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Amstrad GX4000
The Amstrad GX4000 is a third-generation videogame console developed by Amstrad. It was released in 1990, retailing for £99.99 (around $240 USD adjusted for inflation by 2022). Its hardware was based on the then-popular Amstrad CPC Plus computer, and so was compatible with many of its titles. It did not have a keyboard, so any keyboard-based titles were lacking controls (but the original computer had a joystick controller which many games used).
Despite initially earning favorable reviews, it was Amstrad's first and last attempt at entering the console market.
This system scrapes metadata for the “gx4000” group(s) and loads the gx4000 set from the currently selected theme, if available.
Quick reference
- Emulator: RetroArch
- Core: libretro: cap32
- Folder:
/userdata/roms/gx4000 - Accepted ROM formats:
.dsk,.m3u,.cpr,.zip,.7z
BIOS
No Amstrad GX4000 emulator in Batocera needs a BIOS file to run.
ROMs
Place your Amstrad GX4000 ROMs in /userdata/roms/gx4000.
Emulators
RetroArch
RetroArch (formerly SSNES), is a ubiquitous frontend that can run multiple “cores”, which are essentially the emulators themselves. The most common cores use the libretro API, so that's why cores run in RetroArch in Batocera are referred to as “libretro: (core name)”. RetroArch aims to unify the feature set of all libretro cores and offer a universal, familiar interface independent of platform.
RetroArch configuration
RetroArch offers a Quick Menu accessed by pressing [HOTKEY] + 
which can be used to alter various things like RetroArch and core options, and controller mapping. Most RetroArch related settings can be altered from Batocera's EmulationStation.
Standardized features available to all libretro cores: gx4000.videomode, gx4000.ratio, gx4000.smooth, gx4000.shaders, gx4000.pixel_perfect, gx4000.decoration, gx4000.game_translation
ES setting name batocera.conf_key | Description ⇒ ES option key_value |
|---|---|
| Settings that apply to all cores of this emulator | |
GRAPHICS API gx4000.gfxbackend | Choose which graphics API library to use. Vulkan is better, when supported. ⇒ OpenGL opengl, Vulkan vulkan. |
AUDIO LATENCY gx4000.audio_latency | In milliseconds. Can reduce crackling/cutting out. ⇒ 256 256, 192 192, 128 128, 64 64, 32 32, 16 16, 8 8. |
THREADED VIDEO gx4000.video_threaded | Improves performance at the cost of latency and more video stuttering. ⇒ On true, Off false. |
libretro: cap32
Caprice32 is a software emulator of the Amstrad CPC 8bit home computer series running on Linux and Windows. The emulator faithfully imitates the CPC464, CPC664, CPC6128, CPC6128+ and GX4000 models. This is the libretro port of it.
libretro: cap32 configuration
ES setting name batocera.conf_key | Description ⇒ ES option key_value |
|---|---|
| Settings that apply to all systems this core supports | |
CPC MODEL global.cap32_model | ⇒ 464 464, 6128 6128, 6128+ 6128+. |
EMULATED RAM SIZE global.cap32_ram | ⇒ 64KB 64, 128KB 128, 192+KB 192, 512KB 512, 576+KB 576. |
Controls
Here are the default Amstrad GX4000's controls shown on a Batocera RetroPad:
| RetroPad | Amstrad Joystick |
|---|---|
| | FIRE1 |
 | FIRE2 |
 | SPACE |
 | S |
[START] | J (to select Joy in games) |
| Up | JOY UP |
| Down | JOY DOWN |
| Left | JOY LEFT |
| Right | JOY RIGHT |
| L1 | INTRO |
| R1 | SHIFT |
| L2 | CTRL |
| R2 | COPY |
Troubleshooting
Further troubleshooting
For further troubleshooting, refer to the generic support pages.
- systems/gx4000.txt
- Last modified: 6 months ago
- by atari