This was posted 2 years 15 days ago, and might be an out-dated deal.

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Retroarch in Xbox One/Series Retail Mode Free (Normally Requires $20 Dev Subscription and Console in Dev Mode)

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Retroarch in Xbox One/Series Retail Mode Free (Normally Requires $20 Dev Subscription and Console in Dev Mode)
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PainToad on 11/04/2022 - 10:09 gamr13.github.io (1763 clicks)
Last edited 07/04/2023 - 07:30 by 1 other user

MS is now blocking all emulators already installed. Dev mode is now the only option.

Update: For Wii and GameCube see here.

Previous deal is now out of date and incorrect.

The process is much more simpler now that white listing has been removed.

Xbox One consoles can play from NES up to PS1 games.

Xbox Series consoles can play from NES up to DreamCast, GameCube/Wii and limited PS2.

Basically you're making Xbox a RetroPie killer for free.

Instructions:

  1. Go to https://gamr13.github.io using Edge on the Xbox and click on each to install the apps.
  2. Use the FTP app to copy over the required BIOS files and Roms (obviously these can't be linked to here and you should legally own these to do so).
  3. Enjoy.

Make sure you check out DuckStation (either standalone or in Retroarch). Even the OG Xbox One can upscale PS1 game to 1080p at 60fps. It looks gorgeous.

Video tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dV9GyKicrAg

Ignorant people were reporting the deal last time. To be clear from the start, Retroarch and Duckstation are open source.

NOT EXPIRED: Apps will be re-uploaded in a few hours. Follow on Twitter here, or just keep trying every few hours.

Check out all the latest and upcoming Free Games.
Gaming Retro Gaming Video Game Xbox One Game Xbox Series Game

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closed Comments

  • FDA2021 on 11/04/2022 - 10:10
    +1

    Wow, I wasnt even aware you needed to pay for that. It's great it's free now

  • beebul on 11/04/2022 - 10:16

    Thank you!! 🕹

  • test123123 on 11/04/2022 - 10:24
    +3

    Great I will by xbox now

  • Doy on 11/04/2022 - 10:25
    +1

    Would recommend joining the Discord for relevant updates as you go.

    One thing I've learned is that it required a bit more maintenance (updates, it getting taken down and having to reload, etc..) that I was expecting, and eventually gave up on bothering.

    If that doesn't bother you, this is the best source to stay in the loop: https://discord.gg/dominater01

    • PainToad on 11/04/2022 - 10:28
      +3

      One thing I've learned is that it required a bit more maintenance (updates, it getting taken down and having to reload, etc..)

      You don't have to. Once installed, it doesn't matter if it gets taken down - it will keep working on your Xbox. You only have to reload it if you want updates.

      It's completely ok to install it once and never have to install it again.

      • Doy on 11/04/2022 - 10:29
        +2

        That wasn't my experience - 2 or 3 times ended up stopping working and having to download it again. That was last year however, so things might have gotten better in that regard!

        • yacman on 11/04/2022 - 10:51
          +2

          There was a MS update that nuked the app last year, other than that they constantly tweak retroarch with updates but all my roms seem to work well enough so I see no need to delete (due to the takedowns) then update.

          Still running a version from January without issue.

          Also an important note is if you ever uninstall the app make sure you manually delete all your roms, or the space on your HDD will be lost until you do a factory reset of the Xbox (learn the hard way).

          • ShortyX on 11/04/2022 - 11:50

            @yacman:

            make sure you manually delete all your roms

            Thanks for the heads up.

      • Crunchie on 11/04/2022 - 11:28

        Will legal backups/gamesaves/savestates get deleted if I update retroarch?

        • PainToad on 11/04/2022 - 11:31
          +4

          Not if you put them on a USB flash drive. See the video tutorial at the top of the page.

  • next gen on 11/04/2022 - 10:27

    Quick question. I held onto the PS1 game CDs I liked the most, can I use these somehow without downloading from somewhere else?

