If you want to emulate all your favorite retro gaming systems quickly and easily, this guide is for you. Why go through the trouble of configuring a Raspberry Pi to play RetroPie when the Fire Stick can do it instead? (And for less money, I might add.)

What is RetroArch?

In short, RetroArch is an emulation platform that can be installed on many different devices and operating systems. This includes Windows, Linux, Android, and Apple devices. You may have seen it before: if you set up RetroPie on the Raspberry Pi, you absolutely have. RetroPie is a package built on top of RetroArch just for the Raspberry Pi.

Mentioned here RetroPie: Build Your Own Raspberry Pi Retro Gaming Rig How to install (and use) RetroPie!

RetroArch supports a ton of different emulators, commonly referred to as cores. These cores can launch any ROMs that they support, which are referred to as content.

Is this legal?

Absolutely. There's nothing illegal about owning and installing emulators. The common concern is the legality of how you obtain ROMs (games), but we'll go over the best ways to get legal ROMs a bit later.

Is this "jailbreaking"?

People often search for how to jailbreak a Firestick, thinking that "jailbreaking" refers to installing Kodi, RetroArch, etc. Technically, installing RetroArch on the Firestick is not the same thing as jailbreaking. All we're doing is side-loading a third-party application, which is a fancy way of saying "installing an app from outside the Amazon Appstore". Your Fire TV Stick (or just Firestick for short) can be reset to factory default at any time.

Which Fire Stick should I use?

I'm using an Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K, but this will work with any Amazon Fire Stick. However, the variety of systems you can emulate does depend on how powerful your Fire Stick is. For example, the 4K version can easily emulate N64 games, unlike the less powerful or older models.