retro handhelds, talk about em

tapevulture

referring to the retro-oriented handheld emulation machines made by Anbernic, Powkiddy et al. wondering if anyone on here who owns one of these things wouldn’t mind sharing their thoughts on build quality, ergonomics, screen quality, general level of satisfaction, how often are you actually picking it up and playing it, etc

i’ve felt like revisiting Link’s Awakening lately and it of course doesn’t have the right feel when played on the laptop i use to emulate TV-oriented systems. i did preorder an Analogue Pocket, but i’m like a year out (lol) from getting to the front of the line, and now i’m wondering if a cartridge-based device makes sense long-term. i don’t have a huge collection of game boy games and don’t see myself buying multiple everdrives to cover separate systems.

the one i’ve been looking really hard at is the anbernic RG351v.

yeso

don’t have any experience with that model, but the plastic shell abernic feels like a grocery store calculator, seems to work fine though

Syzygy

Since a couple years ago with the 350 line, Anbernic has really got into a groove of build quality rivaling the major portable console manufacturers. Bare in mind that (with some edge cases) the internal hardware isn’t changing much so prioritize the ergonomics, screen, button layout, etc.. If you want portable emulation past PS1 you’re much better off with any semi-recent jailbroke Android device. And when it comes to Gameboy: that will run on anything, so think about if you don’t have a DS/3DS/PSP/old phone/whatever that you could crack.

This channel does reviews of many, many of these devices:

Alyx

The Powkiddy V90 with the SP-like clamshell design doesn’t rival a GBA SP in build quality. Feeling light and a little flimsy didn’t matter much, but the face buttons weren’t good.
It’s a budget option that unfortunately feels like it.

It does have a headphone jack though, and that clamshell design.

I switched to an SP modded to include a headphone jack and it feels like a big upgrade despite the smaller game library.
Still not my favourite d-pad, but better, and the face buttons feel way better.
Love the way the SP feels when it opens.
Not sure if my modded one ‘feels better’ than they originally did or if I just forgot how well built they were.
I’m assuming the latter, but I don’t have an unmodded one to compare it to.

I think I like modded original systems more than the emulator handhelds, but both are interesting.

hellomrkearns

I’ve had an Anbernic RG350 for over a year and it’s still good after many hours of use. Also has lots of mod support for different firmware, and emulators.

I’ve thought about getting one of the newer ones, but since a lot are Android based, I might as well just use my phone and my 8bitdo controller.

KennyL

Powkiddy V5. I don’t have it but I love it.

tapevulture

that is so cool lol

i ended up ordering a retroid pocket 2+. it’s not here yet. really wanted an anbernic because of what people said about the d-pad but my partner wanted the option to play N64 and the 2+ is the only thing that can do that reliably in its price range. feels like their margins have to be razor thin or nonexistent given how nothing else in the $99 range seems to be close in terms of performance (ability to do N64 + Dreamcast)…was kind of thrown for a loop thinking that the “eat losses to capture market share” finance guy strategy could be at play in the extremely niche retro handheld market

GigaSlime

I have the Retroid Pocket 2+! I really like it. I had the RG350M and it was pretty great but it’s nice to finally have one with flared shoulder buttons, I think that’ll make me a little more motivated to use it for more action-y stuff on the PS1. I also played Ocarina of Time on it for a bit and it works great, I didn’t have to really tinker with settings at all (although setting up controller inputs was a weird process which was not immediately obvious to me)

sabertoothalex

I’ve been seeing a bunch of suggested videos pop up for the Odin Pro. I’d never heard of it but I always watch the review videos for these retro handhelds and seems like people are extremely pleased with it!

GigaSlime

sabertoothalex I really want one of those! I watched some videos the other day and I’m kinda shocked how well Gamecube games run on it!

tapevulture

sabertoothalex i really trust this guy and his review says it’s the best thing going…i still think the retroid pocket 2+ is going to be cool when it arrives because of the 4:3 screen, but i definitely regret buying a used office PC for PS2 emulation. i ended up spending about $300 to get it up and running and i could have gotten an Odin with dock instead…dang it dude

treefroggy

Is this the thread where I can lament about the under appreciated reflective LCD’s these handhelds shipped with which are being replaced and thrown into garbage in droves by enthusiasts who won’t even play their consoles much anyways? Cause it’s my never ending despair.

tapevulture

Syzygy

imagining green hill zone theme coming out of that speaker

robinhoodie

God we got so many of those at Ewaste. Cursed to all require different proprietary power adapters. Would have loved to know that I could hack them though, because it would have been a fun challenge.

KennyL

Finally one with oled screen. It’s using Vita screen. Too bad it’s a bit under powered for the price.

tapevulture

@GigaSlime and anyone else who has a retroid pocket 2+…wonder if anyone who has this or a similar device would be willing to share some more about their experience. my partner was interested because they’re very cute and are supposed to run N64 well, but after spending four hours or so troubleshooting and following every guide i can find (from retro game corps, taki udon etc.), i can’t get goldeneye to run without frequent FPS drops to 15 and chugging audio. giving up for the time being. it does run PS1 well, so i don’t think the whole unit is bunk or anything, but people online seem to suggest that N64 is relatively pick up and play, and are getting decent gamecube performance, so i must be missing something major. that or i have unreasonable expectations about playable emulation

gunk_rider

tapevulture Hey I got one of those!
Just gave Goldeneye a whirl through the first level. Dropped to 12-15 FPS in the larger areas, but no audio problems here (bangin’ tune on that there Dam level, imo). Fairly playable but I have low/no standards!!!
I’m using the Mupen64Plus FZ emulator, with LaunchBox as my launcher (the Retroid one kept messing up games for me). I don’t think I have any more custom config than that going on!

Goldeneye is pretty hard to control in 2022 huh

tapevulture

gunk_rider

cool thanks dude. i agree wholeheartedly that the Dam music bangs

there’s this video of the game running on N64 with the framerate recorded. it dropped to 12-15 FPS in the original game!! wild stuff

tapevulture

gunk_rider would you recommend getting launchbox just for use with the RP2+? and is it easy to setup/configure? i’m hesitant about adding another layer of interface that has to interact with the frontend + retroarch….

gunk_rider

tapevulture I would! I got a bit fed up with the retroid launcher not picking up games, sorting them all weird and looking generally bad so tried a bunch of other launchers – launchbox is where i landed.
it’s pretty easy to configure, and hand-holdy enough when something isn’t right – usually it’s just a case of picking a retroarch core or standalone emulator for a system after importing games into it. plus it can download cool transparent-bg logos for every game, heck yeah!