    • XeKToReX on 11/04/2022 - 10:28
      +1

      You can rip them, dunno the legality, but technically it's easy.,.

      • FDA2021 on 11/04/2022 - 10:54

        I'm pretty sure it's legal to rip your own copy of a game. Don't quote me on that though

          • Vinodra on 11/04/2022 - 17:15
            +4

            @Ninternet: The fact that you used the word "pirate" to describe people emulating 20+ year old games is enough to prove you are infact against it, don't try to play both sides lmao

            Judging by your username and post history I see you are a massive Nintendo fan.

            Here's the thing though, Nintendos official emulation is so terrible in quality and features, it cannot even compare to the emulators found in RetroArch, why do you care if other people want to play these old games in the best possible way, Nintendo sure as hell dont offer the means to do so.

            • Ninternet on 11/04/2022 - 20:04
              -2

              @Vinodra: Despite your detective work and assumptions I actually don't care as much as you're suggesting. I like Nintendo games and consoles, yes. I don't care about emulation that much.

              I don't care if other people want to emulate. The bit that just gets me is the same stories being spun about legally being able to 'backup your own games' which is only legal in some American states, not in Australia.

              There's a chance I'm wrong, but I'd like if you could show me proof of where a court allowed that to pass or where it's actually passed as law.

              Again, I know how this reads. "What a narc! He HATES emulation" etc, etc. But I guess I have issues in saying it's legal the same way I have issues in people believing in horoscopes: Sure. Believe what you want. Do what you want. Doesn't make it truth.

              I'll see myself out…

        • ChadHominem on 11/04/2022 - 13:42

          I believe so

        • Trosticles on 17/04/2022 - 14:48

          Probably not legal in either a criminal or civil sense, though there are a number of exceptions to Copyright Act 1968 offences. Of course, blanket permissions by copyright owners to make a single digital copy for personal use, for example, have been given in the past.

          If you are not selling them then civil remedies for copyright owners would be limited, and the scope for criminal investigations and consequences would likely be limited.

          You can seek legal advice on specific situations, or do your research on your situation (read legislation/guides) to weigh up your risk.

    • beebul on 11/04/2022 - 10:29

      I guess you could rip the CDs to ISOs if you have a PC/Mac with a DVD drive?

      • dojomojo on 11/04/2022 - 11:46

        Also keep in mind some PS1 games have copy protection, so you may need to patch the IOSs to get them working.

  • ravzter on 11/04/2022 - 10:31
    -3

    will this work for series X ?

    • beebul on 11/04/2022 - 10:34
      +1

      Yep 👍

    • scud70 on 11/04/2022 - 10:35

      Yes "Xbox Series consoles can play ….."

    • silverrat23 on 11/04/2022 - 10:36

      Yes.

  • theguyrules on 11/04/2022 - 10:48

    Oh so you dont even need to have your Xbox email added via Discord now?
    That's awesome!

    • PainToad on 11/04/2022 - 10:57

      Correct.

  • dottjt on 11/04/2022 - 10:55

    Does the Xbox One X have better compatibility/performance?

    • Vinodra on 11/04/2022 - 17:23

      You would likely be able to run it at a higher resolution / framerate than the Xbox One due to the better GPU, but if there is a CPU bottleneck there wouldn't be much difference between the Xbox One and Xbox One X due to the CPUs of both systems being pretty similar in terms of performance.

      PS2 / Gamecube / Wii emulation is only really viable on the Series consoles I believe due to the CPU bottleneck.

      • dottjt on 11/04/2022 - 17:53

        thanks

  • TEER3X on 11/04/2022 - 10:57

    Do Wii games look better than on the original Wii?

    • PainToad on 11/04/2022 - 11:04

      You can increase their resolution.

  • ShortyX on 11/04/2022 - 11:21

    Thanks PainToad. Any idea if other emulators will be available in the future, eg Atari, Mega Drive, etc?

    • AEKaBeer on 11/04/2022 - 11:26

      Not sure if it's the same on console but on PC there are megadrive (genesis) and atari cores available.

