How to Install Games on a RG351P: Easiest Step by Step Guide

Many RG351P consoles come fully loaded with pre-installed games and ROMs.

It doesn’t mean the end of a collection.

Games can be added to the RG351P console by installing ROMs into the various emulator folders within the RG351P in-built file manager.

Unfortunately it is not possible to simply remove the SD card, slot it into your laptop, and copy and paste the ROMs across.

The contents of the SD Card can not be read and managed like normal files on a traditional memory card.

Instead we have to find a way to connect the RG351P to the laptop in a way a laptop or MAC understands. Once a connection is made then it is possible to copy and paste the ROMs across to the RG351P.

There are many tutorials explaining different methods and ways, but they can become in-depth, confusing and with a number of options the choices can be overwhelming.

So, instead of explaining every single way to connect a RG351P with a laptop to transfer ROMs, with complex technical jargon, this article will show you the BEST and EASIEST way.

No jargon, promise!

Here is a step by step guide on transferring game ROMs from a laptop or PC over to the RG351P ready to play those games of your youth!

Download a Game ROM

I promised no jargon, and here we have already started with abbreviations!

Unfortunately in the IT world everything is explained using some form of jargon, but a ROM (which means Read Only Memory) is simply a file of read only information with the graphics, gameplay and all the code to play a game.

So, a game ROM is simply the file that essentially is the game.

The RG351P reads the ROM and plays the game as if a cartridge or CD had been inserted.

Fortunately SD cards can hold tens of thousands of games, so unlike retro consoles that constantly needed rebooting with new cartridges, the RG351P can literally switch between the games installed.

There are many gaming sites with ROMs available to install. Simply Google the game you wish to download, along with the console, and the abbreviation ROM into Google to find them.

Now, the legal disclaimer, copyright of games is a thing. It is generally accepted that ROMs can be downloaded and played as long as the player owns the original game in the original format.

Of course this can not be checked, and relies on a player’s honesty to comply.

Also, it should be noted that some ROM download sites are full of viruses. It is best to have a virus checker running when visiting any download site, and have it also scan any games that are downloaded.

Once the game ROMs are downloaded to the laptop or PC, it’s time to connect to the RG351P.

Connect the RG351P to WIFI

In order to connect our RG351P to our laptop, we need to connect the RG351P to WiFi first.

Unfortunately internet connection is not pre-built into the RG351P, so a WiFi adapter (such as this one from Amazon) is required, along with a USB to USB-C adapter (such as this one from Amazon).

WiFi adapters have native USB connections, but the RG351P can only accept USB-C, so the adapter is necessary.

Here is a photo of our RG351P with a WiFi adapter and a USB to USB-C adapter, all ready to go!

With the WiFi adapter plugged into the OTG slot (not the OTC/DG slot) it’s time to switch on the RG351P console.

Once the device is switched on press the Start button and choose Network Settings from the list of options.

There are just a couple of things we need to do here:

• Enable WIFI – make sure this is switched to ’On’
• WIFI SSID – select this option and all nearby WIFI routers should appear (just like when you connect your laptop to a WIFI router and the internet) – then select your router
• WIFI KEY – this needs to be your WIFI router password, so enter this here

Once this is done press the ‘B’ button, to go back to the previous screen, and you should see a message showing that the WIFI has been enabled.

Go back in to Network Settings and you should now see an IP Address (something resembling 123.456.0.123) and the Internet Status should now be ‘Connected’, as shown in the photo below:

With the RG351P connected to the same WIFI as the laptop, it is time to connect the devices together and install our ROMs.

Connect the RG351P to the Laptop or PC

There are different ways to do this, but as explained, we are going to walk through the easiest of these.

The easiest way to connect an RG351P to a laptop or PC is through FTP software.

Yes, I know, jargon again. Bear with me though as fortunately this one is quite straightforward.

FTP (File Transfer Protocol) is simply a method by which two devices talk to each other to share files across the internet.

There are many FTP programs to try, and many are free or at least offer free trials.

I have personally used WinSCP for many years, so I will demonstrate with this software, but all FTP software will work in a similar way.

You will need to download one FTP program to be able to transfer the game ROMs across. Once the FTP program is installed we need to open up a connection to the RG351P.

The settings for WinSCP are as follows:

• File Protocol: SFTP
• Host Name: This should be the IP address shown in the Network Settings of your RG351P
• Port: 22
• User name: This should be ‘root’
• Password: This should be ‘emuelec’

The settings should look like the below screenshot:

Once connected you will see the folders and files of the RG351P on the right hand window, and the folders of your PC or laptop on the left.

Upload ROMs to the RG351P

The next step is very easy.

Simply find the ROM(s) you want to transfer to your RG351P using the left hand window to navigate to the folder the ROM is within.

Next select the ‘roms’ folder within the right hand window (which is the files on your RG351P) and scroll down to find the console the ROM is for, and select that folder.

Right click and copy the ROM file from the left hand window, and right click and paste into the left hand window.

That’s it!

The ROM file should now appear on the RG351P right hand window, and is now ready to play.

Simply restart your RG351P for the new ROM to become active and you are ready to play the game!

Here is our Sonic the Hedgehog ROM for the Master System we transferred to our RG351P:

Troubleshooting

There are two reasons this process is likely to fail:

Can not Connect RG351P to the internet

This is almost always due to the WIFI adapter not being correctly inserted, or the wrong password has been entered in the Network Settings for your router.

If you feel these settings are right, and still your RG351P will not connect to the internet, we have written a guide on how to install ROMs to the RG351P without internet access.

Can not Connect RG351P by FTP

Some FTP programs have issues connecting the RG351P to the laptop. WINScp is a free FTP program that has been tried and tested to work.

If, though, you can not gain access to your RG351P through an FTP program, because either the FTP program times out whilst connecting or displays ‘Access Denied’ then we advise you to check out our guide on how to install ROMs to the RG351P without FTP access.