Kyle’s Custom RetroPie Project

Introduction

Over the years I have amassed a rather large collection of gaming consoles, but having them all hooked up at the same time is very impractical. That is what makes the RetroPie so great, you can replace all of these consoles with one small device. It can also store your entire game catalog making it simple to find the game you’re looking for.

Parts List

• Raspberry Pi kit of your choice
  • Raspberry Pi Board
  • Case
  • USB Power Supply
  • Micro SD card
  • Micro SD card reader
• HDMI Cable
• HDMI Display
• USB Keyboard
• USB Controller
• USB External Hard Drive(optional)

Project details

Setting up your RetroPie system is very straight forward, especially if you are following an online guide. The RetroPie is also versatile and allows you to customize it to your preferences. I customized mine to make use of an external hard drive for a vastly increased storage capacity. With this increased storage I was able to hold backups of my entire gaming library that would play on the system from the original NES to the Sony PlayStation.

The increased storage combined with my Raspberry Pi’s build in Wi-Fi allowed me to utilize the system as an external storage for computers on my home network. I was able to use this to back up music, videos, and pictures from my computers.

With a little bit of work I was able to utilize some python script to alter my system to make use of the MP3 files on the hard drive. This allowed the music to be played in the background on the home screen and also while the games are being played.

Resources

• PC World Tutorial
• PC World Video Tutorial
• Adding an External Hard Drive
• Home Screen Music Video Tutorial
• Python Background Music Script

Wrap-up

Turning a Raspberry Pi in to a retro gaming console with RetroPie is a fun and educational project. It is also a simple way to consolidate your videogame collection into one place. I would definitely recommend this project to anyone wanting to re-live the golden age of video games or looking for a good starter project for their Raspberry Pi device.