Welcome to the latest edition of Retro Handhelds Weekly. This week, we saw a bunch of news in the world of hardware and software. Our writing team continues to be on an absolute tear, and there’s even a surprise or two sprinkled in! So sit back, grab a cup of coffee, and catch up on what’s happened this week in the world of Retro Handhelds.
Table of Contents
Retroid Pocket Nova Pre-orders
8GB/128GB
- Black/16 Bit/GC: $229
- Ice Blue, Crystal, Watermelon, and Clear Purple: $234
12GB/128GB
- Black/16 Bit/GC: $269
- Ice Blue, Crystal, Watermelon, and Clear Purple: $274
Hardware & Industry News
- Retroid Pocket Nova: In what’s felt like one of the fastest releases for Retroid in a long time, pre-orders for the Retroid Pocket Nova are officially open, with prices starting at just $229.
- The AYANEO Pocket Micro 2: After immediately selling out of its allotted 110 units, AYANEO is facing backlash and has responded by gauging interest in order to determine if producing more devices is feasible.
- TrimUI Brick Hammer Pro U: Pricing and shipping information have finally been confirmed for both the Brick Pro and Hammer Pro U. However, the Pro U is seeing a price increase of up to around $300, making this a difficult one to recommend.
More Hardware & Industry News
- DS and DSi Running on HDMI Displays
- 8BitDo Arcade Controller Pro Announced
- 8BitDo Retro 87 Keyboard and Ultimate 2 Wireless Controller Now Available in N64-inspired Colors
- Hyperkin + ModRetro Captain+ N64/M64 Controller Now Available for Pre-order
- AYANEO NEXT 2 Production “is Finally Starting”
Apps and Software
- RG Rotate Update Lets You Customize Your Watch Face Even More: Anbernic has just put out system update V1.44 for the RG Rotate, and you can grab it now if you want to see the latest they have to offer.
- Final ROM Aims to be A Jack of All Trades Conversion Tool: If you’ve been around the emulation scene for long enough, you’ve likely had to do anything from compressing CHD’s to decrypting your 3DS roms. Final ROM looks to solve those problems, aiming to be a “jack of all trades” for any of your ROM file conversion needs.
- You Don’t Need to Pay Over $1,000 for a Steam Machine; Just Install SteamOS: Shortly after opening the waitlist for the Steam Machine, Valve has made it possible for you to install SteamOS on basically anything with the release of SteamOS 3.8.
More Software News
- MANGMI Air X OTA Update
- The Steam Summer Sale Is a Great Excuse to Build Your PortMaster Library
- ReShade HDR Installer v2.0.0 – v2.0.8
- TMNT Shredder’s Revenge Comes to Epic Games Store
- SwitchU is a Wii U-style custom home menu replacement for Nintendo Switch
- Persona 6 Listed on Steam
- Foldable Gaming Mode in Android 17
Emulation Corner
- Turnip v26.2.0-R7
- The open source SDK for the PS3 is being revived, modernised and updated by a group of experienced homebrew developers
- Simpsons Hit & Run Port for Android v0.90
- Nen Emulator v1.0
- Astris Binaries (macOS) v1.0.16+0e933ae41
- Wine NX is an “Experimental Wine runtime for Nintendo Switch”
- Dolphin Progress Report: Release 2606
- ARMSX2 Refresh on Google Play Store
- GameNative v1.1.0-prerelease
- Snowboard Kids 2: Recompilation
- Bannerlator 1.5
- SUPER ZSNES v0.230b
- ARMSX2 Verified for Hardcore Achievements via RetroAchievements
- Xenia Manager v4.2.0
- RPCSX-Clanker v2026.06.26-1955
- Ymir v0.3.3
- HyperHLE v1.0.5
- Atari800 v7.0.0
- SM64DS Analog Hack for Steam Deck
- RetroFlow-Launcher Version 8.2.0
- PicPic Update
- Minecraft Bedrock Launcher port
- PCSX2 Reliquary
Custom Core
Game of the Month
From the Writers
While there’s always a lot of news to cover and talk about, we also try to take a step back and give everyone something a bit different to enjoy. These are the more editorial-styled articles and reviews that you might have missed over the course of this week.
- 8BitDo Ultimate 3-Mode Controller Review: One Controller to Rule Them All?
- Building an AIO Living Room Box with the ACEMAGIC 7530U Kron K1 Mini
On the YouTubes
RH Partners
Looking for Deals?
July is almost here, and you know what that means: another AliExpress Choice Day Sale! The latest event kicks off on July 1 and lasts until July 7, offering the opportunity to save up to $70 on a new handheld or two. We’ve listed some of the codes and deals below, but you can head over to Handheld.Deals to grab even more!
AliExpress Discount Codes
Deal Highlights
- RF40H:
$89.99$39.90 - KinHank Super Console X2 Pro:
$119.99$89.99 - Lenovo Legion Go 2 (Z2E): $1799.99 (Save $200)
- Atari 2600+ PAC-MAN Edition:
$169.99$139.99 - R60MAX:
$69.99$54.99 - TrimUI Brick Hammer:
$109.99$99.99 - Steam Sale
- Google Play Mega Game Sale
Sign Up For the Retro Handhelds Weekly Newsletter
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