I wanted to share my pictures of the Konkr pocket Vance. This is the unit that Iamio sent over to me for review.

(You have no idea how hard it was coming up for a pun for this one)

Thought I’d post some comparison photos of the classic pearl blue Game Boy Advance SP (left) and the pearl blue RG SP (right) side by side for anyone interested in how similar they look (have added the metallic blue RG34XXSP in the last two slides).

Anbernic have done a pretty great job at replicating the classic GBA SP, the new RG SP really does give you that hit of nostalgia you’re probably looking for.

The RG SP is very slightly thicker and a touch lighter colour wise, I wouldn’t have noticed the difference in colour if I hadn’t put the two side by side. The anbernic sticker is a nice touch too.

But yeah, awesome job by Anbernic. This is very likely the definitive GBA SP replica retro handheld.

So I have owned a Retroid Pocket Nova for a while. I immediately change the sticks to low profile sticks. I have been taking my Nova out more than I do compared to previous devices I have owned. No case just a glass screen protector.

I initially thought because it has stack triggers and sticks that are not recessed enough, it wouldnt compare to a clamshell when it comes to pocketability.

However I took out my DSi XL and came to realise the Nova is way more pocketable and the DSi XL bothered me where I noticed it too much. I had the same issue with the RG477M. I came to the conclusion there are 2 key things that I find makes a device matter for pocketability. That is weight and thickness.

I have listed the weight of some popular devices below. As you can see the Nova is very light in comparison to many similar sized devices. I have also uploaded a picture (number 2) comparing the size to Xbox Ally X, Switch 2, DSi XL and New 3DS, best way to describe the size is its similar to a PSP. Finally I uploaded a thickness comparison compared to a DSi XL (picture number 3).

New 3DS - 253g

Retroid Pocket Nova - 255g

Vita OLED WiFi - 260g

RG405M - 260g

PSP 1000 - 280g

RG476H - 290g

Retroid Pocket Flip 2 - 306g

DSi XL - 314g

New 3DS XL - 329g

RG477M- 354g

Ayn Thor - 380g

(Image: Retroid Pocket 5)

Hey guys, I hope you all are doing good! ^___^ <3

I've been meaning to make this post just sharing my experience with owning my first handheld, and why I sold it for playing on my phone instead 😔

Ofc these are MY personal opinions. Whatever makes you happiest go for it!!

This is for people who might be debating on whether you wanna go out and buy a dedicated handheld instead of just using the phone you already got!

(Mainly for the people who have more modern flagship phones, but in general most phones can play most retro games)

Since middle school I've been into retro games a ton, and in general emulation has been my way to go! It's more convenient and can often play them with better res and modern comforts we're more used to. And as much as I haven't been super into getting a more dedicated device, I got into another fixation on playing retro games again, and felt I'd be happier with one :D

I was super excited! Did all the research, watched retro game corps a ton, and saved up for the Retroid Pocket 5. I wanted something that could handle everything up to ps2, and it was perfect. Perfect size, good build quality, good customer support, etc (Though the shipping was stressful 😭). It even had the dedicated second screen for if I ever felt like I wanted it in the future.

It's on my profile, I decided to sit down and spend a few hours actually setting everything up to the best quality and shaders that I wanted. Made sure controls were perfect, as well as my frontend (God I love ES-DE 💗)

By the end, I had my amazing little device that could play anything Ive ever wanted to, and more! It felt super amazing to be done with it, I could finally sit down and play with it.

....

Right?

Here's the thing. After all of that work, I realized I didn't actually wanna play anything. Either because of choice paralysis, having little time to play, little energy, or the fact that I prefer playing the big games on my big screen. (⁠╥⁠﹏⁠╥⁠)

I was only happy to have the device of my dreams, not to actually use it. Briefly, my mental problems also made it hard to use. Feeling guilty I spent such hard earned money (VERY hard earned), on something that's collecting dust in the corner of my room. As well as this slight real OCD feeling that it was never truly done being set up.

There is that joke saying the game we play most is setting up the device and tweaking it. Unfortunately for some people like me, it truly was. I do love games, but personally playing them is hard for me. I kept telling myself, "After I buy the device, I'll play more. After I set up the emulator, I'll play more. After I set up the shaders, I'll play more. Etc." It also just irked me that I had to carry a separate device around, and I felt like I had to baby it all the time.

