I’ve really been enjoying the TrimUI Brick, and I spent a few days really fine-tuning its configuration to make it a simple, custom experience. This guide will show you all the steps I took and how you can set up something similar for yourself if you would like.

Note that in general, this guide can be used as a MinUI setup guide as well. MinUI is generally a very simple and intuitive experience, and I’m going to show you some special customizations you can try to really enhance and personalize your experience.

Table of Contents

Project goals
Set up the microSD card
Install MinUI
Add MinUI custom paks (optional)
Add BIOS files
Add game files
Game collections
Customize your systems
Create a custom boot logo
General MinUI tips
Adding PortMaster and WiFi
Box art Easter Egg
Add LED light control
Start fresh with Stock OS
Try out KNULLI

Changelog

Project goals

Let’s talk about what I’m trying to accomplish with this particular setup.

• Light and simple. I want to keep my UI as clean as possible, while giving my access to my favorite core systems.
• Focused on retro systems. Even though the TrimUI Brick is capable of some higher-end systems like N64, PSP, and Dreamcast, I want to hone in on systems I think excel the most with the Brick, which are games that don’t need any analog stick workarounds or those whose performance isn’t so demanding it makes the handheld heat up a bunch. So we’re going to stick with PS1 and below, plus Pico-8 and arcade games.
• Offline gaming. Even though I love using Retro Achievements, and this device is capable of WiFi, I am setting it up as an offline console. My thinking is that because the handheld is so small and pocketable, you will most often be playing it while on the go, where WiFi connectivity feels like a complication that detracts from the gaming experience.

In the long run, if you are looking to get the most bang for your buck, then this setup isn’t for you. Stock OS or KNULLI will give you more options for other systems, and wonderful tools like PortMaster. This setup is meant to streamline and optimize the gaming experience so that you have fewer barriers to entry, while still having quick and easy access to many systems.

Set up the microSD card

Setting up the card for MinUI is super easy. If you are using a microSD card that is larger than 32GB, it is recommended you format it to FAT32. The TrimUI Brick will still function with the default exFAT file system, but I have found that it can create corruption issues, so it’s best to stick with FAT32.

If you are using a brand new SD card that is 32GB or smaller, you don’t have to do anything. If you are not using a brand new card, I recommend using SD Card Formatter to wipe the card beforehand, but after that you are good to go.

If you are using a card that is over 32GB in file size, here is how to format it to FAT32:

• Windows: download and install Rufus on your PC. The standard “rufus-4.6.exe” (the number will likely change) is fine. Insert your card and open Rufus, then select your card from the drop-down menu. Set the “Boot selection” to “Non bootable”, and set “File system” to FAT32. Under “Volume label” you can name the card, then press START and follow the prompts.
• Mac: Insert your card and open Disk Utility (it is pre-installed in MacOS). Select your microSD card, then select Erase. Give the card a name and under the “Format” option select “MS-DOS (FAT32)” and click Erase.

In general, I recommend the cards listed below, in order or preference. The prices fluctuate all the time, so keep an eye out for deals. If you are just going to play 8-bit and 16-bit era cartridge games, a 16GB or 32GB card will be plenty. A 128GB card will allow you to load EVERY 8-bit and 16-bit game out there, just about all of the arcade games that work, and quite a few PS1, TG-CD, and Sega CD games (those systems have the largest file sizes). A 256GB or 512GB card will allow you to store even more of those larger games, but is mostly overkill for a device like the TrimUI Brick. I personally use a 64GB or 128GB card.

As far as model (“Extreme” vs “Ultra”, etc), this won’t matter when it comes to playing games. Some cards may transfer files more quickly (like when adding ROMs to the card), but the difference will be negligible. Instead, shop around for the best deal based on your desired amount of storage!

16GB cards: 
SanDisk Ultra  
SanDisk Industrial

32GB cards:
Samsung Pro Endurance
SanDisk Extreme

64GB cards:
Samsung Pro Endurance
SanDisk Extreme

128GB cards:
Samsung EVO Select
SanDisk Ultra

256GB microSD:
SanDisk Ultra
Samsung EVO Select
Samsung Pro Plus

512GB microSD:
SanDisk Ultra
Samsung EVO Select
Samsung Pro Plus

If you need a microSD card reader to plug into your PC, this one from Anker has never done me wrong for $15, and I also love this more fancy version with USB-C and USB-A connections.

Install MinUI

Now that your card is ready, we can download and install the requisite MinUI files.

Go to the MinUI website and download the latest releases — both the BASE and EXTRAS zip files listed in the “Assets” section of the release. Unzip both zip files and place the extracted files into the root (base) directory of your microSD card as specified below:

• With the BASE zip file, move over the following folders and files:
  • Bios (folder)
  • MinUI.zip
  • Roms (folder)
  • Saves (folder)
  • trimui (folder)

• With the EXTRAS zip file, just move over everything (minus the readme file). You may get prompted to merge similar folders, just click yes if that happens.

Add MinUI custom paks (optional)

Adding these optional paks allow us to launch certain systems on MinUI that are not supported by the stock MinUI experience. These paks won’t receive official support, but are great if you want to run arcade games, native Pico-8, or maybe a few N64 and Dreamcast games.

• Go to Ryan’s TrimUI Smart Pro Custom MinUI Paks GitHub page and download the latest release
• Extract the zip file and then move all of its contents to the root of your microSD card. You may get prompted to merge similar folders, just click yes if that happens.

Thanks to tenlevels and ryanmsartor for putting this together!

Add BIOS files

Now that you have added MinUI’s BASE and EXTRAS folders, plus MinUI Custom Paks, we can start adding our game and BIOS files. Let’s start with BIOS files. These are necessary for certain systems to run properly, and have unique locations in MinUI. Here is a list of BIOS files and their locations within the MinUI file system. These BIOS files are case sensitive!

Note that like with ROM files, BIOS files are copyrighted, and you are on your own to source them.

Game Boy (boot logo): Bios > GB > gb_bios.bin
Game Boy Color (boot logo): Bios > GBC > gbc_bios.bin
Game Boy Advance (boot logo): Bios > GBA > gba_bios.bin
Sega CD: Bios > MD > bios_CD_E.bin, bios_CD_J.bin, and bios_CD_U.bin
Sony PlayStation: Bios > PS > psxonpsp660.bin
TurboGrafx CD: Bios > PCE > syscard3.pce
Famicom Disk System: Bios > FC > disksys.rom
Pokemon Mini: Bios > PKM > bios.min
Super Game Boy: Bios > sgb.bios
Neo Geo: place neogeo.zip in same folder as Neo Geo ROMs
Sega Dreamcast: Bios > dc > dc_boot.bin
Sega Naomi: Bios > dc > naomi.zip
Pico-8 (Native): Emus > tg3040 > PICO.pak > PICO8_Wrapper > bin > pico8.dat and pico8_64 from the paid Raspberry Pi version of the console

Add game files

Adding game files is mostly straightforward: add the game files to the corresponding Roms folder on your SD card. So for example, add your Game Boy ROMs to the Roms > Game Boy (GB) folder on your microSD card.

Some tips and tricks:

• Only folders that have game files inside of them will appear in the MinUI menu, so it will have a nice clean experience.
• If you add files to any folder and then decide you don’t want them to actually appear in the MinUI menu, rather than deleting the files, you can add a “.disabled” extension to the end of the folder and it won’t appear. For example, if you have a bunch of games added to Atari Lynx (LYNX), you can just rename that folder to “Atari Lynx (LYNX).disabled” and it won’t show up in the menu. This can be especially handy if you want to have games appear in a Collection but not in the main menu.
• There are two Pico-8 ROM folders available, the one named “P8” uses the Fake08 emulator, and the “PICO” folder is using the native app wrapper. I recommend the PICO option, which has better compatibility.
• You can change the name of each folder to whatever you would like, as long as you keep the emulator association (in parenthesis) at the end of the folder name. So you could make a folder named either Sega Genesis (MD) or Sega Mega Drive (MD), whatever you prefer.
• If you want, you can make additional folders as long as they have the same emulator association in parenthesis at the end of the folder name. So you could have BOTH the Sega Genesis (MD) and Sega Mega Drive (MD) folders appear in the menu, if you wanted to separate your 16-bit Sega games by region.
• You can also consolidate similar systems into the same folder, as long as they use the same emulator core. For example, you can add Sega CD and Sega 32X games into your Sega Genesis (MD) folder, and all three systems will launch from the same menu. This is handy because I think MinUI is best when it is simple, and having a single Sega Genesis folder is a lot cleaner than having three total folders to scroll through. Another example is my preferred arcade setup, which I lump together with Neo Geo since the main arcade core in this setup is FinalBurn Neo (which also supports Neo Geo). So I change my folder name to “Arcade and Neo Geo (FBN)”, and put both FinalBurn Neo arcade games and Neo Geo games together.
• For arcade folders, you will want to add a map.txt file into the ROM folder to ensure that the full arcade name is displayed. The MinUI custom paks will already contain that within the FBNeo folder, but here is a direct link if you need it.
• By default, the folders will appear in alphabetical order in MinUI, but you can customize the order by adding a number and closed parens (like “1)” and so on) at the start of the title. Here is a sample order that is not alphabetical, but actually grouped by manufacturer, release date, and console type:

0) Arcade and Neo Geo (FBN)
1) Game Boy (GB)
2) Game Boy Color (GBC)
3) Game Boy Advance (GBA)
4) Nintendo Entertainment System (FC)
5) Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SFC)
6) Sega Genesis (MD)
…and so on.

Note that if you are going to have more than 10 systems (0 through 9), then you need to use a leading zero to accommodate double digits:

00) Arcade and Neo Geo (FBN)
01) Game Boy (GB)
02) Game Boy Color (GBC)
03) Game Boy Advance (GBA)
04) Nintendo Entertainment System (FC)
05) Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SFC)
06) Sega Genesis (MD)
…and so on.

Game collections

MinUI supports Collections, which are simple and customizable text files.

To get started, created a folder named “Collections” in the root directory of your microSD card. Inside your Collections folder, add a txt file and name it whatever you would like. Open the txt file with a text editor like Notepad, and simply make a list of games and their paths. Here is an example of “Castlevanias.txt” from my collection:

/Roms/4) Nintendo Entertainment System (FC)/Castlevania (USA) (Rev A).nes
/Roms/4) Nintendo Entertainment System (FC)/Castlevania II – Simon’s Quest (USA).nes
/Roms/4) Nintendo Entertainment System (FC)/Castlevania III – Dracula’s Curse (USA).nes
/Roms/1) Game Boy (GB)/Castlevania – The Adventure (USA) (Castlevania Anniversary Collection).gb
/Roms/1) Game Boy (GB)/Castlevania II – Belmont’s Revenge (USA, Europe).gb
/Roms/1) Game Boy (GB)/Kid Dracula (Restored).gb
/Roms/5) Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SFC)/Super Castlevania IV (USA).sfc
/Roms/3) Game Boy Advance (GBA)/Castlevania – Aria of Sorrow (USA).gba
/Roms/3) Game Boy Advance (GBA)/Castlevania – Harmony of Dissonance (USA).gba
/Roms/7) TurboGrafx-16 (PCE)/Castlevania – Rondo of Blood (Japan) [T-En by Burnt Lasagna & Cubanraul v1.01] [n].chd
/Roms/8) Sony PlayStation (PS)/Castlevania – Symphony of the Night (QoL v1.2).chd

So you can see in this collection I have added the games in a mix of release and system order, starting with NES and going from there. I also added Kid Dracula since it feels like a spiritual successor to some of the older Castlevania games.

