How to Install ROMs on the RG351P WITHOUT Internet or FTP

The RG351P is one of the most amazing handheld retro gaming consoles to come on to the market.

More user friendly than the Retropie, and controls are great too.

One of the biggest challenges facing RG351P owners is when the RG351P fails to connect to the internet, or refuses connection via FTP, because all online tutorials explain this is the only way to add new games and ROMs to the RG351P.

This is not the case.

It is possible to add new ROMs and games to an RG351P WITHOUT connecting the RG351P to the internet or connecting through FTP!

Although it isn’t possible to simply move the SD card from the RG351P to the laptop and copy and paste the ROMs across, it is possible to do this vice versa.

We can take games from the laptop, and move them across into the RG351P via a simple USB flash drive, oh and a USB to USB-C adapter.

That’s it.

No looking for IP addresses, connecting to the router or fiddling around with complex FTP instructions.

The tools to do this are built straight into the RG351P, so this article will show you exactly, step by step, how to install ROMs onto the RG351P without an internet or FTP connection!

1. Download a Game ROM

A game ROM is a file that contains the game.

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

There are many gaming sites with ROMs available to install. 

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.

2. Transfer ROM to Flash Drive

Once the game ROMs are downloaded to the laptop or PC, it’s time to add it to our USB flash drive.

Insert the flash drive into the laptop.

Create a new folder on the flash drive using File Explorer.

Find the ROM(s) you wish to transfer to your RG351P on your laptop, copy the file and paste into the newly created folder on your flash drive (the name of the folder does not matter).

Eject the flash drive from the laptop and remove it from the laptop.

With the ROM now transferred to the flash drive it’s time to load it onto the RG351P.

3. Transfer the ROM from the Flash Drive to the RG351P

There are a couple of steps involved in this process but we will walk you through step by step:

Insert the Flash Drive into the RG351P

To insert the USB flash drive you will need a USB to USB-C adapter, as shown below:

They can be bought very cheap from Amazon.

The USB flash drive slots into the USB to USB-C adapter, and the adapter should be inserted into the OTC slot (not the OTC/DC slot).

Mount the Flash Drive

The flash drive will not be recognized until we mount it.

To do this go to the Tools menu:

From the Tools menu choose ‘Mount / Unmount USB Drive’ and you should see a screen confirming the mount is now complete

With the USB flash drive now recognized by the RG351P it’s time to load our ROM.

Transfer the ROM

Within the Tools option choose the File Manager option.

There are two panes on display, the left should be the USB flash drive, and the right the files on the RG351P.

On the left hand pane the ‘Media’ folder should be selected, and there will be just one option to choose from which should also be selected. The folder created on the laptop on the flash drive should now be visible, this should also be selected to display the game ROM.

Next, on the right hand pane (use the d-pad right button to move across) find the ‘Storage’ folder and then select and open the ‘ROMs’ folder within.

The list of all the emulator folders should be displayed.

Choose and open the folder of the emulator console the ROM is for.

Now with the game ROM on the left hand pane, and the emulator folder open on the right, it is time to copy across the ROM.

Use the d-pad left button to move back across and move to the game ROM so that it is highlighted in orange and press the ‘X’ button to display a menu, from this menu choose copy by pressing button ‘A’.

A copy of the ROM will now transfer to the right hand pane, and onto the RG351P.

Repeat this exercise for all the ROMs you wish to transfer across.

Once finished, and all the games have been copied across, press the ‘Y’ button to display the main menu and scroll down and select ‘Quit’ using button ‘A’.

4. Restart the System and Play

After any ROM is added to the RG351P a restart is necessary. Press the Start button, select Quit and choose Restart System.

Once the RG351P restarts, the new ROMs will be available to play!