FinalBurn Neo is the most approachable arcade emulator in Recalbox: fewer dependencies than MAME, a romset that stays stable over time, and excellent compatibility on all the great classics. It ships as the Libretro FBNeo core, and its games go in /recalbox/share/roms/fbneo, as .zip or .7z.
Netplay and the light gun are both supported.
To understand what a romset, a BIOS, a CHD or a clone is, read Arcade in Recalbox first.
This is the number-one cause of games that will not launch. Use clrMamePro with the .dat file matching exactly your Recalbox's FBNeo version: it is already on your machine, at /recalbox/share/arcade/libretro/fbneo.dat.
The FBNeo project only publishes "parents only" dats, because using parent roms alone is not recommended: some do not work, and some clones genuinely differ from their parent.
The dats for the non-arcade systems FBNeo emulates (Neo-Geo, consoles) live in /recalbox/share/arcade/libretro/fbneo-non-arcade/.
FBNeo has no on-screen configuration tool like MAME's: it uses the RetroArch interface. Open the menu with HOTKEY + B, then Quick Menu > Controls.
Two presets cover most needs, and are selected by changing a player's "device type":
L1 / R1 as the fifth and sixth buttons for six-button games such as Street Fighter II;R1 / R2 as the fifth and sixth buttons for six-button games — very convenient on most arcade sticks.Other device types exist, but are only compatible with certain games:
cheats folder in /recalbox/share/bios/fbneo.In-game, open the RetroArch menu with HOTKEY + B, enter Core Options, then scroll all the way down to the Cheat entry: the codes available for your game are listed there.
📷 Screenshot coming:
fbneo-cheat-options.png
/recalbox/share/bios/fbneo/samples.hiscore.dat file into /recalbox/share/bios/fbneo/ and enable the matching core option. Having the file does not guarantee scores will be saved for every game: some drivers lack the necessary code.A game you "fixed" yourself will be treated as a bad rom, since its CRCs no longer match the dat. To use a patched romset anyway, put it in /recalbox/share/bios/fbneo/patched and FBNeo will accept it. You may strip out any file identical to the unpatched romset.
Three conditions to meet:
neocdz.zip and neogeo.zip into your Libretro system folder;neocd (which activates the matching subsystem);To convert an unsupported image, use CDMage 1.02.1: File > Open (select the .cue, not the .iso, for multi-track images), then File > Save As, picking MODE1/2352 in the second drop-down list.
FBNeo can also emulate several consoles, with specific romsets whose dats live in fbneo-non-arcade. Just store the games in a subfolder named after the machine:
| Machine | Subfolder name |
|---|---|
| CBS ColecoVision | coleco |
| MSX 1 | msx |
| NEC PC Engine | pce |
| NEC SuperGrafx | sgx |
| NEC TurboGrafx-16 | tg16 |
| Nintendo Entertainment System | nes |
| Nintendo Family Computer Disk System | fds |
| Sega Game Gear | gamegear |
| Sega Master System | sms |
| Sega Megadrive | megadriv |
| Sega SG-1000 | sg1000 |
| SNK Neo-Geo Pocket | ngp |
| ZX Spectrum | spectrum |
Recalbox has dedicated systems for all of these machines, generally better served by their specialised cores. This option is only of interest in specific cases.
A game will not launch. Either it is unsupported, or your rom is not valid: rebuild a clean romset with clrMamePro and the bundled dat. A few games are flagged as non-working — try one of their clones instead.
A game runs slowly or the sound stutters. Your machine is probably too weak for that game. In order: look for a Speedhack DIP switch in the core options and enable it; set a frameskip value; lower the emulated CPU clock; disable rewind, run-ahead and any expensive RetroArch setting; lower the audio settings. If that is not enough, you need a more powerful machine or a different core.
The game runs faster on MAME 2003 or 2010. That is expected: FBNeo uses more recent code, more accurate and less buggy, but overall heavier than those old MAME versions. In exchange, it supports netplay, rewind and RetroAchievements, which older MAME cores handle poorly or not at all.
Killer Instinct does not work. That driver is disabled: it does not meet the project's quality standards.
A game has graphical glitches. Report it on the Recalbox Discord, stating your machine and the behaviour you observed.