After the Odin 2 captured the hearts of many retro handheld enthusiasts, we wondered about what AYN could possibly follow it up with. The answer came in May 2024, as the Odin 2 Mini was first teased before it was officially unveiled.

A few of us here at RH Headquarters pre-ordered the Odin 2 Mini as soon as the listing went live. With some time using the Odin 2 Mini under our collective belts, we’ve shared our first impressions and subsequent review. However, whether it’s your first retro handheld or your 60th, we figure it might be helpful to provide an Odin 2 Mini Setup Guide.

A lot of the steps are the same across all Android devices, and you can visit our overarching Android Setup Guide to learn more, but there are a few differences here and there with the Odin 2 Mini.

Recommend Odin 2 Mini Accessories

There’s a pretty good chance that you’ve done your due diligence and equipped yourself with everything to get your Odin 2 MIni setup. However, if you’re not really sure where to start, or just want some recommendations of what we use with our handhelds, check out the list below.

microSD Cards

SD Card Readers

Docks

Build Your ROM and BIOS Library

Once you’ve acquired all of your necessary accessories, the next thing that you’ll want to do is to get your library of games in order. This also means making sure to have any BIOS files at the ready, depending on the systems that you want to play. In the event that you’re new to all of this, you’ll need to source your own ROMs and BIOS files. A quick Google search should remedy any other questions that you have. That being said, we’ve compiled a list of the recommended BIOS files for each system.

Recommended or Required BIOS Files

Nintendo
- 3DS
  - aes_keys.txt
- DS
  - bios7.bin
  - bios9.bin
  - firmware.bin
- DSi
  - dsi_bios7.bin
  - dsi_bios9.bin
  - dsi_firmware.bin
  - dsi_nand.bin
- Game Boy (Optional)
  - gb_bios.bin
- Game Boy Advance (Optional)
  - gba_bios.bin
- Game Boy Color (Optional)
  - gbc_bios.bin
- Switch
  - prod.keys
Sega
- Sega CD
  - bios_CD_E.bin
  - bios_CD_J.bin
  - bios_CD_U.bin
- Dreamcast
  - dc_boot.bin
  - dc_flash.bin
  - naomi_boot.bin
- Saturn
  - Kronos
    - saturn_bios.bin
  - Beetle Saturn
    - sega_101.bin
    - mpr-17933.bin (US)
Sony
- PS1
  - scph5501.bin
- PS2
  - scph-70012.bin
  - scph-70012.MEC
  - scph-70012.NVM
  - scph-70012_BIOS_V12_USA_200.BIN
- PS Vita
  - PSVUPDAT.PUP
  - PSP2UPDAT.PUP
- PSP
  - ppsspp.zip

What To Do After Getting Your Odin 2 Mini

Naturally, the first thing you’ll want to do with the Odin 2 Mini is rip it out of the box and start playing games. You’ll have to slow down just a bit, as we need to go through the initial setup process. This includes signing into your Google account in order to download apps and games from the Play Store.

Check for Updates

Even before you head into the Play Store to download apps and games, we recommend checking to see if there’s a software update available. Just follow the steps below to see if an update is waiting for you:

Open the Settings app on your Odin 2 Mini.
Scroll down and select System.
Scroll down again and select FOTA Update.
Select the Check Version button.
If an update is available, follow the on-screen steps to install it.

Recommended Apps

Besides the emulators and games that you’ll be enjoying, there are a few apps that we recommend also installing. Neither of these is currently found on the Play Store but are still safe and recommended to download.

Obtainium

Obtainium on Odin 2

An app that has become absolutely indispensable for me when using Android devices is Obtainium. This app has actually been around for a few years but skyrocketed in popularity in 2023. Essentially, it’s like having an RSS reader for applications downloaded from sources besides the Play Store.

It’s great being able to download apps and emulators from trusted websites, such as GitHub. But, it can be a real pain trying to remember to keep the app updated. You don’t always know when an update is going to be released, and you might not want to always have to manually install the update yourself.

Obtainium removes the frustration, acting as a middleman between you and the apps you download. It even includes the ability to import and export lists of apps, which is particularly handy if you’re switching between devices. All you’ll have to do is export the list from the Obtainium app on your current device and import it to the new one.

Oh, and this also means that you can import Obtainium lists created by others, such as the curated Emulation Pack from RJNY. Just give it a shot, I promise it’s worth it.

Frontends (Launchers)

Out of the box, there are two launchers for you to choose from with the Odin 2 Mini. The first of which is the “Stock” launcher, which is just your traditional Android launcher. The second of which is AYN’s Odin Launcher, which is a bit more basic, but offers a bit of organization in the way of categories.

Frankly, either of these will work just fine. But, neither of them offers anything particularly unique to the Odin 2 Mini experience. On the bright side, there are quite a few different front-ends or launchers for you to choose from. Ultimately, we recommend trying different ones, seeing what works and what doesn’t, before deciding. Worse comes to worse, you can always just download another launcher until you find “the one.”

Early in 2024, EmulationStation Desktop Edition made its way onto Android. Since then, it’s become a staple for some of us here at Retro Handhelds and looks incredible on the Odin 2 Mini.

