Retro Handhelds General Thread

[Soulless Emperor]

Man, i'm really looking forward to see the reviews of this one, it seems like a good upgrade for my RP4P. My main concern is the hinge...

Like it might break right? I've seen the ayn thor myself and I love how it looks like a modernized 3ds.

 

[Sh4gg1xx]

Like it might break right?

Yeah, the Retroid Flip 2 had some serious problems with it, alot of users complaining about the hinge on their device breaking, hopefully the Ayn Thor will not share these issues.

I've seen the ayn thor myself and I love how it looks like a modernized 3ds.

Same, the design of this device goes hard and seeing videos of it made me want it even more.

 

[Soulless Emperor]

Yeah, the Retroid Flip 2 had some serious problems with it, alot of users complaining about the hinge on their device breaking, hopefully the Ayn Thor will not share these issues.


Same, the design of this device goes hard and seeing videos of it made me want it even more.

I hope I get it around Christmas or so just to play some 3ds and ds games again. I feel like a kid again after seeing the ayn thor.

 

[Dyne]

I'm really thinking about getting a Thor.
My only concern is how low the Dpad is. I mostly play Dpad-centric games on handhelds and I hope it isnt uncomfortable.

 

[Nickakyoin]

Does anyone here owns a Wonderswan (og and/or Color)? How was your experience with it?

 

[Matricks]

I play Wonderswan emulation, games are cheapy crap knokoffs, stick to gb 1000x better.

 

[Nickakyoin]

I play Wonderswan emulation, games are cheapy crap knokoffs, stick to gb 1000x better.

Thank you but, with all respect, I was asking something really different. We get that GBA was better in every single way.

Not that I'm expecting many people here to actually own it considering it was exclusive Japan, sadly. But it always affascinated me, especially for Klonoa, Digimon and the Final Fantasy I-II remakes.

 

[Matricks]

Thank you but, with all respect, I was asking something really different. We get that GBA was better in every single way.

Not that I'm expecting many people here to actually own it considering it was exclusive Japan, sadly. But it always affascinated me, especially for Klonoa, Digimon and the Final Fantasy I-II remakes.

Well if emulation cant fix bad hardware then real hardware is more worst.
Real hardwareIt has frameskipping problems, games runs stuttering and almost all games are in japons.

 

[Commash]

I keep getting these sort of handhelds recomended to me on Temu, but I have never owned or seen any reviews on them yet. Does any of you guys own one of these or do you know if they're any good? If not, do you have any reccomendations, preferably something on the cheaper end, maybe something under 150 euros?

 

[Spike's iconSpike]

The best brands are Anbernic and Retroid.
I recommend you go for either of those brands, your budget is good enough for them.
Here this will get you started

 

[Scotty Scotty]

Pretty sure those are scams; it's Temu, after all.

 

[Waffles's iconWaffles]

I haven't owned those specifically, but I have had those which looked like PSPs in the past and I can tell you right now that most of those claims are BS -- I remember mine being TECHNICALLY able to play SNES games and up, but at the frame rate of a ViewMaster at best. Very glitchy, too.

I'm not saying these are the same, but experience has led me to believe me that you are much better off investing on a mid-end phone and putting emulators on it instead.

 

[JPchicre]

Speaking as a pro bad financial decision maker,I don't think expending more than 10 Euros on TEMU is a good financial decisions.

 

[vulonkaaz's iconvulonkaaz]

we got a whole thread about those devices somewhere else on the forum, and lots of communities and reviews of those things (like r/SBCGaming on reddit)

i'd recommand to not cheap out too much, get something that seem solid and play everything that you want, and most importantly don't fall in the trap of getting every single one of them as soon as they come out

edit: also don't buy from random temu vendors go to the manufacturer's shop

 

[Crosser19]

I can't speak on most of those emulation handhelds but I have a Miyoo Mini Plus and after replacing the OS with OnionOS its honestly pretty fantastic for how cheap (I think I paid something like $50 USD for it?) it was. It plays most systems up until the PS1 pretty well. Even games a lot of emulators struggle with for certain consoles, like DDS Megami Tensei 2 and Lagrange Point on Famicom, ran essentially perfect. The only issues I really had with it were strangely MSX system based games which is fine if you're just focusing on console and CD games up until the Playstation. It even played a lot of the MAME arcade games I threw at it, PC engine CD, and Sega CD games perfectly. But if you want to play anything past the PS1 I heard that the Retroid and Anbernic lines are pretty good, just a little bit pricier.