Some tricks and tips:

• If you make any changes to the game or directory names, it will break the connection. For example, if you change the number order of your ROM folders, you’ll have to change their path in each of your Collections too.
• You can add hidden games to your Collections, so that they only appear in the Collection and not in the main menu. Let’s say that I don’t want Nintendo DS games to show up in my main menu, but I want to add a certain NDS game to a collection, like Final Fantasy III. I can hide the Nintendo DS folder by adding a “.disabled” extension to the folder name, and then add that full folder name to my collection, like this (in bold to make it easier to find):

/Roms/4) Nintendo Entertainment System (FC)/Final Fantasy (USA).nes
/Roms/3) Game Boy Advance (GBA)/Final Fantasy I & II – Dawn of Souls (Rebalanced).gba
/Roms/Nintendo DS (NDS).disabled/Final Fantasy III (USA).nds
/Roms/3) Game Boy Advance (GBA)/Final Fantasy IV Advance (Restored).gba
/Roms/3) Game Boy Advance (GBA)/Final Fantasy V Advance (USA).gba
/Roms/5) Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SFC)/Final Fantasy VI (TWUE 3.06) + Bug Fixes & Add-Ons.sfc
/Roms/8) Sony PlayStation (PS)/Final Fantasy VII.pbp
/Roms/8) Sony PlayStation (PS)/Final Fantasy VIII.pbp
/Roms/8) Sony PlayStation (PS)/Final Fantasy IX.pbp
/Roms/8) Sony PlayStation (PS)/Final Fantasy Tactics (USA).chd
/Roms/1) Game Boy (GB)/Final Fantasy Adventure (World) (Collection of Mana).gb
/Roms/1) Game Boy (GB)/Final Fantasy Legend (USA).gb
/Roms/1) Game Boy (GB)/Final Fantasy Legend II (USA).gb
/Roms/1) Game Boy (GB)/Final Fantasy Legend III (USA).gb

If you’d like some help in getting started, here is a zip file of my own MinUI Collections (right-click and select “Save As”). Bear in mind that the ROM file names may not match yours, but it will give you an idea of some favorites.

Customize your systems

Now that we have all of our games added and everything organized, now we can start to play our games. But there are a few customizations we can do to enhance our play experience as well.

Let’s use Game Boy as our example.

• Start up a Game Boy game, then press the Menu button (to the left of the SELECT button on the TrimUI Brick).
• Go to Options > Frontend, and choose the defaults for your system. They are already pre-configured by the MinUI developer, but you might want to adjust them yourself. For example, I prefer the following settings for GB:
  • Screen Scaling: Aspect
  • Screen Effect: Grid
  • Screen Sharpness: Crisp
  • CPU Speed: Powersave
  • Debug HUD: Off
  • Max FF Speed: 4x
• Now, go to Options > Emulator. Here you can make more adjustments, like GB Colorization, Color Correction, and more. Note that if you have added the BIOS file, you can go to Use Official Bootloader and set it to Enabled so you can see the boot logo when starting GB games.
• Next, under Options > Shortcuts, you can add hotkeys. Any spare button can be used (like the shoulder and trigger buttons, which didn’t exist on the GB), or you can press MENU + another button for a combo hotkey. These are the shortcuts I set for every system:
  • Save & Quit: MENU + START
  • Cycle Scaling: L3
  • Cycle Effect: R3
  • Toggle FF: R2
• This means that I can press the two front function keys (considered L3 and R3 in MinUI) to cycle between aspect ratio and grid/scanline effects. Also any time I press R2 I can toggle ON/OFF fast forward, and if I press MENU + START it will save and exit my game.
• Once you are done with adjusting the settings for your system, go to Options > Save Changes > Save for console. Now every Game Boy game will follow these same configurations.
• Go through each of the other systems and also set them up accordingly: your preferred scaling and CPU speed, any Emulator-specific settings, and your shortcuts; then just select “Save for console” and move on to the next one. This is a little tedious, but only has to be done once.

Create a custom boot logo

The EXTRAS file from MinUI contains a Boot logo tool; if you go into Tools and run the Bootlogo tool, by default it will replace the TrimUI boot logo with a MinUI boot logo. But the cool thing is you can just make your own image and boot that instead.

• Put the microSD card in your computer, then go to Tools > tg3040 > Bootlogo.pak. Inside you will see a file named bootlogo.bmp. Using a photo editing app like Photoshop or GIMP, make a small bmp file. I recommend something around 500×500 or less, and with a black background so it blends into the rest of the screen.
• Once you have your new file, name it bootlogo.bmp and replace the file you found in the Tools > tg3040 > Bootlogo.pak folder.
• Here is a boot logo that I made using the typical RGC fond and color scheme: to download, right-click on this link and select “save as…” and then replace the bootlogo.bmp file you found in the Tools > tg3040 > Bootlogo.pak folder.

Note that after you run this tool, it will “self-destruct” and not appear again. To make it re-appear (like if you want to run the tool again with a new image), put the card back into your PC and go to Tools > tg3040 > Bootlogo.pak.disabled and remove the “.disabled” portion of the folder name.

In addition to the Bootlogo tool, you will find a tool named “Remove loading” in the Tools menu. This will remove the TrimUI “loading screen” when launching the system, so you can run this one time to have a cleaner experience.

General MinUI tips

When actually using MinUI, here are some handy tips and tricks:

• Any time you are playing a game, you can press and hold the POWER button to create a Quicksave, and then next time you turn on the device it will resume where you were mid-game.
• Tap the POWER button to put the device to sleep. After a few minutes the device will auto-shutdown to conserve battery life. If you are in the middle of a game when you put it to sleep, it will save your game before powering off.
• If you don’t press anything for 30 seconds, MinUI will automatically put your device to sleep. Tap the POWER button to resume from sleep.
• If you want to start up a game from the menu that you’ve already made a save for, you can press the X button instead of A to launch the game and your save file at the same time. Otherwise, you can press A to start the game over from the beginning, or press the MENU button while in the game to load your last save state.
• To adjust brightness, press and hold the MENU button, then press Volume Up or Down.
• The toggle switch on the right side of the device is a MUTE toggle, if you toggle it down it will mute the game, and toggling it up will restore the audio.

Adding PortMaster and WiFi

MinUI is simple by design, but with the help of the custom MinUI paks detailed above, you can add some other core functionality to the platform.

Adding WiFi:

WiFi will already work in MinUI if you connected it previously with your Stock OS card (the WiFi information is stored on the device, not the cards). So simply use the Stock card to connect, then switch back to your MinUI card. You’ll know it’s working when you see the WiFi symbol on the top-right of your MinUI interface. There are reports that leaving Bluetooth enabled on the Stock OS card can inhibit WiFi connectivity in MinUI, so turn that off with the Stock card if you experience any connection issues.

MinUI’s native emulator cores don’t support WiFi functions like Retro Achievements, but you can experiment with the MinUI Custom Paks to use RetroArch and log into Retro Achievements that way. This goes against the spirit of this guide but it’s definitely possible!

To disable WiFi, launch the Stock OS card again and disable it, then power off and switch back to your MinUI card.

Adding PortMaster:

Note that adding PortMaster to MinUI is contrary to the OS’s original design, and should only be attempted by tinkerers.

First, make sure that you have added the MinUI Custom Paks as detailed in the section above, since that contains PortMaster. Next, go into the Tools > tg5040 folder and grab the Portmaster.pak, and copy that into your Tools > tg3040 folder.

To get PortMaster running properly, you need to install a special firmware known as TrimUI_EX, which was made by a PortMaster team member. You will need a spare microSD card to set it up, which you can discard once you have gone through this section. We are simply installing the firmware on a different card and then going back to our MinUI card.

Take a spare microSD card and format it to FAT32. Follow the instructions found here, but use the firmware found on this page instead of the TrimUI Smart Pro firmware detailed in that guide. Note that there is always a risk of bricking your device with any firmware flash, so be sure to follow those instructions carefully. Once you are done with that process, you can turn off your device and discard that FAT32 TrimUI_EX card.

Back on your original MinUI card, you will need to “reinstall” the OS by adding the “trimui” folder and “MinUI.zip” file from the most recent official base version of MinUI to the root directory of your card. This will prompt MinUI to update itself upon first boot. Now you should have full access to MinUI as well as PortMaster.

The PortMaster app does not seem to work with WiFi, so you will likely need to install your games offline. Thankfully we can use PortMaster’s “autoinstall” tool to easily install games with minimal effort.

To install PortMaster games offline:

• Download each of the Runtimes from this page, and place them in the Roms > Apps > PortMaster > PortMaster > libs folder of your microSD card.
• Go to the PortMaster Games page, find the game that you want to add, then download the zip file. Place the zip file in the Roms > Apps > PortMaster > PortMaster > autoinstall folder of your microSD card.
• Turn on your device, then go to Tools > PortMaster. As it starts, the app will auto install the zip files you added in the previous step, and place the Port folder to the Data > ports folder on your SD card, and your Ports SH file to the Roms > PORTS folder. PortMaster has a habit of crashing during the autoinstall process, simply re-start PortMaster to resume where you were.
• You should now find the Port available in the Roms > Ports section of your MinUI device. Note that commercial ports require data files that are detailed on that game’s PortMaster page, so those will need to be added after running the auto install function. Generally, you will add the commercial files in the Roms > Ports > (name of port) > gamedata folder.

There are MANY Ports that will not boot on the TrimUI Brick right now, so definitely consider Ports to be an “added bonus” for the whole experience. Ports that I got working using the steps above: Apotris, Cannonball-st, Celeste, Freegemas, Panzer Paladin, Sonic Mania, and TMNT Shredder’s Revenge.

Box art Easter Egg

Yes, it is possible to add box art to MinUI (sort of). It’s not a supported feature on the OS, but something that was built into it at one point for the developer to make an easy navigation experience for children. Please note this is a labor-intensive process, and likely not great when using a single SD card between several different devices and resolutions. But if you are using your MinUI card on a single device, this could enhance your gameplay experience (and make it easier for non-readers to navigate).

Note that because this feature is unsupported, future updates to MinUI may break compatibility. You can read more about it here.

• Within each ROM folder, create a folder named “.res” (with a dot in front of it). In Windows you will get a prompt to confirm you are making a hidden folder, and on Mac it won’t let you even make that folder until you press CMD + SHIFT + “.” (period) to reveal hidden files first.
• Inside that folder, add PNG image files that correspond to the ROM file in the main ROM folder. This image file name needs to include the ROM’s file extension too. So for example, “Super Mario Bros 2.nes” will need an image named “Super Mario Bros 2.nes.png”.
• Images will need to be manually resized to look good on your screen. For the TrimUI Brick, I would recommend a width of 300px for each square and vertical box art image, and 350px for wide images (like the SNES box art). For 480p displays (like the Miyoo Flip pictured above), I would recommend a width of 200px for square/vertical and 250px for wide images.

