After several weeks of availability to our Patrons, who were able to test every last detail of this new version, Recalbox 10.0.8 is available to everyone starting today!

The Raspberry Pi 5 2GB, supercharged

The most significant optimization in this version? It's the optimization of graphics memory, and the result… is simply a supercharged Raspberry Pi 5 2GB. Concretely, what does that mean? It's very simple: the Raspberry Pi 5 2GB is now the recommended model for running Recalbox, with performance similar to the 4GB model (and we won't even mention the 8GB, which brought absolutely no performance gain for Recalbox). The Pi 5 2GB is also the model we now offer in the Recalbox shop in place of the 4GB.

Demanding testing standards

To give you an idea of our testing standards, our tests were carried out with heavy themes (Nex-Pixel, Pop'N'Art...) and insane game lists, from 230,000 to 560,000 games, all scraped and with every system active. There you go, it's as clear as that. Whether in the frontend (the Recalbox menus) or in-game, your Raspberry Pi's RAM usage is cut by more than half! Smooth menus, games running at 60 FPS, the entire Pi5 game library will be shown off at its best with the 2GB model.

Other platforms benefit too

While our efforts focused on the Pi5 2GB, a nice surprise awaits other platforms too: this optimization also benefits the Pi4, the Pi3, handheld consoles, the GPi Case... which will still remain more limited, since they fall outside the Pi5 architecture.

A major update for your comfort

This update is a major one on our end. Even though it doesn't bring new features or systems like we regularly enjoy presenting to you, it delivers real comfort in your retrogaming experience. And that's no small thing: the cost of Raspberry Pis has risen in recent months, notably because of RAM, which has become a major issue in the computing world.

Accessibility, a priority for Recalbox

Retrogaming, and emulation in particular, must remain accessible to as many people as possible — both in terms of the philosophy we uphold within the Recalbox team, and in terms of budget. And knowing that the 2GB is roughly half the price of the 4GB, we're very pleased with what this 10.0.8 delivers. Happy installing, happy updating, and enjoy!

A big thank you to our Patrons :

Thank you to our Patrons who allowed us to release this update within this timeframe, and thank you as well to our Patrons on the Patron-Alpha update channel who are currently testing 10.1 — your support is essential! Do you appreciate the work of the Recalbox team? Support the project by becoming a Patron!