    • Morien on 11/04/2022 - 11:27
      +1

      It's Retroarch. You can play all of those other systems.

      • ShortyX on 11/04/2022 - 11:30

        Thanks… saw on the video here where he mentions 3DS, Wii U, Switch, PS3 is not available so wasn't sure about others.

        • Morien on 11/04/2022 - 12:25

          Yeah, it works quite well, but nothing harder to emulate than a PS2 (and even then, PS2 is a mixed bag).

          Honestly I deleted it quite quickly after installing it. Can't use a third party game controller like an 8bitdo, and the Xbox controller just didn't feel right.

    • PainToad on 11/04/2022 - 11:32
      +1

      Atari, Mega Drive

      Got all of them (and many many more) running on mine.

      • ShortyX on 11/04/2022 - 11:47

        No worries, thanks again. It might be time to sell my old Atari 2600 and the RPi running Recalbox. 😃

  • giventofly on 11/04/2022 - 11:24

    Wow this is pretty incredible. Didn't know such a thing existed for Xbox

  • Dreamcast on 11/04/2022 - 11:33
    +1

    Thank you good sir. The Psp emulator was very easy to run games off.

    Side note, if anyone has a Sony tv with Android inbuilt, you can download emulators off the Google Play Store and connect a PS4 controller to your TV. Plug in a flash drive with games and off you go.

    This is how I play sega mega drive games.

    • JuryWheel on 11/04/2022 - 12:17

      i have a tcl tv with android tv - may give it a go. Assume you bluetooth connect the controller?>

      • Dreamcast on 11/04/2022 - 12:17

        Correct, via Bluetooth.

  • hamwhisperer on 11/04/2022 - 11:57

    (KINDA) on topic

    Anyone got this puppy working nicely on a Raspberry Pi 4?
    When I say nicely, I mean it just works with a controller, no need to whip out the keyboard too often?

    I'd love to get C64 stuff going on it.

    • Detrimental on 11/04/2022 - 12:05

      Try https://emulationstation.org, it worked well when I tried it out a few years ago on an old pi I borrowed for a short time.

      • hamwhisperer on 11/04/2022 - 12:08
        +2

        Thanks I'll give it a shot. I know the software is super powerful but as I age, man the time to configure all the menus, keyboard remappings per application and often weak user interfaces, requiring a keyboard or mouse for … tens of hours to set them up perfectly.

        Then when something breaks or is slightly misconfigured, not easy to fix, without keyboard again! :/

    • ShortyX on 11/04/2022 - 12:16

      I have Recalbox on RPi and use wired USB Xbox 360 controllers. Once the config file has been set, the controllers can do all the menu navigation and ROM launching.

      • hamwhisperer on 11/04/2022 - 13:01

        Do you ever need to pull out the keyboard?

        • ShortyX on 11/04/2022 - 13:31

          Nope, as long as the controller is compatible, a keyboard isn't needed.

          This should help - https://raspberrytips.com/recalbox-beginner-guide/

          I've heard Retropie is similar.

          • hamwhisperer on 13/04/2022 - 13:14

            @ShortyX: I ended up giving Recal a ashot last night but my Commodore 64 obsession is my issue.

            Fired up airborne ranger, it wanted me to press spacebar to start it!, I'm like, cmon man……. cmon
            Maybe I should buy a really small, crap, BT keyboard.

    • Mikeypants on 11/04/2022 - 15:24
      +2

      If you're interested in C64 emulation, check out C64 Dreams, which is a very lovingly curated collection of around 3000 games (so far) that just works, including a large selection of controller-friendly options.

      https://forums.launchbox-app.com/topic/49324-c64-dreams-mass…

      If you're on Windows, this is the ideal setup and you're good to go (uses Launchbox/Retroarch), but even if you're not, the game collection alone can be plugged into your emulator/frontend of choice; you just won't have the filtering by metadata that Launchbox offers. I'm not sure how easy the settings would be to import into a RasPi Retroarch setup.

