New in Recalbox 10.1: EightyOne joins the ZX81 as a second emulator, with support for many additional formats.
EightyOne is an emulator of the Sinclair machines created by Michael D Wynne. It ships with Recalbox under the free software license of its upstream repository; refer to it for the exact terms.
System page: ZX81
| Emulator | RPI3/RPI02W | RPI4/400 | RPI5/500 | OGA/OGS/RG351 | PC | RG353 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Libretro EightyOne | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
The core is rated with high compatibility and high speed, and it is built for every board supported by Recalbox.
Libretro 81 is still the default ZX81 emulator: select EightyOne explicitly in the emulation options of the system or of a given game to use it. Its main asset is the list of accepted formats, much wider than the one of Libretro 81.
EightyOne is the same core as the one used for the ZX Spectrum: it emulates both Sinclair machines. Each system stays separate in Recalbox, with its own roms folder and its own list of extensions.
| Feature | Supported |
|---|---|
| Netplay | ❌ |
| Softpatching | ❌ |
| CRT output | ✅ |
| RetroAchievements | ❌ (not supported on the ZX81 system) |
| Light gun | ❌ (not supported on this system) |
A keyboard is required on this system: a pad cannot be used to drive the ZX81.
No BIOS is required for this core.
.p .o .81 .p81 .t81 .b81 .b82 .80 .b80 .a83 .tap .tzx .wav .csw .bas .z81 .ace .zip .7z
/recalbox/share/roms/zx81/
The
.pand.81formats are the most common ones for ZX81 programs;.tzx,.wavand.csware tape images.
While in game, press HOTKEY + B to open the RetroArch menu, then go to the core options section to display the settings specific to EightyOne.
The options exposed by EightyOne change from one core release to another: rely on the list displayed in the RetroArch menu of your installation rather than on a fixed list. They mostly cover the emulated machine model and the amount of installed memory — many ZX81 programs require the 16 KB expansion to load.