Since its release way back in 2010, RetroArch has been one of the most popular game emulator interfaces. Over the years, it has received numerous upgrades and lets you play classic games from various retro consoles ranging from the Atari 2600 to the PlayStation 2.
While the RetroArch team has been planning to launch this on Steam for more than a year, it is finally available to the masses!
This means you can now emulate and play your favorite retro games without having to leave Steam.
Sure, you can download it from their official website, but launching it directly from your Steam collection proves to be a hassle-free way for most users.
Not to forget, RetroArch’s presence on Steam will put this on a lot of people’s radars. So, this should give RetroArch’s popularity a boost on both Windows and Linux platforms.
Keep in mind that the RetroArch version available on Steam lacks certain features and most cores compared to the official one. Let us take a look at them.
Key Highlights
Emulator Cores
Unlike the standard way of using the Core Downloader, Cores (Emulators) can be installed as DLCs from Steam. This can be easily done by navigating to “Manage DLC” on Steam’s Retroarch browser page.
Only 10 cores are available at launch. Here’s the list of cores –
- Mupen64 Plus Next – Nintendo N64
- Kronos – Sega Saturn
- PCSX ReARMed – PlayStation 1
- Stella – Atari 2600
- SameBoy – Game Boy & Game Boy Colour
- mGBA – Game Boy Advance
- Mesen – Nintendo Entertainment System
- Mesen S – Super Nintendo Entertainment System
- Genesis Plus GX – Sega SG-1000, Master System, Game Gear, Genesis and Mega CD
- Final Burn Neo – Arcade
Additional cores will certainly be released in the future. According to the developer:
More cores will be coming as DLC soon. We have no ETA on when these will arrive, but it will likely be a dripfeed of new cores on a periodic basis as it takes a lot of time preparing the pages, descriptions, logos, previews and whatnot that a Steam page requires.
RetroArch Blog
Other Highlights
RetroArch UI stays the same. This may be overwhelming for users who will be using RetroArch for the first time. The developers have plans to revamp its UI soon enough.
Remote Play and Steam Cloud sync should also work.
Do note that RetroArch will only be available for 64-bit Linux or Windows PCs. As of now, there are no plans for macOS yet.
You can learn more about RetroArch’s availability on Steam on their official blog post.
Wrapping Up
The addition of RetroArch to Steam will certainly increase their userbase. Initial reviews seem to be very positive, which is a good thing!
They should get better financial support from new users on Patreon as well. You might as well start helping them out if interested.
If you want to try it out, head to your Steam client and search for it. Or, click on the link below to explore it on Steam store along with its system requirements.
Via: GamingOnLinux
More from It's FOSS...
- Learn Bash scripting for FREE with this Bash Tutorial series.
- Join our community forum.
- 📩 Stay updated with the latest on Linux and Open Source. Get our weekly Newsletter.
