IKEMEN GO on Raspberry Pi 5 + Batocera 42 — Full ARM64 Setup Guide

[Ballardfx]

IKEMEN GO on Raspberry Pi 5 + Batocera 42 — Full ARM64 Setup Guide

By: ballardfx | Compiled with assistance from Claude (Anthropic)

This guide documents how to get IKEMEN GO running on a Raspberry Pi 5 running Batocera 42 (aarch64). This required compiling a native ARM64 binary from source — no prebuilt ARM64 binary exists for IKEMEN GO at the time of writing.

---

System Specs

• Board: Raspberry Pi 5 (bcm2712, 8GB RAM)
• OS: Batocera 42 (aarch64, Linux 6.12.25)
• IKEMEN GO version: v0.99.0
• Ubuntu build machine: x86_64 (same network as Pi)

---

Overview

IKEMEN GO is a MUGEN-compatible open source fighting game engine. The official releases only include x86_64 Linux binaries. Wine is not available on Batocera ARM64. The only path is to compile a native ARM64 binary.

Why not compile on the Pi itself?
Batocera has no gcc, make, nasm, yasm, or development headers — it's a stripped-down read-only OS. Compiling must be done on a separate machine.

Why not use Docker QEMU ARM64 emulation?
Go 1.21+ hangs indefinitely under QEMU ARM64 emulation (confirmed Go bug #67355, #70329). Go 1.20 is required and also has issues under QEMU when building FFmpeg from source (segfaults).

Solution: Cross-compile on Ubuntu x86_64 using aarch64-linux-gnu-gcc, patching the source to fix Linux ARM64 OpenGL ES headers, and pulling required libraries directly from the Pi.

---

Part 1: Build Machine Setup (Ubuntu x86_64)

1.1 Install Go 1.20 and ARM64 cross-compiler

wget -q https://go.dev/dl/go1.20.14.linux-amd64.tar.gz
sudo tar -C /usr/local -xzf go1.20.14.linux-amd64.tar.gz
sudo apt install -y gcc-aarch64-linux-gnu

1.2 Download IKEMEN GO v0.99.0 source

mkdir ~/ikemen_v099 && cd ~/ikemen_v099
wget -q https://github.com/ikemen-engine/Ikemen-GO/archive/refs/tags/v0.99.0.zip
unzip -q v0.99.0.zip
cd Ikemen-GO-0.99.0

1.3 Copy FFmpeg libraries from the Pi

Batocera ships FFmpeg 4.4 libraries but no development headers. Copy them over SSH:

scp -r root@<PI_IP>:/overlay/base/usr/lib/ffmpeg4.4 /tmp/batocera-ffmpeg

1.4 Copy required X11 and GL libraries from the Pi

scp root@<PI_IP>:/overlay/base/usr/lib/libGL* /tmp/batocera-ffmpeg/
scp root@<PI_IP>:/overlay/base/usr/lib/libX11* /tmp/batocera-ffmpeg/
scp root@<PI_IP>:/overlay/base/usr/lib/libXrandr* /tmp/batocera-ffmpeg/
scp root@<PI_IP>:/overlay/base/usr/lib/libXi.* /tmp/batocera-ffmpeg/
scp root@<PI_IP>:/overlay/base/usr/lib/libXcursor* /tmp/batocera-ffmpeg/
scp root@<PI_IP>:/overlay/base/usr/lib/libXxf86vm* /tmp/batocera-ffmpeg/
scp root@<PI_IP>:/overlay/base/usr/lib/libXinerama* /tmp/batocera-ffmpeg/
scp root@<PI_IP>:/overlay/base/usr/lib/libasound* /tmp/batocera-ffmpeg/
scp root@<PI_IP>:/overlay/base/usr/lib/libxcb* /tmp/batocera-ffmpeg/
scp root@<PI_IP>:/overlay/base/usr/lib/libXau* /tmp/batocera-ffmpeg/
scp root@<PI_IP>:/overlay/base/usr/lib/libXdmcp* /tmp/batocera-ffmpeg/

1.5 Install x86 GL/X11 dev headers (used for compilation only)

sudo apt install -y libgl-dev libgles-dev libx11-dev libxrandr-dev libxi-dev libxcursor-dev libxinerama-dev libasound2-dev

---

Part 2: Patch the Source

2.1 Fix the fyne-io/gl-js OpenGL ES header issue

The fyne-io/gl-js package includes types_opengles.go which has build tags for (darwin || linux) && (arm || arm64) but only includes GL headers for iOS and Android — not Linux. This causes GLfloat, GLboolean etc. to be undefined on Linux ARM64.