To acquire boxart, I would recommend grabbing the images from Libretro’s thumbnail repository, since they are already in PNG format. Just bear in mind that you will need to resize and rename each of them to match your ROMs. If the game you are looking for isn’t present in the Libretro repo, then searching TheGamesDB may yield more results, but bear in mind that these are usually JPG files that will need to be converted to PNG.

Box art even carries over to Game Collections automatically, so your box art will appear there. In addition, you can make a “.res” folder within the main ROMs folder if you want console/system art (i.e. Game Boy, NES, SNES etc console art) and you can do the same for custom collections art (Super Marios, Castlevanias, etc).

Add LED light control

By default, MinUI will turn off your TrimUI’s LED lights, but if you want to restore them, check out this LedControl app from developer ro9inmorgan.

To install, download the latest release and unzip/copy the LedControl.pak folder to the Apps folder of your card. You should then find the app in your Apps menu.

Start fresh with stock OS

If you would rather get back to the original stock OS experience, or if your device didn’t come with a stock OS card, here is how to set it up from scratch.

If you are using a brand new SD card that is 32GB or smaller, you don’t have to do anything. If you are not using a brand new card, I recommend using SD Card Formatter to wipe the card beforehand, but after that you are good to go.

If you are using a card that is over 32GB in file size, here is how to format it to FAT32:

Mac: Insert your card and open Disk Utility (it is pre-installed in MacOS). Select your microSD card, then select Erase. Give the card a name and under the “Format” option select “MS-DOS (FAT32)” and click Erase.

Windows: download and install Rufus on your PC. The standard “rufus-4.6.exe” (the number will likely change) is fine. Insert your card and open Rufus, then select your card from the drop-down menu. Set the “Boot selection” to “Non bootable”, and set “File system” to FAT32. Under “Volume label” you can name the card, then press START and follow the prompts.

Download the latest “SD base package” zip file from this page. Unzip the file and place everything in the root directory of your microSD card. From there, add your game files and you are back to a fresh stock experience.

Try out KNULLI

If you are looking for a different experience, KNULLI (forked from Batocera) has a working Pre-Alpha version of their OS for the TrimUI Brick. This is still a work in progress, but you can grab it from their releases page.

If you need help setting up KNULLI, check out their excellent website!

Changelog

30JAN2025
– added LedControl app section

14JAN2025
– added MinUI “reinstallation” instructions for after flashing PortMaster-friendly firmware (thanks Shaun Inman for the tip)
– added instructions on how to add box art to MinUI

13JAN2025
– added direct link to FBNeo map.txt file for full arcade game names

18DEC2024
– added link to my MinUI Collections zip file

11DEC2024
– added stock OS section
– added KNULLI section

09DEC2024
– published guide
– added video link
– added PortMaster section

The Amazon Fire Stick 4K Max is a great little streaming device, and for that use case alone it’s a pretty good deal. But did you know that it can play a surprising amount of retro games too, without any need to modify the device in any way? This guide will show you how to get up and running with your favorite retro systems with just a few tools.

Table of Contents
Which systems can you play on the Fire Stick?
Build your ROM library
Recommended accessories
Download emulator apps
Load up your games
Set up RetroArch
Other notes

Changelog

Which systems can you play on the Fire TV Stick?

Before jumping into this project, you might be curious about which games you can actually play on your device. Here is a general list of systems that can be played on the Amazon Fire Stick 4K Max. Other Fire Sticks (like the Lite, Hd, and 4K models) may not be as performant. Those noted with an asterisk cannot play every game at full speed, and so performance may vary.

Build your ROM library

If you haven’t already, I recommend building a ROM library of your favorite games to play on the Fire Stick. ROM file sources will not be shared on this website.

When getting ROM files, I recommend using the “No-Intro” naming convention, which is the standard naming used for ROM sets within RetroArch and other emulation communities. By using no-intro naming, you will be more likely to get box art automatically added when you load up your games and scrape their media. If you have a question as to how a game should be named, I recommend checking out the Libretro thumbnails directory. If your game name matches the thumbnail name found in this directory, chances are that it will properly download the media for it.

Additionally, an important component of a ROM library is maintaining BIOS files. BIOS files are system files necessary for some emulators (GBA, Sega CD, or PS1), and are helpful in improving accuracy with other systems. These files are copyrighted so you are on your own to find them, but a quick search for a RetroArch bios pack should get you on your way.  Here is more information about BIOS files.

Here is a listing of the most common BIOS files:

GAME BOY (for boot logo):
gb_bios.bin

GAME BOY COLOR (for boot logo):
gbc_bios.bin

GAME BOY ADVANCE:
gba_bios.bin

NEO GEO:
neogeo.zip (place in your Neo Geo ROMs folder)

SEGA CD:
bios_CD_E.bin
bios_CD_J.bin
bios_CD_U.bin

TURBOGRAFX-CD:
syscard1.pce
syscard2.pce
syscard3.pce

PLAYSTATION 1:
scph5001.bin (there are many options)

Note that Dreamcast usually requires BIOS files, but the app I recommend for the Fire Stick (FlyCast) doesn’t need them.

Recommended accessories

In addition to the Fire Stick itself, I recommend three accessories: a game controller, a USB drive, and a USB splitter so that you can connect the USB drive to your Fire Stick.

As far as game controllers go, I have tested a few and found that the 8BitDo SN30 Pro is low-latency and also has a fitting retro nostalgic look and feel to it. It’s about $40 and well worth it — there are also newer versions with Hall-sensor sticks (reducing stick drift), or cool transparent green and purple colors. Note that when connecting it to your Fire Stick, pair the controller in X-Input (Windows) mode instead of D-Input (Android) mode. To do so, press the X and START button at the same time when starting up the controller the first time you pair it. After it’s paired, you just have to press the START button to reconnect to your Fire Stick.

While you can load games directly onto the Fire Stick, it only has 16GB of internal memory which can fill up really fast. Instead, I recommend using a USB drive that you can plug into a PC to load with games, which will simplify the process and give you plenty of space for all of your favorites. Note that you should use a USB 2.0 flash drive, because they have a lower power draw. If you try and use a fancy USB 3.0+ drive it will likely not have enough power to run the drive and the Fire Stick at the same time, since they will both be using the same power source (if you plug in a drive and it’s not recognized, this is probably the reason why). I recommend the SanDisk Cruze Blade, I’ve been using it for years for this exact purpose.

Finally, I recommend this micro USB splitter, which will allow you to plug in the USB drive and power the Fire Stick at the same time.

Download emulator apps

Loading emulators onto your Fire Stick is relatively easy, and this guide will make it even easier to grab those apps all at once. To start, on the Fire Stick go to the Apps section, then search for and install the app called “Downloader”. This is a web browser that will allow you to directly download and install games onto the Fire Stick.

Once installed, go into your Fire Stick settings > My Fire TV > About and then click on the name of your device (“Fire Stick 4K Max”) several times, until you see a pop-up that says you are now a developer. Go back to the My Fire TV settings, then choose Developer Options > Install Unknown Apps > Downloader and turn it ON. Now you are ready to install apps from the Downloader app.

You can either find each emulator on your own, or navigate to this guide using the Downloader app (just search for Retro Game Corps and then click on the Fire Stick guide on my front page). Here are direct links to each of the emulators I recommend:

RetroArch (most retro systems) -- main site
FlyCast (Sega Dreamcast) -- main site
PPSSPP (PlayStation Portable) -- main site
DraStic (Nintendo DS) -- main site

Note that each of these emulators are free. DraStic was previously a paid app only available via the Google Play Store, but as of March 2024, the developer has decided to make it available for free and is working to make it open source. There is no current distribution path or DraStic other than the Play Store, so I am linking to an archive of the latest version.

Load up your games

To load your games, you will first need to format your flash drive to FAT32. The easiest way to do this is to plug it into the Fire Stick, and it will prompt you to reformat the drive. When given the option, choose “External” storage, which lets you plug it directly into a PC afterwards. If you have a flash drive that is 32GB or smaller, it will already be in FAT32 format, so you won’t need to reformat it. If the flash drive is larger than 32GB and you still don’t get a prompt, go into the Fire settings, then choose My Fire TV > USB Drive and format it to External Store from there.

Now, go back to Settings > My Fire TV > USB Drive > Eject USB Drive. Once it is ejected, remove the flash drive from your Fire Stick and plug it into your PC. You should see a bunch of Android-related folder in the root directory; make a folder named “Games” and within that folder, make subfolders for your games (GB, GBC, NES, etc), and put your games inside. Once you have loaded up your games, you can eject it from your PC and plug it back into the Fire Stick.

Set up RetroArch

RetroArch will be your main app for most emulation, especially for those systems which are more retro-oriented. The app itself takes some time to get acquainted with, so I recommend my full RetroArch guide video above. It’s a little long, but it will break down each component of the emulation frontend.

The most important part will be to install the cores that work best for the Fire Stick. These are the cores that I recommend:

Recommended RetroArch cores:

Arcade (FinalBurn Neo) -- fighting games and beat'em ups
Arcade (MAME 2003-Plus) -- all-around arcade emulation
Commodore Amiga (PUAE)
DOS (DosBox-Pure)
NEC PCE/TG-16/PCE-CD/TG-CD (Beetle PCE)
Nintendo GB/GBC (Gambatte)
Nintendo GBA (mGBA)
Nintendo Virtual Boy (Beetle VB)
Nintendo NES (Nestopia UE)
Nintendo SNES (Snes9x Current)
Nintendo 64 (ParaLLEl)
ScummVM -- point-and-click PC games
Sega Master System/Genesis/CD (Genesis Plus GX)
Sega 32x (PicoDrive)
SNK Neo Geo (FinalBurn Neo)
Sony PlayStation (SwanStation)

From there, you will want to set your System folder to point to your BIOS folder, bind your controller keys, set your hotkeys, and create playlists, which are all explained in the video above. Here is a diagram of my recommended hotkey settings:

After that, you should be good to go: navigate to your playlist, pick a game, and start it up.

Other notes

• When setting up DraStic and PPSSPP, the app will ask for you to choose your game folder. Unfortunately, the Fire Stick controller and your game controller won’t let you properly navigate the file system to pick your folder, and it can be frustrating. I found the best method is to connect a bluetooth mouse and then click around until you find it (strangely, the mouse cursor won’t appear, so you have to feel yourself around). Using a bluetooth keyboard might work better. Thankfully, you only have to do this one time, and after that it will know where your games are located.
• Frontends like Daijisho can be installed, but won’t be able to launch RetroArch games for some reason. I’ve mostly just been launching the individual apps and running the games from there.
• Some emulators and cores can be installed but will crash when you try and launch a game. For example, the RetroArch Flycast core will crash when you start a game, and the standalone Mupen64Plus FZ app will crash as well. Redream is a Dreamcast emulator that works pretty well, but has severe graphical issues with many games.

