Last Updated on February 14, 2022 by Dave McLean
RetroPie fans were stunned with the news that the Raspberry Pi foundation released the Raspberry Pi 4 in June of 2019. How does the new board compare with the previous Raspberry Pi 3 B+? And what are the possibilities for RetroPie on the new single-board computer?
Update 5th May 2020: The developers of RetroPie released an official beta version 4.6 on the 28th of April. Throughout this article I initially questioned what could be possible from Dreamcast games such as Marvel vs Capcom 2 on the Raspberry Pi 4. With this build of RetroPie, the Dreamcast can comfortably run games at full speed at 1280×720 resolution, including Marvel vs Capcom 2!
The Raspberry Pi 4, made by the Raspberry Pi Foundation, has quite a few upgrades to truly make it the next generation Pi. The most notable of these upgrades are the new CPU, GPU, ports and connectivity components.
I’ll take a look at how these featured upgrades compare between the Raspberry Pi 4 and Raspberry Pi 3 B+. I’ll also delve into what these improvements could do for RetroPie when it is finally released for the newer Pi and the possibilities with Retropie on the new single-board computer.
The developers of RetroPie have not publicly given a definitive date of when RetroPie will be ready for the new upgraded Pi. But that doesn’t stop RetroPie fans dreaming about what will be possible with it.
How much has the CPU improved?
The Raspberry Pi 4 has a drastically improved CPU compared to its previous version. The newer board has four grunty Cortex-A72 cores compared to the four Cortex-A53 used by its predecessor.
The updated processor should go a long way to improving the performance of the more demanding game systems on RetroPie, such as Dreamcast and PlayStation Portable. RetroPie fans are also very hopeful that the Nintendo 64 will finally be fully playable on the Raspberry Pi 4. It would be great to play through Zelda: Ocarina of Time without any issues in gameplay!
It will also be interesting to see how the beefier CPU in the new Pi will effect arcade games. Arcade game such as Killer Instinct and Cruisin’ USA are just not playable on the previous version, but who knows how these games will run on the new Raspberry Pi 4.
How about the GPU of the Raspberry Pi 4?
The Raspberry Pi 4 features a vastly improved GPU compared to the Raspberry Pi 3 B+. The new Pi uses a VideoCore VI GPU, whereas the older model Pi uses a VideoCore IV GPU.
With an improved GPU comes an improved clock speed. The newer model’s GPU runs and 500MHz, whereas the older model’s GPU runs at 250MHz to 400MHz.
The VideoCore VI claims to be 400% faster than that of the VideoCore IV. This goes a long way to improving framerates in games that were struggling on the Raspberry Pi 3 B+.
With RetroPie now having full support for the Raspberry Pi 4, Marvel vs Capcom 2 runs superbly on the Sega Dreamcast emulator Redream. Marvel vs Capcom 2 can be played at a full speed of 60FPS at a resolution of 1280×720.
What ports does the Raspberry Pi 4 have?
One of the most noticeable changes when you physically compare the Raspberry Pi 4 and the Raspberry Pi 3 B+ is the ports.
HDMI output ports have increased from one to two, being made possible by converting these to mini HDMI ports. The newer board also offers 4K resolution support and 60FPS when connected to a monitor using a single HDMI port. RetroPie games can now be played in all their pixelated glory in higher definition than ever before.
Another important improvement in the newer model is there are now two USB 3.0 ports and two USB 2.0 ports. The older model just had four USB 2.0 ports.
With the Raspberry Pi 4 using more modern components, the newer board requires a bit more power to keep it going strong. This is helped with the newer board using USB-C port to help give itself more power. More power supplied to the Pi makes the use of the improved CPU and GPU, which has lead to RetroPie being capable of running more demanding retro games from systems such as Nintendo 64, Dreamcast and the PlayStation portable.
Has connectivity to devices upgraded?
The Bluetooth functionality of the Raspberry Pi 4 has also had an upgrade compared to the Raspberry Pi 3 B+. The older board uses Bluetooth 4.2, whereas the new board uses Bluetooth 5.
The main differences between Bluetooth 4.2 and Bluetooth 5 are the speed and the range. Bluetooth 5 offers four times the amount of range and double the speed compared to Bluetooth 4.2.
This can provide Bluetooth controllers a quicker response between button presses and the output in gameplay. Bluetooth controllers always have tge possibility of lag in gameplay. But the updated Bluetooth on the Raspberry Pi 4 should minimise lag issues and improve controller input response.
Check out some possible Bluetooth controllers you can connect to your Raspberry Pi using RetroPie.
To sum things up
The Raspberry Pi 4 is a big improvement on its predecessor, the Raspberry pi 3 B+, in pretty much every aspect. With RetroPie now officially supporting the new version of the Raspberry Pi, it’s exciting seeing how much better the new Raspberry Pi is compared to the to its previous version.
The vast improvements made in the CPU, GPU, the ports and the connectivity sides of the Pi, have greatly explanded the retro gaming world and possibilities using RetroPie. RetroPie can now comfortably run games on systems such as Nintendo 64, Dreamcast and even the PlayStation Portable.
Is there anything about the latest Raspberry Pi that you are thrilled about? What are some RetroPie games that struggle on the Raspberry Pi 3 B+ that you are now playing on the newer version? Fire away your thoughts in the comments below.
And as always, have fun retro gaming with RetroPie.
Buy a Raspberry Pi 4 or Raspberry Pi 3 B+ today
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Hey Dave – I want to buy a Raspberry Pi with Cruisin’ USA downloaded and ready to go. Do you know somewhere I can buy something like that? I actually want to buy 2 and link them together for head to head racing. Do you know if that is possible?
Heya Travis. From a legal perspective, you can’t buy Raspberry Pi’s with software or games pre-loaded and ready to go. The creators of RetroPie, for example, strongly discourage people from buying Raspberry Pi’s from people selling them with RetroPie and games pre-loaded. You would have to install the software and the game yourself. From a technical perspective, I think that even on the new Raspberry Pi 4 that arcade version Cruisin’ USA doesn’t run very well. I could be wrong with this, as I haven’t tested the arcade version of Cruisin’ USA on the Raspberry Pi 4. But even if… Read more »