Retropie vs Batocera - suggestion for MY use case.

LandyVlad

I hope I'm allowed to ask this here.

I have a Pi3 (3b I think)
I want to run purely for game emulation not for other things.
I'm after simple.

Is there any reason that, in this use case, I'd go for Retropie rather than Batocera?

Thank you.

sirhenrythe5th

@LandyVlad the Batocera-Project has no supporting user as our Mitu :)
Not kidding: he knows everything and is online 24/7.
I don´t really know Batocera but AFAIK ist the result on the screen pretty similar to Retropie...it is Emulationstation what you get for your eyes.
So the handling is similar, the engines in the background are different.

It is said that Batocera is simpler to install but does not have the possibility to do as much modifications and optimizations as Retropie.
So if you just want to play games Batocera may be your choice, if you like to build your own thing Retropie is the way to go (IMO)

LandyVlad

@sirhenrythe5th Thanks

sugarfree

I have been using Batocera for one year with a Pi 3B and a few months later with a Pi 5, and I can tell you a few things that I didn’t like:

There were no overheating or undervolting warnings. There was no throttling when the system was overheating
They are offering 64-bit images for the 3B with the Sway window manager, which adds too much load to a weak board.
They are updating everything in every new release without enough testing, relying too much on users for bug reports as a result many bugs.
You don’t have the ability to update or downgrade cores, so if a bug appears, you have to wait for the next release.
System was running 7-10 degrees hotter than RetroPie.
I had performance issues with PS1 games with enhanced resolution. For example, Colin McRae 2 is running at 60 fps with Retropie but is having frames drop in B. The same issue occurs with Dolphin on Pi5, games that run at full speed on Retropie are unplayable in Batocera.

The big plus of Batocera is its simplicity and the feature-rich version of EmulationStation. Try them both and choose the best for you