Question Software choices

[JMCD]

Whilst trawling the net I noticed that nearly all raspberry pi handhelds are running retropie.

Is there a reason retropie is so dominant on these?

I recently switched my minipc over to batocera and love it. It is more "locked down" than retropie but after trying it on my pi, I find it maybe gives better performance, that is my anecdotal opinion though as I haven't conducted any tests to confirm.

I'd love to hear your thoughts please.

 

[Redux]

I'd say that RetroPie is the most popular software for Raspberry Pi handhelds because it's been around for a long time and has got a bunch of community support behind it. You can find hundreds of videos online of how to install RetroPie, along with tons of community guides, themes, and mods, And if something goes wrong, there's a better chance of getting help or finding what you're looking for when you search through Reddit or other forums.

Batocera is still a great choice though. It has a ton of cool features and supports a bunch more SBCs and other devices than RetroPie (such as my legendary le potato). It just hasn't been around as long as RetroPie. Also, batocera seems to be more focused on supporting as many devices as possible, whereas RetroPie is just focused on the Raspberry Pi boards.

 

[JMCD]

My initial plan will be to run with Batocera and see how I get on. I can foresee some possible headaches with trying to implement custom under the bonnet stuff but may be mistaken.