Retro Achievements are basically exactly what you’d think they’d be. They’re achievements that you can earn in retro games. Imagine playing Super Mario World and earning achievements – that’s retro achievements and the great thing is, they’re something that works on so many different platforms, including Sony PlayStation 2!
How to start?
Head to RetroAchievements.org, and you want to Sign up for a new account using the link at the top right.
Make sure that you remember your username and password as you’re going to need it for every supported emulator.
Once you create your account, you won’t have anything just yet, but as you start to earn achievements, you can see them all from your profile page by clicking your Avatar in the top right.
Checking if a game supports Retro Achievements
To check if a game supports achievements, on the RetroAchievements.org website, search for the game name and if a game has achievements, you’ll see a full list like here for Pokemon Silver.
One important thing to note is that while it does say the game has Retro Achievements, you may have a ROM that is not supported. Maybe it’s a different region, or it’s a different version, or it’s just a bad ROM. If you scroll down on any Retro Achievements game page, you’ll see a link to the Official Forum Topic.
If you click that, the first post usually has details about which ROM is supported for Retro Achievements. They won’t link to the exact ROM, for obvious legal reasons, but a nice hint is to Google the file name or CRC32 checksum to find what you need.
I’ll share for each emulator how to check in the emulator if the game has Retro Achievements or not.
How to earn?
So Retro Achievements aren’t available in every single emulator or RetroArch core out there, but there’s a lot of them that do support it.
Below is a list of emulators, with how to adjust settings for Retro Achievements:
RetroArch – Multi-platform
RetroArch supports a ton of different systems via different RetroArch cores. Your popular systems are all there, Game Boys, Super Nintendo, Nintendo 64, Dreamcast, Game Gear and more.
If you’re curious which cores that I use, here’s my list:
- Atari 2600: Stella
- Atari 5200: Atari800
- Atari 7800: ProSystem
- Arcade: FinalBurn Neo
- Dreamcast: Flycast
- Game Boy/Game Boy Color: Gambatte
- Game Boy Advance: mGBA
- Genesis/Master System/Game Gear/Sega CD: Genesis Plus GX
- NES: FCEUmm
- Nintendo 64: Mupen64Plus-Next
- Nintendo DS: MelonDS DS
- PlayStation 1: SwanStation
- Saturn: Beetle Saturn
- SNES: Snes9x
Setting up Retro Achievements in RetroArch is easy. From the RetroArch main menu, click the Settings cog on the right, then scroll down to Achievements.
You’ll now see a Username and Password field. Enter your RetroAchievements.org username and password in both.
I would also highly suggest disabling Hardcore Mode. You can read the description for what it does, but it’s just unnecessary to keep it on for normal people.
When done, back out to the main RetroArch menu, Configuration File, and Save Current Configuration. Don’t skip this step!
To check if the ROM you have supports Retro Achievements in RetroArch, open the RetroArch menu in-game, scroll down to Achievements and if it says No Achievements to Display, but you know the game has Retro Achievements on the website, then you have the wrong ROM. Otherwise, it’ll show you a full list of achievements for that game.
When you earn an achievement, you’ll get a popup top left that looks like this.
DuckStation – Multi-platform
DuckStation supports Retro Achievements for Sony PlayStation 1 games. RetroArch does as well, but if you prefer to use a standalone option like DuckStation, they’re both supported.
Setting up Retro Achievements in DuckStation is easy. From the home screen, click the three lines top left, and then go to App Settings. Scroll all the way over to Achievements. Enable RetroAchievements.
Login with your username and password from RetroAchievements.org.
To check if the ROM you have supports Retro Achievements in DuckStation, open the DuckStation menu in-game, scroll down to Achievements and if it says No Achievements to Display, but you know the game has Retro Achievements on the website, then you have the wrong ROM. Otherwise, it’ll show you a full list of achievements for that game.
PPSSPP – Multi-platform
PPSSPP supports Retro Achievements for Sony PlayStation Portable games. The PPSSPP core in RetroArch does as well, but given the lack of performance, almost everyone uses PPSSPP standalone for PSP games.
Setting up Retro Achievements in PPSSPP is easy. From the home screen, select Settings on the right, System, RetroAchievements,
Login with your username and password from RetroAchievements.org.
AetherSX2/NetherSX2 – Android
AetherSX2/NetherSX2 supports Retro Achievements for Sony PlayStation 2 games.
Setting up Retro Achievements in AetherSX2/NetherSX2 is easy. From the home screen, click the three lines top left, and then go to App Settings. Scroll all the way over to Achievements. Enable RetroAchievements.
Login with your username and password from RetroAchievements.org.
To check if the ROM you have supports Retro Achievements in AetherSX2/NetherSX2, open the menu in-game, scroll down to Achievements and if it says No Achievements to Display, but you know the game has Retro Achievements on the website, then you have the wrong ROM. Otherwise, it’ll show you a full list of achievements for that game.
Dolphin – PC
Dolphin for PC (Windows/Linux) is currently the only supported way to earn Retro Achievements for GameCube games.
Make sure you’re on the latest version of Dolphin. Head to Tools at the top, then Achievements in the drop down. Login with your username and password from RetroAchievements.org.
MelonDS – Android
MelonDS supports Retro Achievements for Nintendo DS games.
Setting up Retro Achievements in MelonDS is easy. From the home screen, click the three dots top right. scroll down to RetroAchievements.
Login with your username and password from RetroAchievements.org.