Recalbox 11 will run on three more handhelds, the team has announced: the Retroid Pocket Nova, Anbernic RG35, and Anbernic RG35XX Pro. All three are available now for Patrons ahead of the stable release.
Recalbox is a free, open-source retro OS that boots into a custom version of Emulation Station with more than 140 systems preconfigured and around 150 indie games bundled in. Scraping, save states, shaders, and RetroAchievements come built in, and it’s one of the few retro firmware options with its own online service: Recalbox Online adds netplay, missions, and a ladder. Practical touches stand out too, like Switch-style docking that swaps between the handheld screen and HDMI without restarting your game, and Nova joystick LEDs that match on-screen colors or show battery.
The obvious comparison to Recalbox is going to be ROCKNIX, the community Linux distro already at home on many retro handhelds. ROCKNIX takes an immutable, per-device approach: hardware-tuned images, custom performance and power profiles, in-game touch controls, RetroAchievements and scraping, and file sync over Syncthing or rclone. It also builds in music and video playback and VPN support over WireGuard, Tailscale, or ZeroTier, and it exposes more low-level tuning for tinkerers. Recalbox counters with a more pick-up-and-play presentation, a wider hardware net that also covers Raspberry Pi boards and PCs, and that built-in online layer.
The team says they are satisfied with performance up through GameCube on the Nova and PlayStation 1 on the two Anbernic devices. Recalbox last made handheld noise when V10 landed on the Steam Deck, ROG Ally, and Legion Go; these ports widen that reach to $49 hardware with more to come. And if you are wondering what this means for non-Patrons, all three builds will ship to the community at large once Recalbox 11 stable is ready.
Source: Recalbox
