Welcome to the latest edition of Retro Handhelds Weekly. This week, we saw a bunch of news in the world of hardware and software. Our writing team continues to be on an absolute tear, and there’s even a surprise or two sprinkled in! So sit back, grab a cup of coffee, and catch up on what’s happened this week in the world of Retro Handhelds.
Table of Contents
‼️Get Your Pre-Orders and New Releases!
- AliExpress 11.11 Sale: The Best Handheld Deals We’ve Found So Far
- AYN Odin 3 Portal
- Anbernic RG DDS
- 8GB/128GB: $284.99 (Save $15)
- 12GB/256GB: $349.99 (Save $15)
Hardware and Industry News
- Anbernic’s RG DDS Is Getting Weirder and More Interesting By the Week: We’re still about a month away before the Anbernic RG DDS is slated to begin shipping, which gives the company plenty of time to share new teaser videos. The latest of which comes as a bit of a surprise, as it mostly focuses on the AI functionality that is being built into the handheld.
- No, Nintendo Switch Physical Cartridges Aren’t In Trouble: It’s been going viral about the supposed end of Nintendo Switch physical media, especially with doomscroll-worthy headlines like “It’s the End of An Era for Physical Games on Nintendo Switch 2” or “End of Nintendo Cartridge Production Might Accelerate Due to Manufacturer Closure,” to name a few.
- TrimUI Brick Pro Hammer U Stock Supposedly Coming This Month: In a screenshot posted on the r/trimui subreddit, it would appear that the stock of the TrimUI Brick Pro Hammer U is expected “this month.” Subsequently, LITNXT updated its listing to say that shipments are now expected “in early December.”
More Hardware & Industry News
- AYN Shows Off Odin 3 Portal in New Pictures and Updates Charging Spec
- Steam Deck Disappeared from the Steam Store For a Few Hours
- Nintendo Not Expected To Raise Switch 2 Prices “at the moment”
- AMD Medusa Point APU Appears on Geekbench
- Mass Production Begins for Hyperkin Mega95
Apps and Software
- Playing Xbox Games on Android Keeps Getting Better and Better: This week alone, we’ve seen two massive updates to the existing emulator options, with hakuX v1.3 and Xenra v0.4.5 released. However, community developer Jdewitz jumped in on the action, by releasing hakuX-Advanced earlier today, which is forked from hakuX and comes with a few more bells and whistles.
- itch.io Makes Moves Against `AI Slop` on Their Platform: In a recent set of posts from the company’s Bluesky page, they’ve not only announced that they’ve “Just deleted a couple terabytes of AI slop.” but that they’ve also added a filter on their search page to filter out any content that has placed a Generative AI disclosure on the page of their game.
- Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time Ported to PC and Running at 4K/60fps: It’s been a whirlwind couple of weeks for Switch 2 fans, as The Legend of Zelda – 40th Anniversary Edition arrived, along with the Ocarina of Time remake. However, thanks to the recent jailbreak, the Switch 2 emulation/porting scene has absolutely exploded.
More Software News
- Microsoft Begins Rolling Out “Faster, Simpler XBOX Experience”
- EA Adds 25 Classic Games to Steam and GOG
- GOG Galaxy Support Coming to Linux in 2027
- FSR 4.1 Coming to MSI Claw A8 in December
Emulation Corner
Custom Core
Ports/Decomps/Recomps
Game of the Month
From the Writers
While there’s always a lot of news to cover and talk about, we also try to take a step back and give everyone something a bit different to enjoy. These are the more editorial-styled articles and reviews that you might have missed over the course of this week.
- Retroid Pocket Nova Review: Two Months Late
- Checking Out The Zelda 40th Anniversary Switch 2
- XTEINK X4 Pro Review: Another Layer of Separation
- KONKR Pocket Block First Impressions: Block Party
- Game of the Month: For Novemb-her, the Ladies Take the Lead
- PortMaster Roundup: October 2026
- 8 Games to Grow Your Backlog – November 2026
- GMKTec M6 Ultra Review: A Midrange Masterclass?
- 5 Spooky Retro Games to Play This Halloween
On the YouTubes
RH Partners
Looking for Deals?
The big sale is just about here, as the AliExpress 11.11 Sale kicks off on November 1 and runs until November 18. With that, we have a whole batch of new discount codes for everyone to take advantage of, and as always, you can head over to Handheld.Deals to find even more.
- RHH5 – $5 off $29+
- RHH6 – $6 off $35+
- 15RHH – $15 off $80+
- RHH21 – $21 off $119+
- RHH25 – $25 off $139+
- RHH27 – $27 off $150+
- RHH32 – $32 off $170+
- RHH38 – $38 off $200+
- RHH50 – $50 off $249+
- RHH55 – $55 off $299+
- RHH70 – $70 off $349+
- RHH75 – $75 off $399+
- RHH90 – $90 off $459+
- RHH95 – $95 off $500+
- RHH110 – $110 off $629+
- RHH120 – $120 off $650+
- RHH155 – $155 off $859+
Sign Up For the Retro Handhelds Weekly Newsletter
We recently launched the Retro Handhelds Weekly newsletter! This has been a long time coming, but basically, it’s what you’ve enjoyed about this weekly news round-up, just in an email format. You’ll receive ad-free weekly updates on what’s going on around the Retro Handhelds community. We have handhelds, devices, emulation/software, gaming, community news, reviews, deals, current RH games of the week/month/quarter/year, and more! And of course, it’s completely free to sign up.
