RetroPie Questions

[tardman91]

Who’s built one? I’m going to venture building my own since I’m not lucky enough to score a SNES classic or an NES classic from last year. I like the flexibility of it, plus the “l built it myself” factor. I’ve found some good online tutorials, but I was wondering if anyone had some tips/tricks or things you wish you’d know ahead of time to share. I’m fairly handy, good at following directions, and not a moron. I was big into modifying cell phones back in the RAZR days and a jailbreaking fool back when that was the only way iPhones would work on other carriers. I haven’t built something like this before, but I’m sure it can’t be that hard.

One pressing question is what controller to get. I think I want to stick with a wired one for simplicity (are there really a ton of extra steps involved with the Bluetooth ones like the directions suggest?) I’m really just interested in NES, SNES, and N64 games. The N64 part is what makes it hard to choose a controller. There’s plenty of USB ones on amazon, but are they also good for the older games? Should I buy two controllers? One N64 and one for NES/SNES? Any suggestions?

 

[Jinkst]

https://nerdtechy.com/review-old-skool-nes-case-raspberry-pi
https://www.imore.com/make-your-own-snes-classic

There are some links to controllers in the above. I haven’t made my own yet, but given its so hard to get a NES/SNES Classic I will do so, I’ve got some travel coming up so have been holding off til after that.

I plan on getting the NES casing as per both of the articles above. The nostalgia is undeniable. I think I’ll use my PS4 controllers initially, see how everything goes and then add to the feel with an old school one later.

 

[thisismyusername]

I use a RasPie with RetroPie for all my retro gaming and it's a much better solution than Nintendo's classic/mini offerings (no Chrono Trigger!? Seriously Nintendo!?). It's very easy to setup. It's also fairly easy to setup scan lines and whatnot so it looks more like it would on a CRT. I only use it for 8 and 16 bit era gaming and have never had a problem. I'm not sure how well N64 games work on a RasPie but you might want to research that if you really care.

I use authentic NES and SNES controllers with it but, to be honest, I hardly ever use an NES controller anymore. There are 3 problems with using an NES controller:
1) It's not nearly as comfortable as an SNES controller
2) If you play NES and SNES games a lot, you'll be switching controllers and that's annoying (I'm lazy).
3) You use various button combinations to do things like reset the emulator, save/load states, exit the emulator to go back to RetroPie's main menu, etc, and, by default at least, some of those use buttons that aren't on an NES controller (e.g. shoulder buttons). You can probably remap them but an SNES controller works just as well.

If I wanted to play N64 games, I'd definitely use a real N64 controller with the appropriate adapter and switch out to an SNES controller for NES and SNES games.

If you're not sure where to buy authentic NES/SNES/N64 controllers, there's probably a retro video game store in your area and they'll probably have plenty to choose from. They should have real consoles setup so you can try them and verify they work. Otherwise... ebay.

RasPie kit I bought: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01C6FFNY4/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

MicroSD card I use: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B010Q57T02/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

NES to USB adapter I use: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00HM3QCN2/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

SNES to USB adapter I use: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002IXZ5DE/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I used to use the following case: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01F1PSFY6/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 , however that was too boring looking so I switch to this mini NES one: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01M4OOY4U/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Another cheap and very popular controller is the Buffalo SNES controller: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002B9XB0E/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 . I have one and use it for 2 player stuff. It feels almost exactly the same as a real SNES controller. If I bought this one first, I probably wouldn't have bothered buying adapters for the real things.

If you want a more authentic look/feel to your case, a very popular option is to use a real NES/SNES/Super Famicom case. There is lots of stuff online about how to wire up the LEDs, power/reset buttons, the controller ports, etc on those things. I thought about putting my RasPie in a Super Famicom case but I'm too lazy

My next goal is to setup MAME on it so I can play arcade games. I also want to build my own version of an X-Arcade controller (I'm always looking for an excuse to use my fancy router that I spent way too much money on and hardly ever use, LOL). One of these days...