Would You Like A Piece Of Pi?

The world of retro gaming has never been more alive than it is right now, with so many remakes and remasters and the classic consoles on the market it's the perfect time to dive right in. My name is Stevie McCoy and this is Raspberry Pi. For those that don't know Raspberry Pi's are single board computers for example the 3B model mostly used for retro gaming has 512mb RAM, 2 USB ports, Ethernet port, 3.5mm jack for audio out, HDMI. Those a few of the specs, Raspberry Pi's are used for all sorts of cool and exciting projects but today we are focusing on Retropie, your one stop shop for Retro gaming. Anyone can do this if you have a PC and the Internet at home, today I'm going to guide you through everything else you need to get you started. At the end I'll include a lot if helpful YouTube links too. So let's get started. What you will need is a Raspberry Pi 3B or 3B+ for home retro setup or a Raspberry Pi Zero W for handheld retro gaming. You can pick them up on eBay, Amazon or direct from pihut.com. Next you will need a class 10 micro SD card 16GB or higher (as of the time of writing this Amazon have 128GB scan disc micro SD for £16), a card reader, a PS4 or PS3 controller or any USB controller and a USB keyboard. There are websites and places out there that do starter packs for these things which might be your best bet to get started, that's what I started with, again links below. Once you have gathered all you need you have two options, download a pre-made image from arcade punks or download the latest Retropie from their website and build your own. I recommend starting with a pre-made image before building your own, just so you know exactly what the end product looks like. Once you have your downloaded file, using your card reader and micro SD card on your PC using 7zip to extract your downloaded image and win32 to mount it to your SD card if you have chosen a pre-made image all you need to do next is setup your controller on the Raspberry Pi and your good to go, if you are creating your own Image this is where the fun begins. I'll include all the links you need at the bottom of this article. The possibilities are endless, every game you can think of and even ones you can't, my most recent downloaded image has an 8 bit Rick and Morty game. From the early gaming days right up to PS1 it's all available here. You can get pre-made images for all Nintendo, Sega, PlayStation, arcade it's all here, all complete with game info such as release date, number of players, star rating and more plus custom menus, splash screens, music, video snaps and overlays. All created by a passionate and dedicated group of people who love retro gaming, honestly this article doesn't do justice to some of the work done on these. I'm currently working on an arcade cabinet build and hopefully a handheld build soon.its a great time to be into retro gaming. Now, the only negative side of all this and one of the main reasons I wanted to write this article is the fact that there are people out there making money of this retro boom. I'm sure you seen them, advertised on Facebook and eBay, fully loaded retro systems, they sell for £100 minimum. These people would have you believe that is difficult or beyond the normal persons capability to do these themselves as all they want to do is make money, when in actual fact it is easy to do. I want this article to raise awareness of not only how to do it yourself but to warn others of potentially being ripped off. You can do this at home for half the price some of these people are charging. Plus as I've said there are plenty of helpful YouTube videos and communities online who can assist you in doing it yourself. So if you are reading this spread the word. Now there are some out there that look good and it's a very quick and easy way to get one but with a little bit of work and half the price would you not rather doit yourself? In conclusion Raspberry Pi with Retropie is every retro gamers dream come true. Lots of custom options from full do it yourself to pre-made builds. With a little work and around £70 you can build anything from an arcade cabinet to a SNES Classic and everything in between. I'd love to get your thoughts on this so comment below, I've been Stevie McCoy, thanks for reading YouTube links: Retropie setup: https://youtu.be/2QcC2GmV9Ew 128GB image: https://youtu.be/Yox8GIUOw4k Beginners playlist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvYX_7iRRI0&list=RDQMoGxnyITbBQs&playnext=1 My channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/RuddsRecords Retropie links: https://thepihut.com https://retropie.org.uk https://retropie.org.uk