Best Retro Handheld

It'll almost certainly be better than the RG35XX, simply because of the Pi angle and Broadcom chipset.
Remember the RG35XX is a far east special with no vendor kernel source available, just precompiled blobs or community hacked together stuff, versus the Pi with decent developer backing and open source.

I agree atrocious ergonomics, and the battery will be pitiful too.
 
rp2000 said:
Thanks. I had an rg35xxh i think and the PSP performance wasn't good enough. Upgraded to a RP4 Pro to fix that.

I suspect at least 1 person in this thread will buy one at some point anyway and fill us in on all the deets! Although a delivery time of up to 8 weeks takes it out of the impulse purchase, regardless of the price!


rp2000
Click to expand...
This GamerCard device is a 4" square (1:1) display so is not aimed at PSP, the opposite. It'll be great for Pico-8, Gameboy, Gameboy Colour, GBA and generally anything 4:3 or around 4:3 such as Amiga. You certainly wouldnt want to be playing 16:9 on it.
 
Guest2 said:
This GamerCard device is a 4" square (1:1) display so is not aimed at PSP, the opposite. It'll be great for Pico-8, Gameboy, Gameboy Colour, GBA and generally anything 4:3 or around 4:3 such as Amiga. You certainly wouldnt want to be playing 16:9 on it.
Click to expand...
Yes, I just meant that was the reason I got rid of the Anbernic.

For me this device would be for Gameboy nostalgia. Lack of buttons, more than the screen aspect ratio, rules out PS1 and above and possibly even SNES.

Edit: Actually I missed the 2 "shoulder" buttons on the back, but they would be an ergonomic nightmare anyway, due to the thinness of the device!


rp2000
 
Last edited:
leezer3 said:
It'll almost certainly be better than the RG35XX, simply because of the Pi angle and Broadcom chipset.
Remember the RG35XX is a far east special with no vendor kernel source available, just precompiled blobs or community hacked together stuff, versus the Pi with decent developer backing and open source.

I agree atrocious ergonomics, and the battery will be pitiful too.
Click to expand...

For the price I don't think you can knock the Anbernic or Miyoo devices, and the custom firmware options are pretty great, Onion OS on the Miyoo is fantastic and MUOS is already very good and getting better all the time.
 
rp2000 said:
Yes, I just meant that was the reason I got rid of the Anbernic.

For me this device would be for Gameboy nostalgia. Lack of buttons, more than the screen aspect ratio, rules out PS1 and above and possibly even SNES.

Edit: Actually I missed the 2 "shoulder" buttons on the back, but they would be an ergonomic nightmare anyway, due to the thinness of the device!


rp2000
Click to expand...
I know, terrible contols. What were they thinking!?
 
KraniX said:
For the price I don't think you can knock the Anbernic or Miyoo devices, and the custom firmware options are pretty great, Onion OS on the Miyoo is fantastic and MUOS is already very good and getting better all the time.
Click to expand...
I'm not knocking them.

The *technical* point was that in terms of pure performance, a device using a board with full kernel source and proper vendor / community support is likely to perform better despite an inferior chipset.
 
leezer3 said:
I'm not knocking them.

The *technical* point was that in terms of pure performance, a device using a board with full kernel source and proper vendor / community support is likely to perform better despite an inferior chipset.
Click to expand...
You cant ‘out software tweak’ or ‘out os’ hardware. The best os and tweaking in the world wont make a 1gb ram, 1.5ghz device the same as a 8gb ram, 3ghz device.
 
Just out of curiosity, are there any other handhelds that use Raspberry Pi as their CPU? I had a quick look and couldn't find any here:

docs.google.com

Handhelds

docs.google.com docs.google.com


rp2000
 
Guest2 said:
You cant ‘out software tweak’ or ‘out os’ hardware. The best os and tweaking in the world wont make a 1gb ram, 1.5ghz device the same as a 8gb ram, 3ghz device.
Click to expand...
At risk of wandering further off topic, the RG35XX is a 1gb RAM, 1.6ghz CPU. The Miyoo Mini is 1gb RAM, 1.2ghz CPU.