It's dumb and obvious to say out loud, but sometimes it's needed to be said. SBC gaming, is gaming. I feel like some of us here are just like me, and really value getting the shiniest new thing, vs just enjoying playing the games we love.

If buying a new device allows you to play more games in a way that makes you happy, by all means PLEASE do. But for so many of us who have a controller, and a perfectly good phone that can play it all, ask yourself. Why am I not using it?

Didn't mean to write so much, but I enjoyed it! I hope this helped anyone who is debating on whether or not they want a dedicated gaming handheld. Don't get me wrong, I'm greatful for the experience I had, and the knowledge of what's right for me. But in the end I was disappointed and realize playing on my phone was convenient and honestly makes me happier using it. I love the feeling of just turning my boring everyday device into an instant gaming system, vs a second device that only plays games and screams "PLAY ME FOR GOT SAKE JUST USE ME I COST $250!"

(Last thing I'll say is, I feel like I wouldnt have as many of these problems if I got a cheaper $60-$100 device. But again I wanted something capable of playing any system, and felt like I truly needed it. If you wanna dip your toes into SBC gaming on a separate device, please only dip a little 😭)

Thanks for reading you guys have a lovely day enjoy your games!! 🥳🙌💗💗

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TL;DR

I got a device that could play everything my phone already could, and much as I loved having it, I never actually played with it. Turns out I don't play as much as I want to, because of multiple reasons that became important after spending the time and money. Instead of getting something you might not use, sit down enjoy the games you truly love on something you already have and can enjoy :D

It might save you a lot more trouble than you think. If you still really wanna dip your toes, try something cheaper and smaller that plays what you want 💗

Happy to answer any questions for those who want to compare the Retroid Nova with the RG 476h.

I had a very thin veneer of an excuse to get the Retroid Nova even though I had the RG476h. I kept hitting random performance issues. I do have other more powerful handhelds, but it was always a little annoying.

For instance, Tomb Raider 1-3 Remastered was free for a bit on the Epic Store but it wouldn't run on the RG476h via GameNative (you still have to use a workaround to run it on Snapdragon). And things like Final Fantasy VIII with shaders would stutter on SwanStation (but works fine with DuckStation).

Thin... very thin, I know.

But after getting the Nova and starting to use it side by side, it's great. I can throw whatever I want on it basically. Any shader, some GameNative and not have to tinker.

And I'll admit it, I'm team glass fronts, but the plastics on the Nova feels wonderful and the weight reduction was a surprise as well.

The OLED vs LED isn't an issue for me. Both screens are fantastic. But the combination of OLED, wonderful plastics feel and weight is a winner. I dunno if it's a $100 difference worth, but since I have both, I have the luxury to compare. (Nova: $240 + shipping, RG 476h: $150 on sale, free ship via AliExpress)

About Over Tightened Screws
I used my iFixIt toolkit screwdriver to loosen the screws, haven't wanted to try the bump back or change out the buttons yet. But I did lightly loosen each screw by a partial turn, in a cross pattern and then fully loosen all the screws with no screw top stripping. Then I went and tightened everything back, finger tight. So thankfully. I don't have any stripped screws.

About D-Pad Clack
I think mine does have it, but it doesn't bother me while playing. I do sometimes hit it when I play, but not enough for me to take things apart yet. Waiting to see if Retroid will send out replacement D-Pad or do one of those tape mods I've seen online.

So I’m a freshman in college, and I’m having a difficult time playing my retro handhelds in public. There are many times I’ve found myself bored and wanting to just relax and play some retro games but rethinking, just because I’m in public. It’s not like I think I’m going to get bullied for it, but it makes me feel like people see me as childish for pulling out my retro color way RP Nova and playing, instead of doomscrolling or pretending to do homework. Any advice on how to switch up my mindset?

Hey everyone, in today's review video of the RG55G1, I didn't spend a lot of time comparing benchmarks between its various competing devices, mostly because my goal was to provide a more broad assessment without getting mired in data. Regardless, I wanted to share that data in case it's of interest to you.

