HOW TO GET WHITELISTED FOR RETAIL!
so getting it without a whitlist is off the table atm. but getting whitelisted is not that hard! just follow these steps (which I will also add to the OP) and you are good to go within about a day or two
(the guy is doing this by hand... and he is also updating builds so you will actually get patches for these)
while there is no current way to get Retroarch without a whitelist anymore (maybe someone will reupload again soon, and I will add a link if that happens)
you can still get whitelisted if you join Dom's Discord and fill the whitelist form to get whitelisted
Click the link below to join the server.
Dom's Discord Server
once you have joined click here
retail-start-here (discord.com)
the site has a tutorial on how to download and setup the basics for Xbox One and Series X
but here's also a video tutorial from the whitelist guys:
How to get RetroArch on Xbox RETAIL MODE! - YouTube
here is the website you will need to use ON YOUR XBOX to download all the homebrew that is on there. they have a working port of AM2R
(Another Metroid 2 Remake)!!! and a standalone port of PPSSPP which is more stable than the Retroarch build, and they have standalone Duckstation (a PS1 emulator) which could also be more stable, especially on Xbox One systems
gamr13 - repo
LIMITATIONS FOR THIS METHOD:
you will need to be online for it to even launch! because this is seen as a review sample it doesn't function like any other normal app or game on xbox. so basically this is always online!
also, uploading video clips you take or screenshots will not work, you'll just get an error
It can be that his dev account gets removed. look out in the discord for info on that. if that happens you will need to download a new version of Retroarch manually
(which also means setting it up again sadly) if you want new updates
(your already installed version will still work tho! I have a super old whitelist version of a removed account on my system that still works without issue). so look out for that on the
gamr13s-announcements (discord.com) page of the discord server! he will link the new site if that happens or just update the old one.
(he will also announce when the new wave of white lists are going live! just scroll all the way to the bottom)
this isn't the end of the world tho, the non-whitelisted version will never get updates for example, so this whitelist way you at least have access to updates even if it could mean you need to reinstall if you actually want it... but for now the app will simply update automatically like any normal game would
setting everything up again isn't that hard tho. you can basically just copy/paste most of your settings to the new install (I did that with the non-whitelist version over from my old outdated whitelist version just the other day and was up and running within 10min)