Cry Now, Pi Later

Winston Churchill once said, "Americans can always be counted on to do the right thing... after trying everything else." Or was it Abba Eban? Maybe it was some Irish dude, I dunno. Whoever said it, I can definitely relate. My friends told me that the Raspberry Pi was the best budget-conscious way to play retro video games, but I stubbornly avoided it, trying nearly every other emulation solution first. The Playstation TV. The Mibox, an Android TV. The original Xbox. Retro-Bit's Super Retrocade. While some of these devices worked better than others for scratching that retro gaming itch, they all had flaws which kept them at arm's length from perfection. 

The Xbox had a sleek, intuitive interface for each of its emulators, but it couldn't run Playstation games worth a damn. The Mibox had little difficulty running those games, but offered only one USB port for peripherals, and you had to buy emulators from the Google Play store... assuming they worked at all with Android TVs. Both the Super Retrocade and Playstation TV limited the player to controllers by their respective manufacturers, and didn't have the power to handle more demanding software. We won't even discuss AtGames' Genesis Flashback HD, which was designed to play games for just one system and couldn't even do that well.

After years of frantic dodging and weaving, I finally accepted that it was my fate to be like all the other clowns and get a Pi in the face. So I ordered a Raspberry Pi 3 from Amazon, along with a handful of accessories... a case, a power supply, and an SD card for storage. I worried that I wouldn't be able to put the system together, but it wasn't as complicated as I feared; only as tough to assemble as a novice Lego model. You just stack the plastic layers of the case, sandwich the computer between them, and fasten it with metal screws. Stick on a few heat sinks, plug in a fan and screw it into the Pi, and you're done.

There's also the matter of installing an operating system, but all that's stored on the SD card. If you don't like what you're currently using, just turn off the Pi, pop the card into your computer, and flash a new image onto it with free software. Installing an operating system on a desktop computer could take an hour or more, but with a Pi, it's closer to five or ten minutes. I was genuinely amazed at how little trouble the system gave me... it wasn't plug and play the way the Super Retrocade was, but setting up the system didn't threaten to give me an aneurysm, either.

Most Raspberry Pi users default to RetroPie, but the friends who recommended the system to me also suggested using Recalbox instead. Once again, they were right on the money... it's easier to use, and the interface has more personality. RetroPie barfs Linux commands all over the screen at startup, but Recalbox hides all that technical stuff behind a curtain and treats you to a parody of a console boot screen instead. Presentation matters, and Recalbox has the edge in that department.

Of course, performance matters most, and the Raspberry Pi delivers, running games at least as well as the other retro gaming boxes I've tried. The original Xbox couldn't run Game Boy Advance games at full speed, but they're no problem for the Pi. The Super Retrocade chokes on Neo-Geo titles, but the Pi swallows them whole and asks for seconds. Although I haven't personally tried any Playstation games, I've watched footage of the Raspberry Pi running demanding titles like Bloody Roar 2 and Dead or Alive Plus, and it handles them far better than the Xbox could.

The Raspberry Pi does have its limits, of course. More advanced games like Elevator Action Returns, designed for Taito's F3 arcade board, are a bit too much for the little computer to handle. You might be able to get Nintendo 64 and Dreamcast titles to run at playable speeds on the Pi- I've heard conflicting reports- but I wouldn't put money on it. You just have to remember that this is a palm-sized PC with a power draw of five watts, and adjust your expectations accordingly. For all its limitations, it still outperforms other retro gaming systems, including the mountainous classic Xbox with its massive power draw of 100 watts.

I've looked for my retro gaming fix in a lot of places, but I could have saved myself a lot of time and effort if I had started with the Raspberry Pi. Is it the best retro gaming box available? Probably not, but it's absolutely the best you'll find for the price. My Pi (including the board, case, power supply, and an SD card) cost roughly $70, about the same price as Amazon charges for the Super Retrocade. With Recalbox installed, the Pi supports more games for more systems, and runs them all better. The Pi didn't come with controllers, but unlike the Super Retrocade, it accepts game pads and sticks I've already got, and would much rather use.

Yes, you'll need to put more work into a Raspberry Pi than a plug and play system, but you'll be rewarded for your trouble with a better, more versatile machine. I had my doubts about the Pi, but now that I've tried it, you can call me a believer.