Changelog

06MAR2024
– published guide

The Anbernic RG556 and RG Cube handhelds are great in many ways: they are super comfortable, and can emulate up to PS2 and GameCube for the most part. However, getting it set up can be a little daunting if you’re unfamiliar with Android-based handhelds, so this guide will help you get up and running.

Anbernic RG556: AliExpress // Anbernic.com // GoGameGeek
Anbernic RG Cube: AliExpress // Anbernic.com // GoGameGeek

Table of Contents

Get a good microSD card
Other accessories to consider
Remove Anbernic's Android jank
Get acquainted with Anbernic's interface
Check out the Retroid Pocket 4 guide
Update your apps with Obtainium
Custom 3DS layout for the RG Cube
Native Pico-8
Set up a frontend
Repurpose the RG button
Improve the analog sticks

Changelog

Choose a handheld

Both of these devices have the same Unisoc T820 processor, which means that the performance will be similar: you can play up to GameCube and PS2 with most games playing at upscaled resolutions.

When picking between one or the other, I would recommend watching the impressions and review videos above. When it comes down to it, these two handhelds have slightly different use cases: the RG Cube is excellent for retro gaming in particular, while the RG556 is a better fit for 16:9 systems like PSP and game streaming.

Here is a comparison chart from my RG Cube review, which shows the strengths of each handheld compared to other similar handhelds (either in terms of price of screen).

Get a good microSD card

For additional storage beyond the 128GB internal space, I recommend using a card from reputable brands like SanDisk or Samsung. The way I like to approach it is to use the internal storage for Android games, and then the external storage for all of my ROMs.

In general, I recommend the cards listed below, in order or preference. The prices fluctuate all the time, so keep an eye out for deals. A 128GB card will allow you to load EVERY 8-bit and 16-bit game out there, just about all of the arcade games that work, and quite a few PS1, Dreamcast, PSP, GameCube, PS2, and Sega CD games (those systems have the largest file sizes). A 256GB or 512GB card will allow you to store even more of those larger games. You can use a larger cards too!

128GB cards:
Samsung EVO Select
SanDisk Ultra

256GB cards:
Samsung EVO Select
SanDisk Ultra

512GB cards:
Samsung Evo Select
SanDisk Ultra

1TB cards:
SanDisk Extreme (fastest)
SanDisk Ultra
Lexar Play

When inserting the card for the first time, the device will detect the card like it would with any other Android tablet or phone. It may prompt you to specify the storage method, if that happens then choose “Portable Storage” so that you can remove the card and insert it into your computer for easy file transfer.

Other accessories to consider

If you don’t have a nice microSD to USB adapter, you might want to think about getting one. A nice adapter like this one from Anker will give you the fastest transfer speeds possible, and can be used with USB-A or USB-C ports. Additionally, the Anbernic RG556 can double as a pseudo home console, thanks to its 1080p video output via USB-C, so you could use one of these adapters too. Bear in mind that this device has issues connecting to many docks, and sadly seems to have trouble producing video out at the same time as charging. I have found that the Anker adapter above is the most consistent option to output the video signal to a TV or monitor.

The RG Cube outputs video in a 1:1 square aspect ratio, but you can set it to desktop mode to expand the view. Check out my RG Cube video above for a demonstration, but the process is simple: once connected, swipe down from the top and you should see the option within your notifications tray.

There are plenty of controller options out there, but I prefer to use something that’s somewhat retro-friendly. You could use a bluetooth controller like the 8BitDo SN30 Pro, for example.

Remove Anbernic’s Android jank

Anbernic uses a custom Android 13 build in the RG556, and some of the initial settings don’t really lend themselves to a good gaming experience. Here are the initial adjustments I recommend making when you first power on the device:

• Go into the Android Settings app and make the following changes:
  • Network > Internet > sign into your WiFi
  • Notifications > Do No Disturb > ON
  • Sound & Vibration > Vibration & Haptics > Touch Feedback > OFF (removes rumbling while typing)
  • Sound & Vibration > Touch sounds > OFF
  • Display > Screen Timeout > 30 Minutes
  • Wallpaper & Style > change it to whatever you’d like (although I like the RG Cube wallpaper)
  • Security > Screen Lock > change this to “None” if you don’t want to swipe to unlock every time
  • System > Gestures > System Navigation > Gesture navigation

Also, I recommend that you consider deleting all of the emulators apps that are pre-installed on the device. Many of them are pirated copies of paid apps, and very outdated and potentially dangerous, so it’s better to install the proper ones to get the best performance and to pay developers for their work. The nice thing about buying emulator apps on the Play Store is that they will forever be associated with your Google profile, so you do not need to re-purchase them on other devices using the same profile. If you are a new Android user and want the most seamless experience without messing with Android app settings, you can certainly just use the pre-installed apps.

The color balance on your RG556 may require some adjustment as well. I had two devices to test and review, and the color balance on each varied greatly. To adjust the color, go to Android Settings > Display > Colors & Contrast. Set the contrast to “Automatic contrast”, and then in the Color heading, change the color profile to whatever gives you the most balanced look.

Get acquainted with Anbernic’s interface

Anbernic’s Android interface has a few quirks, so let’s go over those:

• You can toggle on/off the LED lights around the analog sticks by swiping down from the top and tapping on the button labeled “Ambient Light”. Long-press on this app to bring up a quick menu, where you can adjust the brightness and enable other patterns.
• The device has two input modes: NS Mode and Xbox Mode. You can access these by swiping down from the top of the screen and looking for the corresponding button. NS Mode will make the button inputs correspond to the ABXY button pattern on the device, and Xbox mode will swap them so that the A button is on the bottom. It might seem counter-intuitive, but I recommend using Xbox mode because it will translate correctly in Android games and streaming apps. Xbox mode will also provide a full range of analog input for the trigger buttons.
  • On the RG Cube, it will also allow you to alternate between analog and digital trigger inputs. You can make the same adjustment on the RG556 if you long-press on the input mode option.
  • Important! If you use the Xbox control mode, every time you restart the device you will have to go into the top menu and then toggle OFF then ON the Xbox mode again. This is a known bug with the Anbernic software – it just reverts back to NS mode every boot cycle.
• There are performance toggles in the upper quick menu as well. They are Auto Mode and High Mode; as found on most other Anbernic handhelds, the “High Mode” doesn’t seem to provide any additional performance benefit.
• There are also fan controls in the same area, ranging from Stop > Auto > Cool > Strong. The device doesn’t ever really get that hot, so I leave mine on the “Auto” setting and the fan only really seems to kick in when playing certain PS2 and Switch games.
• When playing an Android game that doesn’t support controllers, you can press the Keymapp option in the top quick menu to bring up their keymapper function. This allows you to assign buttons to specific touch points on the screen.
• On the bottom-left of the device is a button with the Anbernic “RG” logo, if you press it, it will bring up their custom frontend. I don’t recommend using it for a variety of reasons — instead, a frontend like ES-DE (EmulationStation) or Daijisho will give you much more control. Instructions are found below.

Check out the Retroid Pocket 4 guide

This one might seem counter-intuitive because it’s a different device, but they are both based on Android and have very similar process, so I would recommend using this guide to set up the device with your emulators. You can skip the beginning parts about the initial setup, so you really can start around the 11-minute-mark of the video above. Additionally, here is the full written guide if that is more your speed.

Recommended emulators:

On Play Store:
Duckstation (free) -- PS1
Mupen64Plus FZ (Pro version available) -- N64
Yaba Sanshiro 2 (Pro version available) -- Saturn
Redream (free, in-app upgrade available) -- Dreamcast
DraStic (paid) -- Nintendo DS
PPSSPP (Gold version available) -- PSP
Yuzu (Early Access version available) -- Switch

Not on Play Store (free):
RetroArch (latest Aarch64 nightly build) -- classic systems
AetherSX2 (v1.5-4248 alpha build) -- PS2
AetherSX2 (v1.5-3668) -- PS2
NetherSX2 (see note below below) -- PS2
Dolphin (development build) -- GameCube & Wii
Dolphin forks -- GameCube & Wii
Citra Canary/Nightly (discontinued) or Lime3DS -- 3DS
Citra MMJ -- 3DS
Skyline -- Switch
Vita3k -- PS Vita
Yuzu -- Switch

Recommended streaming apps:

NVIDIA GeForce Now (PC cloud streaming)
Shadow (PC cloud streaming)
Moonlight (PC remote play)
AMD Link (PC remote play)
Steam Link (PC remote play)
Parsec (PC remote play)
PSPlay or Chiaki (PS4 & PS5 remote play)
Xbox or XBXPlay (Xbox One/Series remote play)
Xbox Game Pass (Xbox cloud streaming)

Apps that are not in the Play Store have to be downloaded manually and then side-loaded, which simply means you install them yourself. It’s an easy process. You can navigate to their guide on your device’s web browser, then tap on each link to go to the download page for that app. Once downloaded, find the app in your Downloads folder, tap on it, and it will install. For an even easier experience, check out the Obtainium section below to automate the process.

For PPSSPP on the RG556, you won’t be able to install the latest version and have it work with Anbernic’s version of Android due to file permission errors. Instead, download and install version 1.11.3 (link here, scroll down to the “Previous Releases” section) and sideload it yourself, then open it to grant it the necessary permissions. Now you can go into the Play Store and update the app to the latest version. The RG Cube can install the latest version without any workarounds.

For RetroArch, I recommend using the nightly build (directly linked above). Once you have installed the app, I strongly recommend going through my RetroArch Starter Guide to orient you to the platform itself. I consider this to be a necessary part of the process when it comes to mastering emulation on an Android device, particularly for retro games. It has a learning curve to it, but once you get the hang of it, you can use these skills for a variety of devices that use RetroArch. The RP4 starter guide video above will also show you the very basics to get started.

Regarding PS2 emulation, I recommend NetherSX2, following the guide above. NetherSX2 is a community project to bring some non-performance updates to the AetherSX2, now that AetherSX2 development has discontinued. There are two options: NetherSX2 “patch” (4248) and NetherSX2 “classic” (3668). The installation process for each is the same — just download the latest GitHub release to a Windows PC, and then run the batch file. It will download AetherSX2, patch it, and output a new AetherSX2 apk file. Note that performance between the 3668 and 4248 versions can vary — some games just run better on one over the other (for example, Sly Cooper runs better on 3668). Sadly, you can’t have both installed on the device at the same time, so you will have to swap between the two.

For the most consistent PS2 results, I have found that the 3668 version is best on the RG556. Use the Vulkan graphics backend and toggle the following settings in this order if it isn’t running at full speed by default:

• Graphics > Threaded Presentation > ON
• Graphics > Hardware Download Mode > Unsynchronized
• Graphics > EE Clock Rate / EE Cycle Skip > decrease values as needed

Update your apps with Obtainium

For apps that you installed via the Play Store, updating the app is as simple as going to the Play Store and then updating the apps under the “Manage Apps” function. For those you sideload, it’s often just a matter of going back to the website, downloading the latest APK, and then installing it — most apps will notice that you already have an older version installed, and will install the new one without messing with your settings or save data. Some apps may give you an error (“this app could not be installed” or “installation failed”), if that happens, you can uninstall the old app (be sure “not to delete your data files”keep app data” when prompted), then install the new one. You may have to reboot your device between installations if it doesn’t work the first time around.

