Some days ago the launch of the new version of the Linux distribution geared towards video games "Lakka 2.3", which is a distro that allows you to convert computers and other devices such as the Raspberry Pi en a complete game console to launch retro games.
The project is built in the form of a modification of the LibreELEC distribution, originally designed for home theater. At the heart of Lakka is the “RetroArch” game console emulator.
RetroArch is a popular emulator that emulates a wide range of devices and supports advanced features such as multiplayer games, save status, image quality enhancement of old games using shaders, game rewind, game consoles and more.
Lakka uses RetroArch and the Libretro interface with an interface that mimics the PlayStation 3 XrossMediaBar (XMB). It is the most robust option you will find, with a large number of options for shaders, audio and video adjustments. Sometimes it is almost too much.
Lakka Emulator List
- 3DO
- PlayStation
- SNES / Super Famicom
- Nintendo DS
- Arcade
- Game Boy / Game Boy Color
- Sega Master System / Game Gear / Mega Drive / CD
- Lynx
- Neo Geo Pocket / Color
- PC Engine / TurboGrafx 16
- PC FX
- Virtual Boy
- WonderSwan / Color
- Nintendo 64
- NES / Famicom
- PSP
- Atari 7800
- Atari 2600
- Game Boy Advance
- Atari Jaguar
In addition to it It has a wide range of video game control support which allows you to use the PlayStation, XBox and other games.
If you do not have a PC to use Lakka, it has support for several pocket computers that base their hardware on ARM processors of which we can mention below: Raspberry Pi, Raspberry 2, HummingBoard, Banana Po, Odroid, CuBox-i , Cubietruck and Cubieboard 2.
Main new features of Lakka 2.3
In this new version of Lakka 2.3 within its main novelties it is found that RetroArch emulator is updated to version 1.7.8 along with which all the improvements of this version are added.
Such as the implementation of speech synthesis and image replacement mode that allow you to identify the text displayed on the screen, translate it into a specific language and read it aloud without stopping the game or replacing the source text on the screen with a translation.
These modes, for example, they can be useful for playing Japanese games that do not have English versions. The new release of RetroArch also offers the option to save the dumped data.
In addition, the XMB menu has been improved, added feature to update thumbnail image sets, the on-screen indicator to show notifications has been improved, RetroArch connected game engines and emulators have been updated.
New Flycast emulators added (an improved version of Reicast Dreamcast), Mupen64Plus-Next (superseded by ParaLLEl-N64 and Mupen64Plus), Bsnes HD (a faster version of Bsnes) and Final Burn Neo (a redesigned version of Final Burn Alpha).
Support for new devices has been implemented, including the Raspberry Pi 4, ROCKPro64, and the Raspberry Pi Zero-based mini-game console GPI case.
Download and try Lakka 2.3
Lakka is easy to install and use, so those who are interested in installing or testing this distro should download the system image by going directly to the website project officer in which in your download section you can find the system image according to the device in which they want to test it. The link is this.
In the special case of those who are Raspberry Pi users as mentioned above if you are using PINN or NOOBS these can facilitate the download and installation of this on your SD card.
But in case it is not so When downloading the image, it can be recorded on your SD card (already formatted) with help from Etcher.
Once installed on your SD card or USB flash drive, you just have to copy your ROMs to the device, turn on the platform and connect your joypad and enjoy your favorite games.