Arcade Punks is a website that offers a wide range of retro gaming content, including ROMs, news, gaming images, reviews, tutorials and emulators. The website specializes in providing information on how to build and customize retro gaming systems using Raspberry Pi, PC, Handheld and other types of devices and mini-computers. There is also a retro gaming community forum where retro gaming enthusiasts can share their experiences and knowledge
Gaming Images
The majority of visitors to the site come for the downloads! Here you can save yourself hours, days or even WEEKS of building your own gaming image. A gaming image is a pre configured set up usually consisting of a “front end” , ROMs (usually for multiple systems), Emulators (to play the ROMs), and “media” , to display video snippets of the ROMs included within “the image”.
“Images” come in various formats, for example, if you have a Single Board Computer (SBC), such as a Raspberry Pi, you would likely download an IMG file, which you simply write to a micro SD Card, pop in your SBC and play! If you have a PC based set up you may be required to extract to a certain folder on a certain drive and run a program to play.
Some images require a small controller set up (such as RetroPie), some require no set up (such as images built for the device and controller specifically) and some images may require a more intense set up (such as images that have lots of content including actual arcade games!)
If you are ready to start your home built retro gaming journey there may be some things you should consider. Visit our THINGS TO CONSIDER section to make your next move!
Who Runs Arcade Punks?
A small team of retro gaming enthusiasts run Arcade Punks, its a not-for-profit website, where all money generated by advertising and memberships are put back in on various servers such as web, torrent and Usenet, as well costs and equipment purchase for various developers and testers – no profit is taken from Arcade Punks and any hardware obtained by the team at Arcade Punks is usually donated accordingly when its use has expired.
People Say Not To Download From You – Is it Safe?
Anything you have read on the internet about “dangers” of Arcade Punks, is fake news, usually generated by some closed groups who do not like that Arcade Punks share the content FOR FREE. Often there is a misconception that people download from Arcade Punks and then resell on various online marketplaces, this has been proven to also be fake – we have seen content sold on online marketplaces BEFORE Arcade Punks have “dropped” (released) it on the site.
We use proper ad content networks and not spammy scam sites, the site is supported by the ads used on the site, for a better browsing experience some people opt to become paid members giving them access to extra content, additional download methods and generally a less intrusive experience. Becoming a member is NOT compulsory and all content is available, which in some cases require registering for the site (free and with no restrictions!).
You can check our site safety ranking HERE
It’s worth noting, however, that downloading ROMs or game images for games that you don’t own is generally considered illegal and unethical, so it’s important to use caution and follow legal guidelines when using any content from Arcade Punks or other similar websites.