The Powkiddy V20 arrives at a strange time in handheld emulation. Anbernic has thus far been silent for the first months of 2025, and we may be reaching something of a point of market saturation, given the niche level of this hobby and the price-to-performance sweet spots that have largely been covered.
Until such time as devices start offering new chips with more power and capabilities, a ~$60 device like the Powkiddy V20 sits in something of a dead space. It isn’t offering anything we haven’t seen elsewhere, and there may not be enough value to justify the purchase over one of the device’s direct competitors.
When the V20 first arrived, I thought it was decidedly fine. Another familiar device with the same layout as so many before it. If you read Ban’s Initial Impressions article, you’ll see that he largely came to the same conclusion. Nothing particularly special, but nothing offensively poor either. As I spent more time with the device over the last few weeks, though, some cracks began to show in the V20’s unassuming armor.
So, is the V20 the right emulation choice for you in 2025? Let’s discuss, and remember this was just my experience. You can watch the video above to see Stubb’s impressions on the V20 and the new X35H.
Specs
The specs on the V20 should look familiar to anyone who has been around the Retro Handheld block.
Design and Build Quality
Everything about the build of the V20 feels very Powkiddy. If you’ve used a handheld like the V10 you’ll get the idea of what they have on-offer here. The plastic shell is neither the worst nor the best you’ve ever held. It’s entirely functional and doesn’t feel like cheap e-waste, but it lacks any particular polish or premium feel that would differentiate the device from the herd in any way.
Console selection on the V20. I almost got the sticker on straight.
The analog sticks on the V20 are the same Switch-style sticks that we’ve had for years now. While they’re still entirely serviceable, it would be nice to see something new here. Still, they get the job done where needed here.
The D-pad and face buttons are as decent as they’ve ever been. Again, if you’ve used Powkiddy handhelds in the past, then there’s nothing that’s going to feel out of place to you here. There are certainly higher quality components that could be used, but for what’s here, I think Powkiddy usually delivers a solid control experience.
These triggers are comfy to grip, but LOUD
Triggers on the V20 have a nice contour to fit the rear of the device and settle comfortably in the player’s hands. That’s the best thing I can really say about them, though, as they are as loud and clicky as the first generation of R36S devices. This would have been more tolerable a few years ago, but in 2025 companies should be striving to do better, especially considering this device commands a higher price than many of its rivals.
Software and Features
Is this a custom Batocera build? Or just masking as one?
So, as we all know, the handheld emulation space is crowded. What Powkiddy appear to have done with the stock image on the V20, is differentiate themselves from the pack by offering Batocera as the primary OS. The thing is, I’m not entirely sure that it is everything it claims to be.
The OS experience of Batocera on the V20 feels like it’s either a half-baked custom fork of Batocera or something else running Emulation Station (ES) skinned to look like Batocera. Now, I’m aware that ES does serve as the front end for Batocera Linux, but I’m not sure if that’s what’s happening here. The stock OS built-in system information is listed as “ES V42-dev-f8a1d10f91” image. Now, Batocera has official builds for the AllWinner H3 chipset, but nothing that I’m aware of directly translates for the AllWinner 133P on offer here.
The latest x86 and Rpi Batocera betas are indeed on v42. The AllWinner build is still on v38, and the OrangePi Rockchip 3328 builds are on v40. So, while it’s possible this is a custom-forked Batocera build, I’m going to be bold and ignorant enough here to say that I don’t think it is.
System information on the stock V20 OS
This is something we might be more familiar with in the handheld space, using the ES frontend to resemble Batocera. I’m not sure if I noticed at first, but as time went on, some things just felt off. I may very well be wrong, but at the end of the day, it’s a half-broken experience where I can’t get a Wi-Fi dongle to connect and can’t read the SD card contents on my PC, so it doesn’t really matter what it’s called, other than broken.
We know where the performance metrics of the AllWinner A133P lie because it’s the same chip that appears on the TrimUI Smart Pro, but this is not the same experience. It would be reasonable to expect some hiccups in performance once you get into the Dreamcast/PSP/N64 territory. That’s the maximum threshold of performance with this chipset.
