Retro Handhelds
Discussion
Anyone else have this problem?!
Top left: Anbernic RG353M
My favourite of the bunch, stunning build quality and perfect for 4:3 aspect ratio stuff, so most of the older consoles. The best DPad I've ever used, horrible shoulder buttons though, so although PSP, Dreamcast etc are playable I don't use it for them. Custom firmware (ArkOS) easy to install and brings it to life.
Right: Anbernic RG35XX
Bought the massively popular Miyoo Mini as something to leave in the car to play when I'm waiting around etc, however would get cramp from it being so tiny, sold for a tidy profit and bought this instead. The most pick up and play device imaginable, games instantly save and can be picked up as soon as you wake it up. Again 4:3 stuff so ideally suited to the 8/16 bit era. Custom firmware (GarlicOS) absolutely incredible. Wanted another original Gameboy to use regularly but hard to justify when this is cheaper!
Bottom left: Retroid Pocket 3+
Android based so an absolute dog to set up properly (took me about 5hrs) but hugely impressive once fully configured. £150 for a device that will do Dreamcast, PSP, GameCube, Saturn, some PS2 etc. Widescreen so not so great for the older stuff.
Overkill having 3 but they aren't expensive and it's good fun tinkering with them. Have avoided choice paralysis having 1000s of games on them and have pretty much gone with what I have in my collection in the loft (still lots!) If I had to keep one it would the Retroid as it'll do everything, but the cheap Anbernics do the NES/SNES, GBA, Master System, Mega Drive etc so much better.
Top left: Anbernic RG353M
My favourite of the bunch, stunning build quality and perfect for 4:3 aspect ratio stuff, so most of the older consoles. The best DPad I've ever used, horrible shoulder buttons though, so although PSP, Dreamcast etc are playable I don't use it for them. Custom firmware (ArkOS) easy to install and brings it to life.
Right: Anbernic RG35XX
Bought the massively popular Miyoo Mini as something to leave in the car to play when I'm waiting around etc, however would get cramp from it being so tiny, sold for a tidy profit and bought this instead. The most pick up and play device imaginable, games instantly save and can be picked up as soon as you wake it up. Again 4:3 stuff so ideally suited to the 8/16 bit era. Custom firmware (GarlicOS) absolutely incredible. Wanted another original Gameboy to use regularly but hard to justify when this is cheaper!
Bottom left: Retroid Pocket 3+
Android based so an absolute dog to set up properly (took me about 5hrs) but hugely impressive once fully configured. £150 for a device that will do Dreamcast, PSP, GameCube, Saturn, some PS2 etc. Widescreen so not so great for the older stuff.
Overkill having 3 but they aren't expensive and it's good fun tinkering with them. Have avoided choice paralysis having 1000s of games on them and have pretty much gone with what I have in my collection in the loft (still lots!) If I had to keep one it would the Retroid as it'll do everything, but the cheap Anbernics do the NES/SNES, GBA, Master System, Mega Drive etc so much better.
pidsy said:
I’ve got an Atari Lynx mk2 somewhere.
Amazing thing (I thought) when it came out. They didn’t really catch on.
If you intend to use it again and haven't already done so, I would highly recommend replacing the capacitors as they leak with age and ruin the board.Amazing thing (I thought) when it came out. They didn’t really catch on.
And following that, drop in a modern LCD replacement. The MK2 has ribbon cable arrangement so it's just plug and play replacement and makes the world of difference.
Does anyone remember the Quickshot Supervision? My older brother wanted a new Gameboy as I had one and he was hogging mine. He had a bit of birthday money so thought he would spend it on this new handheld that must be better than a Gameboy as it tilts in the middle! Batteries didn't last as long and the screen was blurry. It didn't help when playing the built in game which was like Breakout.
It almost looked like a Gameboy that had an affair with a bendy bus and this was the unloved child. I seem to remember games were near impossible to find for it. I don't think he ever got another game for it either.
It almost looked like a Gameboy that had an affair with a bendy bus and this was the unloved child. I seem to remember games were near impossible to find for it. I don't think he ever got another game for it either.
Ikobo said:
I have an RG353M and an RG351M as well as my PSP. I’ve come to prefer the 353 out of the two Anbernics due to it having a volume wheel instead of buttons, but they’re both incredibly well made. Will upgrade again when they release one that can run Dreamcast 100% though.
I'd love a metal, linux based Anbernic that can comfortably do Dreamcast (but it would need stacked shoulder buttons), that would pretty much tick all the boxes for me. Nobody does DPads and buttons like them, not even Sony/MS/Nintendo.Now I've finally figured out the various apps on the Retroid I'm really liking it, I considered buying a PSP but this is effectively a perfect PSP (and runs them at x3 resolution).
Back when I was a young Hairychap I wanted a Barcode Battler.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barcode_Battler
They sound rubbish. I'm glad I got a Mega Drive or whatever.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barcode_Battler
They sound rubbish. I'm glad I got a Mega Drive or whatever.
Baldchap said:
Back when I was a young Hairychap I wanted a Barcode Battler.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barcode_Battler
They sound rubbish. I'm glad I got a Mega Drive or whatever.
Wow that's a blast from the past, my friend had one, used to cut barcodes off of cereal boxes!https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barcode_Battler
They sound rubbish. I'm glad I got a Mega Drive or whatever.
Nokia N Gage was another one I'm glad I avoided.
I used to have quite a few of those cheap, one-game, handhelds when I was really young, would love to get my hands of those again.
