RetroPie 4.6 is here, finally bringing the emulation software suite to Raspberry Pi 4 hardware. For the longest time, Raspberry Pi 3 revisions were the goto for RetroPie and other similar products. RetroPie 4.6 has launched, with full support for the newer revisions of the one-board PC. It’s important to note a few things though, mainly that the support is a “beta”. That means that the patch to make the emulator work on a new platform is not fully tested. RetroPie says that “there are still things to improve, but most emulators now run well.”
Within this build, there will be package updates to a bunch of included software. This will include both bug fixes and performance improvements, depending on the software package. The core RetroPie-Setup utilities will be patched to reduce network load. Going forward, the system will only download updates when a new binary is pushed. This will also mean that players won’t lose their source files and personal data on an update.
In terms of specific updates, RetroArch has been updated to 1.8.5 to introduce support for “real CD-ROM” games with the added ability to dump images. The file support has also been expanded with support for .m3u files too. The update also includes expanded PlayStation, Sega CD, and PCEngine CD achievement support.
EmulationStation, another package within the build, has been updated. Various UI fixes and backend improvements to give users a better experience have been rolled into version 2.9.1 with this patch.
A bunch of new emulators have been added to the bundle, with support for Commodore Amiga, Atari 2600, Atari 800 and 5200.
The new revision allows for support for more RAM capacity, as well as improved processor speeds. RetroPie is pretty demanding, and that means cooling becomes vital. With this new support, there’s a possibility to bring more 3D emulation to the console suite. The RetroPie already has support for classic consoles like the NES and SNES, but also more advanced hardware. You can bet gamers will bring out their PS2 and Dreamcast emulators to really put this thing through its paces. Various builds of PCSX2 and Dolphin are already in the works for RetroPie 4.
Head over to RetroPie to download the latest 4.6 build.