If you want to see what properly done software can do, look at the MisTer FPGA stuff, or some of the older emulators (or for that matter what some of the early DOS / Windows crossover era games managed). I was running No$GBA on a P133 many, many years ago.

The modern world has lost efficiency of software somewhere along the way :)
 
leezer3 said:
At risk of wandering further off topic, the RG35XX is a 1gb RAM, 1.6ghz CPU. The Miyoo Mini is 1gb RAM, 1.2ghz CPU.

If you want to see what properly done software can do, look at the MisTer FPGA stuff, or some of the older emulators (or for that matter what some of the early DOS / Windows crossover era games managed). I was running No$GBA on a P133 many, many years ago.

The modern world has lost efficiency of software somewhere along the way :)
Click to expand...
Yep, both great devices for lower end stuff. I've had both but always wanted to push to its limits and still do with an Odin 2 mini pro.
I too have been using emulation for years. I seem to remember a DOS emulator on Amiga in ~1993. Around the age that PCs were overtaking the Amiga which was a multimedia powerhouse at the time. I was too young back then to understand many of the programs and certainly emulator but did try it out.
Bleem was one of the first I properly used to (test / try) emulating Crash Bandicoot on a Windows 95 PC. It was of course early days and quite terrible, but interesting all the same. I quickly went back to playing Crash at a friends on his giant 32" Sony TV (well, his parents)
Good times.
 
I've been watching a few videos on retro handhelds after getting the urge to play some retro stuff across sega systems, nes, snes, n64 mainly but I'd potentially like to play some ps1 and ps2 stuff and possibly some switch, but switch and ps2 is more of a nice to have. I really want a device that works well docked too as I want to play on a 4k tv in my study with my son.

I'd rather just have one device rather than multiple. I've been leaning towards

1. Retroid Pocket 5 which looks great but the placement of the thumbstick below the dpad worries me with my bigger hands. Plus a slightly old cpu/gpu
2. Odin 2 Mini Pro - I prefer the look of the RP5 and the oled but this looks to have better performance at a higher cost
3. Odin 2 Portal - Much bigger device, but I might not need to pocket it all that often as I'd likely take it on holiday in a case inside a larger bag etc. Has a bigger oled screen and might be better fornbig hands

It really is a rabbit warren when you start looking at this stuff. I'm happy to tinker to get things setup. Any advice is appreciated
 
I love the RP5 as a device, but find it very uncomfortable to use for any length of time due to the stick/dpad location. Found myself using my older RG556 more for this reason.
 
Dsteviedee said:
I love the RP5 as a device, but find it very uncomfortable to use for any length of time due to the stick/dpad location. Found myself using my older RG556 more for this reason.
Click to expand...
I find it to be proper comfy with the official grip with prolonged gaming sessions on it. I think im tempted to get a Odin 2 Portal next. Im deffo moving up the food chain on these consoles.
 
n30_mkii said:
I've been watching a few videos on retro handhelds after getting the urge to play some retro stuff across sega systems, nes, snes, n64 mainly but I'd potentially like to play some ps1 and ps2 stuff and possibly some switch, but switch and ps2 is more of a nice to have. I really want a device that works well docked too as I want to play on a 4k tv in my study with my son.

I'd rather just have one device rather than multiple. I've been leaning towards

1. Retroid Pocket 5 which looks great but the placement of the thumbstick below the dpad worries me with my bigger hands. Plus a slightly old cpu/gpu
2. Odin 2 Mini Pro - I prefer the look of the RP5 and the oled but this looks to have better performance at a higher cost
3. Odin 2 Portal - Much bigger device, but I might not need to pocket it all that often as I'd likely take it on holiday in a case inside a larger bag etc. Has a bigger oled screen and might be better fornbig hands

It really is a rabbit warren when you start looking at this stuff. I'm happy to tinker to get things setup. Any advice is appreciated
Click to expand...
Yup I started this rabbit hole at the beginning of this year myself. I have gone through quite a few cosoles. Started off with a clone R36S , then had a R36H , then a few TrimUIs and currently on a RP5.

