is a portable operating system and always ready to use.
- Being an open source system, It is always in constant improvement and growth.
Hardware requirements for retrogaming on the Raspberry Pi with Batocera. What do I need to get the most out of it?
For install this distribution on your Raspberry Pi, You must meet a series of physical requirements to be able to prepare the operating system to be used.
These requirements are:
- A Micro SD memory of at least 16 GB storage.
- a computer with Whale Etcher installed.
- A tv to which to connect the Raspberry Pi.
- Input peripherals (keyboard and controller).
Being the Raspberry Pi itself, Batocera is optimized to work on most boards, however the best options are described below:
- Raspberry Pi 3B/3b+: one of the most advanced with a 1.4GHz CPU and 1GB RAM.
- Raspberry Pi 4: the most advanced available to date, with a 1.5 GHz CPU and variable RAM memory from 1 GB to 8 GB depending on the model.
Versions and editions of Batocera What are all the ones that exist and what new features does each one include?
According to Batocera’s change history, this emulation distro has gone through a lot of changes since its inception, starting as a variant of a Recallbox edition, called “recallbox.remix”.
Batocera has undergone 31 updates since its inception in 2016, and the most relevant changes occur in the following versions:
- Batocera 5.0: recallbox.remix becomes batocera.linux.
- Batocera 5.01: technical improvements and addition of the Linux 4.9 kernel.
- Batocera 5.02: Added 5 emulators and fixed auto update process.
- Batocera 5.03: improvements in various emulators and added the ability to make backups from the menu.
- Batocera 5.07: technical improvements and improvement of some emulators.
- Batocera 5.10: Major bug fixes.
- Batocera 5.14: improvements to the Wii emulator and various other updated emulators.
- Batocera 5.15: Atari 5200 emulator is added.
- Batocera 5.16: Dolphin emulator for Gamecube and Wii is added.
- Batocera 5.18: retroarch is updated to version 1.7.4 and the pcsx2 emulator for PlayStation 2 is added.
- Batocera 5.21: an Nvidia driver and the Citra emulator for Nintendo 3DS are added.
- Batocera 5.22: major driver and emulator updates.
- Batocera 5.30: Stability improvements for emulators.
- batocera 5.32: latest version available, with improvements in Bluetooth for wireless peripherals.
Yes ok there are many more updatesMost of them consist of improvements for update support and minor bug fixes.
Learn step by step how to install Batocera on a Raspberry Pi from scratch to turn your single board into a retro arcade machine
One of the best attributes of the Raspberry Piis that you can installing distributions for this single-board computer very easily.
To do this, you just have to follow the process described below:
Download Batocera
You may get the Batocera image file from the official website of the project. The files are sorted by device and model, so make sure you download the right version for your Raspberry Pi model.
You can download Batocera through this procedure:
- enter to https://batocera.org/download.
- Scroll until you find the Raspberry Pi model for which you wish to obtain Batocera.
- click in Direct link for start the download.
The download will start automaticallyand as soon as it finishes, you can use a flash tool to write the operating system inside a Micro SD memory.
Flash Batocera to your MicroSD
As soon as the Batocera image file has downloaded, use a writing tool to install the OS on a Micro SD and when you insert it into your Raspberry Pi, it will run the OS.
For this, the recommended tool is Balena Etcher:
When installing Etcher, the steps to follow to complete the process are:
- Insert the Micro SD memory into the computer Where did you download the image file?
- Opens the program Whale Etcher.
- Choose the file Batocera’s image.
- Select the Micro SD where you plan to install the operating system.
- click in “Flash”.
All you have to do then is wait for the writing process on the SD to finish and you can insert it into your Raspberry Pi. Once this is done, only the configuration process remains.
controller configuration
In order to properly enjoy the potential of Batocerait is necessary to have a controller in order to have the best emulation experience.
If you have a controller connected to your Raspberry Pi, the procedure to configure it is as follows.
- Connect your controller to the Raspberry Pi.
- press any key on the controller to display the popup message.
- hold down any key until the setup wizard appears.
- press each key according to the action you want to perform with it.
- Yes you don’t have enough keys for all the commands, hold any key until the system skips the line.
- When all the lines are set up, press “Okay” on the bottom.
Once all the keys are configured, you can use the remote to perform all the necessary actions within Batoceraboth within the games and in the menus of the operating system.
Network Configuration
The next thing you should do is configure network connection through which you can access the local network and transfer games between the computer and the Raspberry Pi
To do this, follow these steps:
- hold the button “Start” on your remote to access the main menu.
- Go into “Network Configuration”.
- If you are using an Ethernet cable connection, the connection should be fine. If you want to use a Wifi, enable the option “Enable Wi-Fi”.
- Select the SSID from the list that will appear, and enter the password of your Wi-Fi network.
- Be sure to take note of the IP addresssince it will be useful later.
Start Game
The games will not be displayed immediately once they are inside the SD memory.
For this, it is necessary to restart the Batocera system, in order for the interface to refresh and show the new games:
- horizontal arrows they allow you to switch between emulators.
- vertical arrows allows you to switch between games of each emulator.
- For start a new gameyou just have to press “B”.
Batocera vs RecallBox and RetroPie Which one is better for your retro gaming project on Raspberry Pi?
These are three powerful emulation options for the Raspberry Pi, each of them targets a different audience, being that each user looks for a specific attribute in their emulators. Batocera is one of the most dynamic options in terms of its level of use. It has a large number of emulators to use, and its ease of use makes it one of the best options for emulation newbies
Recalbox features similar features to Batocera, with functionality very similar to this system due, in part, to their common origin. Recalbox provides ease of use that puts it on the podium of beginner options. RetroPie, meanwhile, presents a slightly different orientationaimed at users who are focused on seeking a balanced experience between the Batocera facility.
The power of a more stable operating system, with more than 60 emulators to choose from. Both Batocera and RetroPie and RecalBox have their strengths and areas in which they excel. The distribution that offers the most balanced experience is undoubtedly RetroPie.although if you want to get started in the world of retro emulation, Batocera is a firm option to choose.
Facebook Comments
Disqus