How to Put Batocera in Kid Mode

Batocera includes a built-in Kid Mode that makes it much easier to turn a retro gaming PC, mini PC, handheld, or arcade cabinet into a child-friendly system.

When Kid Mode is enabled, Batocera restricts access to many configuration options and only shows games that you have specifically approved for children.

That makes it useful for:

Family-room gaming systems
Arcade cabinets
Retro consoles for younger children
Gaming setups in schools, waiting rooms, or community spaces
Any Batocera machine where you do not want users changing system settings

There is one important thing to understand before you begin:

Batocera does not automatically decide which games are suitable for children.

A game's ESRB, PEGI, or scraped age rating does not automatically place it in Kid Mode. You must explicitly mark each game as a Kid Game.

For that reason, you should configure your approved game list before enabling Kid Mode.

Kid Mode vs. Kiosk Mode

Batocera provides both Kid Mode and Kiosk Mode, but they are not the same.

Kiosk Mode restricts access to many system settings while still allowing users to browse the normal game library.

Kid Mode goes a step further. It restricts system settings and only displays games that have been specifically marked as kid-friendly.

If your goal is simply to keep someone from accidentally changing emulator settings, Kiosk Mode may be enough.

If your goal is to create a curated library that only contains approved games, use Kid Mode.

Step 1: Leave Batocera in Full Mode

Start by leaving Batocera in its normal Full interface mode.

Do not switch to Kid Mode yet.

You first need to mark the games that you want children to be able to access. If you enable Kid Mode before doing this, your game lists may appear empty or contain very few games.

Step 2: Choose a Game to Allow in Kid Mode

Open one of your Batocera game systems and highlight a game that you want children to be able to play.

Open that game's options or metadata menu.

Depending on your Batocera version and theme, this may be called something similar to:

EDIT THIS GAME'S METADATA

You may also be able to open the metadata editor using a controller shortcut while the game is highlighted.

Once the metadata editor opens, scroll through the available options.

Look for:

KIDGAME

or a similarly named Kid Game option.

Set it to:

YES, ON, or TRUE

The exact wording can vary slightly between Batocera versions.

Save the changes.

That game is now approved for Kid Mode.

Step 3: Repeat for Every Approved Game

Repeat the process for every game you want available to children.

For example, you might approve games such as:

Mario Kart
Kirby
Sonic the Hedgehog
Tetris
Pokémon
LEGO games
Pac-Man
Puzzle games
Family-friendly racing games

At the same time, you can leave violent, mature, difficult, or otherwise unsuitable games unmarked.

Batocera will not make this decision for you. You are creating the approved game library yourself.

This is actually one of Kid Mode's biggest advantages: two families can use completely different definitions of what belongs in a children's game library.

Kid Game and Favorite Are Not the Same Thing

Do not confuse Batocera's Favorite setting with the Kid Game setting.

They are separate pieces of metadata.

A game can be:

A Favorite but not a Kid Game
A Kid Game but not a Favorite
Both
Neither

If you want a game to appear in Kid Mode, make sure the Kid Game option itself is enabled.

Adding a game to Favorites is not enough.

Step 4: Build a Reasonable Kid Library

Before locking the machine down, go through each console or game system that children will use.

Mark enough games that the resulting library feels complete.

For example, you may want to curate games from:

NES
Super Nintendo
Nintendo 64
Game Boy
Game Boy Advance
Sega Genesis
PlayStation
Arcade
Ports
Modern indie games

There is no requirement to approve every family-friendly game on the machine.

In many cases, Kid Mode works best when the library is intentionally small and easy to browse.

A child may have a better experience choosing from 50 carefully selected games than scrolling through 5,000 ROMs.

Step 5: Enable Kid Mode

Once you have marked your approved games, return to Batocera's main system-selection screen.

Press START to open the Main Menu.

Look for the UI Mode setting.

Depending on your Batocera version, it may appear under a menu such as:

MAIN MENU → USER INTERFACE SETTINGS → UI MODE

or:

MAIN MENU → SYSTEM SETTINGS → UI MODE

Change:

FULL

to:

KID

Batocera should display a warning explaining that you are entering a restricted interface.

It may also show the button combination required to return to Full Mode.

Write down the unlock combination before continuing.

Once you are ready, confirm the change.

Batocera will switch to Kid Mode.

Step 6: Test the Kid Mode Game Library

After Kid Mode is enabled, browse through the available systems.

You should now see only the games that were marked as Kid Games.

Check several different consoles and verify that:

Approved games are visible
Unapproved games are hidden
Games launch correctly
Players can exit games normally
System settings are restricted
Emulator configuration menus are not easily accessible
Children cannot accidentally modify your main Batocera configuration

Do not assume everything is working just because the interface looks different.

Launch several games and test the entire process from boot to shutdown.

How to Exit Kid Mode

Eventually, you will probably need to return to Full Mode to add games, change settings, scrape artwork, update Batocera, or perform maintenance.

Batocera uses an unlock sequence rather than displaying an obvious Return to Full Mode option.

From the main Batocera system screen:

Press START to open the Main Menu.
Enter the unlock sequence fairly quickly.

The default sequence is:

A → A → A → B → A

However, there is an important catch.

The Letters Refer to Batocera's Button Layout

The letters refer to Batocera's SNES-style controller positions, not necessarily the letters physically printed on your controller.

Think of the default sequence as:

Right → Right → Right → Bottom → Right

where:

Right means the face button on the right side of the controller
Bottom means the face button at the bottom of the controller

This matters because Xbox, Nintendo, and PlayStation controllers label those physical positions differently.

