It's been a long time coming, but popular all-in-one emulator frontend RetroArch has made its debut on Steam. While RetroArch has already been available on PC for years, this brings the program to a new audience of Steam users, which may be of interest to those getting their Steam Deck systems later this year. This version of RetroArch is almost exactly the same as the one available on Libretro's website, with one caveat: it lacks the option to download new cores. Fortunately, there are a handful of cores available as free "DLC", including mGBA, Genesis Plus GX, PCSX ReARMed, and more, with the full list shown below.

• Mupen64 Plus Next
• Kronos
• PCSX ReARMed
• Stella
• SameBoy
• mGBA
• Mesen
• Mesen S
• Genesis Plus GX
• Final Burn Neo

If you're not satisfied with that, then you'll be able to grab any desired emulator cores from a regular install of RetroArch and manually drag them into the Steam version's folder. As this is a Steam "game", it also officially supports Steam's Remote Play and Cloud Save functions.

Source
Steam RetroArch Store Page

 

[DKB]

Feels sort of surreal that it's on Steam..

 

[Valery0p]

I sense drama on the horizon...

 

[gnmmarechal]

Meh, not a fan of retroarch quite frankly.

 

[Plazorn]

RetroArch is finally on every platform, except the App Store…

 

[godreborn]

I'm looking into using retroarch on the pc, since I've been using standalone emulators, many of which haven't been updated in years. however, I need cores that support: gba, n64, nes, pc-engine, psx, saturn, gamegear, genesis, sega master system, and snes. I think those are all the emulators I have roms for. also, does anyone know if retroarch can read goodmerge sets or no intro? can it read .7z or just zip?

 

[Flame]

RetroArch is finally on every platform, except the App Store…

Steam equals windows?

 

[Plazorn]

I'm looking into using retroarch on the pc, since I've been using standalone emulators, many of which haven't been updated in years. however, I need cores that support: gba, n64, nes, pc-engine, psx, saturn, gamegear, genesis, sega master system, and snes. I think those are all the emulators I have roms for. also, does anyone know if retroarch can read goodmerge sets or no intro? can it read .7z or just zip?

yes, it reads such files.

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

Steam equals windows?

In my opinion Steam is like another platform. You have been able to download it on Windows, but not really officially. Now that it’s on Steam, it’s now official.

 

[the_randomizer]

Meh, not a fan of retroarch quite frankly.

Good for you

 

[Deleted member 546149]

Yet another dream...

 

[IncredulousP]

You have been able to download it on Windows, but not really officially.

Uh what?

 

[DonCaballero]

Uh what?

He meant you can't download it out of the White House website. And he's right, I can't find it anywhere.

 

[eyeliner]

Why no download of new cores possible?
Is anyone wise on this issue?

 

[leerpsp]

I downloaded it with all the addons will be getting more cores for it, I'm gonna have so much fun with this when I get my Steam deck.

 

[Aoba]

Lack of many cores via Steam itself seems a little disappointing, but at least we can still manually add any we want (fwiw I followed https://old.reddit.com/r/RetroArch/...g_pcsx2_on_to_retroarch_please_steam/h5w8fhj/ to get PCSX2 added successfully)

 

[KnightOfRoses]

STEAM CLOUD SAVE IS BIG. How does it work? Does it upload every game save to steam?

 

[RednaxelaNnamtra]

I'm looking into using retroarch on the pc, since I've been using standalone emulators, many of which haven't been updated in years. however, I need cores that support: gba, n64, nes, pc-engine, psx, saturn, gamegear, genesis, sega master system, and snes. I think those are all the emulators I have roms for. also, does anyone know if retroarch can read goodmerge sets or no intro? can it read .7z or just zip?

I think a few of these cores are already released on steam, like the gba, n64, nes, psx, genesis and snes core, while others will follow over time.
Also another nice thing, steam cloud saves seem to be supported, so the saves will be backed up to the steam cloud, so no lost saves ^^

 

[Jayro]

This is great! And I'm glad they ditched that awful XMB interface that Lakka likes to use. XMB was great on PS3/PSP, but not for RetroArch.

 

[orangy57]

It's a shame that retroarch cores are the only feasible way to use some really good emulators, the thing is a pain to navigate and use on PC even after tweaking it to your liking

EDIT: I'm using ozone right now and it now has mouse support unlike XMB, but it still feels clunky to control with a mouse

 

[godreborn]

This is great! And I'm glad they ditched that awful XMB interface that Lakka likes to use. XMB was great on PS3/PSP, but not for RetroArch.

I use the ozone interface on my minis. I'm not sure if that's the default interface now. I think they renamed the xmb interface to amped iirc.