The RG406H and RG406V will probably go down as two of the most solid releases this year. They’re currently the only devices that spout a 4:3 720p screen, making them optimal for nearly every console released before 16:9 became the new standard. Their power gives them great performance for PS2 and Gamecube games, and the weird quirks within their physical design are at an all-time low.

Anbernic has been making retro handhelds for a handful of years now, and getting a new Android device to set up to make it work the way you want it to can seem like an impossible challenge, but this guide will fix that. Follow along and by the end of this guide, your RG406H or RG406V will be ready to play the games you bought it to enjoy.

Table of Contents

• Getting Started
• What You’ll Need
• Recommended Accessories
• SD Card Preparation
  • ROMs and BIOS Files
• Recommended Apps
  • Apps & Games
  • Emulators
    • Alternative Emulators
  • Quick Settings & Disable Retro Launcher
  • RJNY Obtainium Emulation Pack
• Frontends
• RetroArch Setup
  • Shaders and Filters
• So…What Now?
• Closing

Getting Started

Setting up the RG406 series of devices is relatively cookie-cutter when compared to other Android devices. Anbernic has the most simple setup process of all these handhelds, only requiring you to press A on the welcome screen, wait for your device to “configure” and then you’re all set.

The only downside is that this bypasses a lot of the necessary steps typically found in the setup process. You’ll need to manually go into Settings (or swipe down from the very top of the device and hold the wi-fi icon) to connect to your wi-fi network. If you don’t want to use wi-fi with this device at all, you don’t have to, but you are going to miss out on some ease-of-use options we’ll talk about later.

If you’re planning on using the Play Store, it would be a good time to boot up the app and log in. If you’ve made any purchases, any upgrades to any apps, etc. on the account you’re logging in to, they will also be available to you on the RG406.

This guide will assume you’ve received an RG406 with an empty SD card and you want to tackle that hurdle from start to finish. So let’s dive right in.

What You’ll Need

• • Anbernic RG406V or RG406H
    • All of these devices run the same hardware, same OS, and have the same steps.
  • Larger than 32GB Micro SD card
  • Wi-Fi connection
    • If you don’t want to use wi-fi on your device, you are free to transfer the needed files from a PC — but that’s greatly more difficult.

Recommended Accessories

There are very few accessories that will be needed simply for the setup process. Using a computer and an SD card reader would be the easiest and most accessible option, but if your phone has the ability to read SD cards via a dongle of some sort, then you can follow all of these steps there as well. Just bear in mind that doing all of this via a smartphone is prescribing yourself sadistic digital torture.

Micro SD Cards

When it comes to SD cards, I typically recommend people get the highest amount of storage they can personally afford — within reason. For example, if you see your RG406 as an end-game console because you’ll never need more than a 720p 4:3 screen on a device that can play a fair bit of the PS2 collection, then get a 128GB at least.

For an SD card with around 100 top selections from all the retro consoles and handhelds up to PS1, you would need a little bit more than 300GB of available space. However, if you meter your expectations, you can easily do maybe top 25 and and stay well under 128GB.

The RG406 has 128GB of internal storage, so you win some space there and may not definitively need an SD card. However, the Unisoc T820 can easily handle some of the PS2 and GameCube libraries. Because of that, I would very highly stress — again — using a high-capacity SD card. This way, you won’t have to set aside those hours moving content from one SD to another when the current one runs out of space.

And if something happens to your handheld and you have to reset it entirely, you don’t have to go straight from square zero.

• • Micro Center MicroSDXC (16GB – 2565GB)
  • SanDisk Ultra (32GB – 1.5TB)
  • Samsung PRO Plus (512GB)
  • Silicon Power Superior (1TB)
  • SanDisk Extreme (1TB)

SD Card Readers

• • UGREEN 2-in-1 SD Card Reader
  • Anker PowerExpand+ 2-in-1
  • uni USB-C SD 4.0 Card Reader

Controllers

Devices with Bluetooth and HDMI-out can, in some ways, be turned into home consoles. The RG406 can output 1080p to any device you plug it into. With Bluetooth support, you can relatively easily pair a controller to it and create a playstyle that would be somewhat similar to how the Switch operates when inside its dock.