Presumably, the included ROMs for these systems would be those that perform best on the device, but that’s just not the case here. Games like Crazy Taxi on Dreamcast had massive frame dips into the single digits that made the game unplayable. Countless games (nearly anything 3d, including PSX) produced audio hisses and crackles. With this set of specs, the V20 performs almost as well as it should, but it just isn’t there yet.
The included card that came with my V20 actually does a pretty decent job with curation. There are the “00001Contra” examples that are presented as a kind of system’s favorites list, but behind those are trimmed and alphabetical ROM lists that make navigation simple. But once you remove the card from the handheld, things change.
I inserted the SD card into the reader on my Mint Linux desktop and the drive didn’t show up in files at all. After exploring the drive in the Disks application, it shows 64GB of unallocated space and 4 partitions on the drive, but nothing more. I reinserted the card back into the handheld and it was read just fine. So this is a Linux device, running Linux, but I can’t access the files from a Linux PC?
Pros
- Familiar form factor with decent build quality
- The vibrant IPS screen looks nice
- Comfortable face buttons and a decent D-pad
- Something different if you’re looking for another AllWinner 133P device
Cons
- Unable to access SD card contents.
- I’ve tried three different sets of Wi-Fi dongles and USB adapters, with mixed combinations of each. I have never been able to get Wi-Fi to see any networks to connect to, and manual login doesn’t seem to work either. I can understand the cost considerations of leaving out Wi-Fi, but when you’re still charging a higher price than the competition, and you can’t even ensure users can connect to the internet somehow? That’s a problem.
- The device feels a bit stale in 2025, and while the OS experience is decent with emulating most games, it clearly wasn’t ready for prime time. The whole thing feels like a compromise that we shouldn’t have to make at this point in the game.
- No ability to explore the file system of the included image, as it wasn’t able to be read on my PC. Other users in the RH Discord have shared their own similar frustrations, with Powkiddy support suggesting that the Allwinner chip requires Phoenix Card flashing software to write any image.
- I don’t think this device should command $50-$60 in 2025
Conclusion
The V20, V10, and RGB10X
If you’re looking for an experience that “just works” out of the box, then you could certainly do worse than the Powkiddy V20. I would feel comfortable giving the unit as a gift to someone who might not be inclined to explore the hobby themselves. Having said that, I can’t really think of any other reasons to recommend the device.
The V20 is milquetoast design meets barely acceptable hardware stats – in a 2025 handheld that I’m not sure has any reason to exist. Stickers are nice if they’re your sort of thing, but I need more than that if the V20 is to compete with devices half its price that offer much more flexibility and more importantly, functionality. What happens when the cheap Seapy SD card dies? I can’t find any sort of stock image online
In a crowded marketplace (especially in this form factor), the Powkiddy does nothing to differentiate itself from the pack. A skinned and glitchy OS is not going to win over anyone who was already on the fence about picking up a V20. And when you’re asking users to pay a premium for arguably a lesser experience than one currently available on the Game Console R36S, or certainly the new BatleXP G350.
Powkiddy has always walked a fine line between budget and quality that has largely worked out in the hobby’s relatively short lifetime. I’ve always had a soft spot for devices like the V10 that overcame any shortcomings with personality and performance.
I can’t think of another Powkiddy arrival that I’ve been less enthused about in recent memory. Whether this be the last of some back stock that they wanted to get out the door, or Powkiddy’s decision to stay the course with unknown waters ahead, who knows.
The fact is that if you’re already into this hobby, then you probably already have a device that meets or exceeds the specs and performance of the V20 for less money, and if you’re going to pick one up as a gift, there are honestly better options for less money there, too. I’m just not sure who Powkiddy was aiming at with this device at this price point. It’s been done.
None of this is to say there’s anything overall that’s terribly bad about the Powkiddy V20, but they just haven’t done enough to make it a must-have handheld in 2025.
Buy the V20 Direct @ PowkiddyBuy the V20 Direct @ AliExpress
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