An excellent way to help with your sideloaded apps is Obtainium. This app will check the app versions on your device, and notify you when a new version is available, and you can update that app directly within Obtainium too. This will work best with APKs that are hosted on GitHub.

There is also a handy update script that will auto pull the apps for you into Obtainium, thanks to dev RJNY. Once you have downloaded the json script onto your device (following the instructions on RJNY’s page), open Obtanium, tap on “import/export” then “Obtanium import” and find the json file you downloaded. It will auto-load all of the emulators for you.

You can also manually add each app through Obtanium, by pointing the app to the GitHub release page URL for that app. For Dolphin, set the URL to the Dolphin downloads page, and then within Obtainium be sure to turn ON the option that says “Sort by file names instead of full links”. For Retroarch, set the URL to the buildbot Android page, then under “Custom APK Link Filter” type in RetroArch_aarch64.apk.

Custom 3DS layout for the RG Cube

The 3DS emulator that ships with the RG Cube allows you to manually adjust the screen sizes in the app, and the default setup will also provide a nice 3DS-style overlay. But unfortunately, the performance on this app is somewhat stuttery, which I assume is because the emulator is an older version.

For the best performance and compatibility, I recommend using Lime3DS, a fork of the official Citra emulator. However, the default screen layout options aren’t a great fit for the RG Cube’s square screen, and the portrait orientation mode limits the top screen’s size. While there isn’t a built-in tool to adjust screen size like on the stock or Citra MMJ emulators, you can use a config file to force that layout instead.

Bear in mind that by using this custom screen layout, you’ll lose the ability to toggle the other screen layouts (like a single screen). Like with most things in life, sometimes decisions have consequences.

To start, download and install the latest Lime3DS release. The first time you open it up, it will ask you to specify where you want to place the User Folder. You can pick wherever you would like, but remember its location because we’ll need to access it in a moment.

To set this up, download this zip file (right-click and select “Save As…”, and unzip it. Inside should be a file named “config.ini”; transfer this to your device (for example, you can transfer it onto your device’s SD card). Now, using the RG Cube’s Files app, place this config.ini file in the 3DS config folder — its location will vary depending on where you specified when you installed Lime3DS. If you can’t remember, you can find the location listed in the Options section, under “Select User Folder”. If there is already a config.ini file inside, you can delete it.

Special thanks to discord users Shadow-Star and C0unt-Zer0 for figuring this out!

Native Pico-8

If you’d like to try out running native Pico-8 via the Winlator app (which creates a Windows container to launch the app), check out this written guide.

Set up a frontend

There are many options for frontend apps, which will bring the experience together into something that feels more like a handheld console than an Android tablet with controls slapped on it. I recommend ES-DE (EmulationStation) or Daijisho, and you can check out the setup videos above to get you up and running.

Repurpose the RG button

Once you have a nice third-party frontend installed, you can now repurpose the RG button to another function.

• Download and install Root Uninstaller. This app isn’t on the Play Store, but I recommend getting it from APKpure, a website that only hosts free apps. Beware that there are plenty of ads on this website, so you will need to find the green button that says “Download APK (55MB)”.
• Once installed, open it up and swipe through until you get to the main page. It may ask you things like “enabling Root”, just ignore the prompts. Once in the main page, find the RGLauncher app, and choose to disable it. This will “freeze” the app and you will get a notification that this is a trial version of the app and you will only be able to re-enable apps three times before paying. Since this is the only time we need to do this process, we should be good to go. You can now close out of this app, and you can verify that pressing on the RG button no longer does anything.
• On the Play Store, download and install Button Mapper. Open the app and approve any permissions requests. Tap on the “Add buttons” option, then press the “+” button on the bottom-right, and when prompted press the RG button, which should be detected as F10. Once added to the menu, tap on the F10 button on your screen, and enable “Customize”, and now you can assign whatever you’d like for tap, double-tap, and long press.
  • Note that this setup doesn’t play well with ES-DE if you have that set up as your default home launcher; no matter what you assign it to, it will change back to the Quickstep (default) home as your launcher every time you press it. A simple fix is to assign this button to the ES-DE app!

Improve the analog sticks

Let’s face it, the analog sticks on the RG556 are probably the biggest negative component of the whole device. Thankfully, you can replace them with these Hall-sensor sticks from Gulikit, which provide a more nuance range of motion (see the second image above, courtesy of Aish at Retro Handhelds). They are a drop-in replacement with the current sticks, no soldering or modding required (although I would recommend a nice toolkit to help the process, if you don’t have one already). They won’t fix some of the inherent kernel issues with the controller driver (like the cardinal snapping), but they do appear to improve the overall sensitivity of the sticks.

Changelog

24JUN2024
– added RG Cube context to each section
– added custom 3DS layout section for RG Cube

21JUN2024
– updated PS2 section
– added context to SD card section
– added context re: paid pirated apps
– added analog/digital trigger toggle
– added native Pico-8 guide link
– added repurposing the RG button section

05MAR2024
– updated Yuzu and Citra links

24FEB2024
– published guide

In this guide I’ll show you how to install Batocera, a Linux-based custom operating system that will give your PC a console-like experience. Additionally, in this guide I’ll show you how to install PC games to play alongside your favorite retro classics.

Recommended tools

Solid State Drive: There are many ways to install Batocera onto a PC, but in this example, we are going to install it on a separate hard drive. The great thing about this setup is that it is self-contained, meaning that EVERYTHING (the games, emulators, and settings) are all self-contained within this hard drive. This method has three main advantages:

• You won’t affect the main (Windows) installation in case you want to return to it
• 2.5″ Solid State Drives (SSDs) are becoming increasingly cheap
• You can move this hard drive to another computer in the future for upgraded performance

Among all of the SSD choices you have on the market, these are the three that I most commonly use. I recommend 1TB in size because they will cost about $50 and will give you plenty of storage for retro and modern games.

2.5" SSDs:
Samsung 870 EVO (high quality)
WD Blue 1TB (balance of quality/value)
Crucial BX500 (budget)

Controller: For the most part, you will use a controller to navigate Batocera’s menus. I recommend the 8Bitdo Ultimate line of controllers, because they have a 2.4GHz USB dongle which will make connecting to your PC a breeze. There are a variety of options available, including an arcade stick:

8Bitdo Ultimate Controllers:
2.4GHz wireless with dock ($50, my favorite)
Pro controller ($70, also works on Nintendo Switch)
2.4GHz wireless without dock ($30)
Wired controller ($20)

Arcade stick:
8Bitdo Arcade Stick ($90, also works on Switch)

USB Keyboard and Mouse: In order to navigate the Batocera file system and add games, I recommend using a USB keyboard and mouse. If you already have a mouse and/or keyboard with a USB dongle, you are good to go! If you don’t, I recommend this one which is small and functions as both a keyboard and a mouse.

Recommended PCs

If you don’t have an older PC, here are some example mini PCs that will work well with this setup. I would expect to pay around $200 for a decent starter mini PC, and you can go all the way up to $500 and beyond. It will really depend on what systems you want to play. For more in-depth information, check out my mini PC playlist on YouTube, or my mini PC spreadsheet for a system-by-system breakdown.

$200-$250 price range:
Beelink EQ12
MinisForum UM350

$300-$350 price range:
Beelink SER5
MinisForum UM450

$400-$450 price range:
Beelink SEi12
Minisforum UM560

Recommended software

Here are the two software applications you will need — one is the OS itself, and another is a tool to flash Batocera onto your SSD.

Batocera: Download the latest “desktop” (x86_64) version here
Balena Etcher: to write Batocera to your SSD

Installation instructions

Be sure to consult the Batocera wiki page for the most comprehensive and up-to-date information. Another excellent resource is the Batocera Nation YouTube channel.

1. Install the SSD into your PC, and go into Windows Disk Management to format the SSD so that it is clean.
2. Download Batocera and Balena Etcher from the links above.
3. Open Balena Etcher and find the Batocera img file, then choose to flash it onto your SSD. This will take a few minutes.
4. Shut down your PC, plug in a USB keyboard, and turn on the PC while tapping on the DEL key to bring up the system BIOS
5. In the BIOS, navigate to the Boot tab and change the boot order so that the UEFI/SSD is higher priority than Windows Boot Manager. This will boot into Batocera instead of Windows as its primary option. Tab over to the Save and Exit option, and save and exit.
6. When your PC restarts, it should initialize Batocera and you are now in! From here, you want to add your games, and you can start playing from there. Check out the video above for some more tips and tricks when getting set up.

Adding Steam PC games to Batocera

Adding Steam to Batocera is surprisingly easy, thanks to the Batocera team’s recent efforts.

1. While in the main Batocera interface, press F1 to bring up the File Explorer menu.
2. On the left side, click on the “Applications” option
3. Open the flatpak-config icon that appears in the Applications menu
4. Within the suggested apps, you should see Steam. Click on it to install.
5. For the best compatibility, also install Proton. Search for the word “Proton” within the flatpak menu, and then install these three applications: Proton (community build), Proton-GE (community build), and ProtonUp-Qt.
6. Once these are installed, you can close flatpak-config and exit out of the File Manager. Press START to open the main Batocera menu, and select Game Settings > Refresh Games List. Now, in your Ports section, you should be able to boot into Steam.
7. Log into Steam using your credentials. Once inside, go into Settings > Interface and choose “Open Steam in Big Picture Mode”. Restart Steam to have the SteamOS interface, and you can download games from there.
8. For games that do not have a native Linux version, go into the game settings > Properties > Compatibility and choose Proton-GE. This will allow you to install and run Windows games using the Proton compatibility layer, which works surprisingly well.
9. To boot your installed games directly from the Batocera menu, exit Big Picture mode to get into the main desktop Steam interface. Go to the Library section, then select all of your installed games. Right-click on them and choose Properties > Add Desktop Shortcuts. When you refresh your Batocera games list, you should now have a Steam section with your games listed.

In this guide I will show you how to get started with the Anbernic RG35XX retro handheld, and how to set up the new GarlicOS game launcher and greatly improve the device’s user experience.

Where to buy the RG35XX:
Anbernic website
AliExpress
Amazon (more expensive but faster shipping and easy returns)

GarlicOS is provided as a community build thanks to the work of developer Black Seraph. If you have the means, please consider leaving him a tip jar donation to thank him for his efforts. MinUI is created by Shaun Inman.

Table of Contents
Getting started
Recommended software tools
Install GarlicOS (single-card setup)
Install GarlicOS (dual-card setup)
Add BIOS files
Add game files
Updating GarlicOS
Set the real-time clock (RTC)
Overclocking (or underclocking) the RG35XX
Changing the GarlicOS skin
Adding boxart to the menus
Super Mario 64 port
Additional GarlicOS tips
Install MinUI
Install Koriki
Install Batocera
Install muOS
Adjusting the d-pad sensitivity

Changelog

Getting started

The RG35XX will come bundled with a single microSD card, and in some cases two SD cards, but they are from a generic brand and will be prone to failure. The “TF1/INT” slot on your device holds the system firmware, so for that card 16GB is ideal. The “TF2/EXT” slot is for your game files, so you will want a larger card for that one. You can either use a single-card setup to host both your system files and the games on one card, or you can separate the two functions using a dual SD card setup. In this guide I will show you how to set up each method.

