Best Raspberry Pi Retro Gamepad Kit

Turn your Raspberry Pi into a retro gaming console with one of these Raspberry Pi retro gaming kits. Do you miss your old console games? Like Pacman, Super Mario, Sonic and Space Invaders?The Raspberry Pi can emulate your old games.

What do You Need in a Retro Gamepad Kit?

To build your retro gaming station, first of all, you need a Raspberry Pi 3 B+. Then, you need essential accessories like a 5V power supply to power up your Pi ,and a microSD card for storage as the Pi doesn’t have any internal drive.

Additionally, you need an HDMI cable to connect your Pi to a monitor or TV – if you have an old TV or monitor, you can get an HDMI adapter. Finally, you need gamepads to play, preferably two gamepads, because it’s much funnier to play with your friends.

It is also a good idea considering add heat sinks to the Pi or getting a case with built-in fan to prevent over-heating when emulating some games.

With all of the above in mind, we've come up with a list of the best Raspberry Pi Retro Gamepad Kit. 

What’s included in this kit?

1 x Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+ ( RS version )

1 x Acrylic case

1 x CPU fan

1 x 32G SD card

1 x 5V 3A power adapter

2 x Gamepads

1 x 1M HDMI cable

3 x Heat sink

1 x Card reader

Raspberry Pi Retro Gaming System

Raspberry Pi 3 B+ can provide more powerful emulation of N64, PSP, and Dreamcast titles,

Choosing a Raspberry Pi Retro Gaming OS

There are tons of Raspberry Pi retro gaming OS options to pick from. RetroPie is arguably the most common. It's a Linux-based retro gaming distro which boasts tons of emulators, from the Apple II and Atari 2600 to N64, Dreamcast, and PSP. In addition to its gaming capabilities, RetroPie functions for home theatre PC (HTPC) use with the Kodi media center built in.

There are tons of Raspberry Pi retro gaming OS options to pick from. RetroPie is arguably the most common. It's a Linux-based retro gaming distro which boasts tons of emulators, from the Apple II and Atari 2600 to N64, Dreamcast, and PSP. In addition to its gaming capabilities, RetroPie functions for home theatre PC (HTPC) use with the Kodi media center built in.

How to Install RetroPie on Raspberry Pi

For a standalone RetroPie installation, navigate to the RetroPie downloads page. Pick the correct image for your Raspberry Pi board.  With your image downloaded, you'll need to extract the image file. Use a program like 7Zip to decompress the .gz file. With the IMG file extracted, mount it on a microSD card with a program such as Etcher. Then, pop your microSD card into your Raspberry Pi. 

Or, you might wish to install RetroPie on top of a Linux desktop distro like Ubuntu or Debian. Start by checking your disk space:

df -h

Now, run an upgrade and update:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade

Then, install RetroPie:

sudo apt-get install git lsb-release

With RetroPie installed, load the latest RetroPie set up script:
cd

git clone --depth=1 https://github.com/RetroPie/RetroPie-Setup.git

Run the script with:

cd RetroPie-Setup
chmod +x retropie_setup.sh
sudo ./retropie_setup.sh

Complete Guide to Building the Ultimate Raspberry Pi Retro Gaming Arcade

Cobbling together a retro game system with a Raspberry Pi can be as easy as mounting an OS on a microSD card, popping it into a Raspberry Pi, and using a retro case which looks like an NES or SNES. Or, it can be as complex as a built-from-scratch arcade cabinet. Then, Raspberry Pi retro gamepad kit offer a pre-fab Raspberry Pi arcade cabinet option.