In the modern age of handhelds, companies are working on making their experiences better for the user, and in some cases, properly tailoring the hardware they use for a certain niche. The RG477M is great for 4:3 content. The Retroid Pocket Classic is great for Game Boy, or pushing SNES to 8:7. But in comparison to finding the best modern experience for emulation, what if we took that the other way, and went for the worst?
The Hardware
The Boox Palma is going to be my device of choice for this article. I’m aiming to find something that’ll work as another Game Boy style device, and with an e-ink display, you’d think it could replicate that well. And it…kind of does? But we’ll talk about it later. For now you can find the specs below.
- Display: 6.13”, 1648×824 E Ink Carta 1200 (2:1 Aspect Ratio)
- CPU: Qualcomm Snapdragon 662
- GPU: Adreno 610
- RAM: 6GB
- Battery: 3950mAh
- OS: Android 11
- Storage: 128GB + microSD
- Weight: 169 grams
The Setup
The setup is pretty simple. I’m going to fulfill everyone’s goal of “Just get a phone, and put a telescopic controller on it”. The question though is, what you should pick for that. You could go for ergonomic grips, and go for something akin to an ELO Vagabond, or you could could work in something more compact and cheap, like the GameSir X5 Lite.
At the time, I initially used the GameSir X2s Bluetooth for this, but since then I’ve gotten an 8BitDo Ultimate Mobile Gaming Controller which might take the cake for small bluetooth telescopics. But if I’m making a single use, worse experience, might as well go for compact and slot it into the X2S, which is what I ended up doing
Software
Software wise, it’s stupid simple. Since I’m focusing on Game Boy, Using a launcher like ES-DE or Daijisho would be best to just pull up your games, and boot directly into RetroArch. If you’re going for more, it might be worth it to setup other systems through emulators like PPSSPP or Redream. This is a Snapdragon 662 and could play up to some PSP (imagine a Mangmi Air X here). However, with the E Ink display you won’t want to.
I opted for ES-DE as I could select a light mode theme to avoid filling the display too much, and in RetroArch settings, I just chose to scale the game up as far as it would go without stretching. This is all because, with E Ink displays you’re going to have to wait for them to refresh over time, and putting black borders or images over everything will just make the setup worse. Luckily the Boox Palma has a refresh screen button in the dropdown menu that will help with this.
The Experience
Game Boy
In terms of gameplay, it’s what you expect. It’s black and white, and easy on the eyes, but the ghosting from the slow refresh rate of the E Ink display means it’s going to get blurry if you’re not careful. For Game Boy, or Game Boy Color if you’re fine with black and white, it works as you’d expect. The performance is obviously there, but it does feel like you’re playing on a much older device.
Everything Else
Now I also loaded some GBA and even some PSP just to see how it works. If you’re playing something slow-paced you’ll be fine. RPG’s or more story based games will help get the point across and you’ll be able to read through them just fine. It is an e-ink display after all. But trying to boot anything that moves fast, like Burnout Legends, immediately makes the screen a blurry mess from everything it’s trying to cover. And the display can’t keep up.
But this was probably the best way to play Mega Duck and the Wataravision. You don’t know gaming if you don’t know Snakeroy.
The Final Word
Should you do this? Absolutely not. Was it fun to set up? 100% No. Does it give a familiar feeling to the original hardware? Yeah. Despite the accuracy, you’re not going to enjoy the experience as much as you claim you will. With 120Hz handhelds, and pocket sized devices that’ll play PS1 you’re not going to miss the old smeary days of before my time at least.
While I am technically too young for the original Game Boy, I did have the chance to experience it growing up, and while I do understand the nostalgia on it from my end, it’s better to put your rose tinted glasses on and enjoy your old games in the best way possible. The time is now for you to enjoy it, regardless of the amount of time you have to do so. Just don’t actually waste your time on Mega Duck. It hurts too much.
What did you think of this article? Let us know in the comments below, and chat with us in our Discord!
This page may contain affiliate links, by purchasing something through a link, Retro Handhelds may earn a small commission on the sale at no additional cost to you.
And somehow, I still want one.