Retro Emulator

Bash script to turn your old Android phone into a Retro Gaming Emulator.

Everything runs over ADB from your computer — a menu walks you through wiping the phone, stripping out the preinstalled apps, installing the emulators and locking the radios down so the device behaves like a dedicated handheld.

Requirements

On your computer:

• bash
• Android platform-tools — provides adb and fastboot, both must be on your PATH
• curl

On the phone:

• USB debugging enabled in Developer options, and the USB debugging prompt accepted
• An unlocked bootloader — only needed for the factory reset option (2)

Usage

git clone https://github.com/SarveshP16/Retro-Emulator-Script.git
cd Retro-Emulator-Script
chmod +x retro-setup.sh
./retro-setup.sh

Pick an option from the menu:

#	Option	What it does
1	Check device connection	Confirms ADB sees the phone, prints manufacturer and model
2	Factory reset device	Reboots to the bootloader and runs fastboot -w (asks twice first)
3	Remove bloatware	Uninstalls known preinstalled apps for the current user
4	Download retro gaming apps	Fetches the APKs into ./apks
5	Install retro gaming apps	Installs every APK in ./apks with all permissions granted
6	Install games / BIOS files	Copies games/ and bios/ onto the phone
7	Enable airplane mode + WiFi & Bluetooth	Kills mobile data, keeps Wi-Fi and Bluetooth
8	Run full setup	Runs 1 to 7 in order, stopping at the first failure
9	Show status	Reports downloaded APKs, device info, installed emulators, games on device, radio state and leftover bloatware
0	Exit

Apps installed

App	Version	Package
RetroArch	1.22.2	com.retroarch.aarch64 / com.retroarch
PPSSPP	1.20.4	org.ppsspp.ppsspp
Daijishou	1.5.0	com.magneticchen.daijishou

RetroArch comes in a 32-bit and a 64-bit build; the script reads ro.product.cpu.abi off the phone and downloads the matching one. With no device attached it falls back to the 64-bit build. Versions are pinned at the top of the script if you want to bump them.

No games or BIOS files are downloaded — bring your own, then use option 6 to copy them across.

Games and BIOS files

Option 6 copies two local folders onto the phone. Create them (option 6 makes them for you on first run) and drop your files in:

games/
  snes/        -> /sdcard/Roms/snes
  psp/         -> /sdcard/Roms/psp
  gba/         -> /sdcard/Roms/gba
bios/          -> /sdcard/RetroArch/system

One folder per system under games/; the folder name becomes the platform folder on the device. BIOS files go flat in bios/, which lands in RetroArch's system directory where the cores look for them.

Before copying, the script totals the size and checks it against the free space on the phone, then asks to confirm. Afterwards, point Daijishou at /sdcard/Roms/<platform> as a library path to see your games.

If your collection lives elsewhere, point the script at it for a single run:

ROMS_DIR=/media/usb/roms BIOS_DIR=~/bios ./retro-setup.sh

Both folders are in .gitignore, so nothing you drop there gets committed.

Notes

Bloatware removal is reversible. Option 3 uses pm uninstall -k --user 0, which drops the app for the current user but leaves the APK on /system. Nothing is deleted from the system partition, so a factory reset brings everything back. To restore a single app:

adb shell cmd package install-existing com.example.app

The list covers around 40 common Google, Meta, Samsung, Xiaomi, Oppo and Vivo preloads and lives in the bloatware array near the top of the script — edit it to match your phone. Packages that aren't installed are skipped, and protected system apps that refuse to uninstall are reported and skipped too.

Why airplane mode? Option 6 enables airplane mode to cut the cellular radio (no mobile data, no calls, less battery drain), then turns Wi-Fi and Bluetooth back on so you can still download content and pair a controller.

Factory reset wipes everything. Option 2 erases all user data via fastboot -w and needs an unlocked bootloader. It asks for confirmation twice and can be skipped if you only want the rest of the setup. Back up anything you care about first.

License

MIT — © 2026 Sarvesh Pandit.

This covers the script and its assets only. RetroArch, PPSSPP and Daijishou are downloaded from their official sources at runtime and keep their own licenses; nothing is redistributed here.