While much of the focus right now is on the Retroid Pocket Nova, Anbernic’s next handheld is flying under the radar. After debuting just a few days ago, a new video YouTube video gives us a look at the Anbernic RG SP playing some of our favorite retro games.
As has become the norm for Anbernic, the gameplay showcase lasts a little more than five minutes, taking us through a variety of games. These include the usual suspects like The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap and Pokemon Emerald for the Game Boy Advance.
However, Anbernic also gives us a look at how the RG SP performs with playing more intensive systems, such as Soul Calibur for Dreamcast and Harvest Moon DS: Grand Bazaar for the Nintendo DS. For a brief moment, we can even see the Stardew Valley port being played on the RG SP, all without skipping a beat.
Frankly, none of that should come as much of a surprise given that the Anbernic RG SP is powered by the same Allwinner H700 chip that dominated the retro handheld space in 2024. This bodes well for those of us who enjoy using custom firmware on our devices, as it likely won’t be long before the RG SP is supported by the likes of muOS, KNULLI, and others.
Curiously, the RG SP is even shown off playing Cuphead streamed from a desktop PC. I can’t help but wonder how many people are actually streaming games to these smaller Linux-based handhelds, as opposed to relying on an Android handheld or tablet. Nevertheless, kudos to Anbernic for showing off the RG SP and all of its capabilities.
Unfortunately, besides all of the different games that are played, the video doesn’t provide any insight into when the Anbernic RG SP will be released, or what it will cost. Considering that this is the second video in the span of a week, I’m keeping my fingers crossed that those details are right around the corner.