Fix 1: Add the GLES2 include for Linux:

sudo chmod 755 ~/go/pkg/mod/github.com/fyne-io/gl-js@v0.0.0-20220802150000-8e339395f381/types_opengles.go

Then edit the file to add #include <GLES2/gl2.h> before the #ifdef os_ios block in the C preamble.

Fix 2: Change the build tag to exclude Linux (since types_opengl.go already handles Linux without the conflict):

python3 -c "
f = open('/home/USER/go/pkg/mod/github.com/fyne-io/gl-js@v0.0.0-20220802150000-8e339395f381/types_opengles.go', 'r')
content = f.read()
f.close()
content = content.replace('//go:build (darwin || linux) && (arm || arm64)', '//go:build darwin && (arm || arm64)')
content = content.replace('// +build darwin linux', '// +build darwin')
f = open('/home/USER/go/pkg/mod/github.com/fyne-io/gl-js@v0.0.0-20220802150000-8e339395f381/types_opengles.go', 'w')
f.write(content)
f.close()
print('done')
"

2.2 Create util_nojs.go to add TTF font support without GTK dialog dependency

The -tags raw build tag excludes util_desktop.go (which requires sqweek/dialog → GTK/X11 headers that conflict with cross-compilation). But raw also stubs out TTF fonts. Create a replacement:

python3 -c "
content = '''//go:build !js && raw\n\npackage main\n\nimport (\n\t\"io\"\n\t\"os\"\n\n\tfindfont \"github.com/flopp/go-findfont\"\n\t\"github.com/ikemen-engine/glfont\"\n)\n\nfunc NewLogWriter() io.Writer {\n\treturn os.Stderr\n}\n\nfunc ShowInfoDialog(message, title string) {\n\tprint(title + \"\\\\n\\\\n\" + message)\n}\n\nfunc ShowErrorDialog(message string) {\n\tprint(\"I.K.E.M.E.N Error\\\\n\\\\n\" + message)\n}\n\nfunc LoadFntTtf(f *Fnt, fontfile string, filename string, height int32) {\n\tfileDir := SearchFile(filename, []string{fontfile, sys.motifDir, \"\", \"data/\", \"font/\"})\n\tfp := fileDir\n\tif fp = FileExist(fp); len(fp) == 0 {\n\t\tvar err error\n\t\tfileDir, err = findfont.Find(fileDir)\n\t\tif err != nil {\n\t\t\tpanic(err)\n\t\t}\n\t}\n\tif height == -1 {\n\t\theight = int32(f.Size[1])\n\t} else {\n\t\tf.Size[1] = uint16(height)\n\t}\n\tttf, err := glfont.LoadFont(fileDir, height, int(sys.gameWidth), int(sys.gameHeight), sys.fontShaderVer)\n\tif err != nil {\n\t\tpanic(err)\n\t}\n\tf.ttf = ttf\n\tf.palettes = make([][256]uint32, 1)\n\tfor i := 0; i < 256; i++ {\n\t\tf.palettes[0][i] = 0\n\t}\n}\n'''
open('/home/USER/ikemen_v099/Ikemen-GO-0.99.0/src/util_nojs.go', 'w').write(content)
print('done')
"

Then delete the original stub:

rm ~/ikemen_v099/Ikemen-GO-0.99.0/src/util_raw.go

---

Part 3: Compile

cd ~/ikemen_v099/Ikemen-GO-0.99.0

GOOS=linux GOARCH=arm64 CGO_ENABLED=1 \
  CC=aarch64-linux-gnu-gcc \
  PKG_CONFIG_PATH=/tmp/batocera-ffmpeg/pkgconfig \
  CGO_CFLAGS="-I/usr/aarch64-linux-gnu/include -I/usr/include" \
  CGO_LDFLAGS="-L/tmp/batocera-ffmpeg -Wl,-rpath-link,/tmp/batocera-ffmpeg" \
  /usr/local/go/bin/go build -tags raw -o /tmp/Ikemen_GO_Linux_ARM64 ./src/

Verify the output:

file /tmp/Ikemen_GO_Linux_ARM64
# Should show: ELF 64-bit LSB executable, ARM aarch64

---

Part 4: Install on Batocera

4.1 Copy the binary to the Pi

scp /tmp/Ikemen_GO_Linux_ARM64 root@<PI_IP>:/userdata/system/ikemen

4.2 On the Pi — set up the binary and symlink

chmod 755 /userdata/system/ikemen
ln -sf /userdata/system/ikemen /usr/bin/ikemen

Make the symlink survive reboots:

echo 'ln -sf /userdata/system/ikemen /usr/bin/ikemen' >> /userdata/system/custom.sh
chmod +x /userdata/system/custom.sh

