Firmware

If your SD card comes with files on it, delete them, or just format the SD card as FAT32. Do not format as ExFAT. Then download the ZIP file below, unzip it, and copy all files to the root directory of the SD card.

After this, if your SD card drive is named D:, then there should be file D:\9.0.3.gz, and if your SD card is called /Volumes/NO NAME, then you should have /Volumes/NO NAME/9.0.3.gz. There should not be an arcade folder on the SD card. The ZIP below above contains binaries built from https://github.com/microsoft/uf2-linux and https://github.com/microsoft/pxt-arcade-cabinet-menu

If you want to use Raspberry Pi Zero with Joy Bonnet, use the first file below. If you're building your own arcade with your own buttons and Pi Zero, use the second file.

If you want to use Raspberry Pi 3A+ (other models like 3B or 4 will not work), use the third file. It's setup for custom input by default, but if you want to use it with Joy Bonnet, just copy arcade.cfg file from the first zip over to your SD card.

Joy Bonnet

If you're using the Joy Bonnet, then congratulations, you're done!

Just connect the Pi using HDMI cable to a screen, and using the MicroUSB cable to the computer. After a few seconds you should see a menu much like the one below. Move to the next section to download games to your Arcade.

Custom Inputs

If you want to use a big joystick and buttons, it's quite easy!

Using standard connection

When you load up the arcade-cardboard.zip on your Pi, it will show you pinout to follow. You would generally connect buttons one by one, and see which one you have connected by looking at the screen. Then you know which cable you've got, and you move it to the right pin.

Once you're done connecting everything, press ABABAB and the configuration program will be replaced by the game menu program. This will be persisted after reset.

Using custom connections

The other option is to connect the buttons as you like and then tell your Pi where the buttons are connected. This is done by editing arcade.cfg file on the SD card.

If you have the Arcade Cabinet Pack, follow the assembly guide. If you plug in the buttons the way it's described in there, you will need the following in the arcade.cfg file:

BTN_A=4
BTN_B=25
BTN_RESET=11
BTN_EXIT=5
BTN_MENU=16
BTN_LEFT=10
BTN_RIGHT=22
BTN_UP=23
BTN_DOWN=27

If you are building a custom player arcade cabinet (1 or 2 players),

BTN_RESET=4
BTN_EXIT=3
BTN_MENU=2
BTN_A=26
BTN_B=19
BTN_LEFT=13
BTN_UP=6
BTN_RIGHT=5
BTN_DOWN=0
BTN_A2=11
BTN_B2=9
BTN_LEFT2=10
BTN_UP2=22
BTN_RIGHT2=27
BTN_DOWN2=17

Feel free to connect them differently, just follow these instructions and update the file with the right GPIO numbers.