Genesis/Megadrive
This console, known as the Mega Drive everywhere except in the USA where it was renamed Genesis, was released by Sega in 1988
| Emulator | Rom Folder | Extension | BIOS | Controller Config |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| lr-genesis-plus-gx | megadrive | .7z .bin .gen .md .sg .smd .zip | bios_MD.bin (optional) | /opt/retropie/configs/megadrive/retroarch.cfg |
| lr-picodrive | megadrive | .7z .bin .gen .md .smd .zip | none | /opt/retropie/configs/megadrive/retroarch.cfg |
| DGen | megadrive | .bin .md .smd | none | /opt/retropie/configs/megadrive/dgenrc |
Emulators: lr-genesis-plus-gx, lr-picodrive, DGen
lr-genesis-plus-gx is best for the Pi 3/Pi 2 due to its accuracy. lr-picodrive is more suited for use on the Pi 0/Pi 1 due to its speed. DGen has the worst performance and can be tedious to configure the controls for.
ROMS
Accepted File Extensions: .7z .bin .gen .md .sg .smd .zip
Place your ROMS in either
/home/pi/RetroPie/roms/megadrive
/home/pi/RetroPie/roms/genesis (symlinked to megadrive folder to remove confusion)
BIOS
lr-genesis-plus-gx can load MegaDrive TMSS startup ROM (bootrom): bios_MD.bin
Place your bios_MD.bin BIOS file in
/home/pi/RetroPie/BIOS
Controls
lr-genesis-plus-gx and lr-picodrive
lr-genesis-plus-gx and lr-picodrive utilise RetroArch configurations
Add custom retroarch controls to the retroarch.cfg file in
/opt/retropie/configs/megadrive/retroarch.cfg
6 button controller
The Genesis/Mega Drive had a 6 button controller released, with 3 extra buttons (X, Y, Z) placed above the normal 3 (A, B, C). A small subset of games do not function with the 6 button controller, but the vast majority do. To emulate the 6 button controller, do the following:
lr-genesis-plus-gx
Save a Core Input Remap in the same manner as Core Input Remapping, with User 1 Device Type and User 2 Device Type set to MD Joypad 6 Button.
lr-picodrive
Change the Core Options for Pad 1 Type and Pad 2 Type from 3 Button Pad to 6 Button Pad. See Setting Core Options.
This will also take effect on any other system which you may use lr-picodrive for (eg. Sega 32X, Sega CD).
Mega Drive/Genesis Controller
Mega Drive/Genesis Wireless Controller
Mega Drive ArcadePad Controller
DGen
DGen uses a configuration file called dgenrc located in
/opt/retropie/configs/megadrive/dgenrc
To set up an exit button: modify this line to match your controller button
# Quit DGen or switch to the next ROM on the command-line.
key_quit = escape
joy_quit = joystick0-button12
Switching EmulationStation to use Sega Genesis instead of Mega Drive
If you are from the United States it is likely that you had the Sega Genesis rather than the Sega Mega Drive. If you want EmulationStation to use the Genesis graphics instead of Mega Drive then you can create a file /opt/retropie/configs/all/platforms.cfg with the following contents:
megadrive_fullname="Sega Genesis"
megadrive_name="genesis"
megadrive_platform="genesis"
megadrive_theme="genesis"
Once this is done, please update any of the currently installed Mega Drive emulators from RetroPie-Setup and Emulation Station will now use the Genesis logo. Scraping from within Emulation Station should also return Genesis artwork.