TwitchPlays-Raspbian VS docker-lirc-watcher

So, for some context, I am a student doing this as a project for class and my end result was to hopefully run a game for the class to join in on. For the past few days I've been trying to get this project to work using this neat guide I found on GitHub linked here: https://github.com/jiinurppa/TwitchPlays-Raspbian. Everything seemed to be going well until it was time to run Retroarch with the NES emulator as the guide suggested until I realized that the Raspberry Pi severely struggled to even run the NES emulator (currently testing with Super Mario Bros. 3). Nonetheless, I continued on with the guide to see if I could at least stream the game to Twitch which did not seem to work either. I have now stumbled upon RetroPie and wondered if this sort of thing could be accomplished using RetroPie instead of a regular Raspberry Pi OS image with Retroarch. The part that seemed most complicated to me is that RetroPie being its own image, does not provide easy access to files and scripts that I would need to make something like this possible. Thus I now ask for help here to see if anyone has carried out a similar project and could teach me how they managed to do it.

I had to install Lirc on my Ubuntu server and then found a docker container that converted Lirc signals to MQTT. I already had a MQTT server running for my Zigbee devices. The end result is that i can now use my Harmony remote to control anything in Home Assistant. I mostly use it for a bright lamp in my living room as it's easier to reach for the remote and push a button than it is to use voice, my PC or an app on my phone.