Best Retro Handheld

[Flibster]

I have a Tab S7, great for PS2 emulation, love a bit of Burnout on it.

It's a great way to play but when I'm travelling I found it's handy to have an all in one device and not need to carry around a separate controller.

If you like the 16 bit era and want something pocketable I'd still recommend the Miyoo Mini Plus or similar as pretty cheap and is ace.

Spent a couple of hours playing Super Mario World last night. Something really nice about the 12" screen. Will be taking this tablet on the flight so may well pick up an 8bitdo SN30 Pro.

But it's still a couple of months until the flights, so I'll see what comes out in the handheld until then. New ones seem to appear every couple of weeks. Did seriously look at the Retroid Pocket 4 though. Excessive? yes... but it looks lovely.

 

[KraniX]

Spent a couple of hours playing Super Mario World last night. Something really nice about the 12" screen. Will be taking this tablet on the flight so may well pick up an 8bitdo SN30 Pro.

But it's still a couple of months until the flights, so I'll see what comes out in the handheld until then. New ones seem to appear every couple of weeks. Did seriously look at the Retroid Pocket 4 though. Excessive? yes... but it looks lovely.

Put on a nice CRT filter on with curved edges to get that proper early 90s 14" portable TV feel.

 

[Guest2]

Has anyone bought an RG Cube? Tempting for likes of Gamecube and PS2

£139 on Aliexpress inc shipping and taxes.

 

[KraniX]

Has anyone bought an RG Cube? Tempting for likes of Gamecube and PS2

£139 on Aliexpress inc shipping and taxes.

I think it looks great but there have been a lot of issues reported with the screen.

The first batches sent to reviewers had lots of light bleed, this was reported and Anbernic said it was a mistake and they were sent in error.

But it seems a number of folks are receiving devices with light bleed even now. Not surprising but seems like a lottery if you get a decent one or not.

Good thing with Ali Express is you can probably return it you do get a dodgy one.

 

[Guest2]

I think it looks great but there have been a lot of issues reported with the screen.

The first batches sent to reviewers had lots of light bleed, this was reported and Anbernic said it was a mistake and they were sent in error.

But it seems a number of folks are receiving devices with light bleed even now. Not surprising but seems like a lottery if you get a decent one or not.

Good thing with Ali Express is you can probably return it you do get a dodgy one.

Caved and bought one in white with bag/case. Can always return it or sell it on if the screen has any issues or I dont get on with it.

 

[KraniX]

Caved and bought one in white with bag/case. Can always return it or sell it on if the screen has any issues or I dont get on with it.

Make sure you come back and let us know how it is, ticks so many boxes for me I'd be interested in getting one myself if I could guarantee a decent screen.

 

[Guest2]

Make sure you come back and let us know how it is, ticks so many boxes for me I'd be interested in getting one myself if I could guarantee a decent screen.

Im hoping it doesnt have much/any lightbleed but have a feeling it will, in which case it'll be promptly returned.
Android configuration should be interesting as it's the first Android device ive ever owned! Mainly would be cool for PS1, PS2, Gamecube and Saturn emulation. Amiga might look great on it too, 640 x 512 / 320 x 256 I believe, so 1.25:1.

It would be nice to know if there's a way of 'imaging' the built in 128GB storage - i.e. just write a default non Anbernic image over it that someone has made, or modify it as I need removing all the guff then take an image/back up of which could be used again if needed or I need to restore.
Then install and modify and backup again.

 

[emu]

Hi my smart pro arrived yesterday and im very impressed.I have installed crossmix os and very surprised at the quality of the screen and the way it runs psp and ps1 games.

 

[Nemiyen]

Hi my smart pro arrived yesterday and im very impressed.I have installed crossmix os and very surprised at the quality of the screen and the way it runs psp and ps1 games.

I've not heard of this one before, but to be honest there's a lot of different models now!

This one looks very like a PS Vita from the shape and size of it. I need to do some research on it!

