Controller Not Working in GBA Game on RetroPie: [SOLVED]

Ever since the RetroPie system hit the market it has given retro gamers access to all games they played from their childhood.

Simply load games, through ROMs, onto a mini SD card, slot into the RetroPie and a world of retro gaming is in the palm of your hands.

Each console and home computer of the past has an emulator, mimicking the software used to run these consoles, which enable games to be played just like once did.

The GBA emulator (lr-mgba) is an example of such an emulator that comes pre-installed within a RetroPie system. Each emulator has its own settings which can be run as a group through Liberato options or individually through each emulator’s configuration options.

It can be easy to overwrite settings and find controllers that worked at one point when playing GBA games no longer work.

To enable a controller to work when playing GBA games on the RetroPie go into Options then ‘Configuration Editor’. Select ‘Configure Basic Liberato Emulator Options’, then ‘Configure additional options for gba’. Select ‘Choose Joypad Order’ and ensure the first option is the chosen controller, or reselect if required.

Emulators such as lr-mgba were created a long time ago, but they are all loaded on to one compact system which together with a large SD enough memory card, becomes a retro gaming powerhouse!

Emulator system such as the RetroPie have been given a lot of negative press due to copyright infringement, as more often than not the games that are downloaded and played are never owned.

The ethical way to play old retro games is to only install the ROMs for games owned.

Regardless of which side of the fence you are on, controllers that stop working is a problem many players face, and one we also encountered.

We solved the problem and thought it would be helpful to write an article explaining exactly how we managed to get a controller working again when playing GBA games on RetroPie.

Why Controllers Stop Working when Playing GBA Games on RetroPie

It helps to try and understand why controllers all of a sudden stop working when playing GBA games on a RetroPie.

Changing settings, either intentionally or unintentionally, within the Libretro or lr-mgba emulator is the most common reason the controller stops working.

Libretro is simply the name given to a group of many types of emulators which includes GBA, SNES, PS1 etc…

By changing the Libretro settings they are applied to all the emulators within the the Libretro group (a full list of all Libretro based emulators can be found here – https://emulation.gametechwiki.com/index.php/Libretro)

So, how can you see if you need to update the Libretro settings or the GBA emulator settings?

Well, if your controller works well when playing Game Boy games or PS1 games (as an example) then the Libretro settings are usually fine, and something may have updated the GBA emulator.

There are often lots of reasons a controller suddenly stops working within SNES games on the RetroPie, but this reason is the most typical.

The following is a step by step guide on how to check and correct the GBA emulator settings, and have your controller back up and running playing GBA games on the RetroPie in no time!

Fix Controller not Working With GBA Games on RetroPie

Simply follow the below reversible steps to correct your controller not being detected when playing GBA games:

Choose ‘Options’ from the RetroPie main scrolling menu

Select ‘Configuration Editor’

Select ‘Configure Basic Liberato Emulator Options’

Choose ‘Configure additional options for gba’

Select ‘Choose Joypad Order’

Add the Correct Controller

Your controller should be displayed as the first option, which is Player 1.

If your controller is not showing here, then select the first option to display a list of available controllers and then choose the controller you wish to play with.

Once your controller is showing as the first option on the joypad order list simply exit out of ‘Configuration Editor’ and try to play a GBA game (no restart is required).

You should now find your controller works within the GBA game on RetroPie!