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Gaming
PC
Operating System
Couch Gaming
Retrogaming
Emulation
What is the best x86 OS focusing on retrogaming?
6
Options
Considered
91
User
Recs.
Sep 15, 2023
Last
Updated
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6
Games
Considered
Best x86 OS focusing on retrogaming
Price
Based On
Default Desktop Environment
--
Recalbox
-
NA
Emulatorstation or Kodi
--
RetroPie
-
Debian/Raspian
EmulationStation
--
batocera.linux
-
Recalbox
Emulatorstation or Kodi
--
VaporOS
-
Debian>SteamOS
SteamBigPicture
--
Lakka
-
LibreELEC
RetroArch
See Full List
--
Recalbox
My Rec
ommendation
for
Recalbox
My Recommendation for
Recalbox
Add Video or Image
All
13
Pros
6
Cons
6
Specs
Top
Pro
•••
PLUG & PLAY - if you boot on it, it works
It can be portable and ready to use. You can dual boot (wiki support for dual booting.) Updates and support by the community.
See More
Top
Con
•••
Bad light-gun support on PlayStation and others systems
See More
Specs
See All Specs
Top
Pro
•••
Custom EmulationStation built for Recalbox
EmulationStation is customized to fit Recalbox features, making the configuration a lot easier.
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Top
Con
•••
Less stable than it's fork batocera
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Top
Pro
•••
Faster
Build on top of buildroot, the system only have the necessary services to run.
See More
Top
Con
•••
Toxic community
If you're not French, they will make zero effort to help you. Switch to Batocera, their community is miles ahead from Recalbox.
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Easy to configure
Almost all configuration are done via user interface.
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Top
Con
•••
Needs the whole disk
There is no option to install the system in dual-boot with another OS on one hard disk drive.
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Easy user interface
It has a simple and easy to use UI.
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Top
Con
•••
No Dualboot support
The Recalbox developers refuse to add Dualboot support, so you can't install another OS side-by-side.
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Easy to add BIOSs and ROMs
Files can be added per ssh, web interface or SMB/CIFS.
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Top
Con
•••
Software might be out of date
Uses point releases instead of rolling releases so the software might be a bit out of date(depending on release).
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here
Recommend
22
4
--
RetroPie
My Rec
ommendation
for
RetroPie
My Recommendation for
RetroPie
Add Video or Image
All
4
Pros
2
Cons
1
Specs
Top
Pro
•••
Supports Dualboot
As it is based on debian it can be installed in dualboot with another OS.
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Top
Con
•••
Needs more space
It needs more space than Lakka or Recalbox becausethere is a full LinuxOS running in the background.
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Specs
See All Specs
Top
Pro
•••
Built on Debian
It is installed on top of a debian installation, so you can customize it to your needs.
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Hide
See All
Get it
here
Recommend
9
1
--
batocera.linux
My Rec
ommendation
for
batocera.linux
My Recommendation for
batocera.linux
Add Video or Image
All
17
Experiences
1
Pros
8
Cons
7
Specs
Top
Pro
•••
Great selection of systems available
Incorporates not only Retroarch-based systems, but other emulator packages as well (AdvMAME, Reicast, PPSSPP, etc.) integrated with the EmulationStation frontend.
See More
Top
Con
•••
No dualboot support
Batocera does not support Dualboot, so you can't install another OS side-by-side.
See More
HelpfulLugalIrra's Experience
Batocera is the best when it comes to features. Too bad that essential things like stability are failing.
See More
Specs
See All Specs
Top
Pro
•••
User-friendly
All options are right there in the EmulationStation menu and ready to be changed at the click of a button. No distorted configuration files all over the place, no permissions to mess with.
See More
Top
Con
•••
Needs the whole disk
There is no option to install the system in dual-boot with another OS on one hard disk drive.
See More
Top
Pro
•••
FREE and plug and play
See More
Top
Con
•••
Not for customizers
You can mess with the underlying software and code, but it's not so easily accessed. Since it's designed for user friendliness and ease of use, the software is not easy to change based on configuration options.
See More
Top
Pro
•••
psx2 support
See More
Top
Con
•••
Hostile fork
It is an hostile Recalbox fork.
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Optimized performance from having a smaller footprint
Like Lakka and Recalbox, the software is the OS, so it takes up much less space and has far less demands on hardware than other emulator-based packages which have an OS attached i.e. Retropie.
See More
Top
Con
•••
Buggy
There are still many bugs. Especially stability and image synchronization...
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Top
Pro
•••
Controller variety and working Bluetooth pairing
Pairing controllers for wireless operation are so much easier with Batocera. Also easily within reach in the ES menu.
See More
Top
Con
•••
Does not support zipped ROMs
It dos not support zipped ROMs on all systems which can mess up your collection.
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Easy to use
Batocera is much easier to use and configure than Lakka, especially for MAME and data transferring.
See More
Top
Con
•••
St
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Now with PS3 and WiiU support
They keep adding more and more systems and options for downloading themes, extra games, software, add-on packages, etc.
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here
Recommend
33
7
--
VaporOS
My Rec
ommendation
for
VaporOS
My Recommendation for
VaporOS
Add Video or Image
All
1
Specs
Specs
See All Specs
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Get it
here
Recommend
7
--
Lakka
My Rec
ommendation
for
Lakka
My Recommendation for
Lakka
Add Video or Image
All
8
Pros
1
Cons
6
Specs
Top
Con
•••
Terrible User-Interface
The interface includes various submenus which makes it very hard to use
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Top
Pro
•••
Good support for controllers
Most controllers are configured automatically.
See More
Specs
See All Specs
Top
Con
•••
No Dualboot support
Lakka does not support Dualboot, so you can't install another OS side-by-side.
See More
Top
Con
•••
Needs the whole Disk
There is no option to install the system in dual-boot with another OS on one hard disk drive.
See More
Top
Con
•••
Uses RetroArch
A multi-emulator needs to make compromises.
See More
Top
Con
•••
No built-in GUI to manage Bluetooth devices
It needs to be done over the CLI.
See More
Top
Con
•••
Adding new games and scans can be difficult if you don't have some knowledge
You need some knowledge if you want to add a different rom (lakka, like retroarch, supports only no-intro naming, there's no generic scan like emulationstation).
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here
Recommend
2
3
--
LibreELEC Reborn Remix
My Rec
ommendation
for
LibreELEC Reborn Remix
My Recommendation for
LibreELEC Reborn Remix
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All
1
Specs
Specs
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Recommend
3
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