# Release: Custom Firmware for the Super-Retrocade



## WD_GASTER2 (Oct 14, 2019)

UPDATE: VER 1.1 is out. Highly recommended upgrade. fixes some issues.
-faster bootup
- (CPS-2 emulation among other fixed)
- Cave shooters such as Guwange and beat em ups such as Sailor moon (ARCADE) now works!
- Samurai Showdown V special is now working thanks to the FBNEO core upgrade. These game make take up to 1 min to load (if they are HUUUUGGGEEE) please be patient!!!!!

definitely a solid CFW now!

https://1fichier.com/?vsiq0wf0w3pg5yva4jcj


https://9xupload.xyz/f/qvixxh-1ihuwnt61p3j3






great stuff.


I will cut right to the chase here:
all of the proprietary stuff has been scrubbed deleted and uninstalled. (proprietary launcher, roms, artwork etc)
Its all now ran by regular retroarch (updated to 1.7.6) with lean android installation as a backbone and my homemade launcher as the intermediary(frontend).

only default controllers have been tested. (try your luck with your own?)
start + select exits game
start + B savestate
start + A loadstate
works with 1.0 and 1.1 devices.







PRETTY SURE THIS WILL VOID YOUR WARRANTY!!! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!!!

I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANYTHING WEIRD THAT HAPPENS THIS IS PRETTY UNTESTED!!!!!!!!

DO NOT DISTRIBUTE THIS WITH ROMS OR ANYTHING LIKE THAT. IF PEOPLE NEED THE CFW LINK THEM HERE!!! THIS WILL BE SEEING PERIODIC UPDATES!!!

CFW can be used in two modes:

Emu-nand mode (easy and recommended method for most users!!!): just burn the provided .img on any 4gb or 8gb sd card with win32diskimager, hit cancel to all the nag screens that will come up after you are done burning the image. put it in the SD card slot and boot up the console. Once its booted up insert a usb stick (fat32 format, in one of the usb ports on the device) with the folder provided in the release and your games in each respective folder. simple, no UART! to go back to stock simply turn off and remove the SD card. Everything returns back to normal! to revert the sd card back to retail, just use SD Formatter.

-copy the provided "Games" folder to a usb stick (no games are included, use your own).

Sysnand mode (update 10/19 hard and not recommended as there are some cps-2 emualation issues and mame emulation issues with the cfw that i am working on): you will need to boot Lakka and flash it to the internal nand. To do that see post #136 here:
https://gbatemp.net/threads/super-retro-cade.519483/page-7 . Changes are permanent and you would need to backup your original firmware. Only recommended for adventurous people and well versed in tech. Main advantage being that you free up the SD card slot and your can put the game folder in your SD card as well as using the usb stick like in emu-nand mode (a bit more options)

The "SEGACD" folder will require the following bioses:
BIOS_CD_U.BIN
BIOS_CD_J.BIN
BIOS_CD_E.BIN
dont ask me where to find them.
"cue + bin" or "cue + iso" format required

"PCECD" folder requires the following bioses:
 syscard3.pce again dont ask me where to find it.
"cue + bin" or "cue + iso" format required

"PSX" folder requires "scph1001.bin" dont ask me where to find it
"cue + bin" or "cue + iso" format required

"FBA2012" folder requires "neogeo.zip" for NeoGeo to work dont ask me where to find it. (LARGE NEO GEO TITLES ARE SUPPORTED!!!!!)
.zip format is used here

"GBA" folder requires "gba_bios.bin" dont ask me where to find it (different core is used for increased speed!!!)

"SNES" folder requires .sfc

"Genesis" requires .bin

"GBC" will accept GB just renamed .gb to .gbc

"Master System" is .sms

"NGP" neo geo pocket must be in extension .ngp

everything else should be pretty self explanatory.

next version will have a homebrew app to update cores and backup savestates and saves. please be patient. 

for now, enjoy.

