# Pico-8! **URL:** \ **Category:** Picade\ **Created:** [April 5, 2020, 3:30pm UTC](https://forums.pimoroni.com/t/pico-8/13502 "2020-04-05T15:30:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Nahual](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forums.pimoroni.com/nahual/32/6611_2.png) [@Nahual](https://forums.pimoroni.com/u/Nahual)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2020, 3:30pm UTC](https://forums.pimoroni.com/t/pico-8/13502/1 "2020-04-05T15:30:49Z")
Has anyone successfully installed Pico8 on their Retropie Picade? I’ve been trying but no luck, therea re not many tutorials out there and the few I’ve found, are not very clear on what to do or how the scripts work. I’m a indie game developer, I’d like to create something for it and play it on my Picade, any suggestions? Does anyone have a video tutorial? Thank you! ---
**Author:** ![alphanumeric](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forums.pimoroni.com/alphanumeric/32/2729_2.png) [@alphanumeric](https://forums.pimoroni.com/u/alphanumeric)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2020, 5:31pm UTC](https://forums.pimoroni.com/t/pico-8/13502/2 "2020-04-05T17:31:13Z")
Is Pico-8 based on Raspbian? Or run in Raspbian? I did take a quick look on their website but got lost in a wall of text. I ask because the Picade Hat software is written for Raspbian. ---
**Author:** ![Nahual](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forums.pimoroni.com/nahual/32/6611_2.png) [@Nahual](https://forums.pimoroni.com/u/Nahual)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2020, 10:13pm UTC](https://forums.pimoroni.com/t/pico-8/13502/3 "2020-04-05T22:13:18Z")
I found this tutorial but like I mentioned it is not so cleared, I know my way around Linux commands and it was still a fiasco. I believe the Raspberry Pi version of Pico8 is ran in Raspbian ---
**Author:** ![alphanumeric](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forums.pimoroni.com/alphanumeric/32/2729_2.png) [@alphanumeric](https://forums.pimoroni.com/u/alphanumeric)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2020, 10:54am UTC](https://forums.pimoroni.com/t/pico-8/13502/4 "2020-04-06T10:54:58Z")
OK, you’ll likely have to wait for another retro gamer to chime in. I don’t own a Picade, not quit yet anyway. It’s on my wish list for a possible future purchase. My Linux Skills are average maybe even Noob level. ---
**Author:** ![Lollerskater](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forums.pimoroni.com/lollerskater/32/6867_2.png) [@Lollerskater](https://forums.pimoroni.com/u/Lollerskater)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2020, 2:57pm UTC](https://forums.pimoroni.com/t/pico-8/13502/5 "2020-06-01T14:57:48Z")
Hope I’m not bringing up a topic which is too old, but I just happened to notice this thread while I was browsing the forums. And I happened to have PICO-8 set up and running on my Pi, including a Picade build! Admittedly I’ve done this a while ago already and even at that time the online tutorials were slightly out-of-date already. I am not sure if anyone has made a newer tutorial in the mean time, but while I was busy I did write down some notes for a friend of mine. I might as well share those here, perhaps they are of use to you still, @Nahual! Now this is in no way tutorial-quality and it’s missing a few steps, but it might help you out. You’ll notice I’m referencing some files and a Google Drive. Those are obviously not included, but I can see what I can do! Just know that I sourced those logos from the internet anyway, so a Google search might help you out quicker. :-) Let’s see if copy-pasting them here doesn’t mess up the formatting (hint: it did, let me fix some things best I can): # Installing PICO-8 on Retropie Instructions mostly gotten from [HOWTO: PICO-8, RetroPie, and Emulation Station](https://www.lexaloffle.com/bbs/?tid=3935) but it’s a bit outdated and missing quite a few things. 1. Make sure SSH is enabled in Retropie You’ll want to have a direct network connection between your PC and your pi, for ease of set up. Go to the Retropie configuration menu and select _Raspi-config_. Within this menu, select option 5 _Interfacing Options_. From there you can turn on P2 SSH by following the instructions. 2. Copy the PICO-8 executable to your pi On your Windows system, open a command prompt and navigate to the folder where you’ve got your PICO-8 distributable zip file stored. You’ll want to copy the zip file to a folder on your pi, where the default user has access to. In this case, I would opt for _/tmp/_ but substitute whatever is to your liking. Now, use the _scp_ command as follows substituting filename, login, machinename and target folder as desired: `scp @:` In my case that would be as follows: `scp pico-8_0.1.12c_raspi.zip pi@picade:/tmp` When prompted, enter the password for the login. If you have left this to its default, this should be _raspberry_ 3. SSH into your Picade via your PC Next connect to your pi via `ssh -l pi ` For example, for me that would be: `ssh -l pi picade` When prompted, enter the default password. 