No idea what any of them were called though.
ETA, these.... I deffo had the driving one.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/204357928594?hash=item2...
No idea what any of them were called though.
ETA, these.... I deffo had the driving one.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/204357928594?hash=item2...
Edited by Dave. on Friday 9th June 14:51
Love a handheld - fnaar naar.
RG351P running 351Elec. Fantastic little thing. Such good value. Once I loaded 351Elec I was happy. The stock software is adequate at best.
Having enjoyed that I went full nerd and got the Analogue Pocket. I still have loads of GBA and some GameBoy games from the old days. Have a Dock on order but who knows when that'll arrive..
RG351P running 351Elec. Fantastic little thing. Such good value. Once I loaded 351Elec I was happy. The stock software is adequate at best.
Having enjoyed that I went full nerd and got the Analogue Pocket. I still have loads of GBA and some GameBoy games from the old days. Have a Dock on order but who knows when that'll arrive..
351Elec is superb, I feel for anyone who has bought one of these devices and isn't aware of how good (and easy) it is to set up custom firmware.
I guess we can't really stray into ROM chat but archive.org is an absolutely incredible (and safe) resource for absolutely everything you could ever need.
Retro Game Corps on YouTube too, Russ' videos are excellent and hold your hand through the setup of a lot of these things.
I guess we can't really stray into ROM chat but archive.org is an absolutely incredible (and safe) resource for absolutely everything you could ever need.
Retro Game Corps on YouTube too, Russ' videos are excellent and hold your hand through the setup of a lot of these things.
ch37 said:
351Elec is superb, I feel for anyone who has bought one of these devices and isn't aware of how good (and easy) it is to set up custom firmware.
I guess we can't really stray into ROM chat but archive.org is an absolutely incredible (and safe) resource for absolutely everything you could ever need.
Retro Game Corps on YouTube too, Russ' videos are excellent and hold your hand through the setup of a lot of these things.
ROMs aren't a challenge to obtain.I guess we can't really stray into ROM chat but archive.org is an absolutely incredible (and safe) resource for absolutely everything you could ever need.
Retro Game Corps on YouTube too, Russ' videos are excellent and hold your hand through the setup of a lot of these things.
If you're into your retro handhelds, I can heartily recommend the Pocket. Beautifully made and the experience is lovely.
nakedninja said:
I have a Retroid Pocket 3+ which I still haven't managed to figure out how to setup. Silly old me was thinking it would be nice and simple, plug and play. I seem to need to set aside a full day for the thing.
It's not fun, but it's worth it. I really did have to put some extensive time aside to sit down, watch the Retro Game Corps video (and read the excellent text write-up on the site) to get there. The Daijisho front end is worth the effort too.I then also found another set of videos that went through the more 'modern' systems (PS2, Gamecube, Saturn etc) with specific settings to tweak to get them flying along nicely.
By far the hardest part for me was the systems that use RetroArch (so, ironically, the really old systems that are a piece of cake to get going on the Anbernic Linux devices), horrible bit of software to configure and use.
The Anbernic Linux systems are so, so much easier to set up if you're not so fussed about GC/PS2 level etc. Literally download the custom OS and dump it on a SD card, virtually all the configuration work is done for you.
Slightly off topic but still on retro games. I only played a couple of games in my youth, the first being 'Scramble' and the second being 'Colin Mcrae rally the original PS1 version)
If I wanted to play these again on my TV, is there some 'device' I can buy/build which will enable this, alongside a wireless PS1 type controller? I see there's a few little boxes I can buy with like 10,000 games on, but I can never find these 2 and that's all I'm really interested in.
Thanks for any advice!
If I wanted to play these again on my TV, is there some 'device' I can buy/build which will enable this, alongside a wireless PS1 type controller? I see there's a few little boxes I can buy with like 10,000 games on, but I can never find these 2 and that's all I'm really interested in.
Thanks for any advice!
audi321 said:
Slightly off topic but still on retro games. I only played a couple of games in my youth, the first being 'Scramble' and the second being 'Colin Mcrae rally the original PS1 version)
If I wanted to play these again on my TV, is there some 'device' I can buy/build which will enable this, alongside a wireless PS1 type controller? I see there's a few little boxes I can buy with like 10,000 games on, but I can never find these 2 and that's all I'm really interested in.
Thanks for any advice!
Loads of ways of doing it really and most play PS1 games just fine now. Some of the Anbernic devices have HDMI out and Bluetooth (8BitDo make great wireless controllers), so you can play on telly via the handheld just fine. The newish Anbernic RG353PS ticks all the boxes and is £100 https://droix.net/blogs/anbernic-rg353ps-review/If I wanted to play these again on my TV, is there some 'device' I can buy/build which will enable this, alongside a wireless PS1 type controller? I see there's a few little boxes I can buy with like 10,000 games on, but I can never find these 2 and that's all I'm really interested in.
Thanks for any advice!
Great review from Russ at RGC (as always) here:, HDMI out tested at 23mins: https://youtu.be/GfilkFTRU8E
Can't really discuss it here but if the games you want aren't preinstalled it's dead easy to add them, literally a case of downloading the file from a certain archive and dragging them into the correct folder on the SD card that comes with the handheld. The 353PS comes with two SD card slots (and two SD cards), one for the OS and one for the games, so it's even easier to manage as long as you have a device you can use to drag things over (laptop etc).
Edited by ch37 on Friday 30th June 11:12
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