 

[Deleted member 466]

I got a Retroid Pocket Mini, it's fantastic. Though a bit on the expensive side, but in general Retroid does great products.

 

[Not_Red]

Temu is not the best place to buy these sort of handhelds, Aliexpress on the other hand is a lot more reliable. The main problem the Temu ones have is that they use clone consoles with weaker hardware to trim their dev costs but still sell at a profit. You can still use the cheaper ones that are copies of the RG35 ones, but don't expect them to run anything past PS1 games without stuttering, and even some games from that console will be too much for it too.

 

[Deleted member 898720]

Great caution is required with Temu because they only sell junk and they attract people with low prices. Better not buy anything from them.

 

[Boo Man]

buy directly from Retroid or Anbernic sites imo
miyoo mini is good too but cramps my hands

 

[nobitakun]

I wonder why there is so many people scared about these kind of consoles. Not every portable should come from known and famous brands.

The issue is not the device but the site trying to sell it. I own a R36H and a R36S and I assure you both consoles are worth their price. One costed me 26€ and the other 20€, there is nothing as powerful as those for the price. If you don't care about tags and don't want to pay extra just for having a "premium" device which at the end has issues like any other, I would defenitely go for one of these. R36S is GameBoy style and R36H is horizontal style.

Both consoles have exactly the same SoC and the same screen panel (which is surprisingly good for the price), although the R36S has different revisions, but that's not an issue at all.

With them you can play up to PS1, most of N64 games and a few Dreamcast games not very demanding. From GBA going down, everything works perfectly. I use ArkOS and 0 issues. I am not a fan of portable consoles, but when I feel like playing one, these are my ones to go. I used the SF2000 before, and it was really nice, but it struggles with many SNES and GBA games not so easy to emulate, because it's a very basic device without any custom firmware.

I only buy retro consoles that cost 30€ or less, that's my rule and it will remain forever. Being said that, you can get things like these and enjoy tons of games.

So, my recommendation, if you want something cheap, functional and don't care about brands, get one right away, but take care because there are clones here and there.

 

[Commash]

The best brands are Anbernic and Retroid.
I recommend you go for either of those brands, your budget is good enough for them.
Here this will get you started

I had no idea there are brands dedicated to making these sorts of consoles, I have always thought they're made by no name companies in China lmao.

Thanks for the recommendations and the video, I will check them out!

Post automatically merged: Oct 25, 2025

Pretty sure those are scams; it's Temu, after all.

Idk what I was expecting from that site but it was worth asking

 

[sparkychechard]

I got a retroid flip 2 recently its scratching that itch for retro gaming and some pc stuff but what I love about it is the clamshell form factor ❤ just ordered the AYN Thor so that I can enjoy the nds and 3ds library hoping my hands don't get too cramped

 

[Soupmancer]

If you're in the market for one without breaking the bank, I love my Miyoo Mini+. I think I got mine on sale for like $37 but they're usually around $50. It's not for everyone because it is on the smaller side, but I loooooove feeling like I'm a kid with my gameboy again. It unfortunately can't run PS2, PSP, Saturn, GameCube, etc., games and doesn't have dual analog sticks. But it is one of my favorites to play with. I did 100% Spyro 3 with it so I can vouch for it being pretty good.

 

[J.B’s rabbit den]

Anbernic is my spirit animal

 

[DjQuick2008]

A powkiddy X55 works just fine and a custom sd card stuff like dreamcast plays perfectly.

Post automatically merged: Oct 25, 2025

Anbernic is my spirit animal

Yeah bedtimes are certainly better with retro gaming