      Anyway, just putting this out there. Check out the link if you want to know more. :)

    • soxinthebox on 11/04/2022 - 15:48

      Not C64 exactly but there's a Raspberry Pi 4/400 image around called Pimiga that emulates an Amiga 1200. Comes loaded with games too. The only thing you need to add is the Amiga 1200 kickstart rom.

  • bigbadboogieman on 11/04/2022 - 12:05
    +1

    I have been using Retroarch and PPSPP on Amazon Firestick 4K Max connected to an Xbox controller over Bluetooth. I must say the results have been highly satisfactory.

    • boxall on 11/04/2022 - 13:25

      Agree. Great device and dead simple to setup.

  • Timfoo on 11/04/2022 - 12:05

    All this legality rubbish is BS, I doubt the video game companies bat an eye anymore. we are talking about consoles 20 years +, link the roms and the bios. I’ll pay you $50k if sega try to sue you 😂

    • maybe a bot on 11/04/2022 - 12:17
      +7

      Its always morally correct to pirate old games.

      These companies don't care about keeping old gaming history

    • ONEMariachi on 11/04/2022 - 13:03

      Nintendo have actively sued a few recently, but usually the people that create the websites/emulators/roms rather than the users like us.

      • scuderiarmani on 11/04/2022 - 19:34

        And charge or make profit on it. And frankly so they should.

        • miicah on 12/04/2022 - 07:54

          Nintendo are weird though, they constantly take games down when people have no other option to buy them.

          I can understand once they are offering it on their new storefronts

          • scuderiarmani on 12/04/2022 - 08:02
            +1

            @miicah: They don't just go after online sites that just share a few. There's too many.

            They go after sites who charged membership or fees to download them. That's scummy.

  • Godric on 11/04/2022 - 12:07
    +3

    I have RetroArch on so many devices, got my vita with me most of the time now

    • godofpizza on 11/04/2022 - 18:49

      what game can you run retroarch on with the vita?

      • Godric on 11/04/2022 - 18:51
        +1

        NES through to PS1.

        Lots of info out there.

  • Bretttick on 11/04/2022 - 12:27
    +2

    A pro tip. Use a USB to store your games, config retroarch and backup to USB.

    I've installed retroarch twice now with retail mode and installed all games to internal storage, problem is whenever retroarch updates, I've lost all my Configs and games. Now that I have everything installed on USB I just update load config file from USB. No more wasting hours setting everything up

    • J6 on 11/04/2022 - 12:36

      It goes over that in the video

      • Bretttick on 11/04/2022 - 17:18

        I didn't watch the video I've had retail retroarch for the past 2 years. The video for newbies

        • J6 on 12/04/2022 - 04:35

          Should watch the video then

          • Bretttick on 13/04/2022 - 12:31
            +1

            @J6: What for? I've already setup to USB long time ago. I don't need to waste my time.

            Maybe next time I just let you guys watch the video and keep my tips to myself 😉

            • J6 on 13/04/2022 - 13:12
              -2

              @Bretttick: Would be appreciated. Thanks.

            • yacman on 16/04/2022 - 14:13
              +1

              @Bretttick: Sharing the tip is appreciated and the other guy telling people its covered in the video is helpful for those who need instructions on how to do it but the other user did not need to be mean, everyone is just trying to help.

              • Bretttick on 17/04/2022 - 20:09

                @yacman: Yeah, all it takes for 1 knob to F it up for everyone and my patience for knobs is zero.

                I was just saying because I've heard/seen people mention to install to internal or USB.

                I prefer USB because retroarch retail keeps getting taken of the store, they upload and change file name of app, so if you install to internal. All the Configs and games are lost.

                You then have to start from scratch. I learnt this the hard way after a few times.

                I also recommend making an account here to get trophies on retro games and link up to retroarch

                https://retroachievements.org

  • solidussnake on 11/04/2022 - 12:56

    Nice I use retro arch on my pi3 this could sway me to getting a Xbox in the future

  • xtommyk on 11/04/2022 - 13:01
    -5

    best place for roms?

