For this project, I turned the Raspberry Pi into a RetroPie, which is a combination of different projects that turns the pi into a retro gaming machine by acting as an emulator. I’m a long-time gamer and love talking video games, so this was the perfect project that not only introduced me to SSH connection and python but allowed me to play one of my favorite childhood games.
Materials
- Raspberry Pi 3 w/ case
- 5V 2.5A Power Supply
- 32GB Micro SD Card (8GB min)
- HDMI Cable
- Micro SD Card Reader
- Ethernet Cable
- USB Keyboard
- Xbox One Controller
- USB Memory Stick (not pictured)
- TV or Monitor (not pictured)
- Personal PC (not pictured)
Steps and Resources
The instructions at https://retropie.org.uk/docs/ were very helpful with setting up the RetroPie. I used https://retropie.org.uk/docs/Transferring-Roms/ for help transferring ROMS. Below is the step by step documentation I kept while working on this.
- Downloaded Raspberry Pi Imager for Windows
- Located Raspberry Pi Model on the unit.
- Downloaded RetroPie 4.7.7 (RPI2/3) per my model under Emulation & Game OSàRetroPieà RetroPie 4.7.7 (RPI2/3)
- Selected SD card in which I wanted to write to, and clicked write on Raspberry Pi Imager, and waited for it to complete.
- Loaded SD card into Pi and connected to TV, internet (via ethernet) and power, before turning on.
- Connected controller and completed Xbox Controller Set up.
- On my PC, created the “retropie” folder on my USB drive.
- Put USB drive into retro pie for a few minutes to allow it to set up the file structure on the USB.
- Removed and plugged back into my PC.
- Downloaded ROMS.
- Added ROM to the retropie/roms/$CONSOLE folder. In my case $CONSOLE = SNES.
- Restarted
- Upon Restart the Intro screen now showed the SNES Logo
- From here you can start the game.
Customization
As discussed, the RetroPi can play classic games by acting as an emulator. To make it my own I added a few customizations noted below. For all file copying from PC to Pi I used SSH with WINSCP.
- Custom Splash Screen on start up.
- Ensure video is long correct length.
- Custom Image on individual game start up.
- https://retropie.org.uk/docs/Runcommand/ under “Adding custom launching images”.
- Added music to menu that fades on game start up.
- Instead of running the command on the Raspberry Pi, I connected using SSH through WINSCP and ran the command from my desktop PC.
- Also, instead of the initial code, I used the command provided by user Quackwalks in the above link.
- WINSCP required a different configuration. I followed the instructions written by user Pierre_Martel in https://community.allstarlink.org/t/help-winscp-permission-denied-error-code-3-error-message-from-server-permission-denied/16267/4 after I received a “Cannot create remote file” error when attempting to transfer my mp3 to /home/pi/RetroPie/roms/music.
Finished Product
Below is a photo of the completed project and a video of the RetroPie running which will you show you my custom start up splash screen, the added music player, and the custom image when starting Mega Man X in that order.
Conclusion
I enjoyed playing some Mega Man X and feeling nostalgic, but I really loved the excitement that came with adding the customizations to the retro pi simply by adding the files to different folders. My fiancé can attest that I was ecstatic when my music began playing. With how complicated that process looked and the roadblocks I ran into, I was not confident it would work. I was pleasantly surprised that the information found from various places online all worked together to help finish the music player and help me achieve my goals with this project.
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