CoolROM.com's Sega Genesis emulators section. Download the highest rated and most compatible emulator here. Genesis Plus GX is a Sega / Mega CD, Genesis / Megadrive, Master System, Game Gear and SG-1000 emulator. This is a port of Charles MacDonald's Genesis Plus to the Wii, with a lot of improvements. As well as being one of the best Sega Genesis emulators, it’s also the go-to emulator for the N64, Snes, Nintendo 3DS, Dreamcast, and pretty much every other console in existence. For anyone wanting to play the best Sega Mega Drive games and their favourite titles on other consoles besides, then RetroArch can deliver.
This console, known as the Mega Drive everywhere except in the USA where it was renamed Genesis, was released by Sega in 1988
| Emulator | Rom Folder | Extension | BIOS | Controller Config |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| lr-genesis-plus-gx | megadrive | .7z .bin .gen .md .sg .smd .zip | bios_MD.bin (optional) | /opt/retropie/configs/megadrive/retroarch.cfg |
| lr-picodrive | megadrive | .7z .bin .gen .md .smd .zip | none | /opt/retropie/configs/megadrive/retroarch.cfg |
| DGen | megadrive | .bin .md .smd | none | /opt/retropie/configs/megadrive/dgenrc |
Emulators: lr-genesis-plus-gx, lr-picodrive, DGen
lr-genesis-plus-gx is best for the Pi 3/Pi 2 due to its accuracy. lr-picodrive is more suited for use on the Pi 0/Pi 1 due to its speed. DGen has the worst performance and can be tedious to configure the controls for.
ROMS
Accepted File Extensions: .7z .bin .gen .md .sg .smd .zip
Place your ROMS in either
or
BIOS
lr-genesis-plus-gx can load MegaDrive TMSS startup ROM (bootrom): bios_MD.bin
Place your bios_MD.bin BIOS file in
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Controls
lr-genesis-plus-gx and lr-picodrive
lr-genesis-plus-gx and lr-picodrive utilise RetroArch configurations
Add custom retroarch controls to the retroarch.cfg file in
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For more information on custom RetroArch controls see: RetroArch Configuration
6 button controller
The Genesis/Mega Drive had a 6 button controller released, with 3 extra buttons (X, Y, Z) placed above the normal 3 (A, B, C). A small subset of games do not function with the 6 button controller, but the vast majority do. To emulate the 6 button controller, do the following:
lr-genesis-plus-gx
Save a Core Input Remap in the same manner as Core Input Remapping, with User 1 Device Type and User 2 Device Type set to MD Joypad 6 Button.
lr-picodrive
Change the Core Options for Pad 1 Type and Pad 2 Type from standard to dualshock. See Setting Core Options.
This will also take effect on any other system which you may use lr-picodrive for (eg. Sega 32X, Sega CD).
Mega Drive/Genesis Controller
Mega Drive/Genesis Wireless Controller
Mega Drive ArcadePad Controller
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DGen
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DGen uses a configuration file called dgenrc located in
To set up an exit button:modify this line to match your controller button
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Switching Emulation Station to the Genesis logo:
If you are from the United States it is likely that you had the Sega Genesis rather than the Sega Mega Drive. If you want EmulationStation to show the genesis graphics instead of Mega Drive then you should create a file /opt/retropie/configs/all/platforms.cfg with the following contents (note this requires at least v4.1.6 of the RetroPie-Setup script).
Once this is done, please update any of the currently installed Mega Drive emulators from RetroPie-Setup and Emulation Station will now use the Genesis logo. Scraping from within Emulation Station should also return Genesis artwork.