Note: I did this to share love with the community and there is no intention to step on anybodies toe's. if there is an issue with this release please let me know. No need to be confrontational. I will be happy to take it down if there is any issue.

FAQ's:

Q:I dont like your frontend
A:Sorry best i can do. You can always keep it stock  (also that was not even a question)


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## Covkid50 (Oct 16, 2019)

Thanks for putting in the effort to do this for the community. Much appreciated.


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## WD_GASTER2 (Oct 16, 2019)

glad to hear that. hopefully it will help out a few people.


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## Covkid50 (Oct 16, 2019)

WD_GASTER2 said:


> glad to hear that. hopefully it will help out a few people.


I am going to give it a try, for sure, when I get a chance. It is taking a long time to download, so I will be in bed before it finishes
Cheers!


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## WD_GASTER2 (Oct 16, 2019)

btw i recommend just doing the emunand method: 

 just burn the provided .img on any 4gb or 8gb sd card with win32diskimager, hit cancel to all the nag screens that will come up after you are done burning the image. put it in the SD card slot and boot up the console. Once its booted up insert a usb stick (fat32 format, in one of the usb ports on the device) with the folder provided in the release and your games in each respective folder. simple, no UART! to go back to stock simply turn off and remove the SD card. Everything returns back to normal! to revert the sd card back to retail, just use SD Formatter.

you should be up and running within 5 minutes of doing the mod. just make sure you download win32diskimager and sdformatter


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## Covkid50 (Oct 16, 2019)

WD_GASTER2 said:


> btw i recommend just doing the emunand method:
> 
> just burn the provided .img on any 4gb or 8gb sd card with win32diskimager, hit cancel to all the nag screens that will come up after you are done burning the image. put it in the SD card slot and boot up the console. Once its booted up insert a usb stick (fat32 format, in one of the usb ports on the device) with the folder provided in the release and your games in each respective folder. simple, no UART! to go back to stock simply turn off and remove the SD card. Everything returns back to normal! to revert the sd card back to retail, just use SD Formatter.
> 
> you should be up and running within 5 minutes of doing the mod. just make sure you download win32diskimager and sdformatter


Thanks. I have one question:does the SD card need to be that small? Might sound like a dumb question, but I doubt that I have anything smaller than 16GB. I know that the Retrocade reads a 16GB as I use one in it right now.
Cheers,
Colin


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## WD_GASTER2 (Oct 16, 2019)

Covkid50 said:


> Thanks. I have one question:does the SD card need to be that small? Might sound like a dumb question, but I doubt that I have anything smaller than 16GB. I know that the Retrocade reads a 16GB as I use one in it right now.
> Cheers,
> Colin


you can use 16gb. problem being a lot of space will go to waste. The "image" does not see itself as anything bigger than 4gb. you will probably get like 1.2gb of "free space" on the emunand regardless (what you would normally get) I just recommend 4 and 8 so you dont end up with wasted space. remember that all of your games need to be ran from the usb stick while in emunand mode so the little space matters very little.


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## Covkid50 (Oct 16, 2019)

WD_GASTER2 said:


> you can use 16gb. problem being a lot of space will go to waste. The "image" does not see itself as anything bigger than 4gb. you will probably get like 1.2gb of "free space" on the emunand regardless (what you would normally get) I just recommend 4 and 8 so you dont end up with wasted space. remember that all of your games need to be ran from the usb stick while in emunand mode so the little space matters very little.


Thanks!


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## Covkid50 (Oct 16, 2019)

Unfortunately I haven't been able to download the file. In Chrome, when I click on the link I get a warning from Norton that www.deloplen.com is a malicious site. If I ignore the warning then I get a "site not found" error. If I try to use jdownloader it tells me the file is offline. I tried Chrome in anonymous mode, and it started the download, telling me that it would take 6 hours, then eventually failed with network failure error (twice). Any suggestions?