 

[KraniX]

Im hoping it doesnt have much/any lightbleed but have a feeling it will, in which case it'll be promptly returned.
Android configuration should be interesting as it's the first Android device ive ever owned! Mainly would be cool for PS1, PS2, Gamecube and Saturn emulation. Amiga might look great on it too, 640 x 512 / 320 x 256 I believe, so 1.25:1.

It would be nice to know if there's a way of 'imaging' the built in 128GB storage - i.e. just write a default non Anbernic image over it that someone has made, or modify it as I need removing all the guff then take an image/back up of which could be used again if needed or I need to restore.
Then install and modify and backup again.

If you install your own emulators and a decent front end like Daijisho (free) or ES-DE (£5ish) then you'll be golden.

I've used both on my Odin 2 and they are nice. Retro Game Corps and Joeys Handhelds both have a bunch of Android setup guides on YouTube.

 

[Guest2]

If you install your own emulators and a decent front end like Daijisho (free) or ES-DE (£5ish) then you'll be golden.

I've used both on my Odin 2 and they are nice. Retro Game Corps and Joeys Handhelds both have a bunch of Android setup guides on YouTube.

Emulation station DE isnt free?? I've had it installed on my Steam Deck for years and never paid anything for it.

Or is this because its the Android version which I guess they can charge anything for. I've never had an Android device so is part of the setup to register for a Playstore (Android?) account so I can buy apps?

The Cube appears to be pretty powerful, is it powerful enough to run something like Winlator or Dosbox Pure emulating Windows 98, then using an emaultor (Sega model m2) within that? Thats basically what Steam deck does - Proton (WINE) layer to then run say PEem or Model m2 / any Windows app or game.

Here is Steam deck using proton to run PCem to run Need for Speed 2 SE in 3DFX

 

[Macky]

Keep finding myself going back to the old Pokémon games on my RG35XX. There are so many awesome ROM hacks of the originals.

 

[Guest2]

Keep finding myself going back to the old Pokémon games on my RG35XX. There are so many awesome ROM hacks of the originals.

GarlicOS on the RG35XX is pretty hard to beat for me too. Boots really quickly, holds charge well, screen is bright enough for playing in sun outside, no / minimal input lag and just works great up to PS1.
The (possibly only) big flaw for me is the dpad. It occasionally hits random inputs which can be really bad playing games like Apotris GBA - up will randomly trigger causing a block to shoot down.

 

[Macky]

GarlicOS on the RG35XX is pretty hard to beat for me too. Boots really quickly, holds charge well, screen is bright enough for playing in sun outside, no / minimal input lag and just works great up to PS1.
The (possibly only) big flaw for me is the dpad. It occasionally hits random inputs which can be really bad playing games like Apotris GBA - up will randomly trigger causing a block to shoot down.

Is the d-pad issue you're describing the one that can be fixed with some electrical tape over the contacts?

 

[Guest2]

Hi my smart pro arrived yesterday and im very impressed.I have installed crossmix os and very surprised at the quality of the screen and the way it runs psp and ps1 games.

Ive not heard of that handheld either. Looks to be the only device using a Allwinner A133 Plus SoC.

 

[Guest2]

Is the d-pad issue you're describing the one that can be fixed with some electrical tape over the contacts?

Yep, that's the one. I havent taken it to bit for fear of making it worse or breaking something else on it (which theres a high chance of knowing me!)

 

[KraniX]

Emulation station DE isnt free?? I've had it installed on my Steam Deck for years and never paid anything for it.

Or is this because its the Android version which I guess they can charge anything for. I've never had an Android device so is part of the setup to register for a Playstore (Android?) account so I can buy apps?

The Cube appears to be pretty powerful, is it powerful enough to run something like Winlator or Dosbox Pure emulating Windows 98, then using an emaultor (Sega model m2) within that? Thats basically what Steam deck does - Proton (WINE) layer to then run say PEem or Model m2 / any Windows app or game.