But temper your expectations a bit. The Switch’s main gimmick is that it can be plopped in its dock and seamlessly played on a screen. Hooking up an HDMI cable to a screen and manually connecting a Bluetooth controller can sometimes boil down to being a tedious process, but it does introduce a new play style for your retro games.

We have an article discussing some popular budget controller choices under $40, and below I’ve posted a few that may be worth checking out. Any controller will do, but if you want something worth your time, check out Ban’s full article.

• Anbernic RG P01
• Machenike G5 Pro
• 8BitDo Ultimate 2C

SD Card Preparation

Preparing your SD card is a good way to make sure you’re set up and ready to go for when your RG406 arrives. The steps below still require a device to install the apps or actually utilize the BIOS files, but you can build your SD card by making sure you have all the files you need at any point in time.

ROMs and BIOS Files

Since the RG406 uses Android for its OS, you are free to move and place ROMs wherever you see fit. I typically create a folder in the root of my SD card titled “Roms” and within it, I place folders for every console I’m planning on playing.

How I choose to organize my ROM files.

It can be dicey and a bit convoluted if you have a massive library of multiple hundreds of games. For those of you that are digitally hoarding titles, I would separate them either using genre or alphabetical folders. For instance, if I have hundreds of PS1 titles, I may have the PS1 folder and within it, have my games separated into folders titled PS1 (A – F), PS1 (G – N), and so on.

In the screenshot above, I organize my ROMs in a folder using the same naming convention a lot of Linux based handhelds use. I do this solely so I can plop this single SD card between devices and not worry about having to rename, alter, or edit files. It makes life easier.

Below, we’ve compiled a list of recommended BIOS files for each system. We cannot help you get these files.

If any of your consoles or games are behaving poorly, or simply won’t launch, the first place to start would be the BIOS. Within your emulator of choice, in Settings, it will feature an area wherein you can locate and feed a BIOS file into it should it be an option. The filenames should be exactly like the ones below.

BIOS File Names

Recommended Apps

Once you finish the setup process, you’ll immediately be presented with the default Android homescreen. Anbernic also ships the devices with a plethora of preinstalled emulators, but I typically never use those. In the Disable Retro Launcher section below, I’ll talk about how to either disable Retro Launcher or uninstall the preinstalled apps altogether.

Apps & Games

For the sake of this bit of the guide, let’s assume apps, games, and emulators are entirely different things.

The RG406 runs Android 13 and has a functional touchscreen. You can download and use any apps you would normally be interested in if you use a phone, and they should work fine on this as well. You aren’t limited to any of the apps below, they are just apps I think are worth checking out.

That being said, not all games support controllers (like the one built into the handheld). Some do, some don’t. For instance, Pokemon TCG Pocket does not support controllers or landscape mode, but playing in portrait on an RG406V is surprisingly comfortable.

Also, do note that if you download APKs online from anywhere, you’ll want to open your file browser of choice (Files is the one installed by default) and locate the downloaded file. it’s typically in your Downloads folder.

Once you attempt to install the app, Android will present a popup saying you’ll have to open Settings to allow the app to be installed from the app you’re attempting to open the APK in. Hit the Settings button, then tap the toggle to turn it on. Right after that, a popup will ask if you want to Install the app.

When it comes to apps worth looking into, there are a few I’d recommend.

Recommended Apps & Games

Emulators

As for emulators, the bulk is indeed available on the Google Play Store — but I would recommend using versions uploaded directly to Github (or elsewhere) by the developers. There’s no harm in using Google Play, it’s just that updates and fixes may take longer to publish. For example, the Gold version of PPSSPP can only be found on the Play Store, whereas the Free version can be found on F-Droid or their official website. If an update comes to the app to address something, it could be a few days before it’s active on the Play Store.

The RG406 can reliably play up to most PS2 and Gamecube games, and RetroArch covers the bases for the majority of older consoles. So, with that in mind, here are the recommended apps to plop onto your RG406.