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## WD_GASTER2 (Oct 16, 2019)

try this link:

(new links posted in OP)

should start a direct dl for the file. will upload to mirror this evening if there are still issues


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## Covkid50 (Oct 16, 2019)

WD_GASTER2 said:


> try this link:
> 
> https://anonymousfiles.io/f/Gaster_Blaster_CFW.rar
> 
> should start a direct dl for the file. will upload to mirror this evening if there are still issues


It starts the download, but after 6MB I get Failed-Network Error


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## WD_GASTER2 (Oct 16, 2019)

Ok I will upload mirrors this evening around 8 pm pst once I am home


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## WD_GASTER2 (Oct 17, 2019)

more mirrors are up! check original post!


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## Covkid50 (Oct 17, 2019)

Excellent. The 1Fichier link worked like a charm.


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## WD_GASTER2 (Oct 18, 2019)

Let me know how it goes


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## Covkid50 (Oct 19, 2019)

WD_GASTER2 said:


> Let me know how it goes


Sorry about the delayed reply. My PC decided it didn't want to write to SD card any more, so I had to resurrect a laptop. Got the image burned, and loaded a few games to try out the system. So far, so good. I happen to like the front end. Next task is to change the format of some of my ROMS, and find the files that are needed for some of the systems. If I was brave (which I am not), I would try the sysnand mode, to free up the USB port. Anyway, nice work!


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## WD_GASTER2 (Oct 21, 2019)

version 1.1 is out check original post for details


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## retrofan_k (Oct 21, 2019)

Great achievement, look forward to trying this soon. I assume this is compatible with both 1.0 and 1.1 Retrocade's?


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## WD_GASTER2 (Oct 21, 2019)

retrofan_k said:


> Great achievement, look forward to trying this soon. I assume this is compatible with both 1.0 and 1.1 Retrocade's?


 yes it is


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## allodoxaphobe (Oct 23, 2019)

seems like the 9xupload link is dead and 1fichier keeps telling me to disable adblock, can you upload to mega or something, thanks


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## WD_GASTER2 (Oct 23, 2019)

thats weird. xyz link fixed upping a mirror one sec
xyz is fixed. i can download from 1 fichier in opera as well.


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## allodoxaphobe (Oct 23, 2019)

downloaded and works great, thanks!


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## 999galaxyB (Oct 30, 2019)

Thank you so much for this cfw, WD_GASTER2, I'm having a blast with it. However, I am having trouble getting GBA games to run even though I have the gba_bios.bin file in the GBA folder. Do you have any idea what I might be able to do to get it working? Thanks again!


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## WD_GASTER2 (Oct 30, 2019)

Are your games in .gba format? Also did you place the bios inside the folder. Test the gba bios on a pc to make sure it works?


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## 999galaxyB (Oct 30, 2019)

WD_GASTER2 said:


> Are your games in .gba format? Also did you place the bios inside the folder. Test the gba bios on a pc to make sure it works?


Yes, I did all of that. I did notice when I tested it on two emulators on my pc, retroarch and mGBA, that retroarch refused to even read the bios file while on mGBA it worked flawlessly, so it might be a retroarch issue.


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## WD_GASTER2 (Oct 30, 2019)

Works for me on my end. I would not have released it included otherwise.I am not using mgba as a core either. It’s definitely an issue with your setup somewhere. I used gpsp you hit 60fps that way. Also something to try: removal special character and name them something simple. IE racinggame.gba no !?() etc. P.S. could be that you have a bad bios file as well.


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## 999galaxyB (Oct 30, 2019)

WD_GASTER2 said:


> Works for me on my end. I would not have released it included otherwise.I am not using mgba as a core either. It’s definitely an issue with your setup somewhere. I used gpsp you hit 60fps that way. Also something to try: removal special character and name them something simple. IE racinggame.gba no !?() etc. P.S. could be that you have a bad bios file as well.


I figured it out, all I needed to do was to take my roms out of their folders, thank you for your help.


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## WD_GASTER2 (Oct 31, 2019)

ver 1.2 now in progress.


