Pi Zero: what will work and what won't?

Meneer Jansen · 12 Apr 2020, 12:14

Dear RetroPie enthusiasts,

These are the particulars of the config I'd like to use:

Pi Model: R. Pi Zero without WiFi
Power supply: an external batttery if that'll work
RetroPie version: 4.5.1 (released July 17, 2019)
Built from: Raspbian if possible
USB devices connected: 2 controllers
Controller used: 2 times an iBuffalo
Error messages received: none yet
Guide used: https://retropie.org.uk/docs/Manual-Installation/
Emulator: Mame

I know this has been discussed quite a few times before, but tings may have changed since then...

As a "thank you" to a friend of mine I'd like to give him a fully configured Raspberry Pi Zero, a battery and two SNES like controllers with RetroPie on it. I myself have a Pi B+ with RetroPie and the amount of games that I can play on it is astounding! I use my Xbox One S controller with a driver for it compiled from source for better support of all its buttons etc. However, configuring the emulators to run fine on a B+ was quite the task, ha ha! I use almost nothing from LibRetro. I've been using Linux per default since 2005 so configuring anything on the Pi is not a big problem, be it that sometimes it takes up quite some time!

We are 50 year old geezers so Mame games from the era 1978 to 1986 (Mappy, Pac Man, Donkey Kong etc.) would be the most important thing. SNES would be nice too.

My question is: what emulators/systems (if any) will run fine and which absolutely won't? I know that certain SNES games (Super FX chip like the super duper fun "Super Mario World 2 - Yoshi's Island ") won't run anywhere near acceptable.

In my experience the Pi B+ is great, will the Zero perform just as well? Will it run from a battery pack, just like my Pi B+?

Ranma · 12 Apr 2020, 14:42

A Zero isn't as powerful as the Pi 3B+ by quite a bit, so I would recommend getting another one of those, especially if you intend to plug it into a TV. If you are going to make a handheld with it, have a look online for the Retroflag GPi case. You can make a really lovely handheld retro system quite easily with a Pi Zero. You'll be limited with what emulators you can run, but if you tailor it a bit you can get very nice performance for such a small device. Yoshi's Island on the SNES won't run, but the GBA emulator on mine seems to run it quite well.

I dunno how you use Retropie with "almost nothing from Libretro" though...

mitu · 12 Apr 2020, 15:16

A Pi Zero should be a bit more powerful than a B+, at 1Ghz, so it would perform at least as well as a B+. You might want to get the W model, which includes Wifi, because the Zero has no ethernet port, and an mini USB hub, to connect the 2 controllers.

Ranma · 12 Apr 2020, 16:49

Apologies. I'd read that as 3B+.

simpleethat · 12 Apr 2020, 17:39

@Meneer-Jansen I regularly use this power bank to power my zeroW in my GPi case and have no problems in either the 2.1A or 2.4A port.

Darksavior · 12 Apr 2020, 18:14

@Meneer-Jansen You will be limited to inferior emulators for just about every system. This means graphics and sound won't be accurate depending on the system emulated.
I don't use battery packs so I haven't looked into undervolting/underclocking a pi4 or if it'll make much of a difference in saving power.