Recommended Emulators

It’s worth highlighting that AetherSX2 is the base app for the NetherSX2 patch. You can download the AetherSX2 apk from the link above, and then follow the instructions on the NetherSX2 Github to patch the app.

Alternative Emulators

The above list is a collection of my personal suggestions. There are alternatives to some of them that, in my opinion, either offer less or perform worse on the RG406, but you are free to explore and use them to your liking.

Instead of Lime3DS, there is Citra MMJ and CitraEnhanced. Lime3DS is merging with a former fork of Citra to become Azahar in the relatively near future. Citra Enhanced offers some additional features that weren’t present in Citra, like save states, and in some cases, performance boosts.

MelonDS-DS is a fork of, well, MelonDS. The original MelonDS for Android hasn’t been updated since December 2023, but it technically still works. There is also a new DS emulator aiming for better performance, NooDS, that is still fairly new but could be exciting to track as its development progresses.

Flycast vs. ReDream is an interesting one. Flycast can play arcade games from the Naomi and Naomi 2, but Redream can’t. Redream, however, offered better performance in most games that I’ve tested. Some games struggled to get 30FPS on Flycast whereas I was smoothly sailing with 60FPS on Redream.

RJNY Obtainium Emulation Pack

Using the RJNY Obtainium Emulation Pack from his Github, you can automatically set up a good portion of recommended emulators for Android. Some of the above are there, but some are not.

Before using RJNY’s pack, you do need to install Obtainium first. And look at that, we have the perfect guide for just that purpose.

Set Up Obtainium

Here’s a full list of what’s included in the RJNY JSON:

This is not to say install all of these once you’ve imported the JSON to Obtainium. You should hone in on the ones mentioned above if you so choose.

For the emulators that say “track only” it is solely to let you know that the app will track and alert you of updates, but not updates those listed. The reason is solely because some of the apps are no available as installable files. For example, NetherSX2 is only available as a patch.

Quick Settings & Disable Retro Launcher

The RG406 comes preinstalled with Anbernic’s own launcher, Retro Launcher. It does have a minimalistic style and, for the most part, gets the job done, but I never opt to use it. Having full control over how my games look and play is supremely important, and RetroArch tends to offer that needed flexibility.

If you wanted, you could hold an app and tap App info, then in the menu that pops up, hit Uninstall. Otherwise, just bundle them into a folder or forget they exist altogether by utilizing a frontend.

If you want to disable Retro Launcher, all you have to do is swipe from the top of your handheld and make sure RGLauncher is turned Off.

Here, you can also change or turn off the color of the LED joystick lights, change the fan speed, enable or disable wi-fi and Bluetooth, and change your button style between Nintendo and Xbox d-pad layouts.

Frontends

The RG406 series of devices comes with Android 13 out the gate. If you prefer to use the default launcher because it’s what you’re most used to, you can. It functions the exact same way as Android would on any phone or tablet you have used prior.

But frontends are such nice additions to the usage of these devices. From box art, custom themes, ease of use, and just being able to see your entire library of games, frontends can be a game-changer.

If you’re not used to Android, the idea of a separate or new homescreen can be confusing, but it’s not — trust me. Launchers, frontends, whatever you wish to call them, are distributed the same as apps and effectively function just like them too.

Below, we’ve compiled a list of some of the more popular ones, but if you want my personal recommendation, I will almost always pick Daijisho.

• ES-DE for Android
• Daijisho
• Console Launcher
• LaunchBox
• Beacon Game Launcher
• Plain Launcher
• Pegasus
• ARC Browser
• RESET Collection

Although my favorite may be Daijisho, your choice of frontend is entirely your choice. Some people love different ones and hate the ones I love.

We have a really good write-up on Console Launcher 2.0 and some of its features do sound appealing. We also have an article covering ES-DE, one of the more common frontends that people may not even know has a name. It is typically presented as the OS on Linux-based devices, so it may be easier for people to become acclimated with how it works.