4.3 Set up the ROM folder

mkdir -p /userdata/roms/ikemen/YourGame.pc

Symlink your game files into the ROM folder:

ln -sf /userdata/ikemen_go/chars /userdata/roms/ikemen/YourGame.pc/chars
ln -sf /userdata/ikemen_go/stages /userdata/roms/ikemen/YourGame.pc/stages
ln -sf /userdata/ikemen_go/data /userdata/roms/ikemen/YourGame.pc/data
ln -sf /userdata/ikemen_go/font /userdata/roms/ikemen/YourGame.pc/font
ln -sf /userdata/ikemen_go/sound /userdata/roms/ikemen/YourGame.pc/sound
ln -sf /userdata/ikemen_go/external /userdata/roms/ikemen/YourGame.pc/external

4.4 Create the custom launch script

This script fixes the config on every launch (Batocera's ikemenGenerator.py overwrites JoystickConfig to "Not used" every time):

cat > /userdata/system/batocera-ikemen-custom.sh << 'EOF'
#!/bin/bash
cd "$1"

python3 -c "
import json
try:
    f = open('save/config.json', 'r')
    conf = json.load(f)
    f.close()
    conf['Motif'] = 'data/system.def'        # Change to your screenpack path
    conf['Fullscreen'] = True
    conf['FullscreenWidth'] = 1920
    conf['FullscreenHeight'] = 1080
    conf['GameWidth'] = 1920
    conf['GameHeight'] = 1080
    conf['EscOpensMenu'] = True
    # Adjust button numbers to match your controller
    # These are for DragonRise USB arcade encoders
    # Format: [up, down, left, right, LP, MP, HP, LK, MK, HK, start, esc, coin, pause]
    conf['JoystickConfig'] = [
        {'Joystick': 0, 'Buttons': ['-3','-4','-1','-2','0','1','2','3','4','5','9','Not used','8','Not used']},
        {'Joystick': 1, 'Buttons': ['-3','-4','-1','-2','0','1','2','3','4','5','9','Not used','8','Not used']},
        {'Joystick': 2, 'Buttons': ['Not used','Not used','Not used','Not used','Not used','Not used','Not used','Not used','Not used','Not used','Not used','Not used','Not used','Not used']},
        {'Joystick': 3, 'Buttons': ['Not used','Not used','Not used','Not used','Not used','Not used','Not used','Not used','Not used','Not used','Not used','Not used','Not used','Not used']}
    ]
    f = open('save/config.json', 'w')
    json.dump(conf, f, indent=2)
    f.close()
except:
    pass
"

# Build evmapy config for hotkey+start exit combo
mkdir -p /var/run/evmapy
for dev in event1 event2; do
cat > /var/run/evmapy/${dev}.json << 'EVMEOF'
{
    "grab": false,
    "actions": [
        {
            "trigger": ["BTN_BASE3", "BTN_BASE4"],
            "type": "key",
            "target": "KEY_ESC",
            "mode": "all"
        }
    ],
    "buttons": [
        {"name": "BTN_BASE3", "code": 296},
        {"name": "BTN_BASE4", "code": 297}
    ],
    "axes": []
}
EVMEOF
done

batocera-evmapy start
MESA_GL_VERSION_OVERRIDE=4.5 /usr/bin/ikemen
batocera-evmapy stop
EOF
chmod +x /userdata/system/batocera-ikemen-custom.sh

Note: The BTN_BASE3 (code 296) and BTN_BASE4 (code 297) are the coin and start buttons on DragonRise encoders. Check your own encoder with evmapy -G /dev/input/eventX to find your button codes.

4.5 Add IKEMEN to EmulationStation

mkdir -p /userdata/system/configs/emulationstation
cat > /userdata/system/configs/emulationstation/es_systems_ikemen.cfg << 'EOF'
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<systemList>
  <system>
    <name>ikemen</name>
    <fullname>IKEMEN GO</fullname>
    <path>/userdata/roms/ikemen</path>
    <extension>.pc</extension>
    <command>/userdata/system/batocera-ikemen-custom.sh %ROM%</command>
    <platform>pc</platform>
    <theme>ikemen</theme>
  </system>
</systemList>
EOF

4.6 Reboot

reboot

After reboot, IKEMEN GO will appear as a system in EmulationStation.

---

Notes and Known Issues

• GameWidth/GameHeight 1920x1080 — Set these to match your screen resolution. The game renders at this resolution and scales the screenpack up. Old 640x480 screenpacks will look slightly off on the character select screen but gameplay is fine.
• Controller button numbers — Use negative numbers for axis directions in JoystickConfig (e.g. -3 = axis 1 negative = up for DragonRise). Use jstest /dev/js0 to find your specific button IDs.
• Joystick config gets reset — Batocera's ikemenGenerator.py overwrites JoystickConfig to "Not used" on every launch. The custom launch script re-applies the correct config each time.
• EscOpensMenu = true — Required so the evmapy hotkey+start combo (which sends KEY_ESC) opens the IKEMEN menu where you can quit back to Batocera.
• No music in game — If music doesn't play, check that your sound files are accessible via the symlinks and that the screenpack's system.def points to the correct audio files.
• Symlink breaks on reboot — /usr/bin/ikemen is on the read-only overlay filesystem. The custom.sh entry recreates it on every boot.