    • PainToad on 11/04/2022 - 13:24
      +1

      Check the top of the page.

      BIOS files and Roms (obviously these can't be linked to here and you should legally own these to do so).

      • Timfoo on 11/04/2022 - 20:45
        -7

        Ok Karen

        • PainToad on 12/04/2022 - 05:48
          +2

          1) if links to roms were provided, this post would be deleted and lots of people wouldn’t of know this even exists.
          2) roms are incredibly easy to find yourself if that’s what you want to do.

          Not exactly sure how either of those make me a “Karen”.

    • Jamiea on 11/04/2022 - 14:38

      Google

  • TheDukeOfNukem on 11/04/2022 - 14:30
    -1

    This is always free, I've been on it since 2020, but always down to make it more known.

    I finally figured out where to put all the bios files for GCN and PS2 a while back which was driving me nuts for a minute too, pretty well perfect emulation with the dozen or so games I keep on the HDD. Sucks it doesn't auto copy from a USB anymore though.

  • Thiefsie on 11/04/2022 - 14:41
    +3

    It's horrendous how un-user friendly Retroarch actually is, but once you get your head around it after a few hours reading and trying various things, it all sort of clicks and works quite well.

    Just got my Vita up and running a full RetroArch setup and it's pretty amazing.

    • Dreamcast on 11/04/2022 - 15:24
      +1

      Another Vita user. +1 to you.

  • blueastro on 11/04/2022 - 16:05
    +1

    Apps are not available (as of now, in case anyone’s confused as I am for getting blank store pages)
    Refer to dev’s twitter
    https://mobile.twitter.com/gamr12
    His account is revoked by MS, all apps are down

    • PainToad on 11/04/2022 - 16:24
      +1

      It will be back up in a few hours.

      • blueastro on 11/04/2022 - 16:37

        Thanks! That's good to know!

  • PainToad on 11/04/2022 - 16:25
    +3

    Whoever reported this as "Expired", it isn't. It gets taken down all the time and always get re-uploaded in a few hours.

    • blueastro on 11/04/2022 - 22:38

      It's back online now

  • Willy Stains on 11/04/2022 - 20:33

    thanks

  • mansunz on 14/04/2022 - 13:03

    Thanks

  • gibspmuh on 16/04/2022 - 07:51

    A big thanks on this one. It has certainly breathed new life into my Wii collection - the 4K upscaling plus filters make them look like brand new games and they generally still sit at a solid 60fps. A surprising number of the games actually play well via controller with the various remapping options available too.

  • mitty on 18/04/2022 - 08:52

    Got this working, bit of fiddling around. Able to play Atari 2600 and N64 games which is all I really want :) Make sure you run the online updater, and follow various guides online to install the BIOS files and ROMS which you no doubt own :)

    • JuryWheel on 20/04/2022 - 20:01

      Any suggested guides to follow for noobs?

      • PainToad on 29/04/2022 - 09:22

        There's one in the description of this deal at the top of this page.

  • ausbob71 on 19/04/2022 - 12:34

    Is this not working? I click on the download button then it goes to a Microsoft page but doesn’t download anything.

    • Duff5000 on 20/04/2022 - 00:02

      yeah not working for me either. Will try again tomorrow i guess.

      Edit: just tried again after posting and it worked.

  • ausbob71 on 27/04/2022 - 15:50

    Gave it another go and the download links are working. I haven’t used the series s for a while so this will be good.

  • splicer on 01/05/2022 - 20:07

    Sorry to dig this one up, but I can't get the RetroPass app to load in the MS Store? It just hangs. No matter what I do?

    I load the page in MS Edge (on XBox) then click to install and I just get the animated background with nothing.

    Any ideas?

    • Duff5000 on 04/05/2022 - 19:57

      I had the same issue. I think i just tried again the next day and it was fine.

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