And that’s the joy of these various frontends. They all do the basic task of organizing your games into nicely styled lists with boxart etc., but the way they go about it is where you find out which one you prefer. I like Daijisho just because of its themes and how I’ve gotten used to using it, tweaking it, and maximizing its usage.

RetroArch Setup

Setting up RetroArch on the RG406 is no different than setting it up on any variety of Android consoles. The only slight difference may be what cores you bother downloading and what shaders or filters you decide to use.

We have a full guide on how to set up and utilize RetroArch to its full potential. Mikhailov goes over how to download cores, how to set up hotkeys and inputs, and how to apply various shaders and custom palettes.

Set Up RetroArch

If you choose to run RetroArch for your consoles, you’ll need to pick the ideal cores for all of the systems. Below is a growing master list of common cores people tend to use, but I have noted my personal picks for the consoles below with an asterisk (*).

The other choices are not bad, not by any stretch, but some offer fewer features or less compatibility. For instance, on the GBA, mGBA has more luck playing ROM hacks and bootleg rips, whereas PSP may offer more compatibility overall.

Recommended Cores

If an app is available for the cores you’ve chosen, you may want to use that instead if you face problems running games via RetroArch. RetroArch cores are the byproduct of app updates, some may even be years behind what the app’s most recent updates packed into it.

Standalone apps may end up offering less versatility, though. In RetroArch, you can apply shaders, filters, and console or game-specific settings. Some standalone apps only offer one or sometimes none of those features.

Shaders and Filters

For shaders and filters, you have a ton of options, but ultimately, you have to decide what type of look you want. Some people want scanlines, some want geometric corners to imitate a CRT TV, and some people want absolutely nothing so they can physically feel the edges of every pixel on the screen.

With the RG406, you have one of the nicest screens available in a retro handheld. It’s a 720p, 4-inch, 4:3 screen. It can do direct integer scaling on every retro console before the PS2 and Gamecube, and even on those consoles, it can get 1.5x integer scaling. This gives you a sea of options and potentially the best way to view them.

For example, I use the zfast-crt and zfast-lcd handheld shaders between the different consoles. It gives nice, even scanlines over the image, but doesn’t alter the image much otherwise. If you want to use multiple shaders, you can add more and layer them to create a coupled look.

In the image below, I’m running the zfast-crt shader, but also the crt-easymode-geom shader. It alters colors slightly, adds a light vignette, and curves the edges to make it appear similar to a classic CRT.

All of this is just the tip of the iceberg. The guide linked above goes more in-depth, but you also have the freedom of picking and choosing which ones look nicest to you. Go ahead and test them all out if you so desire.

So…What Now?

Your device is all setup. As far as retro gaming goes, you’re done. You can further customize your handheld via Settings and adding or finding a nice wallpaper, changing up your app layout if you’re not using a frontend, or you can download themes for the frontend and set it up to look however you prefer it to look.

The apps mentioned above all have their various settings, scaling options, and configurations. All of these settings are easy to find and set correctly for your RG406. Pressing the home or back button in the above apps will open up a menu, within it, the Settings. There, you can find all of the needed settings to set your buttons correctly, change any ROM or BIOS paths, and even edit some nitty-gritty details about how the games will play on your handheld.

But as far as setting your device up to make sure it plays games optimally, you’re set.

Closing

Your RG406V or RG406H should now be perfectly set up and ready to play. You have an entire Android gaming handheld at your disposal, so your possibilities are truly endless. If an Android app exists that you want to check out, go ahead! If there’s a setting you want to mess with, give it a shot!

You have so many options as far as how games look, how they’ll play from aspect ratios, resolutions, frameskips (yuck!), and honestly so much more.

Hopefully, this guide assisted you in some way towards making your handheld truly feel like your handheld. But I will part with this: this community thrives off people being able to help each other. That’s my goal with each and every one of the guides I write, and I hope I succeeded in doing that here.

Now, go on and play your favorite game. We all know you got one of these and have been dying to boot up that one special game. Go ahead, and have fun.

What did you think of this guide? What’s your favorite game to play on the RG406H or RG406V? Let us know in the comments below, and chat with us in our Discord!

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