I see that Retroarch is preinstalled, but when I fire it up I do not see the normal (or any way) to install cores, the interface looks super basic.
Have you tried emulationstation
I was able to get most cores to work by manually adding the arm64 core builds from GitHub - christianhaitian/retroarch-cores to the libretrocores folder in Retroarch. This post was very helpful:
However, you can also just straight up install RetroPie on this system, which require less tinkering to get functional cores installed and also provide emulationstation, which is a nicer interface:
cd
git clone --depth=1 https://github.com/RetroPie/RetroPie-Setup.git
cd RetroPie-Setup
chmod +x retropie_setup.sh
sudo ./retropie_setup.sh
Basic Install >> Quick Install
You can also switch the menu driver in Retroarch from rgui to xmb, which will switch to the higher resolution blue interface that’s more familiar from desktop installations (although I personally think the pixelated version has its charms).
Do you know an faq for installing on the uconsole
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apt-cache search libretro should show you a list of cores that you can install, and you can do, for example, apt-get install libretro-beetle-psx.
That’s the rgui interface. It used to be the default for retroarch. If you want to use one of the other UIs, from the main menu you select Settings, Drivers, then Menu.
THANKS that was a big help!!
that worked great but the screen for emulation station is sideways
Sorry was busy but i dont have a uconsole myself yet so my help would be limiting, my go to retro gaming is emulationstation/retropie, theres plenty of documentation online but its something i wouldnt know how you could apply to uconsole
thx for the hint, however my installation was failed with a bunch of information saying xxxx could not be installed after a long long wait. I’ve searched the internet and found that could be a problem in rpi bullseye, have you encountered any similar problem with that?
I had the same experience as you. I plan to screenshot the missing packages and see if I can get them loaded another way, and then I can try the script above again.
I think the problem is that retroarch.cfg has the option to show “update core” disabled or hidden by default
Hi,
I got RetroArch and the snes9x core working beautifully simply by installing via apt (Debian Bookworm image).
But for the life of me I can’t figure out the right combination or configuration of drivers / input to map the YXBA Select Start Buttons. Whatever I do it always just shows “N/A”
Help.
Thanks 
little update: showkey doesn’t show anything at all either when pressing YXBA Start Select.
anyone has an ideas?
thanks
Set the controller driver to SDL2. Settings > Drivers > Controller > sdl2.
Or, better yet, if you’re on the uConsole CM4 just use Rex’s RetroPie build. The performance is better, more systems work, you can use shaders without the framerate dropping.
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I probably already tried that because it still just says “N/A” in the settings when you press the button, BUT I figured what the hell let’s load a rom anyway and try it if the guy said so and it does work indeed! stupid quirk that it always only says N/A. Thanks!!
Nah I want a proper DE and that little bit of SNES or DOSBox emulation I do doesn’t need the best optimization.