If you’ve emulated a classic retro game on PC in the past few years, chances are good that you’ve used RetroArch – a front-end that makes it easy to install, configure, and run emulators. Now it’s about to get even easier, as RetroArch is coming to Steam later this month, giving you access to your favourite old games right alongside the rest of your library.

The RetroArch Steam page is now live, and is set to “soft launch” on July 30. The Steam release looks to offer all the same functionality of the existing version. In a blog post, the developers say this will initially be a “barebones release” that will be identical to the standard RetroArch download for Windows. Mac and Linux versions will follow.

“Once the initial release is done, we can start catering to Steam’s advanced features,” the developers add, though they do not provide any detail on what sort of features they’re looking to implement. Perhaps the most notable benefit of a Steam version is that it will be a lot easier to set up streaming for RetroArch through Steam Link.

RetroArch will, of course, only provide you access to the emulators themselves, not individual game ROMs. For those, you’ll have to either dump games yourself, or – more realistically – pirate them. The developers are working on tools for you to run disc-based games from platforms like the Saturn and PlayStation directly from real CDs.

In addition to emulators, RetroArch also provides access to a variety of individual game engines and media players. In other words, your Steam library is about to get a whole lot bigger.

Posted: Jul 16, 2019 7:14 am
Related Forum: PC Gaming Forum

Source: https://www.pcgamesn.com/retroarch-steam