3DMark Wild Life Extreme (GPU test):
Mangmi Air X = 118
RG55G1 = 174
RP Classic = 174
RG476H = 473
Retroid Pocket 5 = 1333

GeekBench 7 (single core CPU test):
Mangmi Air X = 368
RG55G1 = 872
RP Classic = 873
RG476H = 750
Retroid Pocket 5 = 1090

GeekBench 7 (multi-core CPU test):
Mangmi Air X = 1369
RG55G1 = 2314
RP Classic = 2378
RG476H = 2582
Retroid Pocket 5 = 3512

GeekBench 7 (GPU OpenCL test):
Mangmi Air X = 216
RG55G1 = 297
RP Classic = 297
RG476H = 1630
Retroid Pocket 5 = 1275

Some quick notes:
- some devices didn't allow me to choose Vulkan for the Geekbench 7 GPU test, so I did the one standard they all supported (OpenCL)
- the Mangmi Air X took nearly THREE HOURS to complete the Geekbench 7 GPU test, which took only 10 minutes on the RP5 (took about an hour with the RG55G1)
- RPC (6GB model) and RG55G1 test results are about even, as expected, with slightly better CPU multi-core on the RPC but not enough to likely make a tangible performance delta

Ultimately, the numbers are in line with what I expected: CPU performance on the SD G1 Gen 2 is not too far off from the SD865, and sometimes better than the T820, but the chipset gets obliterated in GPU performance (best reflected in 3DMark).

BW3: Genesis on Iphone SE - 6 badges in

Pokemon Emerald Isle on RG Nano - 3 badges in

I'm not a phone gamer but the SE is compact enough that it doesn't feel unweildly. It's still exclusively for pokemon though.

I remember when XCOM first released, I got it on a demo disk, probably from PC Gamer magazine off the rack. I found the setting and vibe EXTREMELY appealing. The spooky, evil aliens coming to take over and the eerie music with the futuristic technology just tickled my brain.

But the game was so difficult for me at the time. Felt like my little soldiers were so bad at aiming and were completely outmatched by the alien menace. I didn't bother with the full game because of that experience.

Never played the newer remakes either, but something must have inspired me to go back and give the OG game another shot. Maybe I felt like I didn't want this game to get the best of me? How hard could it really be? I'm older and have more life experience now and there's YT if you get stuck or need some help.

So glad I did! This game has so much depth! There's always something to do, whether it's building and managing your bases, keeping track of inventory levels and construction, monitoring worldwide alien activity and its impacts on the nations that are paying you to protect them, personnel management or defending airspaces. And that's all before we even talk about ground combat!

The combat starts off incredibly hard, but gets easier as you figure out a good flow and progress through R&D. It took me a few playthroughs and failures, but I feel like I'm getting the hang of it. It's all about tactics: assuming defensive positions, using cover and planning movements carefully. I used to just send guys straight at the aliens simply because they were over there and needed to be shot. But that's not exactly a great plan. But even with a good plan, thinking of your soldiers as ammo to use toward completion of the mission helps. Don't get too attached to these guys. They will still die. A lot.

On my 3rd or 4th attempt now, and each attempt has gotten a little further. I'm gonna keep pushing and see how far I can send this organization. I heard Mars is a good goal.

Settings/Setup

Retroid Pocket 5

XCOM: UFO Defense (PS1 version)

RetroArch/Swanstation Core

I don't know if there is a great way to get the PC version running on Android. I'm sure there probably is, but I wasn't looking to go through the hoops to get it running to start. I've heard of OpenXcom and the QOL improvements, so I might look into something like that eventually.

Mapping the dpad to the left joystick to have as an option works surprisingly well as a cursor for the "Point and Click" control scheme. Moving the map around the edges with it is not ideal, but serviceable. It could benefit from a map scroll speed setting, but there are other ways to change the view in game that work well too.

For some reason, all the action and menus of the game on PS1 are displayed in a 16:9 box inside the full 4:3 display. Using the core settings, I was able to crop off 20 pixels from the top and bottom of the image and it now perfectly fills the screen on my RP5 without any stretching. That was a nice bonus!

