An Image that is really ready to use out of the box

LS650

I really enjoy my Retropie setup, but I knew from the get-go that this is very much for people who like to "get under the hood" and tinker. If you want a hands-free, fool-proof gaming system, there are plenty of commercial options available. With Retropie, you're getting for free some software that has been created by hobbyists with a love for these old games, and not a lot of money or appreciation.

Have you donated to Retropie? I have - if everyone who uses it donated just a couple of bucks, these guys could afford to dedicate a lot more of their time towards improvements.

tekn0

I am more of an intermediate user, but I had no major issues getting the retropie stock image working just fine the first time I tried it.

Flash it to your card
Put the card in
First boot happens into emulation station
Connect it your network using a cable or wifi from the setup menu
Shows up just fine as a discoverable network share
Copy roms over to the system you want and reboot
Menus are auto populated and play
done

If you want more customization then you need to dig a little deeper.

Personally I would donate monthly to the retropie project in a heartbeat if they had a patreon, just like many of us already do to libretro. You guys absolutely deserve it and this project is well worth it.

markyh444

@cloudlink My feelings exactly!

When I found RetroPie I loved that it was something that you needed to tinker with to perfect. I'm still not convinced I've managed to perfect everything on mine yet because I've barely touched MAME Emulation on my NES build yet!

It took me back to when I was in college messing with Photoshop to make wallpapers for my PC desktop because the ones I found online were not what I wanted. I found these the other day on my current PC (I loathe to delete my old data and it follows me around) and I've made about 200 of them! Like I ever changed my wallpaper that much!

As you say though, if people want something slicker and easier to use then there's other Emulation options such as the Nes mini or iPhone/Android emulators. I've got a really powerful emulator personally; it's called my PC.

I love RetroPie because it makes this little £35 circuit board thing with flashy lights and bare input pins sticking out into something wonderful. Plus, you can shoehorn it into things and make amazing things happen like building your own Arcade Machine! Things that dreams are made of people. Dreams...