Batocera
Ranked 4 of 4 gaming operating systems by recommenders
Free retro gaming OS that people find easy to set up and use, even for kids. It is gamepad-driven, so devices like touchpads may not work.
Free retro gaming OS that people find easy to set up and use, even for kids. It is gamepad-driven, so devices like touchpads may not work.
5 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 5
- criticize it
- 0
- approval share
- 100%
Recommended in 4 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 5 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- Nobody criticizes itNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 4 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Easy to set up and use
“An easy at home setup is Raspberry Pi running Batocera and Zaparoo with NFC cards.”
Comment from 12 Jan 2026 in “Floppy disks turn out to be the greatest TV remote for kids” “The kids love it and it's easy to use”
Comment from 12 Jan 2026 in “Floppy disks turn out to be the greatest TV remote for kids”
Other gaming operating systems people recommend
The three most recommended other gaming operating systems, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bazzite | 267 | 59 | 82% | 12 | 9 mo45 owners | Approved |
| SteamOS | 145 | 40 | 78% | 11 | 6 mo7 owners | Approved |
| Jovian-NixOS | 6 | 1 | 86% | 6 | — | — |
| BatoceraThis page | 5 | 0 | 100% | 4 | — | — |
What people said
All 5 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“the touchpad wasn't recognised, it's a gamepad driven OS”
“Batocera has a simple wsquashfs format. It is basically the game compressed into a squahsfs.”
“VPX is now supported by Batocera as well, though the VPX version in there is getting a bit long in the tooth.”
“An easy at home setup is Raspberry Pi running Batocera and Zaparoo with NFC cards.”
“The kids love it and it's easy to use”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.