Setting Up ES-DE

After you’ve finished installing the different emulators and getting everything just right, fire up ES-DE on the Odin 2 Mini. A moment or two later, you’ll be greeted with the default ES-DE theme, with categories for the different systems. However, you might notice that some of your Android apps and games don’t appear. That can easily be remedied by downloading ES AppLauncher and following our guide for adding Android apps to ES-DE.

- ES-DE for Android

Other Front-ends

Streaming Apps

The Odin 2 Mini is a powerhouse machine for emulation and Android gaming. But, there’s so much more that’s possible with this handheld, as you can stream games from your PC, Xbox or PS5. Not to mention services like Xbox Game Pass or NVIDIA GeForce Now, which unlock even more games to add to your backlog.

Recommended Emulators

When trying to decide what emulators you should download, it’s important to know what games are in your library and on your microSD card. From there, things get a little bit easier, but we still recommend getting started with RetroArch. This covers the majority of the early systems, covering everything from the NES to PS1 and even a bit of PSP.

That being said, here’s our list of recommended emulators, along with their corresponding retro systems:

Setting Up RetroArch

Depending on how much you plan on playing games through RetroArch will determine how much time you should spend setting it up. RetroArch is quite a bit more nuanced than you might think, as there are tons of features and options for you to tinker around with. We’re not going to cover everything that you should change in RetroArch for the Odin 2 Mini. Instead, we recommend checking out Team Retrogue’s Setup Guide, which gives you the “kitchen sink” approach:

How to Set Up RetroArch on Android

Recommended Cores

NES
- Mesen
- FCEUmm
SNES
- Snes9x
- bsnes
Nintendo 64
- Mupen64Plus-Next
Nintendo DS
- melonDS
- DeSmuME
Game Boy & Game Boy Color
- Gambatte
Game Boy Advance
- mGBA
Sega Dreamcast
- Flycast
Sega MS/GG/MD/CD
- Genesis Plus GX
Sega Saturn
- YabaSanshiro
- Beetle Saturn
Sony PlayStation
- Duckstation
- SwanStation
- PCSX ReARMed
Sony PlayStation Portable
- PPSSPP

Button Mapping

Emulators nowadays are good enough to the point that you probably don’t need to manually map the buttons built into the Odin 2 Mini. However, there are a few oddballs out there, or maybe a button isn’t mapped in a way that your brain works. Well, you’re in luck as Team Retrogue also covers that in his Android Handheld Setup Guide. All of the same steps apply to the Odin 2 Mini, so you can just follow along via the button below.

Remap Your Buttons

GPU Drivers

With certain emulators, there are different ways to increase performance and compatibility with the games you’re trying to emulate. One such way is to download and install custom GPU drivers, with these also being known as “Turnip” drivers. There’s a one-stop shop for these drivers, and they can be downloaded from GitHub.

If you’re wondering about what emulators support custom driver installation, the list is pretty short:

Dolphin
Citra (and Citra forks)
Vita3K
Yuzu (and Yuzu forks)
Skyline

Once downloaded, you’ll need to leave it in the ZIP file format, as you can’t install it if you extract the contents. Instead, just fire up your emulator of choice, head to the in-app settings, and follow the steps to install the Turnip drivers.

Plus, if you went through the steps above to get Obtainium all setup, then you can actually add the GitHub repository to the app. Then, you don’t have to worry about manually downloading a new driver when it’s released. However, you will need to install the updated driver in your emulator.

Backup and Sync Files

The second to last step that we recommend doing with your Odin 2 Mini is to make sure your pertinent files are backed up. This includes obvious things such as your save files, but could also be downloaded apps that aren’t from the Play Store or a set of Turnip drivers that work really well. With that in mind, here are a few of our favorite apps and services that you can use to keep everything backed up.

With FolderSync and SyncThing, a good use case is for syncing folders or files between devices, while ensuring that the latest version is available even if you go from the Odin 2 Mini to your desktop PC. While a little tedious, both apps make getting everything set up extremely easy, even if we’re a bit partial to FolderSync and its elaborate interface.

Meanwhile, the other three options should come as no surprise, especially if you just want to make sure your files are backed up and accessible from different devices. Just don’t forget to actually go through and get everything set up before you dive too deep into a game.

Conclusion

For the most part, if you’ve set up an Android handheld in the past, then the overall process is going to be familiar. The difference with the Odin 2 Mini is that it’s much more powerful than something like the Anbernic RG Cube, opening the door to more possibilities of what you can play. Hopefully, this Odin 2 Mini setup guide helped you out, and if you have any other questions, be sure to drop them in the comments below.

Buy the Odin 2 Mini

What did you think of this article? Let us know in the comments below, and chat with us in our Discord!

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1 Comment

KS on September 6, 2024 at 2:52 pm
Hello bro, mine is Odin 2 mini
I installed ES frontend but also accidentally set it as the defaulted program (will be launched automatically once console is started)
I am not able to quit ES (I cannot see “exit” anymore) and go back to android page
Any solution?
Thx in advance! 🙏

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Odin 2 Mini Setup Guide