I have kept my TrimUI Brick and Smart Pro, but have decided that one console cant do all, its more about the feels for me. For example playing Tetris on the RP5 doesnt feel as good as playing it on the Brick. Playing Wipeout PSP on the Smart Pro doesnt quite cut it in performance and is much better suited for the RP5 as it is more better performance and also the comfort level especially using the official grip for the RP5.

For the money you cant go wrong with the RP5 tbh, but as above depending on what you are looking for, one console might not do it all.
 
n30_mkii said:
I've been watching a few videos on retro handhelds after getting the urge to play some retro stuff across sega systems, nes, snes, n64 mainly but I'd potentially like to play some ps1 and ps2 stuff and possibly some switch, but switch and ps2 is more of a nice to have. I really want a device that works well docked too as I want to play on a 4k tv in my study with my son.

I'd rather just have one device rather than multiple. I've been leaning towards

1. Retroid Pocket 5 which looks great but the placement of the thumbstick below the dpad worries me with my bigger hands. Plus a slightly old cpu/gpu
2. Odin 2 Mini Pro - I prefer the look of the RP5 and the oled but this looks to have better performance at a higher cost
3. Odin 2 Portal - Much bigger device, but I might not need to pocket it all that often as I'd likely take it on holiday in a case inside a larger bag etc. Has a bigger oled screen and might be better fornbig hands

It really is a rabbit warren when you start looking at this stuff. I'm happy to tinker to get things setup. Any advice is appreciated
Click to expand...
I'm still torn on these, but should I also consider a steam deck oled? Too many choices.... I think I need to write down my essentials and think more about if I'll use it while commuting or more at home etc. I'd prefer one device that does 90% as all devices have some compromise by the looks of it. I wonder if the steam deck might be too big and heavy for general use. I'll keep researching! ;-)
 
n30_mkii said:
I'm still torn on these, but should I also consider a steam deck oled? Too many choices.... I think I need to write down my essentials and think more about if I'll use it while commuting or more at home etc. I'd prefer one device that does 90% as all devices have some compromise by the looks of it. I wonder if the steam deck might be too big and heavy for general use. I'll keep researching! ;-)
Click to expand...
TrimUI brick is great for much older stuff if you just want a cheaper device for older 4:3, it has a great screen.

Odin 2 mini pro (and Odin 2) has about 2x the power of the RP5 - Snspdragon 8 gen 2.

AYANEO Pocket S2 is an upcoming device with Snapdragon 8 gen 3, but its not available to buy yet i believe and SD8G3 wont be supported by many apps for a while.

Single smaller device, Odin 2 mini pro.
Larger, go for the Odin 2 portal.
Odin 2 is still highly recommended if you dont want OLED from the Portal.

I have the trimui brick and Odin 2 mini pro after trying many devices (including RP5, Steam deck standard and OLED and numerous cheaper Anbernic and Miyoo ones)
 
n30_mkii said:
I'm still torn on these, but should I also consider a steam deck oled? Too many choices.... I think I need to write down my essentials and think more about if I'll use it while commuting or more at home etc. I'd prefer one device that does 90% as all devices have some compromise by the looks of it. I wonder if the steam deck might be too big and heavy for general use. I'll keep researching! ;-)
Click to expand...

I sold my Odin 2 Max when I pre-ordered my Switch 2 but I am missing the PS2 emulation! Most of the rest of what I was looking to play is actually available via the Switch Online emulation for the various consoles though.
If your looking for something that will do 90-95% of what you want emulation wise then I'd highly recommend the Odin 2 / Portal - although I believe the Portal is a larger device.

I could run anything I threw at it up to GameCube/PS2 and some Switch although I wasn't that bothered about Switch as I had one.

I also found it to be pretty easy to set most things up and get them running well.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom