Portal Prelude on the Numero Core

Libretro Cores
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I finally got Portal Prelude to work on the Numero core (Texas Instruments TI-83 emulator). Posting this here, in case it helps anyone else. Documentation says Numero can only load .8xp, .8xk and .8xg files, but Portal Prelude comes with a “.8Xv” file (PortalPK.8Xv). I simply changed the extension to .8Xk.

Well, actually, it doesn’t load into the game right away. You have to click on the “APPS” button on the calculator, and then select “Portal” from the apps. THEN it works. From then on, you don’t need to load the files every time you want to play. You can simply launch into the emulator without first selecting a file by going to

Main Menu -> Load Core -> Texas Instruments TI-83 (Numero)

, and then

Main Menu -> Start Core.

I can kinda see maybe why you can’t just select a game from a playlist like with other cores, but it’d be nice if I could at least launch the core itself from an item in a playlist. I thought maybe that’d already be possible by creating a dummy file, so I renamed a blank .txt document to “Texas Instruments TI-83.8xp”, but it just ended up crashing the emulator and erasing all my progress in the game :sob:.

Anyways, it works pretty well so far, but there is one pretty glaring issue: In this game, you use the number keys to aim your portal gun, but the ability to remap this core is tremendously limited…

RetroArch Numero 1.1 0cc8659 2025-07-08 18_07_03
RetroArch Numero 1.1 0cc8659 2025-07-08 18_07_031920×1080 411 KB
RetroArch Numero 1.1 0cc8659 2025-07-08 18_07_11
RetroArch Numero 1.1 0cc8659 2025-07-08 18_07_111920×1080 225 KB

The keyboard also doesn’t work, so I can’t use an external program like DS4Windows to map number keys to my controller’s buttons. I have to move the cursor with analog stick, and press R2 on the desired number each time I want to make a portal. Slow, but not impossible (I think, I only managed to get to level 24 out of 38).

A remap like this would have been ideal:

portal prelude remap

Select / Back =  5  = Used to switch portals
 Start / Menu = 2nd = Needed to start the game (and pick up cubes)

D-pad = Arrow Keys = Movement (& jumping)

   Top face button = 8 = Portal upward
  Left face button = 4 = Portal leftward
 Right face button = 6 = Portal rightward
Bottom face button = 2 = Portal downward

  L1 / Left bumper = 7 = Portal diagonally up/left
  R1 / Rigt bumper = 9 = Portal diagonally up/right
 L2 / Left trigger = 1 = Portal diagonally down/left
R2 / Right trigger = 3 = Portal diagonally down/right

L3 / Left stick click = CLEAR = Brings up the pause menu so you can restart
(Or alternatively R3 = CLEAR)
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