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## Deleted User (Nov 8, 2019)

You are amazing thank you so much for this cfw it works perfect for me @*WD_GASTER2*


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## Deleted User (Nov 10, 2019)

@*WD_GASTER2 when may the new update release? *


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## WD_GASTER2 (Nov 10, 2019)

umm. a little hard to tell. I am doing some help out work with the MMC team  at the moment .
maybe a few weeks once i get a moment? I am also helping out on some other projects on this site 

actually to give a little longer on fw 1.2 answer: Neo Geo cd has been a bust. figuring out why its not launching. Mame2003 is subpar in performance too. The other 2 wonderswan and gamegear emulate ok.
so im in a half way point with it.


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## Bastich3169 (Jan 20, 2020)

I recently acquired one of these from Goodwill for $7, considering myself lucky based on prices. But, curious about how do I check what version I have, and I'm willing to try something's, is the ram upgradeable somehow,?


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## WD_GASTER2 (Jan 20, 2020)

ram is not. custom firmware works regardless of version you got. 
version 1.1 has some games that ver 1.0 didnt. 

Act-Fancer: Cybernetic Hyper Weapon (Arcade)
Armed Police Unit Gallop (Arcade)
Crude Buster (Arcade)
R-Type (Arcade)
R-Type II (Arcade)


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## Deleted member 502272 (Jan 25, 2020)

Question: What is the largest size SD Card that this unit supports?


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## WD_GASTER2 (Jan 25, 2020)

ive had success with a 256gb if i remember correctly. it has been a while since i messed with it @Draxxon.
Life has gotten in the way of progress with this unfortunately. I may come back to the project in a few more months.


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## mcgeepride (Feb 8, 2020)

What snes core is used in this cfw?


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## WarMasterXX (Apr 8, 2020)

I've been using your CFW on my Super Retrocade and I REALLY like it! But can I request that you add the ability to modify core settings for each of the systems just like Retroarch, since the whole thing pretty much runs in Retroarch anyway? I'd REALLY like to be able to use the RGB NES palette for example...

EDIT:
Never mind, I figured out how to do it.


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## StarCatX (Apr 16, 2020)

Hi there,

Will this firmware work with Atari 2600 and 7800 games?

Thanks!


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## WD_GASTER2 (Apr 16, 2020)

It can, I just haven't released the new firmware that can do it at this point


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## Keepcrom (Jul 7, 2020)

*Thank you so much for doing this. Me and my brother both picked up retrocades awhile back and it blew his mind when I showed him what all my system could play using your CFW.

I'm really new to all of this so this may be a silly question, but how the heck do I switch discs on a multi disc PS1 game?

Again, thanks a ton for this.*


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## WD_GASTER2 (Jul 8, 2020)

if i recall correctly multidisc was not supported in my original release. 
it truly has been some time.  I wish i had some person that was really good at photoshop to design a new UI for this that might get me interested in revisiting this. I was just never truly happy with the UI for this thing. 
glad to hear that i made some people happy with this. sounds silly but the world has not been very nice as of last couple of months. glad its helped some people out.


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## Deleted member 502272 (Jul 8, 2020)

I like art!


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## Keepcrom (Jul 8, 2020)

For what it's worth I like the UI. I for one hope you're able to get back to this at some point because it has really been great. 

Hopefully things get better and once again thanks.


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## Deleted member 502272 (Jul 8, 2020)

I cant create a new UI, but I could redo the UI images. Like I did with the Atari FB units. Just let me know, I would need the original images to redraw and swap for sizes and filetype, etc.

And for the record your cfw ROCKS! I hated waiting forever for the shit to load, and all the games in one folder sucks. TBH I mostly play Castlevania on TGFX CD once I got a pair of the retrobit sega 6 button pads on deals. but that alone was worth it.


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## afdude (Sep 28, 2020)

could anyone repost the latest cfw please? Cannot get from either link in original post. thanks.


