History and Development
Formerly known as SSNES, RetroArch was initially based on programmer Near’s predecessor libsnes. Development began in 2010, with the first GitHub change made by Hans-Kristian Arntzen. The project was renamed to RetroArch on April 21, 2012, to accommodate more emulation cores. Vulkan graphics API support was implemented on February 16, 2016, and in 2016, RetroArch joined Patreon for bug fixing bounties and matchmaking server costs.
Features
RetroArch offers advanced GPU shader support for image scaling and video effects, dynamic rate control for video and audio synchronization, built-in FFmpeg recording for lossless video capture, a gamepad abstraction layer called Retropad, and peer-to-peer netplay with rollback technique for smooth gameplay.
Supported Systems and Platforms
RetroArch can run any libretro core and is praised for its ability to play various systems and games under one interface. While it has been criticized for its complex configuration due to numerous options, it is compatible with USB and Bluetooth controllers on Android and available on various platforms such as PC operating systems, home consoles, handheld consoles, smartphones, smart TVs, single-board computers, and web browsers. There are unofficial versions for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 3, and RetroArch was released on Steam in September 2021 and officially on iOS through the App Store on May 15, 2024.