---

Performance

On Raspberry Pi 5 (2.4GHz, 8GB RAM), IKEMEN GO runs at 50-60fps consistently with Marvel-era characters. The Pi 5 is significantly faster than the Pi 4 for this workload.

---

Credits

• IKEMEN GO engine: https://github.com/ikemen-engine/Ikemen-GO
• Batocera: https://batocera.org
• Guide compiled by ballardfx with Claude (Anthropic)

[leonkasovan]

it will be nicer if nightly be added too in this guide

[WarHunTEr43]

I can't seem to get the keybindings right for a Xbox Controller

[Ballardfx]

Ask Claude ai

…

-- BALLARDFX Visual Motion Effects, Film Production, Computer Security Websites, S.S.E.O, PEN Testing, Forensics, R&D Business Apps, Customize it ALL! * BALLARDFX.com <http://BALLARDFX.com>* Cell: *435-383-3355* *THIS MESSAGE, INCLUDING ANY ACCOMPANYING DOCUMENTS, IS CONFIDENTIAL* and may contain information that is privileged and exempt from disclosure under applicable law. If you wish to unsubscribe just say so. If you are neither the intended recipient nor responsible for delivering the message to the intended recipient, please note that any dissemination, distribution, copying or the taking of any action in reliance upon the message is strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, please immediately delete it and notify the sender immediately and *BALLARDFX* ***@***.***> or by phone at *435-383-3355 <4353833355>*. Thank you.

On Sat, Apr 18, 2026 at 4:54 PM WarHunTEr43 ***@***.***> wrote: I can't seem to get the keybindings right for a Xbox Controller — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#3440?email_source=notifications&email_token=AEJ6PH45UNT7ML6DSHHYOQ34WQBRPA5CNFSNUABIM5UWIORPF5TWS5BNNB2WEL2ENFZWG5LTONUW63SDN5WW2ZLOOQXTCNRWGE3TAOBTUZZGKYLTN5XKMYLVORUG64VFMV3GK3TUVRTG633UMVZF6Y3MNFRWW#discussioncomment-16617083>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AEJ6PH2WGQXKVWKMTWSUTT34WQBRPAVCNFSM6AAAAACXAAIVROVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43URDJONRXK43TNFXW4Q3PNVWWK3TUHMYTMNRRG4YDQMY> . You are receiving this because you authored the thread.Message ID: ***@***.*** com>

[WarHunTEr43]

He's messing it up even more

[Ballardfx]

You have to be very specific with your questions, the way these AI‘s work is that you have to treat it as if almost every question is the first question every time and you have to be very specific.

…

-- BALLARDFX Visual Motion Effects, Film Production, Computer Security Websites, S.S.E.O, PEN Testing, Forensics, R&D Business Apps, Customize it ALL! * BALLARDFX.com <http://BALLARDFX.com>* Cell: *435-383-3355* *THIS MESSAGE, INCLUDING ANY ACCOMPANYING DOCUMENTS, IS CONFIDENTIAL* and may contain information that is privileged and exempt from disclosure under applicable law. If you wish to unsubscribe just say so. If you are neither the intended recipient nor responsible for delivering the message to the intended recipient, please note that any dissemination, distribution, copying or the taking of any action in reliance upon the message is strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, please immediately delete it and notify the sender immediately and *BALLARDFX* ***@***.***> or by phone at *435-383-3355 <4353833355>*. Thank you.

On Sat, Apr 18, 2026 at 5:26 PM WarHunTEr43 ***@***.***> wrote: He's messing it up even more — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#3440?email_source=notifications&email_token=AEJ6PH72VMOP53C3G7CXF3L4WQFMDA5CNFSNUABIM5UWIORPF5TWS5BNNB2WEL2ENFZWG5LTONUW63SDN5WW2ZLOOQXTCNRWGE3TEOJZUZZGKYLTN5XKMYLVORUG64VFMV3GK3TUVRTG633UMVZF6Y3MNFRWW#discussioncomment-16617299>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AEJ6PH4ZKNZEMTEJ2B5RJH34WQFMDAVCNFSM6AAAAACXAAIVROVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43URDJONRXK43TNFXW4Q3PNVWWK3TUHMYTMNRRG4ZDSOI> . You are receiving this because you authored the thread.Message ID: ***@***.*** com>