Best Retro Handheld


Are these any good for the money?



I interrogated this spreadhseet and watched many youtube videos from the above person before settling on my RG35xx H. I was considering the PowKiddy X55, but in the end decided it was too expensive for my 1st console.
My main gripe was that the widescreen is wasted considering it's not powerful enough to play the retro consoles that were natively 16:9 ratio (PSP for example) and the clicky buttons mentioned in the review would proabbly annoy me.


p.s. It can be had for much cheaper on aliexpress. You should be looking at closer to £80-90 including shipping for that model.


rp2000
 
Current retro handhelds

FGGBC doesn't currently work...missing a mobo.

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The reason I decided against an RP2S was that it only has Android. I love how the Linux models have different options for CFW, boot really quickly and appear to be much moreresponsive in the menu systems.
They need to boot quick since none of them know how to go into power save mode that isn't just turning off the screen :)

Just messing.

I'd be keen to know if it works properly in Onion OS?
 
Keeping an eye on iOS emulation that's just getting started as well. Not really handheld but the idea of a device playing all of the above in an iPad (mini) format with a wireless controller sounds cool.
I did a bit of this with my Samsung tablet and Bluetooth controller, was pretty powerful and ran Burnout very well.
 
They need to boot quick since none of them know how to go into power save mode that isn't just turning off the screen :)

Just messing.

I'd be keen to know if it works properly in Onion OS?
If what works properly in Onion OS, powersave?

Im not a fan of powersave, id rather just press a button and turn off in 1 seconds then power on it ~8 seconds to resume where I left off.
Steam deck for example, if you dont shutdown, the battery will be fried after a week or so. My RG35XX OG has sat in a draw for months, I grabbed it and powered on then resumed my last played game and it still had about 80% battery.
 
If what works properly in Onion OS, powersave?

Im not a fan of powersave, id rather just press a button and turn off in 1 seconds then power on it ~8 seconds to resume where I left off.
Steam deck for example, if you dont shutdown, the battery will be fried after a week or so. My RG35XX OG has sat in a draw for months, I grabbed it and powered on then resumed my last played game and it still had about 80% battery.

Yes I was wondering about Onion OS as it seems like a lot if work has gone into that. The recent vid from Retro Game Corps on the 4.3 release was very interesting and made me keen to try the Miyoo.

Garlic on the OG RG35XX was good but still needed work and it's a shame development stopped so he could focus on the 2.0 version, although I've not heard anything on that for a while.

The boot time was super quick with Garlic so no issue powering off but some devices are quite slow to resume, Jelos on the RGB30 for example took quite a while.

I'm using Batocera on the RG35XX H and it isn't the worst boot time but not ideal on a pick up and play device. And like I say, pretty much any phone and the Switch has working power save functionality so I don't think thats much to ask.

Surprised that's the case with the deck as I've not heard it reported more widely, the number of returns would be in the hundreds of thousands given the millions of decks that have been sold at this point.
 
Surprised that's the case with the deck as I've not heard it reported more widely, the number of returns would be in the hundreds of thousands given the millions of decks that have been sold at this point.
I don't think @Guest2 means fried literally, just that it will be completely drained. I got caught short of this, just assumed the standby mode would use a tiny amount of battery on my deck and it takes about 10% per day.

Anyway I've bought a Miyoo Mini Plus now, saw one on Aliexpress for £26 and couldn't resist at that price point. It arrived within 8 days and I'm loving it. I've heard that soon there will be the ability to sync saves with EmuDeck and this will be an even bigger draw for the devices.
 
I don't think @Guest2 means fried literally, just that it will be completely drained. I got caught short of this, just assumed the standby mode would use a tiny amount of battery on my deck and it takes about 10% per day.

Anyway I've bought a Miyoo Mini Plus now, saw one on Aliexpress for £26 and couldn't resist at that price point. It arrived within 8 days and I'm loving it. I've heard that soon there will be the ability to sync saves with EmuDeck and this will be an even bigger draw for the devices.
Ahh okay, I read that as knackering them rather than it just discharging quickly.

I wouldn't mind 10% a day, the Anbernic devices do that an hour.
 
Anbernic RG28XX released today. Looking good but at £55 seems a little steep


There is the Miyoo A30 too.

Both had potential but ultimately I think the RG35XXH is hard to beat. The A30 with the Famicom look is just so good, I really wish it was better. Bad screen, no wifi, not very good D-pad, does not remember brightness level on restart...too many bugs/cons for basically the same money as the RG35XX.
 
I have the RG552 and I like the look of the RG28XX. I just didn't know why they continue with the rectangular design with their consoles. My biggest issue with the RG552 is the ergonomics. It seems to be a theme with them.
 
So I had decided to return the RGB30 and keep the RG35XX H but now the battery is playing up. Seems very fussy about which cable/charger it will take and is showing 0% and says charging despite a few restarts.

The RGB30 is a good device and the screen is super but I just wish the build quality was higher with better plastic, has that cheap hollow feeling unfortunately.
 
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Anbernic RG28XX released today. Looking good but at £55 seems a little steep

I decided to get an RG28XX this morning for £55.27 delivered.
Seems like a good device for GBA, N64 and some Dreamcast. I considered the The A30, but reading up on a bit the screen and Dpad are quite bad, power is a lot less and to me it just looks awful.
Ordered the RG28XX in black. For £55 its not like its big money and can always sell it, hell I spent more than that on a few cocktails last night!
 
The Retroid Pocket 2S has caught my attention and priced low enough that it can fall into the impulse buy bracket. My Miyoo Mini sits on my office desk for a quick blast when stuck on lengthy conference calls but considering this for Gamecube and PSP games.

 
The Retroid Pocket 2S has caught my attention and priced low enough that it can fall into the impulse buy bracket. My Miyoo Mini sits on my office desk for a quick blast when stuck on lengthy conference calls but considering this for Gamecube and PSP games.

The 2S looks good, but seems its not full Gamecube performance. The main thing about the 2S for me its thats it's Android only.
It just look like pure faff having to customise every single emulator with controls - If an image could be shared with standardised controls, that would be much better.

There seems to be way more active development into CFW for Anbernic devices. Two of the main devs both really like the RG28XX so are focussing on getting Batocera lite ('Knulli') released and there's already a version of MuOS for the RG28XX.
 
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I was considering the 2S too but I've not seen it cheap anywhere and going direct had pricey delivery.

I've been using emulation station on Android and it has been pretty easy but the majority of my games are probably covered in retro arch so I don't think I've needed to do much.

Even then if you do need to configure them it's a one time thing and then you're done.

I wouldn't think the 2S is a good fit for PSP though as the screen is 4:3 and given the size it's not going to make it a pleasant experience.
 
I was considering the 2S too but I've not seen it cheap anywhere and going direct had pricey delivery.

I've been using emulation station on Android and it has been pretty easy but the majority of my games are probably covered in retro arch so I don't think I've needed to do much.

Even then if you do need to configure them it's a one time thing and then you're done.

I wouldn't think the 2S is a good fit for PSP though as the screen is 4:3 and given the size it's not going to make it a pleasant experience.
My price limit is 150euros (to avoid customs etc). I'm still quite tempted by the Anbernic RG505 for it's wide-screen/large screen and it's about 135 on AliExpress.

On my rg35xx h all the systems I want I can play with retroarch cores. Makes navigating core options more consistent and less hassle more than anything.

Could I run GB,NES,SNES,MD,DC,N64,PS1,PSP all with emulation station and retroarch only on android? I'm looking for a solution that's very similar to batocera on my rg35xxh.


rp2000
 
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