Also want to make sure any core enhancements are turned off. This game lags if settings are turned up very high. No PGXP, 2x Internal Resolution (1x had graphical errors, higher introduced lag), Bilinear filtering. Anything more than that will probably end up in a worse experience.

Much cheaper than a lot of cards. It is a company owned by Amazon so appears to be the same card as the one with the Amazon label. Half the price. Only thing is you have to format it yourself it comes with some Blink camera files on it..

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Amazon-Basics-microSDXC-Memory-Adapter/dp/B08TJZDJ4D/ref=sr_1_16?sr=8-16

Blink: https://www.amazon.com/Blink-MicroSD-card/dp/B0D715PVDQ/ref=sr_1_4?sr=8-4

If 20 years ago someone told me one day I could play a remastered Vice City wherever and whenever I wanted to, I would have laughed at their face... What a time to be alive

RP4 Pro x GTA VC DE

I started on MSI Claw and later bought the Retroid Pocket 6. Claw for home/bed 65% and RP6 for on the go 35%. And yes, I play the game knowing the remake of the game is coming in 3 weeks.

Finally got my hands on the switch oled for my collection! Well, I know it's technically not a collection yet, (it's only got 2 consoles!! DX) but I plan on expanding it in the future, maybe with a 3ds or a vita? I don't know, only time will tell! ;)

(the handheld in the right is the r36xx, an r36s variant with built in wifi) Also don't mind those bubbles on its screen, it was my first time applying a screen protector... I'm buying a new one and I'll get a more experienced person to apply it for me!! XD

Back with another round of numbers from a small beta I've been building that tracks what you play across retro handhelds. Since the last post it's grown from ~70 to ~115 people, and total play time more than doubled.

So far, collectively: 2,256 different games tracked across 80 different handhelds (plus 16 original consoles people have added to their collections), and over 5,700 hours of play across 5,780 sessions. About 1,100 of those hours were played in the last month. Same caveat as always: a lot of the rest is lifetime history that syncs in when people first connect a handheld, but it's all real play.

Hours tracked per handheld, with the top 3 games on each:

• RG35XX Pro (1,107 hrs): Gyakuten Kenji 2, Ace Attorney Investigations, Valkyrie Profile
• RG35XXH (651 hrs): Stardew Valley, Celeste Classic, The Simpsons: Hit & Run
• RG40XXV (634 hrs): Super Mario Bros., Donkey Kong Country, Picross 2
• Miyoo Mini Plus (478 hrs): Picross DS, Dragon Quest IV, Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker
• RG35XX Plus (449 hrs): Slayers X: Terminal Aftermath, Digimon World 2, Beyblade: Burst God
• RG35XX SP (429 hrs): Stardew Valley, Evoland Legendary Edition, Animal Crossing: Wild World
• Thor (208 hrs): Chrono Trigger, A Link to the Past & Four Swords, Pokémon HeartGold
• Miyoo Flip (180 hrs): Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones, Evoland Legendary Edition, Pokémon FireRed

(One person has also manually logged 277 hours of Switch play, but I left it off the handheld list.)

By OS:

• muOS: 2,517 hours across 1,402 sessions
• Knulli: 1,085 hours across 1,170 sessions (was 23 hours last month - almost all lifetime history from people who just joined)
• Android: 867 hours across 1,110 sessions
• OnionOS: 478 hours across 1,148 sessions
• SpruceOS: 201 hours across 817 sessions
• Steam Deck: 25 hours across 27 sessions - first month with actual stats

New this month: RetroAchievements integration. 31 people linked their RA accounts, and they have 12,592 achievements between them. Combined with our session tracking, you can see some interesting things:

• 882 achievements can be pinned to the exact handheld and play session where they popped, across 16 people and 259 sessions.
• The handhelds they popped on: Thor (159), Legion Go S (103), TrimUI Brick (96), Odin 3 (91), Retroid Pocket 5 (79). Achievement hunting skews hard toward the Android handhelds.
• muOS has by far the most hours tracked but only 76 pinned unlocks, while Android accounts for 472. The OS people play on most is not the one they hunt achievements on.
• Densest session: 31 achievements in a 43-minute run of Blue's Journey - one every 83 seconds.
• And the flip side: the single biggest time-sink in the data, 266 hours on one game, has zero of its 91 achievements unlocked. Marathon players and achievement hunters are different people.

