🕹️ RetroESP32-P4

Fifteen game consoles and native PC-era shooters — on a single ESP32-P4 microcontroller.

No GPU. No Linux. Bare-metal RISC-V.

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RetroESP32-P4 is an open-source retro-gaming and application platform built on the ESP32-P4 — a dual-core RISC-V microcontroller with no dedicated GPU. Grown out of a revival of the original RetroESP32, it brings a modern touchscreen launcher, HDMI output, 15 emulators, and native apps that execute from PSRAM — including full Doom and Quake.

The headline: SNES, Genesis/Mega Drive and the mighty NeoGeo all run at 60 FPS.

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✨ Highlights

• 🎮 15 emulators — NES through NeoGeo, all with save/load states
• ⚡ 60 FPS on the 16-bit heavyweights (SNES, Genesis, NeoGeo)
• 🧩 Native apps from PSRAM — Doom, Quake, Duke Nukem 3D, OpenTyrian
• 🖥️ Two builds from one firmware — 4.3″ touchscreen handheld or HDMI console
• 🎛️ Any USB gamepad — auto-detected and auto-mapped on first use
• 💾 Save states on every core, some accessible in-game
• 📦 Everything included — firmware, source, SD files, apps, PCB, schematic, and case STLs

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🎮 Supported Emulators

Family	Systems
Nintendo	NES · Game Boy · Game Boy Color · SNES ⭐
Sega	Master System · Game Gear · Genesis / Mega Drive ⭐
Atari	2600 · 800XL / 5200 · 7800 · Lynx
Arcade & more	NeoGeo ⭐ · PC Engine · ColecoVision · Sinclair ZX

⭐ = hand-tuned to hold 60 FPS on the P4.

Atari 2600 and 800XL/5200 support paddle controllers for Breakout, Kaboom! and the like in console (HDMI) mode.

⚡ Performance

• Most systems run at 60 FPS with no frame-skip.
• SNES / Genesis — locked 60 FPS via a real-time frame pacer (a handful of rendered frames may drop under heavy load; game logic and audio stay at full speed, so play feels perfectly smooth).
• NeoGeo — 60 FPS, fully operational, fed by a sprite cache with batched bank prefetch.

💾 Save States

All emulators support Save / Load states — several directly from the in-game menu.

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🎛️ Controllers

Plug in any USB controller and automatic button mapping starts on first use.

On the HDMI build, SNES and Genesis map Menu and Volume to L2/R2, so a PS3-style pad works best. Inexpensive clones are widely available.

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🖥️ Supported Hardware

1. Guition ESP32-P4 4.3″ LCD — the handheld

A single 480×800 touchscreen module becomes a full handheld (the one pictured up top, in a 3D-printed shell). Available on AliExpress or from Guition.

2. HDMI Version — the console

Drive a TV by pairing the Guition ESP32-P4 board with an Olimex LT8912 MIPI-DSI-to-HDMI bridge.

• Guition ESP32-P4 board
• Olimex LT8912 DSI-to-HDMI bridge

⚠️ Use the correct DSI flat cable — a mismatched ribbon will not work. Buy it from Olimex: FPC-15-1.0-150.

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🧩 Native Apps from PSRAM

Beyond emulators, RetroESP32-P4 runs native applications. A compact app format (PAPP) loads binaries off the SD card, memory-maps them into PSRAM, and executes them in place through a shared, versioned service ABI — so you can add apps without reflashing firmware.

Included:

• Doom
• Quake
• Duke Nukem 3D
• OpenTyrian
• Example demo template (build your own)

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🚀 Getting Started

1. Format an SD card to FAT32.
2. Copy the contents of /SDCARD onto it.
3. Flash the firmware to address 0 using the web esptool:
   • RetroESP32_P4_v1.bin — handheld / LCD build
   • RetroESP32_P4_HDMI_v1.bin — HDMI build
4. Insert the SD card.
5. Connect a USB controller (or use the built-in console frame).
6. NeoGeo only: run the included Python script once to generate the sprite-cache files (script is in the SD-card folder).
7. Power on, pick a system, and play. 🎉

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🧠 Under the Hood

• One image per emulator — each core is its own OTA flash partition; the launcher switches the active partition and reboots straight into the game, so every emulator gets the whole chip.
• PPA hardware scaler — with no GPU, the P4's on-chip 2D Pixel-Processing Accelerator handles rotation, scaling and format conversion.
• Execute-in-place apps — the PAPP loader maps SD-card binaries into PSRAM and calls them through a service vtable.
• Dual-core scheduling — hot paths pinned to internal SRAM/IRAM; the second core carries audio and display so game logic keeps pace.

Silicon: ESP32-P4 · dual-core RISC-V @ 360 MHz · 32 MB PSRAM · 16 MB flash.

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📦 Repository Contents

• Firmware binaries (LCD + HDMI)
• Full source code
• SD-card files
• Native apps + PAPP template
• Console board production files and schematic
• Case STL files
• Link to a folder with all needed: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1b3OWLKbuuy3KIyPls8iDnDMXTKGiJoFR?usp=sharing

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🔧 Roadmap

• More emulators
• Better performance
• More native apps
• Improved UI
• Wi-Fi features
• BLE controllers

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🙌 Contributing

This is only Version 1. Suggestions, testing results, and pull requests are all welcome. If you build one, share a photo!

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📜 Credits

Based on the original RetroESP32 project, revived and modernized for the ESP32-P4. With thanks to:

• The original RetroESP32 authors
• The creator of the ESP32-based Atari 800 emulator
• The SNES and Genesis core authors
• The author of the NeoGeo (gngeo) Linux port

📄 License

MIT License.

⭐ Support

If you like this project:

• ⭐ Star the repo
• 🍴 Fork it
• 🧑‍💻 Contribute

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RetroESP32-P4 isn't just another emulator project — it's a demonstration of how far a modern microcontroller can go when it's optimized correctly.