[i=s] Edited by abhi89492i at 5-6-2020 09:20 PM *

RetroArch is one thing I couldn't believe was possible with software but happened nonetheless.

Emulators are complex softwares, much more than you or I could imagine. To create ancient hardware envioronment in virtual software, so the game 'thinks' its being run on the original piece is naturally awe-inspiring. But it also makes thosee emulators unique and complicated.

What RetroArch did was even more amazing.

They provided a sort-of framework for emulation of VARIOUS DIFFERENT CONSOLES, WITHIN A SINGLE OVERARCING SOFTWARE.

RetroArch itself doesn't come with any emulatioon capabilities as such, rather it provides a huge set of 'Liberto CORES' that are compatible with its framework. These 'Cores' are the actual emulators.

What does it mean? ** ** It means you don't have to download separate emulators for each console you're trying to play on your PC/Phone

What's even better is it works on both PC and Android! Plus a lot of other platforms

Ofcourse some more options are present on PC version but nothing ever comes close to it on android, in terms of versatality.

A 'non-exhaustive' list of cores/systems supported by RetroArch (from wikipedia)

[table=98%,rgb(248, 249, 250)] [tr][td]System[/td][td]Based on[/td][/tr] [tr][td]3DO[/td][td]4DO[/td][/tr] [tr][td]Arcade[/td][td]MAMEMESS FB Neo FinalBurnAlpha[/td][/tr] [tr][td]Amstrad CPC[/td][td]Caprice32CrocoDS[/td][/tr] [tr][td]Atari 2600[/td][td]Stella[/td][/tr] [tr][td]Atari 5200[/td][td]Atari800[/td][/tr] [tr][td]Atari 7800[/td][td]ProSystem[/td][/tr] [tr][td]Atari Jaguar[/td][td]Virtual Jaguar[/td][/tr] [tr][td]Atari Lynx[/td][td]MednafenHandy[/td][/tr] [tr][td]Atari Falcon[/td][td]Hatari[/td][/tr] [tr][td]ColecoVision[/td][td]blueMSX[/td][/tr] [tr][td]Commodore 64[/td][td]VICE[/td][/tr] [tr][td]Dreamcast[/td][td]RedreamReicast (now named Flycast)[/td][/tr] [tr][td]Famicom Disk System[/td][td]Nestopiahigan[/td][/tr] [tr][td]Game Boy / Color[/td][td]EmuxGambatteSameBoyTGB Dualhigan[/td][/tr] [tr][td]Game Boy Advance[/td][td]MednafengpSPMeteormGBAVisualBoyAdvance[/td][/tr] [tr][td]GameCube[/td][td]Dolphin[/td][/tr] [tr][td]Game Gear[/td][td]Genesis Plus GX[/td][/tr] [tr][td]MSX[/td][td]fMSXblueMSX[/td][/tr] [tr][td]Neo Geo Pocket / Color[/td][td]Mednafen[/td][/tr] [tr][td]NEC PC-98[/td][td]Neko Project II[/td][/tr] [tr][td]Nintendo 64[/td][td]Mupen64Plus[/td][/tr] [tr][td]Nintendo Entertainment System[/td][td]higanEmuxFCEUmmNestopia UEQuickNES[/td][/tr] [tr][td]Nintendo DS[/td][td]DeSmuME[/td][/tr] [tr][td]Nintendo 3DS[/td][td]Citra[/td][/tr] [tr][td]Odyssey²[/td][td]O2EM[/td][/tr] [tr][td]PC-FX[/td][td]Mednafen[/td][/tr] [tr][td]32X[/td][td]Picodrive[/td][/tr] [tr][td]Mega CD/Sega CD[/td][td]Genesis Plus GX[/td][/tr] [tr][td]Mega Drive/Genesis[/td][td]Genesis Plus GX[/td][/tr] [tr][td]Master System[/td][td]PicoDriveGenesis Plus GX[/td][/tr] [tr][td]PlayStation Portable[/td][td]PPSSPP[/td][/tr] [tr][td]PlayStation[/td][td]MednafenPCSX ReARMed[/td][/tr] [tr][td]PlayStation 2[/td][td]Play![/td][/tr] [tr][td]Pokémon Mini[/td][td]PokeMini[/td][/tr] [tr][td]Sega Saturn[/td][td]uoYabauseMednafen[/td][/tr] [tr][td]Super NES[/td][td]BsneshiganSnes9x[/td][/tr] [tr][td]Thomson computers[/td][td]Theodore[/td][/tr] [tr][td]TurboGrafx-16 / SuperGrafx[/td][td]Mednafen[/td][/tr] [tr][td]TurboGrafx-CD[/td][td]Mednafen[/td][/tr] [tr][td]Vectrex[/td][td]VecXGL[/td][/tr] [tr][td]Virtual Boy[/td][td]Mednafen[/td][/tr] [tr][td]Wii[/td][td]Dolphin[/td][/tr] [tr][td]WonderSwan[/td][td]Mednafen[/td][/tr] [tr][td]ZX Spectrum[/td][td]Fuse[/td][/tr] [tr][td]ZX81[/td][td]EightyOne[/td][/tr] [/table]

I used it to play NES, and PS1 games on android, and they worked flawless. Twisted Metal and Marvel vs Capcom ran like breeze on PCSX Rearmed. Nestopia and QuickNES were used for Contra-6 and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles touranment fighters. It also instantly recognized and bound the necessary controls to my stretchable iPega bluetooth controller. No fuss.

There are also other benefits like resolution upscaling, rewinding (yeah, I know, that way you'll never get killed! Alwasy be back from the dead!), fastforwarding a game, shaders and audio enhancements, controller support, netplay (local multiplayer) and others.

It is, admittedly, a bit too...intimidating for a novice but there are a lot of tutorials, and YouTube videos for solution and the pros vastly outweigh the cons once you get the hang of it. You can alwasy ask about this stuff here on crax-me too...

Website :

https://www.retroarch.com/index.php

GooglePlay:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.retroarch&hl=en_IN