Raspberry Pi

[Digfox]

Normally I'd agree and say avoid the kits, but in this case I'm not sure you'll save much buying separately; the Pi Hut kit is actually not bad value at £60 as they're not filling it with useless fluff.

If you total the individual items on Amazon, this comes to over £60 before postage, dropping the HDMI and ethernet cable saves about £6-8. If you're starting from scratch, the only downside with the kit is the size of the memory card which you'll probably end up overwriting with an EmulationStation image.

Agreed. PiHut were super fast when I used them too. And it's nice for the money not to go to Amazon for a change. I like that it's the official PSU and case with that bundle I linked too.

That said if you already have HDMI, network cables and mSD cards lying around, or you want a bigger mSD card or a different case. A bundle might not make sense, and that's more where I was coming from. However if you have none of those bits then definitely worth it.

[QualityChimp]

I do have those extra things and I need to give the family some present ideas, so a one-click solution for people who know absolutely nothing about these things is exactly what I needed, thanks!

[speedlolita]

Saw that MD Pi case on HotUKDeals today so I figured I'd link it here. Seems like a good price.

https://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/retroflag-megapi-md-case-with-functional-power-button-for-raspberry-pi-1559-wcode-dresslily-3124287

[MartyG]

It's expired already - £21.53 on the site it links to, code doesn't work.

[Colin]

This might seem a daft question, but what is the best option for wireless pads for the 3B+?

I ask because I see those MegaPi consoles have a matching controller that you can buy; they look great, but only have 6 face buttons (no shoulder buttons etc.).

They do have shoulder buttons.

[MartyG]

You can now get Steam Link up and running on the Pi, which some folks might find a use for.

[teddymeow]

So what sort of emu performance levels are these up to now?

Saturn? PSOne? Dreamcast?

[paulus]

I get faultless PS1 & below performance from my Pi 3A+ (like a single usb version of the 3B+). Some DC + N64 stuff runs perfect but for these platforms you really need to step up to a ODroid XU4 or PC.

[MartyG]

This could be an interesting SBC

https://liliputing.com/2019/02/odroid-n2-single-board-computer-coming-soon-for-63-and-up-amlogic-s922x-processor-up-to-4gb-ram.html

I have a couple of other Odroid boards which work well.

[Soundwave]

Finally getting my Ras Pi setup

So now I need some advice on controllers.

I have an Xbox 360 Madcatz TE & PS3 Madcatz SE that I want to use with it...do you know if these will be ok?

Thanks

Neil

[Digfox]

[MENTION=7037]Soundwave[/MENTION] - yes, Xbox 360 and PS3 controllers and will work fine with RetroPie. I also have the Madcatz TE for 360 and have used that. I have also tried the SFIV pads that came out at same time, Dual Shock 3 and 8bitdo SF30 Pro too. And the old Sega USB Saturn controller.

RetroPie works best with a 11 button, dual analog stick controller like the 360 pad as this pretty much covers a lot of control schemes and button inputs.

That said I've used the 8bitdo Bluetooth adapter rather than use the built in RPi 3 BT functionality. Also worth mentioning these controllers all work in Linux on PC if you were building a RetroArch based PC setup. Those Linux drivers is why they all work in RetroPie so well.

[teddymeow]

I've said it before and I'll say it again - I'm rubbish with this sort of thing.

I see people who have theirs setup with menu screens and artwork when they scroll through their games and it just looks all, well, professional.
[MENTION=9865]Colin[/MENTION] previously offered to set one up for me and I regret not agreeing to his kind offer.

I just want to plug something into my TV via HDMI and be able to play arcade games, NeoGeo, SNES etc with no fuss.

[Lebowski]

I picked up a cheap Neo Geo X Joystick as i've seen quite a few mods done with it where they use the stick to create a self contained retro pie neo geo stick plug and play. There are tutorials on how to update the neo geo x joystick too, and take it form being an ok stick to being a pretty awesome one too.

[paulus]

Yep I did that, after following the ETA Prime video guide:

1) positioning is crucial
2) using small usb/hdmi extenders constantly caused me problems with voltage & signal errors (although not so aesthetically pleasing just send the power supply & hsmi directly in the back to the Pi)
3) its quite an average joystick, I always ensure the other player gets it in a 2 player game while I use an Xbox arcade joystick.
3) there was some great "front end" artwork from Ruckage that I shamelessly stole over at the Retropie forum - it really makes it look professional.

Good luck & enjoy the build!

[Colin]

I've said it before and I'll say it again - I'm rubbish with this sort of thing.

I see people who have theirs setup with menu screens and artwork when they scroll through their games and it just looks all, well, professional.
@Colin previously offered to set one up for me and I regret not agreeing to his kind offer.

I just want to plug something into my TV via HDMI and be able to play arcade games, NeoGeo, SNES etc with no fuss.

Offer still stands.