RetroAchievements In RetroArch

What are RetroAchievements?

retroachievements.org is a service that provides a trophies unlocking mechanism similar to modern consoles, for Retro games.

Warning

The service is not maintained by RetroArch or the Libretro team.

Note

If you want to contribute, please update RetroArch and cores to get the latest fixes on the RetroAchievements feature;
then in order to propose improvements to this document, do it via GitHub using "Pull Requests"

How to setup achievements

  1. Register an account on retroachievements.org (don't forget to confirm your account creation with the email they send to you).
  2. Open Retroarch and go to Settings->Achievements
  3. Enable the functionality and fill your retroachievements credentials

Note

The hardcore mode prevents you from using emulation features like savestates, slow motion and cheats.
BUT gives you double points.

Check your connection to the service

You need an active Internet connection.

In this example, we are using the game Chrono Trigger (USA) with the Snes9x core.

Launch the game and trigger the Quick Menu.

Go to Achievements and you should see a list of the unlockable trophies for this game.

Check your progress

On the retroachievements website, you can login and access your account page.

You should be able to check your progress in the games and see which trophies you unlocked.

Trophies unlocked in hardcore mode are marked with a special color.

You can also check the progress of your friends and add comments on their trophies.

Cores Compatibility

Arcade

Core Supported Notes
FinalBurn Neo ✔ AES bios is required for NeoGeo achievements. AES Asia is English.
MAME ✕

Atari 2600

Core Supported Notes
Stella ✔
Stella 2014 ✔

Atari 7800

Core Supported Notes
ProSystem ✔

Atari Lynx

Core Supported Notes
Handy ✔
Beetle Handy ✔ Beetle Handy is incompatible with modern No-Intro romsets as they require headers to work properly. The regular Handy core does not have this issue.

Wonderswan / Wonderswan Color

Core Supported Notes
Beetle Cygne ✔

ColecoVision

Core Supported Notes
blueMSX ✔

PC Engine / PC Engine CD

Core Supported Notes
Beetle PCE FAST ✔ Does not support SuperGrafx games.
Beetle PCE ✔ Slightly behind in updates.
Beetle SGX ✔

PC-8000 / PC-8800

Core Supported Notes
QUASI88 ✔ Some games may be difficult to play in Retroarch due to lack of complete keyboard access. Sets generally expect the MkIISR bios.

Nintendo DS

Core Supported Notes
DeSmuME ✔
DeSmuME 2015 ✔
MelonDS ✔

Game Boy / Game Boy Color

Core Supported Notes
Gearboy ✔
SameBoy ✔
Gambatte ✔
VBA-M ✔
mGBA ✕ Achievements only work for the Game Boy Advance
Emux GB ✕
TGB Dual ✕

Game Boy Advance

Core Supported Notes
mGBA ✔
VBA Next ✔
VBA-M ✔
Beetle GBA ✔
gpSP ✕
Meteor ✕

NES

Core Supported Notes
FCEUmm ✔ Also supports FDS.
QuickNES ✔
Mesen ✔ Achievements utilizing SRAM will have issues
Nestopia UE ✕ Achievements are not fully supported yet
bnes ✕
Emux NES ✕

Nintendo 64

Core Supported Notes
Mupen64Plus-Next ✔
ParaLLEl N64 ✔

Pokemon Mini

Core Supported Notes
PokeMini ✔

SNES

Core Supported Notes
Snes9x ✔
Snes9x 2010 ✔
Snes9x 2005 ✔
Snes9x 2005 Plus ✔
Snes9x 2002 ✔
Beetle bsnes ✔
bsnes ✕
bsnes 2014 Accuracy ✔
bsnes 2014 Balanced ✔
bsnes 2014 Performance ✔
bsnes-mercury Accuracy ✔
bsnes-mercury Balanced ✔
bsnes-mercury Performance ✔
bsnes C++98 (v085) ✔
Mesen-S ✔
higan Accuracy ✕ Achievement support isn't going to be added
nSide Balanced ✕ Achievement support isn't going to be added

Virtual Boy

Core Supported Notes
Beetle VB ✔

Master System / MegaDrive - Genesis

Core Supported Notes
Gearsystem ✔
Genesis Plus GX ✔
Picodrive ✔
BlastEm x
Emux SMS ✕
SMS Plus GX ✔

Sega 32X

Core Supported Notes
Picodrive ✔ Support is extremely variable.

Game Gear

Core Supported Notes
Genesis Plus GX ✔
Gearsystem ✔
SMS Plus GX ✔

SG-1000

Core Supported Notes
Genesis Plus GX ✔
Gearsystem ✔
blueMSX ✔

Sega CD

Core Supported Notes
Genesis Plus GX ✔ Sega CD support is a work in progress.
Picodrive x

Sega Saturn

Core Supported Notes
Beetle Saturn ✔
Yabause x
Yabasanshiro x
Kronos x

Neo Geo Pocket / Neo Geo Pocket Color

Core Supported Notes
Beetle NeoPop ✔
RACE ✔

Sony Playstation

Core Supported Notes
Beetle PSX HW ✔
Beetle PSX ✔
PCSX ReARMed ✔