Recalbox 9 Adds Apple Mac Classic, Raspberry Pi 4K Support for Kodi

Last Updated on February 26, 2023

If you’re keen on retro game emulation on your Raspberry Pi, you will be pleased to know that Recalbox 9 is now available. Following a successful launch to the Recalbox Patreon backers in November 2022, the new retro gaming distro release for Raspberry Pi, Odroid, PC, and other handhelds comes with a bunch of new features.

We’ll go on depth into these below, but perhaps the most exciting is support for three additional systems: Philips VG-5000, Infocom Z-Machine, and the Apple Macintosh Classic.

Tadaaa! Here is a new system coming in #recalbox9 pic.twitter.com/FDmvC6EW4v
— Bkg2k Recalbox (@Bkg2kR) February 24, 2023

Some clarification is probably required here. The Philips VG-5000 was a 1984 8-bit system that sold around 500,000 units in mainland Europe (and a few further afield) before its cancellation in 186.

Meanwhile, the Infocom Z-Machine is a virtual machine released in 1979 and used for Infocom’s text adventure games (e.g. Zork).

You probably know what the Apple Macintosh Classic is. In case you don’t, it’s essentially the forerunner to modern Macs, with largely monochrome displays.

Recalbox 9 features

The new Recalbox 9 is compatible with the new GPi Case 2W, a handheld Game Boy-like Raspberry Pi Zero 2W case.

Meanwhile, Recalbox 9 features an in-depth rewrite of Bluetooth with automatic controller pairing. Elsewhere,
retro shaders return, and there is support for 4K resolution on Raspberry Pi 4/400 systems and hardware video decoding on Raspberry Pi 4, Pi 3 and Pi Xero 2.

If you’re using the Recalbox RGB DUAL HAT, new features are introduced, such as multi-resolution calibration screens, better compatibility with emulator cores, new PAL/NTSC modes, 240p@120Hz resolution for 31kHz screens.

And if you’re running Recalbox on a PC, the platform now prioritize discrete GPUs rather than relying on the CPU’s internal graphics.

Here’s look at the full Recalbox 9 changelog:

Add 240p theme as default for GPiCase 1
Add kodi resolution menu selection and dynamic resolution for CRT
Add libretro-pcsx rearmed for OGA/OGS
Add new category ‘Demoscene’ in tic80 games downloader.
Add the possibility to sort games by release date.
Add Philips VG5000 emulator (RB5000, a new Recalbox’s emulator based on DCVG5K)
Recalbox RGB DUAL:
Add multiple resolution calibration screen
Add HDMI priority option in recalbox rgb dual to switch between Scart and HDMI
Add neogeocd, picodrive and pcsx rearmed, cores for Recalbox RGB DUAL
Add snes9x2002, 2005, 2010 and bsnes support for Recalbox RGB DUAL
Add region selection for satellaview, sufami, amiga 600, amiga 1200
Add fceumm core support for nes and fds
Fix rtype resolution for 31kHz
Add new arcade game support for 15kHz. =>Add mupen64plus glide64mk2 support =>Add multiple PAL/NTSC modes =>Add 240p@120Hz frontend resolution for 31kHz screens
Add game Pong Recalbox Edition by Studio 40A on gameboy
Fix resolution selection in frontend for Raspberry Pi 4/400/3/Zero2 (KMS)
Add new system ‘Macintosh’ with new core libretro-MinivMac (RPi3/RPi4/XU4/OGS/PC)
Add support for nVidia Prime Offloading (for computers with both iGPU and nVidia GPU)
Enhance shader support by setting multi threaded renderer when shader enabled
Add new system ‘Z-Machine’ with new core frotz
Add new Kodi theme for lower resolutions
Add Raspberry Pi Touch Display case support for Raspberry Pi 3 and 4
Add RetroFlag GPi2W case support with only Raspberry Pi Zero2 board