The Retroid Dual Screen Add-on is coming out soon (along with the newly announced AYANEO Pocket DS), and there is a lot of excitement in the community over the possibilities this could unlock for dual-screen gaming. With the release on the horizon, I wanted to take the opportunity to capture some of that excitement and talk about one of my favorite devices, the Microsoft Surface Duo.

This is a device we’ve talked about in Retro Handhelds before, and it’s also the reason why I won’t be getting the Retroid Dual Screen Add-on (though the Pocket DS admittedly looks great, price pending).

Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor Overclocked on a GameSir G8+

I love my Surface Duo. It’s no secret, as it’s a device I’ve talked about at length on the Discord and continue to champion when it comes to dual-screen gaming. As I sit down to continue playing Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor Overclocked, I’m reminded why this machine is such a great Nintendo DS and 3DS emulation device.

Having already beaten Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey on the Surface Duo earlier this year, and looking forward to playing Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia for the Tactical Role-Playing Game of the Quarter, I find that I keep coming back to the Surface Duo time and again for dual-screen gaming.

The Positive

Surface Duo with the left screen folded underneath, with an 8Bitdo Ultimate Mobile Gaming Controller

Rocking two separate 5.6” dual-AMOLED displays, coupled with a Snapdragon 855, games look crisp. Pair that with a telescopic controller (the GameSir G8 Plus is my personal favorite), and you’ve got yourself a pleasant handheld Nintendo DS and 3DS emulation device. It just feels more authentic in this fashion, maintaining the separated screens while incorporating modern conveniences and hardware updates.

Some tinkering is necessary in the DraStic and Citra/Lime3DS/Azahar emulators to adjust the emulation screen size and placement, but it feels fantastic once you’ve found your sweet spot. You can crank the resolution on DS games up to silly ranges like 6x, and 3DS games will often run well in the 2x-3x range. Since these are touchscreens, you can also use a stylus!

The Surface Duo is useful for single-screen gaming as well, given that both screens have a 4:3 aspect ratio and can play media independently. You can play games on one screen while watching the latest Retro Handhelds podcast on the other, or even fold one of the screens back for a truly single-screen experience. For those of us pressed for time with our gaming these days, throw a walkthrough on one screen and play the game on the other. No more spending hours looking for that MacGuffin!

The Negative

The Surface Duo is not without its faults. It’s almost entirely encased in glass, so it can be prone to cracks and chips, especially near the USB-C connector. It is a device that is no longer supported by Microsoft and no longer receives any security updates, so use caution if running your main Google profile on here.

The battery is also not something you can easily replace yourself. Most egregiously (in this author’s opinion), there is no microSD card slot on the device, so you’re going to have to curate your gaming collection to fit on the device’s internal memory (128GB and 256GB options for the Surface Duo 1).

These devices still aren’t cheap to find these days, though a far cry from the eye-watering $1,400 upon its initial release. When it was initially discovered by the retro handheld community, the Surface Duo 1 could be found in great condition for around $200 on the secondary market.

As people have snapped these up and supply has dwindled, it’s become harder to find one for that price, especially without any cracks, given the aforementioned glass body. Several do still appear on the secondary market, and even those with cracks can be aesthetically fixed through the use of easily found vinyl decals.

I wouldn’t personally recommend the Surface Duo 2, as the camera bump makes it incompatible with many telescopic controllers, and the slight increase gained by the move from a Snapdragon 855 to the Snapdragon 888 often isn’t worth the nearly doubled price commonly seen in the secondary market.

The Recommendation

Dragon Quest V with a GameSir X2S

Are there more powerful or more affordable devices currently available on the market today? Sure, but few devices out there currently pack both the power and the screen real estate found in the Surface Duo. More powerful devices often come with caveats like offset screens or screen swapping in order to get everything on a single-screen device, and more affordable devices often lack the power to push 3DS games.

Some will also argue to just play these games on an actual Nintendo DS or 3DS, which is a valid point. However, as someone with an extensive Nintendo 3DS collection, I’ve barely touched any of them since I started using the Surface Duo. It feels like I’m playing the game as it is supposed to be played, just in a much better fashion.

The Retroid Dual Screen Add-on is coming out soon, and it’s an exciting option as it brings dual-screen gaming at an accessible price for most users. The AYANEO Pocket DS is also an exciting new release on the horizon, though no official release date or pricing has been shared yet.

However, if you can find a Surface Duo in good condition and at a price that is palatable for you (likely falling between the aforementioned options), I have a hard time recommending a better device for an exceptional experience playing Nintendo DS and 3DS games.

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