The Cupcade interface board now installs on the female header on the back of the PiTFT.
Be super careful to line up the pins! There’s enough wiggle room either way for this to be offset by one pin. The Pi won’t boot unless it’s properly centered.
The Sel pin is not used. If your kit has only four wires in this bundle, just skip over that pin.
Plug a quick-connect wire set into each of the four buttons.
There’s no specific polarity to these…either wire can go to either pin.
The two red buttons will serve as the “A” and “B” action buttons. The two black buttons are for “Start” and “Select” (the latter is labeled “Coin” on the Cupcade PCB, as this button is typically used for MAME’s insert-coin function).
Plug each quick-connect into the corresponding labeled jack on the Cupcade interface board.
- Quick connects or the nut on each button
- The metal frame of the speaker
- The back side of the Cupcade interface board
- USB and Ethernet jacks on the Raspberry Pi
Once everything’s safely spaced apart, plug in the Pi. It should boot to the game menu.
If the Pi Does Not Boot
If you don’t see the system starting the boot process within 10 seconds or so (watch the ACT LED on the board), disconnect power immediately.Carefully unplug the Cupcade interface board from behind the PiTFT and try booting again. Does it work now? If so, the problem is usually with the new parts.
- Was the board properly aligned with the header on the PiTFT? It’s easy to get this off by one.
- Are any of the button quick-connects making accidental contact with each other?
- Is the joystick connected? Cupcade won’t boot without it.
- Are the four wires connected to the proper pins in the correct order on the joystick? Even a single mislaid wire here can prevent the Pi from booting!
- Examine the joystick closely, specifically the horizontal and vertical potentiometer dials on the sides. When you move the stick around, can you see both dials turning with it? If not, the joystick may be faulty.
If the Pi Boots Successfully
Rejoice! Test the game menu by moving the joystick around. If you have any ROMs loaded (see the “Installing ROMs” page) you can give ’em a whirl.
Check if you have all the connections solid and going to the right location. The joystick socket connectors can slip off if yanked!
If you have a game loaded, hold down both the Start and Select buttons to return to the main RetroPie screen.
Navigate to RetroPie’s main menu and select the “Quit” option. In the resulting menu, select “Shutdown System.”
Wait about 20 seconds for the system to complete this operation before disconnecting power.
Do not continue until the system is tested and the controls are known working.
