RetroFlix - Web based retro game downloader & library manager

RetroFlix is a frontend to download and manage legacy & retro applications and launch them using their target emulators.

Currently only one game db and a handfull of systems are supported, but more may be added at some point, depending on interest.

Important: This software should only be used for Legal purposes, inorder to retrieve copies of applications which the user already owns or otherwise has a legitimate license to / rights to use.

Currently the following sites & systems are supported:

  • emuparadise
  • N64
  • SNES
  • NES
  • Sega Genesis / Master System

Dependencies

RetroFlix is built as a Sinatra web service and shipped as a rubygem. To use it you will need to install the underlying dependencies.

On Fedora 25:

$ sudo dnf install rubygems ruby-devel zlib-devel libcurl-devel redhat-rpm-config

On Ubuntu 16.04:

$sudo apt-get install ruby ruby-dev zlib1g-dev libcurl4-gnutls-dev

Note I was able to install and run RetroFlix on a Raspberry PI running Rasbian Jessie 4.4 after installing the latest stable ruby version via rbenv.

Setup of that is outside the scope of this article but after ruby 2.4.1 is installed and activated, the Ubuntu instructions can be followed.

Install

Install the actual application with:

$ gem install --user-install retroflix

Note the --user-install flag is specified so as to install RetroFlix and gem dependencies to your user's home dir. Use the following command if you wish to install the application systemwide:

$ sudo gem install retroflix

Simply launch the application with:

$ rf

And navigate to http://localhost:4567 to download and manage games!

Note if you get an error stating rf command not found, most likely your rubygems binary path needs to be added to your run path. To do so, run the following command:

export PATH=$PATH:~/.gem/ruby/2.3.0/bin

(replacing 2.3.0 w/ the version of Ruby you have installed locally)

Emulators

Inorder to play games you will need to download the emulator for the corresponding systems.

Currenly the default emulators are:

  • gens for the Sega Genesis / Master Drive
  • zsnes for Nintendo NES & SNES
  • mupen64 for Nintendo 64

If these are not available on your system, copy the Config File to ~/.retroflix.yml and edit it to reference the emulators you have locally.

Screens