Your safest bet is to replace your cards with microSD cards from a well-known brand, which will prevent the cards from getting corrupted over time. I recommend you store that original card somewhere safe in case you run into any issues in the future, and buy new SD cards from a reputable brand like SanDisk or Samsung to use in your device.

In general, I recommend the cards listed below, in order of preference. The prices fluctuate all the time, so keep an eye out for deals. In general, I would expect to pay about $7 for a 16GB card, $12 for a 64GB card, and $17 for a 128GB card. For the SD2 slot, I recommend a 64GB or 128GB card, which will allow you to load EVERY 8-bit and 16-bit game out there, all of the arcade games that work, and a large number of PS1, Sega CD, and TurboGrafx-CD games (those systems have the largest file sizes). You can use an even larger SD2 card (like 256GB) but I think it’s overkill for a low-powered device like the RG35XX.

16GB cards: 
SanDisk Ultra  
SanDisk Industrial (more reliable but pricey)

64GB cards:
SanDisk Extreme
Samsung EVO Select
Samsung Ultra

128GB cards:
SanDisk Extreme
Samsung EVO Select
SanDisk Ultra

One more accessory to consider: if you don’t have a nice microSD to USB adapter, you might want to think about getting one. A nice adapter like this one from Anker will give you the fastest transfer speeds possible, and won’t cause any corruption issues with your card.

Finally, I would recommend that you build your ROM library now, if you haven’t already. The device comes with a bunch of games, but they are poorly organized, in the Chinese language, or just outright buggy. Make a folder called “ROMS” or something like it, and make distinct folders for each of the systems you would like to play on your device. I recommend naming your game folders after the “Rom Folder” names found in this guide, because that’s how they’ll be organized on your device when using GarlicOS. For best results, unzip your files with the exception of Arcade/NeoGeo titles.

Recommended software tools

There are several Windows-based tools we are going to use to ensure the smoothest installation possible. So before getting started, go through this list and install these (free) applications to your computer.

7Zip — The GarlicOS SD card image will come in the .7z file format, so you will want to install 7Zip on your computer so you can extract the .img file within.

Balena Etcher — This tool will flash the .img file to your SD1 card.

MiniTool Partition Wizard — This tool will allow you to expand the ROMS partition on your SD1 card, to make space for your BIOS files (and game files if you want to put them there, too). Note that in the video below I demonstrate this process using DiskGenius, but since making that video I have read some concerns about DiskGenius’ Chinese origins; and so it may be safer to use products like MiniTool Partition Wizard or EaseUS Partition Master (for this one, use the “Extend” option rather than “Resize”). For each of these software services, the process is similar, just with a different user interface.

GUIformat — This FAT32 format tool will format your SD2 card to the FAT32 file system, so that the RG35XX can recognize the card and its contents. This is necessary if you are going to use an SD2 card that is larger than 32GB in size.

Install GarlicOS (single-card setup)

Head over to Black Seraph’s website and follow the link to Anbernic RG35XX. There you will find a Patreon post with a description and links to GarlicOS, the custom operating system modeled after the popular Miyoo Mini custom interface known as OnionOS. You do not need to be a member of his Patreon page to download GarlicOS, but please consider supporting his work if you have the means to do so.

At the bottom of the post you will see four files:

RG35XX-Garlic-CopyPasteOnTopOfStock.7z.001
RG35XX-Garlic-CopyPasteOnTopOfStock.7z.002
RG35XX-Garlic-MicroSDCardImage.7z.001
RG35XX-Garlic-MicroSDCardImage.7z.002

Download both files from the second option, “RG35XX-Garlic-MicroSDCardImage.7z” and save them to your computer. Using 7Zip, extract the “001” .7z file and it will also extract the second file at the same time. You should end up with two files: a readme file and the garlic.img file. Using Balena Etcher, flash the garlic.img file to your SD1 card. When the flash completes, you may get a bunch of pop ups warning you to format the partitions — ignore them.

Open up MiniTool Partition Wizard and find the SD1 card in the lefthand menu. It should have four partitions. One of them is FAT32 formatted; if it doesn’t have a drive letter assigned to it, right-click on it in the left menu and Assign a Drive Letter. Once you have a drive letter, you should be able to access this partition using the regular Windows Explorer; within this partition should be a list of three folders:

• BIOS
• ROMs
• CFW

On your computer, make a copy the of ROMS folder as a backup.

Next we’re going to expand the SD1 card so that we can take advantage of all its available space. In Disk Genius, right-click on the FAT32 partition and select “Resize Partition”. Drag the partition so that it takes up all available space, then select “START”. This process may error out, and if it does, you want to DELETE that FAT32 partition and make a new one (that takes up the whole free space) and name it ROMS. Then, move the three backed-up folders (BIOS, ROMs, and CFW) to that partition and you are good to go.

MAC USERS: I recommend following these helpful steps by Ryan Parman.

If after moving your ROMs over you experience a bunch of files that have a “.” in front of them and won’t launch, they are AppleDouble files that can be cleaned by opening Terminal and typing “dot_clean” and the path to your SD card, then pressing the ENTER key. You can easily get your SD card’s path by dragging the drive icon into Terminal.

Install GarlicOS (dual-card setup)

Head over to Black Seraph’s website and follow the link to Anbernic RG35XX. There you will find a Patreon post with a description and links to GarlicOS, the custom operating system modeled after the popular Miyoo Mini custom interface known as OnionOS. You do not need to be a member of his Patreon page to download GarlicOS, but please consider supporting his work if you have the means to do so.

At the bottom of the post you will see four files:

RG35XX-Garlic-CopyPasteOnTopOfStock.7z.001
RG35XX-Garlic-CopyPasteOnTopOfStock.7z.002
RG35XX-Garlic-MicroSDCardImage.7z.001
RG35XX-Garlic-MicroSDCardImage.7z.002

Download both files from the second option, “RG35XX-Garlic-MicroSDCardImage.7z” and save them to your computer. Using 7Zip, extract the “001” .7z file and it will also extract the second file at the same time. You should end up with two files: a readme file and the garlic.img file. Using Balena Etcher, flash the garlic.img file to your SD1 card. When the flash completes, you may get a bunch of pop ups warning you to format the partitions — ignore them.

Open up MiniTool Partition Wizard and find the SD1 card in the lefthand menu. It should have four partitions. One of them is FAT32 formatted; if it doesn’t have a drive letter assigned to it, right-click on it in the left menu and Assign a Drive Letter. Once you have a drive letter, you should be able to access this partition using the regular Windows Explorer; within this partition should be a list of three folders:

• BIOS
• ROMs
• CFW

On your computer, make a copy the of these folders as a backup.

Next, take your SD2 card and format it using the GUIformat tool linked in the Recommended software tools section above. Next, move the BIOS and ROMS folders to the SD2 card and you are good to go.

OPTIONAL: If you want to also host ROMS on your SD1 card, you can expand the SD1 card so that we can take advantage of all its available space. In Disk Genius, right-click on the FAT32 partition and select “Resize Partition”. Drag the partition so that it takes up all available space, then select “START”. This process may error out, and if it does, you want to DELETE that FAT32 partition and make a new one (that takes up the whole free space) and name it ROMS. Then, move the three backed-up folders (BIOS, ROMs, and CFW) to that partition and you are done.

In summary, this is how your file structure should look on a dual-card setup:

SD1:
FAT16 system partition.  System files, with names like "dmenu.bin", "modules" folder, etc.

FAT32 storage partition:
BIOS folder (optional, only if you have ROMs on this card too)
CFW folder
Roms folder (optional)
Saves folder (optional, auto-generated)

SD2:
BIOS folder
Roms folder
Saves folder (auto-generated)

MAC USERS: use The Unarchiver to extract the .7z file, then flash the SD1 card using the Mac version of Balena Etcher. If you also want to expand the SD1 card partition, I recommend following these steps by Ryan Parman. When formatting an SD2 card that is over 32GB in size, use Disk Utility and format it to the “MS-DOS(FAT)” format.

If after moving your ROMs over you experience a bunch of files that have a “.” in front of them and won’t launch, they are AppleDouble files that can be cleaned by opening Terminal and typing “dot_clean” and the path to your SD card, then pressing the ENTER key. You can easily get your SD card’s path by dragging the drive icon into Terminal.

Add BIOS files

BIOS files are system files that allow certain emulator cores to function properly. These files are copyrighted and so no links to them will be found on this website, but here is a list of the BIOS files I recommend adding to the folder. Note that many systems, like NES, Genesis, SNES, etc., don’t require BIOS files.

UPDATE: In the GarlicOS video above I placed the BIOS files in CFW > retroarch > .retroarch > system, but that is no longer necessary. BIOS files now have their own folder, you can place them directly there. Note that the BIOS files need to be on the same card as the game files. This gives you the option to place certain BIOS on one card for certain games, and other BIOS on the other card with other games.

Recommended BIOS files:

SEGA CD:
bios_CD_E.bin
bios_CD_J.bin
bios_CD_U.bin

FAMICOM DISK SYSTEM:
disksys.rom

GAME BOY (for boot logo):
gb_bios.bin

GAME BOY COLOR (for boot logo):
gbc_bios.bin

GAME BOY ADVANCE:
gba_bios.bin

NEO GEO:
neogeo.zip (placed in Neo Geo ROMs folder)

PLAYSTATION:
scph5501.bin

TURBOGRAFX-CD:
syscard1.pce
syscard2.pce
syscard3.pce

One exception is the Neo Geo BIOS file (neogeo.zip), this is not placed in the BIOS folder but in the same folder as your Neo Geo ROMs.

There are other supported systems that require BIOS files, like ColecoVision and Amiga. For those systems, I recommend consulting this table from OnionOS for more information.

Add game files

Now that we have flashed GarlicOS and added the BIOS files to the card, we’re ready to move the ROM files onto your desired card.

Find the ROMS folder of whatever card you plan on using, and drag and drop your ROM files into their respective folder. For the most accurate list of what every folder represents, I recommend consulting the OnionOS emulators section to see the folder name, corresponding system, and accepted ROM file type. You can use the ROMs that came on the stock SD card but I would recommend against it, since many of them will be hacked versions of the original games and may be in the wrong region/language. Instead I recommend building your own ROM library.

Once you have added your games, you are ready to go. Insert your card(s) into the RG35XX and enjoy!

Updating GarlicOS

As GarlicOS continues to develop, I would expect frequent updates. Thankfully, updating the system is relatively easy.

