Turn any spare hardware into a retro gaming machine (two easy ways)
Imagine turning on a screen and landing straight in a slick, console-style menu with hundreds of classic games ready to go - no Windows desktop, no loading a separate emulator for every system, just one clean interface that boots in seconds. That's Batocera - a free, open-source operating system built entirely around retro gaming. You don't install it alongside anything else. It just is the machine, the second it powers on.
There are two easy roads in, depending on what hardware you've got lying around. Let's go through both.
Option 1: Flash it to an SD card for a Raspberry Pi
This is the classic starter project - cheap, tiny, and genuinely plug-and-play. A Raspberry Pi running Batocera plugged into your TV is basically a retro console you built yourself.
- 1. Download the Batocera image for your specific Raspberry Pi model from the official site, batocera.org
- 2. Open Raspberry Pi Imager (free, official flashing tool) - pick your Pi model as the Device, choose "Use custom" under OS and select the Batocera file you downloaded, then pick your SD card as the Storage
- 3. Hit Write - and wait a few minutes while it does its thing
- 4. Pop the card into your Pi and power it on - Batocera boots straight up, and every setting from here (wifi, controllers, language) is handled through its on-screen Start menu
Best suited to the classics - think 8-bit and 16-bit consoles, PS1, N64, Dreamcast - which a Pi handles beautifully.
Option 2: Install it as the OS on a PC
Got an old laptop or desktop gathering dust? This is where it gets exciting. Batocera can take over as the full operating system on a PC, turning that spare machine into a dedicated retro arcade box with real horsepower behind it - enough for meatier systems like PS2, GameCube and Wii on top of everything the Pi handles.
- 1. Download the PC (x86_64) Batocera image from batocera.org
- 2. Flash it to a USB stick using balenaEtcher (same easy three-click tool from our Linux install guide - pick the file, pick the USB, click flash)
- 3. Boot the PC from that USB - restart, tap your boot-menu key (F10, F11, F12 or Delete depending on the machine), and select the USB drive
- 4. You're in - Batocera boots straight into its game menu. You can run it live off the USB to try it risk-free, or install it properly onto the machine's internal drive if you want it to be that PC's permanent job from now on
One housekeeping tip: Batocera ships with a default remote-access password, so head into the settings and change it before you do anything else - small step, worth doing.
Which one should you pick?
- Go the Raspberry Pi route if you want something small, cheap, and dedicated purely to classic-era gaming plugged into the TV
- Go the PC route if you've got an old laptop or desktop doing nothing, and want more horsepower for later-era consoles too
Adding your games
Once it's running, you copy your game files across over the network or via USB, and Batocera slots them straight into its menu by system. Quick honesty note: only add games you actually own - dumped from your own physical copies. Batocera is a completely legitimate tool either way; what you load onto it is on you.
The takeaway
Whether it's a $50 Raspberry Pi or a laptop you were about to donate, Batocera turns it into a proper retro gaming machine in under half an hour, with barely any technical know-how required. Pick whichever hardware you've got spare, grab the matching image from batocera.org, and go build yourself an arcade.
Pi or PC - which one are you trying first? Let me know in the comments.