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The Recalbox documentation has been revamped!

After many months of work, the whole Recalbox team is proud to announce the release of the new WIKI recalbox !

You will find :

• all the tutorials allowing you to use the full power of your Recalbox
• the list of compatible systems by board
• the advanced configuration of your Recalbox
• the advanced configuration of each system
• and much more...

Thanks to all of you who helped us to make this exhaustive documentation of the Recalbox project, either on this wiki project, or on any previous project.

And especially a big thank you to @Pit64 aka The Documentator for getting the project done 🙏

Happy reading!

Nice surprise, during this shortage period, the Raspberry Pi Foundation released the Raspberry Pi Zero 2.

Small but strong, it keeps exactly the same dimensions as its big brother the Raspberry Pi Zero.

It is therefore compatible with all your consoles or installations on which you use version 1 of the Raspberry Pi Zero!

In terms of performance, it greatly surpasses its big brother! The performance is comparable to that of the RPi3, which is impressive for a board at this price!

It will be a hit in our GPi Case or directly on our TVs, as shown by these various feedbacks on social networks:

And you know what? Recalbox is already compatible !

Go and download the latest version on the download page !

F.A.Q.

Q. Who is it for? What for?
A. Those with a small budget or those who want to ugrade their GPI case

Q. Is it compatible with the GPI Case?
A. Yes it is.

Q. Can I reuse my RPi zero SD with the RPi zero 2 in the GPI case?
A. No. You will have to install the lastest public beta or Recalbox next version.

Q. What kind of emulation can we expect?
A. On TV: Up to the PSX with no problem. For N64/DC it depends on the game. In GPI: Up to the PSX and the N64 with no problem. Ok on DC for most games.

Q. In terms of Arcade emulation?
A. FBNeo and MAME2003+ run fine. No need to get stuck on FBA any longer.

Q. Do problematic émulators run better on the RPi zero 2?
A. Sure, PSX, GBA, SNES and Arcade emulators run all fine.

Q. What about the heating in the GPI Case's cartridge?
A. After several hours playing Dreamcast games, the T° never went beyond 62°C, which is safe for plastics of either GPI Cases or regular RPi zero 2 cases.

Q. What about autonomy?
A. The Pi zero 2 will necessarily consume more power than the Pi zero, however we did our best to optimize power consumption according to the running emulator.

Q. Is there a standby mode like on the Odroid GO2?
A. No, this is not possible due to RPi and GPI limitations.

Q. WIFI and bluetooth are available?
A. Yes, both WIFI and Bluetooth are available.

Q. Given the size, are there any USB port available?
A. Yes, only one micro-USB is available. To extend it, use a powered hub with a micro-USB/USB adapter.

Q. Can we overclock the RPi zero 2?
A. People already do it. But we do not recommend it as the power consumption will rise quickly. In the GPI Case, this could lead to instabilities in addition to draining the batteries very quickly.

Q. Does the 512MB limit emulation?
A. No, except for the PSP which is not available on the RPi zero 2. However, it is not advisable to fill your SD with fuillsets and/or to activate all available systems.

Hacks ?

We know each other, we won't hide it, we all have in our Recalbox a lot of games that we will never finish, and that we will maybe never launch... Why is that? Because we spend our time sanding down the games of our childhood, again and again.

What if I told you that I had the solution, to allow you to continue to sand your favorite games, but to rediscover them all the same?

Indeed, there is a great variety of HACKS, which are modifications of the code of an original game. Created by passionate amateurs, there are several types of hacks:

• Translation hacks
• Technical hacks
• Graphics hacks
• Music hacks
• Level editing
• Rom expansion

Several of these processes can be found in the same hack, for example:

• FF7 Neo Midgar (translation) The complete retranslation Neo Midgar of Final Fantasy 7 on Playstation 1
• The Final Fantasy VI restoration patch on GBA (Music, technical) which replaces the musics by those of the Snes and which removes the worries of framerate
• The legend of Zelda Parallel (Graphics, Music, Levels, Expansion) complete hack of The legend of Zelda a link to the past on SNES
• Metroid - Rogue Dawn (Graphics, Music, Levels, Expansion) a complete prequel to Metroid on NES of impressive quality!
• The special category Kaizo Kaizo Super Mario World The Kaizo editions of the original games are completely insane difficulty challenges...

How does it work ?

It's quite simple: the hack is distributed as a binary patch (a simple file with a .ips extension) and must be applied on the original rom.

Once the rom is patched, you just have to launch the game on your favorite emulator... in Recalbox.

Where to find hacks ?

Several sites aim at gathering existing hacks:

• romhacking.net contains an impressive list of hacks. The community is very active and the hack tests are numerous and can guide you in your selection.
• romhack.org is a French community of translators
• google.com is your friend. Try the search TMNT NES HACK for example, you might be surprised :)

How to patch my rom ?

There are several tools that allow you to patch a rom. The easiest and quickest is probably to use the online patching tool romhacking.net/patch. Upload your rom, your patch and download your new game.

Let's see what it looks like on The legend of Zelda Parallel Worlds ?

The The legend of Zelda Parallel Worlds is a very deep hack of The Legend of Zelda A Link To The Past on Super Nintendo.

The original hack was released in 2006 and its latest version is from 2017. The author has completely changed the storyline, even though we still recognize the general plot in the background. The world map is completely revised, the characters and music too, and the dungeons are MUCH more complicated. That's why the hack I'm going to talk about is a new version called Zelda3 Parallel Remodel which is a rewrite of the hack correcting the parts that are a bit too difficult.

In the beginning... You are a treasure hunter from a far away country, but very soon you hear about a plot led by Draegor, the king's assistant. He would have killed the king and kidnapped 7 people who had information about the Parallel Tower in common...

Your adventure starts the same night you go to rescue two of the seven people who would have survived this coup...

As I told you above, what is good with the hacks is that we find the pleasure of playing our favorite games but rediscovering them complement. It's a strange feeling, at least at the beginning, but the pleasure returns very quickly in the game. To leave the link house to find ourselves under the rain of Hyrule, it is enjoyable, nostalgic but new!

So we go on an adventure, and that's when we realize the work done: the enemies are numerous, the screens completely different, the dungeons are huge, the puzzles very advanced, and the difficulty is always there...

Anyway I'm in the hype, I finish writing this post and I go directly on my Recalbox to continue the game !

PS: a little bonus, the hack TMNT: Return to New York (NES) allows you to change turtle with the shortcut UP+START and adds many graphical elements, like a different color for each turtle!