What is Recalbox? A Beginners Guide

When is comes to retro gaming there are many, many different options available to us gamers, like which console to play and of course which games to play on these consoles. These choices become so numerous in fact, that it can be difficult to keep track of what you have and where you have it. This is where an application like Recalbox can come in very useful.

So, what exactly is Recalbox? Well, to put it simply, Recalbox is a free, open-source application that allows you to organise, manage and play all your retro games. Instead of having to install and startup individual emulators for each system and then locate and run their associated ROMs, Recalbox provides you with a convenient front end interface in which to store and launch all your ROMs from a wide range of different emulators. While the bulk of the Recalbox application is dedicated to the management and presentation of all your retro games, it runs on top of RetroArch which deals with the launching of the emulators and the playing of the ROMs. 

Obviously this is the quick and simple answer, so let’s take a more in depth look at what recalbox has to offer.

More About Recalbox

We have already mentioned that Recalbox is primarily a front-end management application for retro gaming, but it can also be used as a media centre. Recalbox comes with Kodi included which allows you to stream videos and other media files from any storage device on your network or over the internet. It also serves as a handy management system for your media files making it easy to sift through thousands of films and tv shows with ease. 

Platform wise Recalbox can be run on both 32-bit and 64-bit PCs but is particularly well suited to single board computers (SBCs) such as the Raspberry Pi (all versions), the Odroid XU4 and the Odroid C2. 

You can get further details on Recalbox such as download information byt visiting the official Recalbox website.

What Systems Can I Play Using Recalbox?

When is comes to systems that are playable through Recalbox the general consensus is that the sky’s the limit. With RetroArch running in the background, there aren’t many systems that can’t be accessed. In actual fact, the main thing holding you back in this respect is likely to be the hardware that you are running Recalbox on rather than Recalbox itself. For example if you are running Recalbox on a Raspberry Pi Zero it is probable that you will not be able to play anything more advanced than the 16-Bit consoles such as the Sega Megadrive or Snes. On the other hand if you are using a middle of the road PC that is less than 5 years old, then the number of systems available to you will significantly increase. The list below shows us which systems can theoretically be played through Recalbox when hardware performance is not an issue.

What Features Does RecalBox Offer?

Recalbox is not simply just a conduit for playing your retro games. There are a number of other features which serve to improve your gaming experience

Custom Game List Creation

It is likely that at some stage down the road you will have more retro game ROMs than you know what to do with. You will have lists of games that will go on forever and you will be scrolling through these games more than you are playing them.

That’s where Recalbox’s custom games list functionality comes in handy. You can create custom lists of your favourite retro games, or if this list becomes too expansive, list of your favourite games in a particular genre, and so on. Whichever criteria you choose you can be sure that you will be able to set up an appropriate list to avoid sifting through thousands of titles that you are not interested in.

Shaders

Another nice little feature included with Recalbox is the ability to apply shaders. Shaders alter the appearance of the ROM you are playing by adding, blending and/or smoothing certain features on the screen. For example, you are able to make the view appear more like an old CRT screen by curving the edges and adding faint horizontal scan lines. If you want to give the game a more modern look you can apply a smoothing shader which make the pixels appear less blocky and therefore give the graphics a less pixelated look.

These are just a few examples and there are many different options you can apply to numerous different shaders. It is fun to experiment with them to see how you can improve your gaming experience.

Rewind

Do you remember the days when there was a specific point in a level that you just could not get past, and everytime you died you were returned to the start of the level? What generally resulted was a constant feeling of frustration and numerous smashed up controllers. Well, these days will seem a distant memory when using Recalbox as the app features a rewind feature. Turn back time after you have died in order to resolve past mistakes and sale through the level in one swift take. 

Save Game State Functionality

In a similar vein to the rewind functionality above, Recalbox also gives you the ability to save the state of your game at any point. No more having to spend untold minutes inputting that long and convoluted password into the game only to find that you have written it down wrong. No more having to wait until the end of the level before you can save your progress. With Recalbox, one press of the assigned button and your progress is saved forever.

Retro Achievements

Hands up who likes being acknowledged for their accomplishments? I certainly do, so I imagine there are others out there. To those people this is great news as Recalbox now incorporates fan created achievements into its retro games. These achievements can be varied and numerous ranging from beating a boss without taking any damage to completing a level without using the left button.

Achievements are only available on a few systems and your machine needs to be linked up to the internet in order for them to be activated. Also the setup process is slightly convoluted and involves the transfer of files and the downloading of programs, but it’s a fun feature to have running and gives the associated games a little more depth. Click here to visit the RetroAcheivments website

Screenshots

This is not a huge feature but it’s nice to have nonetheless. Quickly and easily take screen captures of your gaming experience and achievements so that you can share your awesomeness with the retro gaming community.

Auto Updates

At the time of writing this article the current version of Recalbox was 6.1 – DragonBlaze. There are hundreds of developers that contribute to the growth of Recalbox and it is constantly going through changes and improvements. While this may concern you that it may be difficult to keep up to date with the latest version try not to worry. Recalbox employs an auto update system which makes sure that you are constantly running the most recent version provided that your device is connected to the internet.

Themes

The ability to change the look and feel of the app is available in Recalbox. You can choose from one of hundreds of themes to achieve the specific appearance that you’re looking for.

Are The Any Alternatives To Recalbox?

Recalbox is not the only front end retro gaming application out there. In fact there are numerous other applications available to you and the choice is mainly down to personal preference. There are way too many to list individually so here are a select few that I have picked out.

Related Questions

Does Recalbox come with any games included? I’m afraid not. All games need to be uploaded separately in the form of ROMs. It is however, very easy to find resources for these ROMs by doing a quick Google search.

Can Recalbox run on my arcade box or Game Boy Zero? Yes, the built in controls of these types of machines can link directly to the GPIO pins on many single board computers meaning that no additional controller is needed to spoil the experience. Also Recalbox can utilise many different video outputs so that it can integrate seamlessly with any necessary interface.