@sleve_mcdichael - ah thanks for the info! Last time I set up a pi system (3b) was about 6 years ago so I'm out of touch :)
@Lolonois - thanks for replying so quickly. I was reading the MobyGames section on https://gemba.github.io/skyscraper/SCRAPINGMODULES/ and it sounded like it could be something cool, but maybe i'm trying to solve a problem that doesn't exist. So far screenscraper, openretro, etc are covering things really well. I might look into it more and report back if there is anything worthwhile there. Cheers!