RetroAchievements is a free online service that brings modern-style achievements to classic games. By using supported emulators, RetroAchievements tracks your in-game progress and unlocks achievements for thousands of retro titles—just like Xbox or PlayStation trophies, but for NES, SNES, Game Boy, and more.

🎮 Why Use RetroAchievements?

Integrating RetroAchievements with LaunchBox enhances your retro gaming experience in multiple ways:

• 🌐 Log in once, and LaunchBox will automatically configure RetroAchievements across all supported emulators

• 🎮 Scan your library and see which games support RetroAchievements using badges

• 📈 Track your progress, with RetroAchievements progression data driving LaunchBox’s game progress system

LaunchBox makes it easy to connect your RetroAchievements account and even shows which of your games support achievements using optional badges and filters.

✍️ How to Sign Up for RetroAchievements

Getting started is simple and free:

1. Visit retroachievements.org

2. Click Create Account in the top right

3. Fill out your username, password, and email

4. Once logged in, go to your Account Settings and copy your API Key (you'll need this for LaunchBox integration)

Once you’ve signed up, you're ready to connect your account to LaunchBox and start unlocking achievements!

🔑 How to Connect Your RetroAchievements Account

To sign in through LaunchBox:

1. Go to Tools > Achievements > Connect To RetroAchievements

   

2. Fill out your account details and API key

   

That's it! LaunchBox will now manage your connection and integrate RetroAchievements into all compatible features.

Once connected, you'll see your Retro Score displayed in the top-right corner of LaunchBox. Clicking on it will show a summary of your RetroAchievements profile, right from within LaunchBox.

🔍 Scanning Your Library

Once connected, you can scan your library to see which games support RetroAchievements sets:

1. Go to Tools > Achievements

2. Click Scan Now

LaunchBox will search your entire library for any games that support achievement sets.

To visually see which of your games support achievements:

• Go to Badges > Game Attributes > Achievements

• A badge will now appear next to games that are supported on RetroAchievements

🎯 Filtering and Playlists for Achievements

Similar to services like Steam and GOG, LaunchBox allows you to filter by games that support achievements:

• Use the Quick Filter and select Achievements > Yes to see only games across all storefront that support achievements

LaunchBox also includes a dedicated RetroAchievements filter when creating auto-populated playlists. This allows you to filter your collection by conditions such as:

• Supports

• Not Supported

• None Earned

• Some Earned

• All Earned

You can use these filters to build powerful custom playlists. For example:

• A playlist of all RetroAchievements-supported games where you haven’t earned any achievements

• A playlist showing games where you’ve earned 100% of achievements

⚙️ Advanced Options per Emulator

By default, LaunchBox will automatically log you into RetroAchievements for any of our supported emulators (currently RetroArch, Dolphin, and PCSX2).

If you’d prefer to disable this behavior for a specific emulator:

1. Go to Tools > Manage > Emulators

2. Select the emulator you want

3. Under the RetroAchievements section:

   • Uncheck Log in on Game Launch to prevent auto-login

   • Toggle Enable Hardcore Mode if you prefer to play in softcore mode on that emulator

🧾 Viewing Achievements in LaunchBox

When you open the Game Details Page, for supported games you'll see a section called RetroAchievements.

This shows all available achievements for the game and highlights the ones you've unlocked. You can click the Expand button to view the full list.

You'll also notice special icons on certain achievements that indicate they are Progression or Win Condition achievements—these mark key milestones in the game, such as completing a level or beating the final boss.

As you unlock achievements through various emulators, this section will automatically update to reflect your progress.

🕹️ Viewing Achievements in-Game and via Big Box

Before launching a game in Big Box, you can get a quick overview of its achievements:

• Highlight a game and select View Achievements

This will show you a list of all achievements for the game, including which ones you've unlocked and any designated Progression achievements.

You can also access this same list while in-game:

• Bring up the Pause Menu in LaunchBox or Big Box

• Select View Achievements

This is especially handy when you're deep into the action and want to check what goals are left to accomplish.

🧩 Game Progress Tracking with RetroAchievements

LaunchBox's Game Progress Tracking feature allows you to automatically update a game’s progress status based on your RetroAchievements activity.

To learn more about LaunchBox’s Game Progress Tracking in general, see this guide: Game Progress Tracking Guide

You can enable this under: Tools > Options > Game Progress Automation

If Automatic Progress Tracking is turned on, LaunchBox will update the progress field for games when certain conditions are met. Specifically for RetroAchievements, these include:

These conditions align with Retro Achievements's progression terminology:

• Beaten (Softcore)

• Beaten

• Completed

• Mastered

If you're familiar with these concepts, you’ll know that RetroAchievements uses these states to denote various levels of progression, even assigning badges to games on the RetroAchievements website (see below).

When a game reaches one of these states in RetroAchievements, LaunchBox can automatically set its Progression Status based on the preferences set via the Game Progress Automation screen.

This progress is updated automatically, so you'll notice that as soon as you hit one of these states, once you close the emulator, LaunchBox will update the game’s Progress status and the badge will be updated to reflect this.

You can use these progress statuses to create powerful playlists, helping you dig deep into your RetroAchievements backlog to master your games. 🏅