Xbox Controller

On a typical Xbox controller:

Right face button = B
Bottom face button = A

So the Kid Mode unlock sequence becomes:

B → B → B → A → B

PlayStation Controller

On a PlayStation controller:

Right face button = Circle
Bottom face button = Cross

So the sequence becomes:

Circle → Circle → Circle → Cross → Circle

It is easier to remember the physical pattern:

Right, Right, Right, Bottom, Right

rather than memorizing the letters.

Unlock Kid Mode With a Keyboard

If you have a keyboard connected to the Batocera machine, you can also use the keyboard equivalent of the unlock sequence.

Enter:

Esc → Esc → Esc → Enter → Esc

Batocera should return to Full Mode.

This can be particularly useful if the controller mapping has changed or you are troubleshooting an arcade cabinet.

Change the Default Kid Mode Unlock Code

If you are building a permanent children's machine, consider changing Batocera's default unlock combination.

The default combination is publicly documented, so an older child could eventually discover it.

Batocera stores the UI mode configuration in:

/userdata/system/configs/emulationstation/es_settings.cfg

Inside the file, you may see entries similar to:

<string name="UIMode" value="Kid" />
<string name="UIMode_passkey" value="aaaba" />

The passkey uses Batocera's SNES-style face-button naming:

a = right/east face button
b = bottom/south face button
x = top/north face button
y = left/west face button

For example, you could change:

<string name="UIMode_passkey" value="aaaba" />

to something like:

<string name="UIMode_passkey" value="baxyb" />

That creates a different five-button unlock sequence.

Important

If you create a custom passkey, write it down somewhere secure.

Forgetting a custom controller sequence is inconvenient, especially on an arcade cabinet without a permanently connected keyboard.

Advanced: Mark Kid Games by Editing gamelist.xml

If your Batocera installation contains hundreds or thousands of games, editing every title individually can take a long time.

Advanced users can edit Batocera's gamelist.xml files directly.

Kid Mode eligibility is stored using the following metadata:

<kidgame>true</kidgame>

A simplified game entry might look like this:

<game>
    <path>./Super Mario World.zip</path>
    <name>Super Mario World</name>
    <favorite>false</favorite>
    <kidgame>true</kidgame>
</game>

The important line is:

<kidgame>true</kidgame>

That marks the game as approved for Kid Mode.

Where Batocera Stores gamelist.xml

Game metadata is generally stored inside each system's ROM directory.

For example:

/userdata/roms/nes/gamelist.xml
/userdata/roms/snes/gamelist.xml
/userdata/roms/megadrive/gamelist.xml

You can edit these files directly on the Batocera system or access them over your network.

Access Batocera From a Windows PC

Batocera normally exposes its userdata directory as a network share.

On a Windows computer, open File Explorer and enter:

\\BATOCERA\share

You can then browse to:

roms\<system>\

For example:

roms\snes\

If the hostname BATOCERA does not work, use the Batocera machine's IP address instead.

You can find the address under Batocera's:

MAIN MENU → NETWORK SETTINGS

Then enter something similar to:

\\192.168.1.50\share

Replace the example address with the actual IP address of your Batocera machine.

Back Up gamelist.xml Before Editing It

Before manually modifying a gamelist.xml file, make a backup.

For example:

gamelist.xml
gamelist-backup.xml

A malformed XML file can cause Batocera to ignore or lose metadata for that system.

For a small collection, using Batocera's built-in metadata editor is safer.

Manual XML editing is most useful when:

Preparing a large preconfigured system
Managing hundreds of approved games
Creating Batocera installations for multiple machines
Generating gamelists with an external tool or script

What to Do If You Get Stuck in Kid Mode

If the normal controller unlock sequence does not work, you can manually restore Full Mode.

Access:

/userdata/system/configs/emulationstation/es_settings.cfg

Look for an entry similar to:

<string name="UIMode" value="Kid" />

Remove the Kid Mode setting or change the configuration back to Full Mode.

Then restart EmulationStation or reboot Batocera.

The system should return to its unrestricted interface.

This recovery method is also useful if:

You forgot a custom unlock code
The controller mapping changed
Your arcade controls are behaving differently than expected
A controller is no longer available
The unlock sequence simply will not register

Recommended Setup for a Dedicated Kids' Batocera Machine

For a system that will primarily be used by children, a few additional changes can make the experience much better.

Keep the Game Library Small

Do not feel obligated to expose every child-friendly game you own.

A curated collection is easier to navigate and usually results in children actually playing games instead of endlessly scrolling through them.

Use Clear Game Artwork

Scrape box art, screenshots, logos, and videos before enabling Kid Mode.

Children who cannot read every game title can often identify games immediately by their artwork.

Test Controller Hotkeys

Make sure children know how to exit a game and return to Batocera.

For many Batocera configurations, exiting an emulator involves a Hotkey combination.

Test this before handing over the system.

Remove Unnecessary Systems

If a console contains no Kid Games, there is usually little value in keeping it visible in a child-focused setup.

A clean interface with a handful of systems is easier to understand.

Keep Administrator Access Private

Do not write the Kid Mode unlock sequence on a label attached to the arcade cabinet.

Keep the code somewhere only the administrator can access.

Final Testing Checklist

Before handing the Batocera machine over to a child, run through this checklist:

The Best Batocera Kid Mode Workflow

The easiest way to manage a child-friendly Batocera machine is:

Full Mode → Select approved games → Mark them as Kid Games → Enable Kid Mode → Unlock Full Mode only for maintenance

Once configured, Kid Mode gives you a simple, curated retro gaming system without creating a completely separate Batocera installation.

Children get an easy-to-navigate library containing only the games you have approved, while the important system and emulator settings remain out of the way.

For a dedicated family arcade or retro console, it is one of Batocera's most useful built-in features.