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## WarMasterXX (Oct 21, 2020)

I have a new question:
I wanna polish my setup on your CFW. I wanna get rid of all the crap I created for games I don't have on the system anymore (example: save files and custom controls), plus I wanna copy memory card saves that have everything unlocked for several of my PS1 games into the system.

Since my computer can't read the SD card the way your CFW has it formatted, how would I go about doing this?


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## N0mi (Dec 10, 2020)

WD_GASTER2 said:


> It can, I just haven't released the new firmware that can do it at this point



It has been a long time since V1.2 was mentioned, did you happen to make any progress in solving the remaining issues that prevented you from releasing it?


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## SwordofDanu (Dec 26, 2020)

I'm having a issue with the firmware where the two Gaster Blaster logos come up then nothing,  where have I gone wrong?


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## bobajob (Jan 2, 2021)

I bought one in the UK yesterday and having the same problems as other european users where the mame zip files won't load. You can see the custom thumbnail but when you press A to start the game it just flashes once and returns to the menu. I've also downloaded the custom firmware and with that SD card inserted I get the custom flash screen graphics and the different system emulator icons are showing but when ever I try and start one of them (or the retroarch icon itself from last screen) I just get a blank screen and it stays there until you press B button which returns you to the menu. I think I will be taking it back to the shop today


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## JayEhL766 (Jan 18, 2021)

Got a UK version too. Followed the supplied instructions (may thanks for the CFW!). Image on SD card. Games on usb stick in their respective folders.

Added some GBC and PCE games. Seemed to play fine.

Added a couple of NES and GBA games. They load up, but you cannot press Start.

I then try again later and now ALL the games have the same problem. You cannot press Start on any, including the ones that played fine before. I have removed the new games, swapped USB sticks, removed all games and the games folder, started from scratch. No joy. Cannot press Start. = Can't play.

I am perplexed. They played fine to begin with. Now I'm stuck. Any ideas (would be much appreciated)?


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## Gower666 (Mar 28, 2021)

Where can we get a copy of the ISO as the only link that works has a corrupt ISO!


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## Gower666 (Mar 28, 2021)

.


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## Gower666 (Mar 28, 2021)

Is there a valid ISO for CFW anywhere that I can download, as the only working download site on this thread, is corrupt. Thanks :0)

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

@WD_GASTER2 Is there a valid ISO for your awesome CFW firmware, that I could download please (as my SD card has died and need the ISO for the new SD CARD)? The only working download site on this thread, is corrupt. Many thanks in advance :0)


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## Jinsta (Apr 8, 2021)

Hey, did the 1.2 version get released?


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## Jinsta (Apr 9, 2021)

Gower666 said:


> Is there a valid ISO for CFW anywhere that I can download, as the only working download site on this thread, is corrupt. Thanks :0)
> 
> --------------------- MERGED ---------------------------
> 
> @WD_GASTER2 Is there a valid ISO for your awesome CFW firmware, that I could download please (as my SD card has died and need the ISO for the new SD CARD)? The only working download site on this thread, is corrupt. Many thanks in advance :0)



The first libnk is still valid and working bud


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## Pinolo (Apr 22, 2021)

Ciao è possibile inserire immagini relative ai giochi e come farlo eventualmente grazie?


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## WarMasterXX (Sep 18, 2021)

Thought I'd let everyone know this because I just discovered it and no one else has said anything about it:

Because the CFW's "Master System" emulator is PicoDrive, it can play not only SMS ROMs, but also Genesis ROMs *in addition to 32X ROMs (without requiring the BIOS files)* with .sms extensions!


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## Jackass77 (Oct 12, 2021)

Is there anyway to put the roms on the micro sd card at back so you can play 2 players game instead of occupied one of the USB ports in front?


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## WarMasterXX (Oct 18, 2021)

Jackass77 said:


> Is there anyway to put the roms on the micro sd card at back so you can play 2 players game instead of occupied one of the USB ports in front?


Get a USB hub. I really like these.


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