Some other things in the data:

• Tetris is still the most-added game, now added by 30 players (up from 17). And Apotris, a homebrew Tetris clone, is now the #4 most-added game on its own.
• The collector crown changed hands. Last month's leader got passed and dropped to third, the new champion is at 238 games, and five people have now crossed 200.
• The Stardew Valley player from last month is up to 71 hours across 60 sessions, still all on the same RG35XXH - and then someone connected an RG35XX SP and imported 101 hours of Stardew in one go. Out-farmed overnight. The community total is 211 hours across 8 farmers.
• The oldest game played is still Star Ship from 1977. Nobody dug up anything older this month.

Happy to dig into any of the numbers in the comments.

I posted these a few days ago, but the original post was removed after I added a link to download the files. I’m hoping this one doesn’t get flagged.

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/z1oy32maq73nh6i2rcjeu/Custom-Theme.rar?rlkey=8ouh413xy0z1tzvn5qjju9v2d&st=awlop47v&dl=0

Devices: RG35XXSP, RGB30, TrimUI Smart Pro

I've spent the last few months building retsurf, a browser designed specifically for retro gaming handhelds. It currently runs on PortMaster-supported handhelds and is based on the Servo browser engine, with SDL2 handling the windowing and input.

It's still early and definitely has bugs, but it can already load and render modern websites.

Some of its features include:

• Gamepad-first navigation. Control a virtual cursor with the stick or D-pad, use Vimium-style link hints, type with an on-screen keyboard, and fully rebind the controls.
• Reader mode and page zoom for making websites more comfortable to use on a small screen.
• Ad and tracker blocking at the network level.
• Tabs, bookmarks, history, background downloads, and session restore.

You can find the project: https://github.com/mxmgorin/retsurf

I took my time to make sure the Nova made sense for me, and that I wasn't getting caught up in the fomo. Now that I have the Nova in my hands, I'm so glad I got it. It's so light and thin, yet comfortable, and I'm a sucker for red console colorways. I originally thought that since I already have the RP6, the Nova would be redundant (and Russ said something similar in one of his reviews), but now holding it, the Nova has an extremely different feel that I think is perfect for the older systems up to GC/PS2 without the heft of the RP6, which will remain my go-to for Steam games and other systems that make sense for that screen

Technically the hat was the only one I picked up on yhe holiday... but the anbernic rg sp i nabbed specifically for travelling out. Thought about just grabbing my brick hammer but no, this bad boy with inclement Enerald is just... 👌 perfection.

Sipping a beer and waiting on my flight back home (😩). Atleast I can sink another few hours into inclement Emerald while im at it (since I got the shiny hunting for my starter done on the flight in i can actually play)

(Edit: I am infact drinking BEER not bears, evidently I have had a sip too much)

Finally beat DMC 1 and during the process the cracked hinge on my Flip 2 finally gave out and split all the way. DMC was really good, but dragged on a bit, Flip 2 no excuse for Retroids bad hinge design, but now at least I can put some tape or glue on it lol

The Odin 2 Mini. There's nothing else quite like it. 16:9 5" display, Stick up top! slim form factor, not covered in glass. You might say the Retroid Pocket 6 is the replacement but even that is not as pocketable. Wanting to find a truly pocketable 8gen 2 device with these criteria but the closest thing I've found is the KTR2 and I'm not too familiar with that company. This device with Armada would also make an amazing Steam Deck Pocket. 😭I want it back but now they all go for $400 minimum.

(game pictured in the first slide is Mario Party Jamboree)

Just a PSA!

https://www.sfbags.com/collections/retro-gaming-cases-2026

Not a brand associate, just someone who has been waiting almost a year for them to do this.

This is actually the GOG version running via winlator using the VirGL graphics driver capped at 30fps and running at 720x600. I didn't know this had an android version and imagine it runs a lot better but it's still pretty cool to see a PC game running on such a small device. There's a little bit of slowdown in the menus and pretty bad slowdown when loading into different areas but other than that the game actually runs great. I've only played through the first episode in classic mode but it's perfect for anyone looking to kill 30 minutes.