To start, go back to the Black Seraph Patreon post and download the latest version of the “RG35XX-Garlic-CopyPasteOnTopOfStock.7z” files. Unzip the “001” file with 7Zip (it will also extract the 002 file), and then move the contents of the “misc” folder into the root directory of the OS partition on the SD1 card (not the partition named ROMS), overwriting all existing files. You will likely need to delete the old similarly-named files on the partition first before adding the new ones since the partition is so small.

Next, copy the “CFW” folder from the unzipped .7zip file and move it to the ROMs partition of your SD1 card, overwriting all existing files.

If using a single-card setup, you also need to move the contents of the ROMS folder into the ROMS folder of your SD1 card. This will add any new folders to your card so that you can take advantage of any newly-added cores/systems (if using a Mac, choose the “Merge” option so that you don’t overwrite existing folders).

If using a two-card setup, you need to move the contents of the ROMS folder into the ROMS folder of your SD2 card, overwriting all existing files as well. This will add any new folders to your card so that you can take advantage of any newly-added cores/systems (if using a Mac, choose the “Merge” option so that you don’t overwrite existing folders).

Note that this update process will overwrite your RetroArch configuration file, but given that each release comes with new optimized configurations made by the developer, I recommend following the updated config files anyway.

Set the real-time clock (RTC)

GarlicOS now has an ability to set the RTC for games like Pokémon. To do so, press START when in the main menu and a clock adjustment window will pop up. Adjust the date and time to your liking, then press START again to save it. That’s it!

Note that pressing START in the game list menu will actually launch the game instead of the RTC, so be sure to do it while in the main menu.

Overclocking (or underclocking) the RG35XX

GarlicOS has a handy option to overclock the system in case you run into a game that has performance issues. Additionally, you could also underclock the system when playing less-demanding games (like Atari 2600, for example), to improve battery life during marathon retro gaming sessions.

When in the main menu, press the SELECT button to toggle the various overclock options. You can quickly see the overclock setting by looking at the battery icon at the top right of the screen:

NO symbol: no overclock
PLUS symbol: slight overclock
PLUS PLUS symbol: moderate overclock
MINUS symbol: slight underclock
MINUS MINUS symbol: moderate underclock

Note that the over/underclock options are implemented system-wide, and not on a per-game basis. If you want to switch to a different game and remove any clocking, you will need to toggle it off.

Changing the GarlicOS skin

There are several skins available for GarlicOS, and the best repository for them is at RG35XX.com. To install, download the theme of your choice, then unzip it and you should find a folder named “skin” inside. On your SD1 card, go to the CFW folder and replace the default “skin” with the one you just downloaded. Note that you could also make a backup of the old “skin” folder in case you want to revert to the stock, or you can download the stock skin again from the link above.

Adding boxart to the menus

It is possible to add boxart to the RG35XX menus in GarlicOS, but the current implementation is a little inelegant. I would consider this part of the guide to be intermediate, since it requires installation of special tools and using command line. But it’s kind of fun, too. Special thanks to Retro Handhelds discord user Waffles for some of the tips below, and there is also this handy guide on GitHub.

NEW METHOD: the instructions below are a little labor intensive, and there is an excellent new method available in this Reddit post, thanks to u/ToTheCorr for writing it all out. I will leave the old method down below if you want to try it out as well.

Get your boxart. I recommend using Skraper to scrape your boxart directly from your ROM library. If you haven’t used this tool before, here is a quick video guide I made a while back for older systems, but the process will work here as well. Additionally, you can download boxarts individually using Libretro’s thumbnail repository (this will be handy if you have a smaller library). It doesn’t matter what size image you save it as, as because we will adjust the size later in this guide (but keeping it at least 340px wide is recommended for this setup).

Rename your image files. Your image file names need to match the game file exactly (i.e. Super Mario World (US).png for Super Mario World (US).sfc). You can do this by hand, or Skraper will name the image files appropriately for you during the scraping process.

Adjust the image sizes to match GarlicOS. Download and install the latest ImageMagick binary file from their website. We’ll now use command line to bulk-resize the images quickly (one system at a time). I recommend backing up your images somewhere safe in case you mess them up during this stage of the process!

• Windows: Navigate to a folder that hosts your images (like your SNES images), then hold SHIFT and right-click in that folder, and select “Open PowerShell window here”. A command line will open up, and type the following code (you can just copy and paste it from here):

magick mogrify -resize 340x480 -extent 640x480 -gravity West -background none *

If done correctly, the image will be resized to fit the left side of a 640×480 window. You won’t get an indication that it worked correctly within the command line, you just have to check it yourself once it’s done. Repeat this process for your other game folders.

• Mac: Open up Terminal, and type the following code (you can just copy and paste it from here):

mogrify -resize 340x480 -extent 640x480 -gravity West -background none *

If done correctly, the image will be resized to fit the left side of a 640×480 window. You won’t get an indication that it worked correctly within the command line, you just have to check it yourself once it’s done. Repeat this process for your other game folders.

Move the images to your GarlicOS SD card. Place your images in the Roms > (name of system) > Imgs folder of whatever card holds your ROM files. If there isn’t an “Imgs” folder already inside your (name of system) folder, you will need to make it first.

Realign the text to match the image. On your SD1 card, navigate to CFW > skin > settings.json and open it with a text editor. Within this file, make these two changes:

"text-alignment": "left",
"text-margin": 352,

And that’s it. Note that any time you update your skin or update GarlicOS you will likely have to go in and change these lines of code again.

There are quite a few steps to get the boxart displaying, but until there is a different solution within GarlicOS, this method will work! Just make sure that you have file names that match the ROM name, that is the most important part.

Super Mario 64 port

Yes, you can play a port of Super Mario 64 on the RG35XX! You will need to be running GarlicOS and have a copy of the Super Mario 64 ROM file.

• Head to this page and download the SM64 port files (direct link here)
• Inside the subfolders, you should find a folder named sm64 and a file named sm64.sh
• Acquire your own copy of Super Mario 64. It needs to be in .z64 format and have a MD5 hash of 20b854b239203baf6c961b850a4a51a2
• Change the name of the Super Mario 64 to “baserom.us.z64”, then place the file inside the sm64 folder that you downloaded above.
• Place the sm64 folder and sm64.sh file into the Roms/PORTS folder of your GarlicOS SD card

You’ll find the game under the Ports section of your browsing menu. Additional tips:

• For a cleaner browsing experience, you can change the naming of “sm64.sh” to “Super Mario 64.sh” and the game will still boot up fine. Just don’t rename the sm64 folder!
• To exit the game, press the Menu button.
• This game will not show up in the “Recents” section but you can select it as a favorite so that it will appear in that menu.
• There are no save states for this game, so you will need to do in-game saves (the game will prompt you to save every time you earn a star).
• For best results, use a “++” overclock when booting up the game, but expect some choppiness and slowdown.

There are plenty of other ports available on this website, check them out! Another great example is Cave Story; this game is freeware so all you have to do is add the files to your PORTS folder and it will boot right up.

Additional GarlicOS tips

• The battery indicator on this device is not accurate, due to some voltage reading issues with the hardware. You should expect about 3-4 hours of battery life altogether, even if the indicator started otherwise.
• While in a game, tap the MENU button to return to the GarlicOS menu. It will save your progress when you exit the game. If tapping the MENU button doesn’t work, try double-tapping the button, that will usually do the trick.
• While in a game, tap the POWER button to put the device to sleep. Hold the POWER button for three seconds to awaken the device, it will resume your progress in the game. To power down the device altogether, hold the POWER button for three seconds when in the main GarlicOS menu.
• To reduce clutter, you can consolidate games into the same folder if they share the same emulator core. For example, you can add Genesis, Sega CD, and 32x games to the “MD” folder and they will al show up under the same folder and launch properly. The same could be done with GB/GBC, PCE/PCECD, CPS/FBNeo, and more.

Here are some hotkeys to remember:

MENU + X = RetroArch quick menu
MENU + R2 = save state
MENU + L2 = load state
MENU + R1 = fast forward (toggle)
MENU + L1 = slow motion
MENU + Volume UP = increase screen brightness
MENU + Volume DOWN = reduce screen brightness

GarlicOS has some neat features under the hood, including custom scaling, and so you really don’t need to do much within RetroArch to adjust the settings. These will likely improve with every new release, too. However, if you’d like to tinker a bit, here are some tips to get you on your way:

• While in a game, hold the MENU button and press X to enter the RetroArch quick menu. Note that due to the way this version of RetroArch behaves, in order to make permanent changes you will need to open up RA via the RA icon within the main GarlicOS menu.
  • Inside the Core Options section you can make adjustments like removing the sprite limit on certain systems, or setting colorization options for systems like Game Boy and Game Boy Color. Note that while playing Game Boy games you can also toggle between the colorization options by pressing the L2 and R2 buttons.
  • Inside Settings > Video > Scaling you can toggle the “Keep Aspect Ratio” setting in case you want to see a different aspect ratio on your game. If you find a setting that works particularly well with the system you are playing, go to Quick Menu > Overrides > Save Content Directory Overrides to apply this setting to all games within that same folder. This works well with the GB, GBC, and GBA systems, since by default GarlicOS scales them to the native 4:3 aspect ratio of the display instead of the original system aspect ratio.

Install MinUI

MinUI is a new frontend launcher for the RG35XX, with a very simple interface but with some real power under the hood. MinUI has a trimmed down base game list, limited to just GB, GBC, GBA, NES, Genesis, PSX, and SNES. MinUI supports both single and dual card setups, and has RTC support and a file browser via its Tools section.

When downloading MinUI it will come with a readme.txt file, and I recommend reading that for more information about features and the installation process.

• I do not recommend adding MinUI directly on the stock card that came with the device, the card is of low quality and is very likely to stop working. Download this TF1 stock firmware image from the MinUI website, unzip it, and flash it to a reliable microSD card using a tool like Balena Etcher. The card can be of any size, but at least 4GB. If you want to use a single-card setup, you will want to expand the partition using the steps in my single-card setup section above. I recommend a two-card setup.
• Download and unzip the latest release from their GitHub page. You will at least need the “base” zip file but you can also grab the “extras” one for additional emulators like Game Gear, Pico-8, PC Engine (TurboGrafx), Super Game Boy, Virtual Boy, and Master System.
• After you have prepared your SD1 card, you should have a partition named “MISC” that contains a bunch of system files. Copy the “dmenu.bin” file from your MinUI download and place it in the root directory of your MISC folder, overwriting the existing file if prompted.
• If you are using a single-card setup, place the “MinUI.zip” file to the root card of your ROMS partition on SD1. If using a dual-card setup, place the “MinUI.zip” file in the root directory of your SD2 card. The SD2 card must be FAT32 formatted (use GUIformat to format the card to FAT32 if over 32GB in size).
• The MinUI installation file will also contain folders for Bios, Roms, and Saves. Place these folders in the root directory of your SD1 or SD2 card depending on your setup. Within there, place the appropriate ROMs and BIOS files (see the readme file for more details).
• If using the “Extras” zip file from their GitHub releases page, adding these additional cores is simple. Unzip the file and copy the folders from the zip file to whatever SD card you are using to host your game files (SD1 for a single card setup, SD2 for a dual-card setup).
• Insert your card(s) into the device, boot it up, and allow for a brief installation. You should be good to go!

