I am not sure what to suggest, a Pi4 with 2GB would have been my answer in pre Pi5 times... and still, the Pi4 runs an official image, but the pi5 ain't such a newcomer nowadays and the official image is still based on (IIRC) buster and since then, even before the Pi5 was released, the discussions where about when there will be a "bullseye" image and whether it will be 64bit/32bit or still in support of 32bit ... sigh...

So the official image is missing debian 11, the 64 vs. and or 32 bit problematic still unsolved and now with the pi5 we are over the edge to 64bit and on bookworm as the current debian/raspi OS base...

I would say, it depends... if you want to play straight ahead and use the existing image, go for a pi4 with whatever mem you may need to reuse it after upgrading retropie to a newer device (for retropie on a RP4 2GB is IMHO more then enough, if you want to use it as a terraria or minecraft server afterwards, at least 4GB better 8 would be the way to go).

But if you are totally new to raspis and retropie... well, bad timing, if you simply can afford it, go for the above mentioned route of the pi4 and learn some *nix basics ... but be assured that all you learn for the nowadays official buster based image is void for the next official one, because too much on the underlying OS was changed (just to add a match of buzzword: config.txt vs. cmdline.txt) - if you are willing to experiment and learn on raspberry pi/*nix in general in the meantime, go for a pi5 with the memory you can afford!

By default, configuring the keyboard from EmulationStation will configure it as P1, if you wish to make the keybord work as P2, then you'll need to manually modify the retroarch.cfg configuration file for RetroArch and replace the player # in the bindings, i.e.

input_player1_a="X" input_player1_b="Y" ... #etc

with

input_player2_a="X" input_player2_b="Y" # and so forth

@mitu thank you for confirming this. Appreciate your additional input.

@zommggg without any logs we can't see how the system detects the Rii, if you can post them then maybe we can try something based on the errors/messages shown.

@maxmoon I don't exactly know anymore, because I no longer use the pi as a home center.

But I had to use Drastic, because it's the only available one that supports multiple monitors.

It then had some option in its menus, but I don't know the exact one anymore.

I only remember that you had to boot a game with it and then press some shortcut to get into the menu of it.

@sleve_mcdichael
I've tried every button combination...
did not find the desired combination of buttons!

Most likely the display drivers disabled the Pi4's GPU drivers by modifying the bootloader configuration.
Can you post your /boot/config.txt file ? How did you install the display drivers ?

@TCM said in How can I add a game to Emulationstation?:

So I can only play the game from Raspbian/Raspberry OS and not through Retropie OS?

Using flatpak, yes. But since flatpak is just a runtime container, the game doesn't depend on it and there should be a method to install it natively on RaspiOS without the need for flatpak.

@mitu Actually I've been trying to get that working. I also have a RPI 2 (?) or something, which I've installed Raspberry Pi OS on. If I put that card into my RPI 2 I can ssh in and I still couldn't get the screen working.

If I put the same SD card (AFAIK the image you install is the same? I use Raspberry Pi Imager) in my RPI 4B I can't SSH in because the standard password somehow isn't 'raspberry'? I even reinstalled. Either way I can't get anything to show up on the screen with either of the pi's. I think it's DOA, but the company I got it from is not responding to me anymore.

Thank you ever so much. All is working properly now after setting up retropie-mount. Much appreciated

@aerosheik I'm with the same issue using the RP4 and I just can see the boot secuence until the RetroPie logo in my CRT TV appears and then I lose signal cos probably Emulation Station has another resolution and is not the same as when the system boots.

Di you fixed or is impossible use RP4 with Retropie in a CRT TV using HDMI to a components transcoder? With a RPZero I can do that wihtout problems just changing the hdmi_mode and group like this:

hdmi_mode=1
hdmi_group=6

But I still can't use my CRT TV under Retropie with a 480i output and idk what can I do right now.

@mitu i will try that and update. Thanks!

@mitu Thanks for the tip, I will investigate the scripting as you suggested.

@mitu Thank you and I'm sorry for not following what was clearly written down. In the future I will make sure I list all that is needed. In this case I figured out the solution but do appreciate the beginnings of the sites help.

Thanks - Aaron

@fahadshery
Also make sure that it's not a USB3 problem.
RF interference from the USB3 ports on a Raspberry Pi 4 can knock out the 2.4Ghz Wifi band and the Bluetooth randomly. It can work fine one day and not the next.
I would remove any USB3 cables (by putting them in the USB2 ports) and reboot.
I was even forced to use a small USB2 extension cord on my NESPi case just to keep the USB3 SATA adapter stable. (it makes the device work at USB2 speeds)

Better explained here:

It's not Pi specific, but the bad shielding on certain USB3 devices on a Pi can make it worse.

Not sure what you mean by 'background' - are you referring to the frontend's background (EmulationStation) ? If yes, this is part of the theme that's currently active in EmulationStation - you can install other themes that may feature a different background or you can create your own. See the themes page for alternatives - not all themes are covered there, but it should give you an idea of what's available.