Advise me: Raspberry TT

VulcanNervPinch

VulcanNervPinch

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I’m interested in getting myself a Rasberry Pi driven retro game machine.

I’d like it to have (all in one item/purchase, if at all possible):

  • Arcade games
  • Console games
  • A portable flat surface with 2 (or 4?) players worth of joystick & buttons
  • Ability to use 2-4 handheld controllers instead (for the console games)
  • Simple assembly
  • Standard connection to TV or monitor

Does what I’m looking for exist?
Which would you recommend?
What are some suggestions and pitfalls to watch for?
Why are the game lists always nonexistent or ‘available at’ a broken link?

Advise, O SmartAsses of the Arcade
 
Wait for Pi 4 to have the stuff for the stuff.

Managing heat is really important to avoid crashes and slowdowns. The Pi 4 is supposed to run hotter due to more power.

I don't know why people focus on the cutesy cabinet or replica cases. You're gonna need a keyboard for some stuff. Enclosed case will be hotter.
 
I picked up a pi3 for my Arcade 1up street fighter cabinet but I still need to get my hands on a video controller board (and find the time to actually work on it)



This guy's tutorials are amazing either way, he lays it all out step by step and goes over exactly what you need AND where to get it.
 
VulcanNervPinch said:
I’m interested in getting myself a Rasberry Pi driven retro game machine.

I’d like it to have (all in one item/purchase, if at all possible):

  • Arcade games
  • Console games
  • A portable flat surface with 2 (or 4?) players worth of joystick & buttons
  • Ability to use 2-4 handheld controllers instead (for the console games)
  • Simple assembly
  • Standard connection to TV or monitor

Does what I’m looking for exist?
Which would you recommend?
What are some suggestions and pitfalls to watch for?
Why are the game lists always nonexistent or ‘available at’ a broken link?

Advise, O SmartAsses of the Arcade
Click to expand...


Well if you have a MicroCenter near you they sell an all-in-one build it yourself kind of thing that has what you are looking for. You put the cabinet together yourself. It has two joysticks/sets of buttons. Comes with the Raspberry Pi that you also have to set up yourself. The only thing it doesn't come with is ROMs. Have to find those yourself.

You can probably find more info for what you are looking for here: https://www.reddit.com/r/RetroPie/


Another solution is just to buy the Pi yourself then install RetroPie onto it and use it as is. That is what I do personally. I have ps3 remotes as well as arcade sticks I use with as I see fit. The Pi has multiple usb slots as well as Bluetooth so it is easy to use controllers and keyboards with it on its own. It just wont look like a fancy arcade cabinet.
 
VulcanNervPinch said:
I'm not looking for a full cabinet, I just want a board with the sticks and buttons. Like this:
https://www.retrogaminghouse.com/co...ts/2650-retro-arcade-machine-console-3d-mario
I guess the whole board is referred to as "a stick".
I want the setup to be easily portable.
Click to expand...
The one you posted are called Pandoras box's, they're all over Amazon and typical chinese scumbags. They're doing the same thing you want except it's got a different custom board inside.
Here's a Raspberry Pi setup on Amazon for $250 or Aliexpress for $200, but they have the older less powerful Model 3b Pi.
The joysticks aren't going to be that great of quality either.

You can always build a Pi and use fight sticks like this

GSP_37 said:
Wait for Pi 4 to have the stuff for the stuff.

Managing heat is really important to avoid crashes and slowdowns. The Pi 4 is supposed to run hotter due to more power.

I don't know why people focus on the cutesy cabinet or replica cases. You're gonna need a keyboard for some stuff. Enclosed case will be hotter.
Click to expand...

They've already rolled out micro code to fix that issue
 
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VulcanNervPinch said:
Does that really matter when you're playing games from the 80s & 90s? In what way?
Click to expand...
You're going to want the extra horsepower for PSP. Pi 3 can barely work overclocked, but I'm excited to see PSP on Pi 4. Doesn't hurt to futureproof a bit.

Some PS1 won't work normally on Pi 3.
 
What are the chances of XBOX 360 on Pi 4? I've been paying attention to this bug/status thread of this one game and it seems that thread was closed. Sounded like the underlying software was working somewhat ok.
 
GSP_37 said:
What are the chances of XBOX 360 on Pi 4? I've been paying attention to this bug/status thread of this one game and it seems that thread was closed. Sounded like the underlying software was working somewhat ok.
Click to expand...
0%. If you want a 360 game, just go buy a 360 on craigslist for $40 and the game. No one's collecting for it and games are cheap atm.
 
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I saw an article dated 4/30/20 or so that said a new Retropie is out for Pi 4. It mentioned Dreamcast, PSP, and even PS2.

I'm really curious if PSP is better now with more horsepower.
 
A Pi4 isn't better than a 10 year old laptop in terms of emulating old consoles and arcade machines. If you have one laying around or know people who have one collecting dust that could be an alternative. But if you are building it into an arcade stick or a small cabinet then a Pi is suited very well for that.
 
I recently learned my 5V 2.4A USB charger brick from Home Depot was giving me 4.65V or less via 3ft Amazon Basics Micro USB cable.

When I used my iPad charger instead, didn't get anywhere as many lightning bolt icons, but PSP was still slower than I would have liked, but playable.

Next time I think I'll just buy dedicated official power supply.
 
I saw an article last night saying there's now a 8GB RAM Pi 4, but it needs a 64-bit image where there's a beta of it. $75.

I guess I'll wait for that.

It also said they needed to re-work the power supply stuff to accommodate the bigger RAM.
 
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