In the gaming world, nostalgia always has a special place. And to satisfy the feeling of nostalgia, many gamers are looking for ways to play their favorite retro games. Well, it's time to get to know Batocera, an alternative that makes playing retro games easier and hassle-free. Batocera Linux is an operating system focused on retro game emulation, and the best thing is that you can flash it to a USB stick. In this guide, we'll cover how to install Batocera on a USB flash drive, how to add games to it, and how to start playing your favorite retro games!

Introduction to Batocera Linux

Batocera is a Linux-based operating system focused on retro gaming. This OS is designed to run on almost any type of computer, from desktops to laptops, to single-board computers like the Raspberry Pi. Even more interesting, Batocera can be installed on a USB flash drive (or SD card), allowing you to run your device directly from the Batocera USB. All your settings and games are preconfigured, like controller preferences, so this USB drive becomes a portable video game emulation hub - all you need is a computer, display, and controller. This lets you avoid changes to your hard drive, so your existing operating system remains intact.

Required Preparations

To start your retro gaming journey with Batocera, you only need a few basic elements:

• Computer: Any PC will do; the important thing is to have a working Internet connection and USB port.
• Batocera Operating System: This is a free software that can be downloaded from the official Batocera website.
• balenaEtcher (or similar program): This is software that will write the Batocera operating system to your USB flash drive. BalenaEtcher has a good reputation for its low failure rate.
• USB Flash Drive or External Hard Drive: This is where you will place all your ROM files. This speeds up the process of transferring ROMs to Batocera. It is recommended to arrange ROMs in subfolders organized by console.

USB Flash Drive for Batocera: USB 2.0 or 3.0 will work. It doesn't matter which one you choose, because performance when running Batocera will not be different. Your USB storage capacity depends on the number of games you want to include in your Batocera portable installation. Generally, it's best to use at least a 16GB USB. If you want to include games from the latest consoles (such as PlayStation 1 and above), it is recommended to choose a larger one to accommodate the larger ROM size.

You can read more about how to carry out these steps in the guide below.

1. Download Batocera

Once you have all the elements mentioned above, you can get started. Download the Batocera operating system from its website. The goal is to create a portable installation of Batocera on a USB drive that can be booted on various computers. Consider searching for your device's architecture (e.g. x86_64 for most PCs) and downloading the OS image file. You can download the appropriate files for your device via direct link or torrent.

2. Download and Install balenaEtcher

After you download the Batocera OS image file, you need to install software that will write it to your USB flash drive. We recommend balenaEtcher, as it has a good reputation with a low failure rate. There are also other utilities that can create a bootable USB flash drive from an OS image file, so feel free to use other alternatives if you want.

3. Write the Batocera Operating System to your USB

Now, once you have downloaded the Batocera OS image file and have balenaEtcher installed on your PC, you are ready to use it.

• Connect the USB drive you want to use for Batocera.
• Open the balenaEtcher application to write the Batocera image file to USB.
• Follow the simple guide and navigate the balenaEtcher UI. On the left screen, click the button that says "Flash from file" to open the Windows Explorer window.
• Browse to the location where you downloaded the Batocera OS image file and select it. The image file should appear in balenaEtcher.
• Click on the middle button that says "Select target." You can select your USB drive by checking the box next to it in the list of available drives.

Note: balenaEtcher will erase the entire contents of the drive you select. Make sure you select the correct target drive.

• balenaEtcher will write the Batocera image file to your USB drive. This will take some time, so be patient.

Once the process is complete, you can close balenaEtcher. Your USB will probably appear in Windows; however, if you try to click on it, you will be told that the drive needs to be formatted before you can use it, because the file system used by Linux distros like Batocera is EXT4, which is not recognized by Windows. But you don't need to worry, so ignore any warnings that appear.

4. Boot to Batocera 

Now, once the Batocera operating system has been written to your USB drive, you are ready to boot into it. There are several ways to do this, and this is the easiest.

• Type "recovery options" into the Windows search bar.
• Click "Recovery options" in the search results to open your PC's Recovery settings menu. On this screen, click the button that says "Restart now" located under "Advanced startup."
• This will take you to a blue screen where you can restart your PC using the Batocera USB as the boot device. Highlight the "Use a device" option and press the Enter key.
• Select the USB that has been flashed with the Batocera OS image file and press Enter. Your PC will restart, but this time it will use the Batocera USB as the boot disk, not the regular Windows OS disk.

Boot into Batocera on an Old PC

If you don't see the boot options as discussed above, or if you are using an older operating system like Windows 7, you will need a few additional steps to boot to your Batocera USB. This involves accessing your PC's BIOS, where you can change some basic settings, such as the boot device. To access the BIOS, you need to press certain keys before the PC loads the operating system.

Click the "Start" button and restart your computer.

When your computer reboots, you will see a screen that usually displays the PC or motherboard manufacturer's logo. You just press the button that allows you to enter the BIOS. The choice of this button depends on the motherboard manufacturer, but most often it is F2, F10, F12, or DEL. The initial boot screen will usually tell you which keys to press - look towards the bottom of the screen as in the image below.

Once you're in the BIOS, look for the setting that will allow you to change the boot device. This is usually listed as "Boot Device," "Boot Device Select," or "Boot Device Priority." Our goal here is to tell the PC to boot from the Batocera USB that we have created, not from the disk containing your Windows OS.

Note: Be careful when changing the system in your PC's BIOS. Because many settings in the BIOS can change how your PC works.