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Best Retro Handheld

Ordered a Retroid Pocket Nova, I love the idea of a compact 4:3 device which is powerful enough to play PS2 and Game Cube.

I have an Odin 2 but just don't find it comfortable and don't need wide-screen for the systems I play so hopefully this will be a good fit for me.
 
Kyle009 said:
I honestly think it's a perfect handheld.
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Another Nova apologist here.

Just works superbly. Do take some time to read up on some guides.

Personally I'm most happy with ES-DE as a front end (is a small patreon donation).

I'm a bit disappointed by the dock, I can't quite get it right, it looks like it's properly connected but I get black screen occasionally. If I just use a standard usb-c dock (like for your laptop) everything works as it should and that's using the same cables so I'm sure it's the dock.

I've spent most time playing SSA tricky and burnout 3: takedown which emulate perfectly at full speed. Both fantastic titles.
 
Same for the Nova.

Best device i’ve had.
I mainly still play Chromatic Tetris and its much more enjoyable on the Nova than on the Modretro Chromatic!
Larger screen, more comfortable to hold and buttons that are nowhere near as loud as the Chromatic. Input lag / latency seems close to none - something I really notice in Tetris

If I could change anything it would be to have the same dpad and buttons the same as the RG Cube (dish dpad) and near silent buttons.

Another slight improvement (which probably isnt possible based on its size) is to have better speakers.

Nova pro anyone???
 
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I hadn't particularly noted the speakers, i tend to play with headphones.

I think its also worth calling out the real-world battery life - even using PS2 emulation - it is very impressive - some of the figures you seen thrown around in youtube reviews etc are not far off the truth.
 
I am still loving my RP6. I do appreciate the Nova but seeing how well switch and WiiU run on it for me the RP6 is perfect. I am currently playing Metroid Dredd and at 1080p i get constant 60fps it looks fantastic on the screen. The only thing i would like would be some more memory as my 512Gb card is now full.

I might grab a nova in the future is there is a mad deal on it and move over my 4:3 emulation to that. Oh and to get the Gamecube look to go with my SNES look RP6 :D

For Me, even though i wasnt intending to play much newer consoles, how well switch runs the titles i am playing its the one for me I will probably even sell my Switch Lite off as i dont think i am ever going to use it again.
 
Nova and RP6 are the same specs wise arent they? WiiU runs fine on the Nova. Switch runs terrible, but I guess it depends on the games - I've only tried Fast RMX, Cruis'n blast, MK11 and Hollow knight. HK ran well :D
 
I bought a Trim UI Smart Pro S. Besides having a crap name I have not been overly impressed. I have a RP5 but also a RGXX40H.

I was kind of hoping the S would be a widescreen 40H and in some ways it is (it looks like a stretched 40H at least) but the build quality is so much lower. The stock OS is quite poor. The buttons are bad. The analogue sticks are worse than the Anbernic.

I bought it as it is smaller (5" screen) and flatter than the RP5 but powerful enough for widescreen DC and PSP. But it struggles with 2x res PSP from a frame pacing / frame skip perspective and I thought it would be powerful enough to give a smooth frame rate. Its obviously more powerful than the 40H but the 40H is better at the systems that make sense on it - up to PS1.

It took me a while to take to the 40H and the 405M so I will give it time...
 
almoststew1990 said:
I bought a Trim UI Smart Pro S. Besides having a crap name I have not been overly impressed. I have a RP5 but also a RGXX40H.

I was kind of hoping the S would be a widescreen 40H and in some ways it is (it looks like a stretched 40H at least) but the build quality is so much lower. The stock OS is quite poor.
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Have you tried NextUI on it?
 
Guest2 said:
Another slight improvement (which probably isnt possible based on its size) is to have better speakers.
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Yeah my speakers are not great, was hard to hear the characters talking in Resident Evil Gamecube Remake but then when I turned the volume up so I could hear them talking the gunshots were far too loud.
Guest2 said:
Switch runs terrible, but I guess it depends on the games - I've only tried Fast RMX, Cruis'n blast, MK11 and Hollow knight. HK ran well :D
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I've not had any problems with Switch. Using Eden and the Mr Purple 30 drivers. I can't get MGS4 to boot but assume this is an issue with the emulator as everything else plays fine. I haven't tried BoTW or ToTK though.
 
Guest2 said:
Nova and RP6 are the same specs wise arent they? WiiU runs fine on the Nova. Switch runs terrible, but I guess it depends on the games - I've only tried Fast RMX, Cruis'n blast, MK11 and Hollow knight. HK ran well :D
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Yeah. I have been getting great Switch performance from my RP6 in the games i have tried. Which have been a mix of lighter end 2D stuff like Metroid Dredd, Ghouls and Ghosts but also tried Super Mario 3D world, Advanced Wars, Zelda Links Awakening and Echos of Wisdom, The only one i have tried so far that has not been great is Tears of the Kingdom. Maybe its because most of the games have been on the lighter side but i will endeavour to try more..
 
Well i just finished graveyard keeper 2 entirely on my thor pro max (or whatever the top one was).
Played ok usually about 30fps but heavy drops in some of the combat buts in general was fine with fans audible. Now onto my next game.
 
Another Nova fan here. Put in around 20 hours to the PSO Return to Ragol mod on the GC and it's been a joy to play. Switch game performance has been good, but I've only really put hours into MK8 so far.

I'm planning to clear out my other handhelds as I don't see the point in keeping them around when the Nova is this good.
 
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