Recalbox 11: 30+ new arcade, console and computer systems for retro gaming

Sega Model 1 and 2, Namco System 22, Nokia N-Gage, Atari Jaguar CD, Acorn Archimedes, FM Towns... Recalbox 11 expands the catalog of machines you can bring back to life. Here are all the new systems in detail.

Every Recalbox release expands the catalog of machines you can bring back to life a little further. With Recalbox 11, we are taking a big step forward: new arcade boards, little-known consoles and handhelds, vintage computers and even game engines.

These systems are available on Recalbox 11: as with our previous releases, this version is first offered to our Patrons. They are the ones who make it possible for us to deliver such new features at the release pace you are used to. They therefore get early access to the version, which also lets us gather their feedback and fix the last remaining details before the public release.

Arcade: 3D in its purest form

We have added five new arcade systems:

• Sega Model 1
• Sega Model 2
• Namco System 22
• SNK Hyper Neo Geo 64
• Aleck64, an arcade board based on the Nintendo 64 architecture

Sega Model 1 and Model 2 are the boards that brought 3D into arcades. We have dedicated a full article to them, covering their history, standout games, steering wheel compatibility and how they work with Recalbox Online: Sega Model 1 and Model 2 on Recalbox.

With Namco System 22, fans of racing and shooting games will find a board that left its mark on arcades in the 90s (Ridge Racer, Time Crisis…). SNK's Hyper Neo Geo 64, meanwhile, is one of the brand's rarest machines: a venture by the famous company into 3D, with a very short catalog of just 7 games that makes it a curiosity worth discovering.

Consoles and handhelds: forgotten gems

These are the most exotic newcomers in this release:

• Nokia N-Gage
• Tiger Game.com
• Bit Corp. Gamate
• Casio Loopy
• Casio PV-1000
• Gamepark GP32
• VTech V.Smile
• Funtech Super A'Can
• Atari Jaguar CD
• Emerson Arcadia 2001
• Interton VC 4000
• CreatiVision
• MyVision
• The AY-3-85XX PONG family

The Nokia N-Gage combined a phone and a handheld console, a reminder that a console can be doomed by a system that is too visionary, or by a… questionable screen format. Tiger's Game.com, for its part, stood out with its touchscreen. The Casio Loopy is a Japanese console from 1995 aimed at young girls, with a built-in printer that turns your creations into stickers, and VTech's V.Smile is an educational system for children. As for the Atari Jaguar CD, it is the disc add-on for Atari's famous 64-bit console. The Arcadia 2001, the VC 4000 and the PONG family take us back to the very beginnings of home video gaming.

Computers: back to the roots of home computing

Eleven new computers join the list:

• Acorn Archimedes
• Matra Hachette Alice
• APF M-1000 and Imagination Machine
• Enterprise 64/128
• Fujitsu FM-7
• FM Towns
• FM Towns Marty
• NEC PC-6001
• Sharp MZ
• Sord M5
• Tomy Pyūta

You will find British machines such as the Acorn Archimedes and the Enterprise, a French nod with Matra Hachette's Alice, and several Japanese computers that rank among the most iconic of their era, including the FM Towns and its console version, the FM Towns Marty.

Game engines and a new port

Recalbox 11 also welcomes two game engines:

• Godot Engine, available on Raspberry Pi 4, Raspberry Pi 5 and PC
• BennuGD

On the ports side, we are adding Jazz Jackrabbit 2, a great PC platformer classic that enjoys a fairly large community online.

picoarch: a lighter alternative to RetroArch

One last new feature: picoarch, a minimalist libretro frontend that is lighter than RetroArch. It leaves more resources to the emulator and can be selected in the LIBRETRO FRONTEND menu.

As you can see, the release of Recalbox 11 puts the spotlight on major new features such as Recalbox Online, Recalbox TV, force feedback steering wheel support, and the Model 1 and 2, but we have not forgotten our main mission: preserving video game heritage.

With the forty or so new systems added, we fully intend to keep helping you discover these sometimes forgotten or hard-to-emulate machines, and to let everyone bring these systems and these pioneering, sometimes even experimental, titles back to life.

Do you enjoy the Recalbox team's work? Support the project by becoming a Patron!