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2025-11-21

My Retro Gaming Setup

tags: game

Components

  • PC
  • Homelab
  • iPad

PC

My PC will host host Retrobat as the main game console. Apollo - fork of Sunshine will be used to stream the games to my iPad which will be the console of choice (if needed).

Homelab

As of the moment, my homelab will be the storage of my roms, I’m not sure if there will be a use of it other than storage but we’ll see.

iPad

I have an iPad Pro 11 M2 laying around, I use for leisure and editing photos. It’s a good thing that it now supports emulation.

Now, I don’t want to play touching a screen for buttons, I’d need a dedicated one but I don’t want it to be literally separated, I want it to be on the side. That’s why I bought GameSir G8+. I’m actually torned between buying a dedicated handheld device because the options are almost the same price (my option is an Anbernic RG40XXV). But I’m a minimalist, so I have to go the minimal way.

Here are the software that I’ll put on my iPad:

  • RetroArch
  • PPSSPP - no need since PPSSPP is already in RetroArch
  • Moonlight - the software that I’ll use to connect to Apollo on my computer

Coverage

Generation Console Device App Needed Notes
8-bit NES iPad RetroArch Perfect native play.
8-bit Master System iPad RetroArch Perfect.
8-bit Atari 2600 / 5200 / 7800 iPad RetroArch Good.
16-bit SNES iPad RetroArch Perfect native.
16-bit Genesis / Mega Drive iPad RetroArch Perfect.
16-bit Neo Geo iPad RetroArch Great.
16-bit TurboGrafx-16 / PC Engine iPad RetroArch Perfect.
32-bit / 64-bit PlayStation 1 iPad RetroArch Excellent.
32-bit / 64-bit Sega Saturn iPad RetroArch Playable but minor glitches in some games.
32-bit / 64-bit Dreamcast iPad RetroArch DOESN’T WORK ON IPAD
32-bit / 64-bit N64 iPad RetroArch Many games smooth; some heavy titles may stutter.
32-bit / 64-bit Game Boy / Color / Advance iPad RetroArch Perfect native.
32-bit / 64-bit DS iPad RetroArch (melonDS core) Works very well; Delta also possible but RetroArch preferred.
32-bit / 64-bit PSP iPad PPSSPP Excellent native.
32-bit / 64-bit GameCube PC Dolphin Not possible natively on iPad; stream via Moonlight if desired.
32-bit / 64-bit Wii PC Dolphin Stream via Moonlight for iPad.
128-bit / 7th gen PS2 PC PCSX2 iPad cannot run natively; stream via Moonlight.
128-bit / 7th gen GameCube / Wii PC Dolphin Streamable to iPad.
128-bit / 7th gen Xbox PC Xemu Streamable.
128-bit / 7th gen Xbox 360 PC Xenia Streamable; requires good CPU.
Handheld 7th gen Nintendo 3DS PC Citra Streamable to iPad.
8th gen / modern consoles Wii U PC Cemu Streamable.
8th gen Switch PC Yuzu / Ryujinx Streamable to iPad; iPad alone cannot handle it.
8th gen PS3 PC RPCS3 Streamable; heavy CPU requirement.
PC Games Steam / Epic / GOG PC Steam Link / Moonlight Can stream to iPad.

I will not be getting all the games on each console. Realistically, I don’t think I’ll be even able to play it all.

Roms (Set 1) - Classic Systems (Arcade to PS1)

These are the classic roms. I can save all the roms from these systems since their sizes are not that big to store.

Almost all Roms in the Classic Systems will run on both RetroArch (iPad) and RetroBat (PC). But only top 10 games on every console of all time and currated list will be installed on the iPad due to limited space.

Roadblocks

  • iPad doesn’t support 3DS, GameCube, and Dreamcast Cores.
  • iPad can’t load games from an external storage. It will still download the games locally defeating it’s purpose.

Roms (Set 2) - Modern Systems (PS2 and Above)

No need to get all the Rom sets from the Modern Systems, the files are too big, just grab what’s the best and save it.

All Roms in the Modern Systems will run only on RetroBat.

Roadblocks

  • XBOX files had to be converted to xiso file.
  • Switch roms are not publicly available yet for emulation.

Commit List

References