diff --git a/pkgs/misc/emulators/retroarch/default.nix b/pkgs/misc/emulators/retroarch/default.nix
index 3b55c44d173..8787cd9d39e 100644
--- a/pkgs/misc/emulators/retroarch/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/misc/emulators/retroarch/default.nix
@@ -2,12 +2,14 @@
 , ffmpeg, libGLU_combined, freetype, libxml2, python3
 , libobjc, AppKit, Foundation
 , alsaLib ? null
+, libdrm ? null
 , libpulseaudio ? null
 , libv4l ? null
 , libX11 ? null
 , libXdmcp ? null
 , libXext ? null
 , libXxf86vm ? null
+, mesa ? null
 , SDL2 ? null
 , udev ? null
 , enableNvidiaCgToolkit ? false, nvidia_cg_toolkit ? null
@@ -27,12 +29,12 @@ let
 
 in stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   pname = "retroarch-bare";
-  version = "1.7.8.4";
+  version = "1.8.1";
 
   src = fetchFromGitHub {
     owner = "libretro";
     repo = "RetroArch";
-    sha256 = "1i3i23xwvmck8k2fpalr49np7xjzfg507243mybqrljawlnbxvph";
+    sha256 = "0y7rcpz7psf8k3agsrq277jdm651vbnn9xpqvmj2in1a786idya7";
     rev = "v${version}";
   };
 
@@ -43,11 +45,13 @@ in stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
                 ++ optional enableNvidiaCgToolkit nvidia_cg_toolkit
                 ++ optional withVulkan [ vulkan-loader ]
                 ++ optionals stdenv.isDarwin [ libobjc AppKit Foundation ]
-                ++ optionals stdenv.isLinux [ alsaLib libpulseaudio libv4l libX11
-                                              libXdmcp libXext libXxf86vm udev ];
+                ++ optionals stdenv.isLinux [ alsaLib libdrm libpulseaudio libv4l libX11
+                                              libXdmcp libXext libXxf86vm mesa udev ];
 
   enableParallelBuilding = true;
 
+  configureFlags = if stdenv.isLinux then [ "--enable-kms" ] else "";
+
   postInstall = optionalString withVulkan ''
     wrapProgram $out/bin/retroarch --prefix LD_LIBRARY_PATH ':' ${vulkan-loader}/lib
   '' + optionalString stdenv.targetPlatform.isDarwin ''