ES-DE had some issues with the stores, was on Play and then got pulled, was on Amazon App Store for a while too I think, maybe the Samsung one now.

You could sign up for their Patreon for 1 month for a fiver and then they'd email you the download link. That's the route I went.

They email you links to updates as they are released, just need to remember to change to a free sub on Patreon.

And yeah you need a Google account to access the store, just like you would on the Apple AppStore.

Can't say about Winlator as not tried myself. Sounds like a lot of overhead though so may struggle if limited ram.

 

[Guest2]

ES-DE had some issues with the stores, was on Play and then got pulled, was on Amazon App Store for a while too I think, maybe the Samsung one now.

You could sign up for their Patreon for 1 month for a fiver and then they'd email you the download link. That's the route I went.

They email you links to updates as they are released, just need to remember to change to a free sub on Patreon.

And yeah you need a Google account to access the store, just like you would on the Apple AppStore.

Can't say about Winlator as not tried myself. Sounds like a lot of overhead though so may struggle if limited ram.

Thanks

Guessing its possible to start the device without a Playstore account? (or just make a new email address for it)
If I dont get on with Android i'll sell it on instead of spending money on Playstore to find I dont get on with Android and go back to Linux device(s).

 

[KraniX]

Thanks

Guessing its possible to start the device without a Playstore account? (or just make a new email address for it)
If I dont get on with Android i'll sell it on instead of spending money on Playstore to find I dont get on with Android and go back to Linux device(s).

Yeah you can skip all that usually. I believe the Cube comes with a bunch of preloaded apps, some of which are paid-for versions as Anbernic not exactly big on copyright.

Edit:
Setup guide video you might like, it's for the 556 but covers the Cube too.

 

[Guest2]

Yeah you can skip all that usually. I believe the Cube comes with a bunch of preloaded apps, some of which are paid-for versions as Anbernic not exactly big on copyright.

Edit:
Setup guide video you might like, it's for the 556 but covers the Cube too.

Thanks - why would you delete apps included such as yaba sanshiro 2 pro?

Any idea where BIOS goes, it says on a guide to that The default location for BIOS files is the Android device’s Internal Storage, RetroArch, System folder.
Can they not go on the SD card alongside the roms?

Some help notes i've been writing down for when my RG Cube arrives. Winlator looks interesting, it just looks like a WINE layer, so might be able launch Sega model m2 emulator like I can on Steam deck and run model 2 and model 3 games... maybe.

Anbernic RG556 & RG Cube Setup Guide

Last updated: 24JUN2024 (see Changelog for details) The Anbernic RG556 and RG Cube handhelds are great in many ways: they are super comfortable, and can emulate up to PS2 and GameCube for the most …

retrogamecorps.com

Anbernic RG Cube Setup Guide

This setup guide will help you install emulators, find the best accessories and more to use with your Anbernic RG Cube.

joeysretrohandhelds.com

Daijishō

Get more from ES-DE Frontend on Patreon

Creating a gaming frontend

www.patreon.com

RetroArch - PS1 & Under - 'RetroArch_aarch64.apk' - https://buildbot.libretro.com/nightly/android/
NetherSX2 – Sony PlayStation 2 - AetherSX2
Dolphin - Nintendo GameCube & Wii – Beta.
Redream - Dreamcast
Flycast - Dreamcast/NAOMI
YabaSanshiro 2 Pro - Saturn
MAME4droid 2024 (0.268)
PPSSPP - PSP
M64Plus FZ Pro - N64
Lime3DS – Nintendo 3DS
Citra - 3DS
Pico-8 - https://joeysretrohandhelds.com/guides/pico-8-on-android-setup-guide/

Other

Obtainium - https://joeysretrohandhelds.com/guides/obtainium-setup-guide/
Winlator - https://github.com/brunodev85/winlator/releases
Solid Explorer File Manager