For me, it offered the following advantages: There are lots of options out there, but after substantial research, I opted to go with RetroPie. But just like Linux and the MAME, they can come in multiple versions and flavors. In other cases, they are clones that operate identically, or nearly identically, to the original. In some cases, the ROM files are the original games code migrated to run under the emulator. ROMS: ROMS are programming code (files) that contain the games themselves. Versioning will become an important issue when using the Pi and depending on the games you desire. Like Linux, it is open source and there are multiple versions and forks. The initial version of this was, believe it or not, released over 20 years ago in 1997. For arcade games, the granddaddy is MAME (Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator). But unlike Windows and Mac OS, Linux is open source and has more flavors, branches and forks than Baskin-Robbins! How to pick? More on that in a minute.Įmulators: An emulator is the software or application that 'emulates' the hardware and OS of the original arcade or console where games are run. Operating System: Most everyone knows the common operating systems out there: Windows, Linux, Mac OS, etc. Again, for those of you really new to this (as I was), here are some basic definitions. Plus it was an opportunity to learn something new at a pretty low risk. But as I looked into various options for the Pi and retro gaming, almost all options are various flavors of Linux. So, if you've been with me so far, you know that my Linux knowledge is next-to-none.

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