GUIDES / ARCADE GUIDE

Arcade guide

Arcade games need the right romset for the right emulator. Here's how Retro Launcher sorts that out, and what to do when a game is dimmed.

Romsets in one minute

An arcade game is a zip of ROM chips, and each emulator version expects slightly different ones. Retro Launcher has two arcade emulators:

Emulator	Wants	Good at
FBNeo	Current FBNeo sets	Capcom, SNK / Neo Geo, Cave, Toaplan, most 80s and 90s games
MAME 2003-Plus	MAME 0.78 sets	Older and less common games FBNeo doesn't cover

You don't pick one: Retro Launcher checks every zip against both emulators' ROM lists (without unpacking it) and plays it with the one it's complete for, preferring FBNeo. To try the other one, press Home on the game and change Emulator.

Where they go

roms/arcade/: arcade zips as they are, never unzipped.
Any parent zip a clone needs goes next to it (sf2.zip for sf2ce.zip), and so does any BIOS zip (neogeo.zip, pgm.zip...).
Neo Geo, NAOMI and Atomiswave have rows of their own; see below.

Why a game is dimmed

A dimmed game has a note under it saying why. The common ones:

Note	What to do
Needs `xxx.zip`	Add that BIOS or parent zip to the same folder. Settings > BIOS check lists every one your games are missing.
n ROMs missing or wrong version	The zip is from another emulator version. Get the set that matches FBNeo or MAME 0.78.
Not a set these emulators know	The zip's name isn't a game either emulator has (often a renamed or newer-MAME set).
The zip can't be read	The file is damaged or not really a zip. Copy it again.
Needs a CHD disk image	The game needs a hard disk or CD image, which isn't supported.
(not working)	The emulator itself marks the game as not working properly.

Settings > Arcade: hide clones & broken sets hides dimmed games, and clones whose parent you also have.

Sound samples

Some older games (Donkey Kong, Space Invaders, Galaxian and others) play some of their sounds from recordings called samples, which come in a separate zip named after the game, such as dkong.zip. Without it the game runs but those sounds are missing.

Each emulator looks for samples in its own folder, not next to the games. Put the samples zip in both, so it's found whichever emulator plays the game:

system/fbneo/samples/dkong.zip
system/mame2003-plus/samples/dkong.zip

Create the folders if they aren't there. Don't put a samples zip in roms/arcade/: it has the same name as the game's own zip.

Neo Geo

Neo Geo games have their own Neo Geo row, folder roms/neogeo/, played with FBNeo. They need neogeo.zip, either next to the games or in system/fbneo/; one that's only in roms/arcade/ is copied over for you. Zips in this folder that aren't Neo Geo games are flagged to move to roms/arcade/. Neo Geo games in roms/arcade/ keep working there too.

NAOMI and Atomiswave

Sega's NAOMI and Sammy's Atomiswave boards run on Flycast, folders roms/naomi/ and roms/atomiswave/. They need naomi.zip or awbios.zip next to the games (or in system/dc/).

NAOMI GD-ROM games also need their disc as a .chd, in a folder named after the zip:

roms/naomi/ikaruga.zip
roms/naomi/ikaruga/gdl-0010.chd

Trackball games

With the Arcade Control Panel plugged in, its trackball plays trackball, spinner and paddle games: Missile Command, Centipede, Marble Madness, Tempest, Arkanoid and hundreds more. Both emulators use it; Retro Launcher knows which games want it. Any USB mouse works the same way.

Too fast or too slow? Settings > Trackball speed. The trackball also scrolls the menus: roll it up or down to move through any list.

Genres, vertical games and high scores

Opening Arcade shows its genres first: All games, Vertical games, Shooters, Fighters, Sports and more. The genre you used last is remembered.
Vertical games go to the playfield automatically, turned the right way up.
High scores are kept between plays: FBNeo's in system/fbneo/, MAME 2003-Plus's in its own list.
REWIND inserts a coin.