4. Move and unzip the pico-8 executable Via SSH, move the file to the desired location and unzip it. I would recommend the _ports_ folder to keep things organized. Do the following: `sudo mv /tmp/pico-8_0.1.12c_raspi.zip /opt/retropie/ports/` `cd /opt/retropie/ports` `sudo unzip pico-8_0.1.12c_raspi.zip` This should create a _pico-8_ folder under your _ports_ folder. 5. Create a roms folder For easy access from your network via samba, create a _roms_ folder among the other emulators. While still SSH’d into the pi, this would be:. `mkdir ~/RetroPie/roms/pico-8` 6. Adjusting themes: carbon Let’s start with the default carbon theme. On the pi go to _/etc/emulationstation/themes/carbon_ and create a _pico-8_ folder. So something like: `cd /etc/emulationstation/themes/carbon` `sudo mkdir pico-8` On a different prompt, scp the logos you want (p8\*.png?) to the _/tmp/_ folder of your pi. `scp p8*.png pi@picade:/tmp` Next on your pi, move the transferred logos to the recently made _/etc/emulationstation/themes/carbon/pico-8_ folder, so you can reference them in the theme-file: `sudo mv /tmp/p8*.png /etc/emulationstation/carbon/pico-8/` (some missing instructions I’ll get to later, basically follow the theming instructions on the linked page) 7. Adjusting themes: picade Oh man, this one was simple! As long as you set up the es\_systems.cfg properly as described below, you’ll only need to add an svg logo to make the picade theme work! Thanks to how the theme dynamically looks up assets by use of the _theme_ tag in es\_systems.cfg (I added an appropriate image to the Google Drive named _pico-8.svg_ but you can use any that you want) Just copy the svg file to the _/tmp/_ folder and then move it to the logos folder of the theme, like so: `sudo mv /tmp/pico-8.svg /etc/emulationstation/themes/picade/_inc/logos/` 8. Add PICO-8 to es\_systems.cfg (forthcoming) `sudo nano -w /etc/emulationstation/es_systems.cfg` Then add the following: `` `pico8` `PICO-8` `/home/pi/RetroPie/roms/pico-8` `.p8 .p8.png .P8 .P8.PNG` `/opt/retropie/supplementary/runcommand/runcommand.sh 0 "/opt/retropie/ports/pico-8/pico8 -run %ROM%"` `` `pico-8` `` Next up, do the following: `sudo cp /etc/emulationstation/es_systems.cfg /opt/retropie/configs/all/emulationstation/` **Note** : I just found out that by manually editing and copying this file, you kind of get in the way of RetroPie auto-updating the config file as in it will only update one from then on. Not sure how to correct this yet. Just make sure to keep on copying this file whenever installing new systems/emulators or they won’t show up in the RetroPie menu. 1. Copy roms to pi Get your roms on the pi, via the network share or such. For some reason that I can’t grasp yet, make sure to rename any _.p8.png_ extensions to _.p8_ for the games to be detected correctly! `rename.ul .p8.png .p8 *.p8.png` 2. Install libwiringpi A few versions ago, a dependency was introduced which is no longer included by default with the distributable. Install it manually by executing the following: > sudo apt-get install wiringpi 1. Set up a custom control scheme (for Picade only!) to remap the buttons correctly The quickest and easiest way is to use the _keyconfig_ menu, as described on [Keyconfig | PICO-8 Wiki | Fandom](https://pico-8.fandom.com/wiki/Keyconfig). For this you will need a keyboard, so I recommend hooking one up or using a bluetooth one. Now, either run a cartridge and press the escape button or quite EmulationStation via the F4 key, navigate to the PICO-8 folder and start pico-8 in development mode via `./pico8` When you’re in the PICO-8 command prompt, input the _keyconfig_ command to call up the menu and bind your controls as desired. I’d recommend using the Picade controls to map player 1 and leave player 2 on default (by pressing the _delete_ key on your keyboard). Press escape to confirm and enter the command _shutdown_ to exit. Now you can enter back into EmulationStation by exiting the prompt (with _exit_) or rebooting entirely. When now playing PICO-8 games the controls should work as setup, with the caveat that if you’ve mapped the escape key to a Picade-button, this will still put PICO-8 in dev mode when pressed. Keep a keyboard closeby for these occasions (or until I’ve figured out how to remap controls via Retropie and disable that escape key in PICO-8). Now you’re all ready to play some faux-retro indie games on your faux-retro cabinet!