RetroArch Android Setup Guide

Installation

https://buildbot.libretro.com/nightly/android/ is the download link. This one is called "RetroArch_aarch64.apk."

To keep RetroArch current, I strongly advise using Obtainium; if not, you'll have to manually install the APKs for each update from that site.

Install the APK on your Android gadget. Crack it open.

Permit pop-ups; you might see one concerning unidentified sources.

Go to Core Downloader after Online Updater.

You should install all the cores for the systems you plan to play on this page.

Recommended Cores

My suggested cores are as follows:

  • Atari 2600: Stella
  • Atari 5200: Atari800
  • Atari 7800: ProSystem
  • Arcade: FinalBurn Neo
  • Dreamcast: Flycast
  • Game Boy/Game Boy Color: Gambatte
  • Game Boy Advance: mGBA
  • Genesis/Master System/Game Gear/Sega CD: Genesis Plus GX
  • NES: FCEUmm
  • Nintendo 64: Mupen64Plus-Next
  • Nintendo DS: MelonDS DS
  • PlayStation 1: SwanStation
  • Saturn: Beetle Saturn
  • SNES: Snes9x

Feel free to add cores for any other systems you play; there are many more systems than that. In many cases, standalone Android emulators are superior to RetroArch cores; if you're interested, here are my complete recommendations for Android emulators.

Remove On-Screen Controls

Navigate to User Interface after selecting the Settings cog on the right.

Select On-screen Display, On-Screen Overlay, and then deselect Display Overlay to remove the on-screen controls.

Controller Mapping

Once more, click the Settings cog on the right and select Input. Port 1 Controls and RetroPad Binds are the following.

To use your left analog stick as a D-pad and the D-pad for games that only support D-pads, change Analog to Digital Type to Left Analog.

Now, map your controls from this page to your device's buttons. You don't have to map this or anything below; therefore, you can map safely until Gun Trigger.

Return to the input screen and select Menu Controls by scrolling down. If you're having trouble selecting or backing out of menus with the correct button at the moment, you can unselect the Menu Swap OK and Cancel Buttons here.

Hotkeys

Return to the input screen and scroll down to select Hotkeys. I usually use L3 or Select for Hotkey Enable.

I select X for Menu Toggle (Controller Combo). This indicates that the RetroArch menu appears in-game when you press the Select+X button combination. With the remaining hotkeys, we will work on swapping out X with any other button.

My choice for Quit is Start.

R2 is Fast-Forward (Toggle).

L1 is the load state.

R1 is Save State.

Additionally, Show FPS is A.

Turning off having to Confirm Quit twice

If you wish to avoid seeing the "Press again to quit" message when you try to quit a game, return to the input screen, scroll to Confirm Quit and uncheck it.

Load/Save State Automatically on Load/Exit

Navigate to Saving after clicking the Settings cog on the right.

Look for the Auto Save State and Auto Load State settings if you want to automatically save the state when you finish a game and load the state when you start a new one.

Navigate to Achievements by clicking the Settings cog on the right.

Retro Achievements can be set up here if you'd like. If you do, I advise turning off Hardcore Mode.

Save your changes

After making all of the aforementioned adjustments and any additional ones, click the Home button on the right, select Configuration File, and then select Save Current Configuration. Completing this step is crucial because failing to do so will remove all of your edited content.

BIOS

You can see where to put your BIOS files in RetroArch's System/BIOS option by going to Settings, Directory. BIOS files are stored in an Android device's Internal Storage, RetroArch, and System folder by default.

RetroAchievements

If RetroAchievement is something you wish to set up.

Cheats

You can find cheat files on GameHacking.org by searching for the game you want, selecting libretto (.cht) as the format, and then downloading the file.

If you see ".txt" at the end of the file after downloading it, you will need to rename it to ".cht" to alter it.

Open the RetroArch menu in-game, click Cheats, Load Cheat File (replace), and then choose the cheat file you wish to use or download from GameHacking.org to add or apply cheats to RetroArch.

All available cheats are visible when you scroll down in the Cheats menu. Click Enabled after selecting the cheat you wish to employ.

After that, please return to the Cheats menu and choose Apply Changes so that it takes effect.

Scroll up and turn on Auto-Apply Cheats During Game Load if you want cheats to be applied automatically the next time the game loads.