To update MinUI, download the latest release (the “base” zip file), unzip it, and move the MinUI.zip file onto whatever SD card you are using to host your game files (SD1 for a single card setup, SD2 for a dual-card setup). If there are any added “extras” you want to add from that file, just download it, unzip it, and copy everything over to your ROM card.

Additional MinUI tips:

• While in a game, press the MENU button to bring up an options screen. Here you can quit your game, load/save your state, and browse more options. Note that by default, games will not auto-save or auto-load, so be sure to save your progress using in-game saves or save states.
• The options menu has a variety of powerful options, and handy subtitles to explain each option. You can set aspect ratio, scanlines, button mapping, hotkey mapping, and more on a system-level or on a per-game basis.
• You can adjust an overclock on a per-game basis. Start up the game, enter the options menu, then navigate to Frontend > CPU speed and make your desired adjustment. Then go back to the main options screen and select Save Changes > Save for game.
• MinUI has a quicksave function, simply power down the device while in a game and it will save your spot, and resume it when you power the device back on.
• MinUI has a sleep function, simply tap on the power button while in game and tap it again to resume. When in the main menu, the screen will automatically go to sleep if you don’t press anything for a minute. Tap the power button to bring it back up.
• MinUI has support for multi-disc games, check out the readme.txt file for more details.
• MinUI has HDMI support, and scales games properly. As of writing this, the menus aren’t properly scaled, and the audio isn’t working properly (sound comes from the device, not the HDMI port).
• If you would like to experiment with additional cores and features for MinUI, check out this repository from jdewitz.

Install Koriki

Koriki is a new custom firmware made by a team of veteran handheld developers. The firmware is in beta form now but a full release is expected soon.

To install, head to this page and download the latest img.gz file, and flash it to a microSD card using an app like Balena Etcher. Place the card into your RG35XX, then boot the device; it will take a bit to initialize the partitions and system. Once complete, you can power down the device (press START and choose “shutdown”), remove the card, and put it in your PC to transfer game ROMs and BIOS files. For more in-depth information, consult the installation instructions on their latest release, or their wiki page.

Some notes:

• Turn on Threaded Video in the PSX RetroArch video settings to improve performance to full speed
• This firmware also does a pretty good job playing Nintendo DS games!

Install Batocera

There is a test port of Batocera custom firmware for the RG35XX. Note that development has appeared to cease for this project, since the developer has shifted efforts to another custom OS, Koriki.

To install, head to this page and download the latest img.gz file (it should be around 1.2GB). Then flash that to a card of your choice using an app like Balena Etcher, I recommend a 16GB card or larger. After the flash is complete, insert the card into your device and boot it up; the first boot will take longer as it will repartition the available space. You can now shut down the device and put the card back in your computer, and add your BIOS and game ROM files.

More notes about this firmware can be found on this page.

Install muOS

Finally, muOS is a custom firmware that is based on RetroArch. It is lightweight, but has some innovative designs, like the muOS options menu.

To install, head to this page and follow the link to download the latest version of muOS. Flash this files to your SD card using an app like Balena Etcher, then place the card in your RG35XX and boot up the device. After it has initialized, power down the device, and place the card in your PC.

Inside the ROMS folder, it should be relatively empty. Here you will need to make your own game folders and and place your ROMs inside. You will also need to add your BIOS files into the BIOS folder on that card. Then, when you place the card back into your device, you will need to create RetroArch playlists to access and launch your games. For information on how to create playlists, check out my RetroArch guide.

More notes about the firmware and its extra features can be found on the muOS website. To follow along to its development, I recommend reading through the muOS changelogs.

Adjusting the d-pad sensitivity

There have been complaints about the d-pad being too sensitive, resulting in accidental diagonals. If you run into this issue, check out this helpful video from Shane Craig above, where you can fix it with just a couple pieces of electrical tape.

Changelog

23AUG2023
– added guides for Koriki, Batocera, and muOS
– updated MinUI instructions
– added new instructions for flashing GarlicOS on Mac

02APR2023
– added new boxart method link

23MAR2023
– added link to this GitHub boxart guide

20MAR2023
– updated MinUI section to reflect new changes

09MAR2023
– added instructions on how to install the Super Mario 64 port

04MAR2023
– added MinUI section and installation instructions
– added RG35XX vs Miyoo Mini Plus video link

20FEB2023
– added GarlicOS hotkey diagram courtesy of this Reddit post

14FEB2023
– changed out partition software to MiniTool Partition Wizard due to user feedback

03FEB2023
– added d-pad fix section

02FEB2023
– added RG35XX review video
– updated some wording to reflect recent GarlicOS changes

31JAN2023
– redesigned the guide to include single-card and dual-card setups
– updated each section to accommodate recent changes to GarlicOS
– added RTC section
– added overclocking section
– added themes/skins section
– added boxart guide

18JAN2023
– fixed typos and reworded the ROMS file structure (thanks to Black Seraph for proofreading)

17JAN2023
– added Boxart section
– updated BIOS location and instructions

15JAN2023
– updated MacOS instructions

10JAN2023
– added minor corrections and note about adding “CFW” folder to SD2

03JAN2023
– published guide

Getting started

There are three main guides I would recommend consulting when setting up the RG505. First is my Android Starter Guide, which will help you set up the device from scratch. To get the most of your classic retro games, then my RetroArch Starter Guide will also help you along the way. Finally, to bring it all together, here is my Daijisho frontend guide.

UPDATE: the RG505 now has Google Play Store functionality. At the time of making my review, I had to sideload the apps myself. Below is a list of what I used:

Side-load emulators

RetroArch (latest nightly 64-bit apk): For classic systems, I recommend using the latest Android build directly from RetroArch. It’s available on this page under the name RetroArch_aarch64.apk.

Citra MMJ (latest Antutu Storage Access apk): For Nintendo 3DS use, the latest apk from this releases page, and use the “Antutu Storage Access” version for best results.

Flycast 2.0 (latest apk release): For Dreamcast, use the pre-installed Redream emulator for the best results, but if you want to try to use upscaled graphics outside of the Flycast RetroArch core, here is the standalone version.

Dolphin MMJR: While development has halted on this build, it generally provides the best mix of accuracy and performance on Android. For best results, use PAL region GameCube ROMs.

Mupen64 Plus FZ: This is a mirror of the Play Store version (free version) made by the author. This should work well with Nintendo 64 emulation using its default settings with a 720p upscale.

AetherSX2 (latest monthly release): AetherSX2 releases a monthly release that is more up-to-date than the pre-installed version on the RG505. For best results, set the “Fast Preset” when first setting up the device, but use a 0% underclock unless you need to activate it for certain games.

Skyline (latest release): This Switch emulator is frequently updated. Be sure to set it to “handheld mode” for best results. Do not expect many games to boot, and even fewer to play at full speed.

Other apps to install

Aurora store: This alternative Play Store will allow you to install games but doesn’t host illegal content like the apps that are pre-installed on the RG505. This is good when installing benchmarking apps like Ampere, Gamepad Tester, or Geekbench. You can also install official apps like the Xbox app or Chrome (Beta) from this resource.

Chiaki: This is a free PlayStation 4 or 5 remote play app that works well with the RG505.

Daijisho: This is my favorite Android frontend, you can see my video about it here.

Buy one here

Timestamps:
00:00 introduction
01:46 tech specs
03:32 unboxing and impressions
07:12 comparison with other handhelds
09:52 software experience
11:03 Linux performance testing
15:00 Bluetooth, HDMI testing
15:53 Android experience and streaming
18:20 JELOS and ArkOS testing
20:26 summary (likes and dislikes)
22:44 conclusion

Moonlight streaming. Here is my guide to get PC streaming set up:

Also consider using Castor, a way to stream from your PC that won’t take up your whole PC at the same time:

PortMaster. This tool will allow you to play some select PC ports directly on your retro handheld, including the RG353M:

Also check out my Ports category on this website for game-specific instructions.

Custom firmwares:

ArkOS: To get started, download the RG353V build of ArkOS from the link near the bottom of their wiki frontpage. Flash that firmware to a microSD card (16GB is recommended) using tools like Rufus or Balena Etcher. Once the card is flashed, re-insert it into your PC and you should see a “BOOT” partition. Within there, find the file named rk3566-oc.dtb and copy it to your PC (on your Desktop, for example) as a backup. Next, download this replacement file (right-click and select “Save As”), unzip it, and replace the rk3566-oc.dtb file on your card. Eject the card from your PC, insert it into your RG353M, and it should boot properly. For more information about how to get started with ArkOS, refer to their wiki page.

ROCKNIX (forked from JELOS): To get started, download the RG353P build of ROCKNIX from their releases page (you may need to click on the “show all assets” hyperlink to find the build). Be sure to use the .img build and not the .tar file. . Flash that firmware to a microSD card (16GB is recommended) using tools like Rufus or Balena Etcher. Eject the card from your PC, insert it into your RG353M, and it should boot properly. For more information about how to get started with JELOS, refer to their wiki page.

To access Castor, check out Black Seraph’s Patreon page. You will need to subscribe to the $10 tier for at least one month but can cancel after that if you’d like. While you are a member, consider grabbing Black Seraph’s custom firmware builds for the RG552, PowKiddy X18S, and various GPD devices.

Castor is made though a package of open-source and prorpeitary tools all compiled into one simple, user-friendly package. If you would like to see the modified GPL & MIT-licensed components of Castor, here is the GitHub page. This includes the mirror driver, patched Sunshine & the NAT-compatible Android Moonlight client.

Timestamps:
00:00 introduction
02:24 setup guide
07:43 testing out functionality and gameplay
09:41 resource monitoring and other use cases
12:02 summary and conclusion

Note that after making this video I figured out that touchscreen works fine, I was just using it incorrectly. The screen acts like a trackpad, so you slide your finger across it to move the mouse, and tap on the screen to click the mouse. I was expecting to use it like a touchscreen tablet, hence my confusion.

Stream to Windows, Linux, and Mac clients! Since making this video, Castor can now stream to other Windows, Linux, and Mac clients via the Moonlight QT app! Full instructions from the developer are here.

Hard drive sharing! Also since making the video, Castor has been updated to share the host PC drive with the client, making it so that you don’t need to create a large virtual environment for the Castor image to host your games. Full instructions here.

Buy one here
My Retroid Pocket 2+ starter guide
Shaun Inman’s screen comparison tool

Timestamps:
00:00 introduction
02:02 tech specs and unboxing
03:57 hardware impressions
12:40 size and screen comparison
18:41 the software experience
20:46 retro game testing
24:31 PSX, N64, Saturn
26:25 Dreamcast, PSP, PS2, GameCube
30:05 local streaming (PS2/PC)
32:26 cloud streaming
34:35 summary (likes and dislikes)
38:23 conclusion

Buy an RG353P
AliExpress

Anbernic software link
My RG353P review and custom firmware showcase
Install Play Store on the RG353P

Timestamps:
00:00 introduction
01:50 installation guide
03:58 software setup
07:06 PSP configuration
09:29 N64 woes
10:35 summary and conclusion