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


Hardware

Software

Emulator Updates

From the Writers

On the YouTubes

Looking for Deals?


Hardware

If there’s one thing we know about retro handhelds, it’s that there is always something new around the corner. Seriously, it’s “worse” than smartphones, as some companies release new handhelds every other week. On the bright side, at least there’s no shortage of options.

MagicX Slightly Revamps the Mini Zero 28

MagicX Mini Zero 28 First Impressions - 16x9

The MagicX Mini Zero 28 V2 is officially available for purchase. This updated version of the beloved mini handheld brings a handful of meaningful improvements while preserving everything that made the original a favorite in the retro gaming community.

Nintendo is Suing Genki

Back at CES 2025, Genki made headlines as the accessory-maker showed off a supposed 3D-printed model of the Switch 2. Now, Nintendo is fighting back, as the company has filed a lawsuit against Genki for “alleged trademark infringement, false advertising, and unfair competition over claims made by the latter regarding Switch 2 peripherals it planned to sell for the upcoming system.”

8BitDo Latest to Pause US Shipments

8Bitdo Retro 87 Xbox Edition Keyboard and Mouse Promo Render

In a move that isn’t surprising by now, 8BitDo announced it’s pausing shipments from China to the US. The notice has since been removed from the home page, as it’s been replaced with a different notice about the Labor Day CN Holiday. However, it previously stated that only products available in US warehouses would ship to local addresses, meaning that you wouldn’t be able to place orders if the products weren’t local.

RP Mini Screen Replacements Are Now Arriving

Pokemon Unbound on the Retroid Pocket Mini

While shipping is underway for the Pocket Flip 2 and Classic, Retroid surprised many by also beginning to ship the Pocket Mini replacement screens. We’ve been seeing more and more posts on Reddit, in addition to some from a few of our favorite creators.

AYANEO Pocket ACE Goes Live on Indiegogo

The Pocket Ace in Black and While Colorways

The Pocket Ace in Black and While

As with many of their previous releases, AYANEO is selling the first batch of Pocket ACE consoles directly through their Indiegogo page. This allows backers to secure their units as exclusive rewards for specific pledges. By using Indiegogo, AYANEO continues its tradition of connecting directly with its community while offering early access to its latest handhelds.

AYANEO Pocket ACE IGG

Other Hardware News

Apps and Software

Don’t get me wrong, hardware is definitely fun and exciting to talk about. But what good is an awesome handheld if it doesn’t even work? That’s where software and custom firmware come into play, so here’s everything you might’ve missed this week.”

ROCKNIX Nightly Builds Now Support Retroid Pocket Flip 2

Retroid_Pocket_Flip2_D-pad

Great dome switch D-pad

One of the best things about the Retroid Pocket 5 is that you’re able to use it with both Android and Linux via ROCKNIX. Considering that everything is the same between the Pocket 5 and Pocket Flip 2, it came as little surprise when it was found that you could just use the same microSD card for both.

At the time, the only thing missing was the sleep functionality whenever closing the lid. Thankfully, that’s no longer an issue, as the latest Nightly builds of ROCKNIX solve that problem.

Winlator Development Paused

Winlator Development Paused Following Trojan Virus Discovery

The Winlator developer has paused its development, citing community backlash over user reports of viruses being found in the app’s TestD3D.exe and spreading to programs created by the emulator. Updates for Winlator and its forks have since been released, removing the infected program.

Wii Homebrew Channel Ceases Development

Wii Homebrew Channel Ceases Development

The Homebrew Channel is built off the efforts of the Wii and GameCube community to reverse engineer pivotal portions of the Wii’s code in order to distribute other homebrew apps and tools in an intuitive UX that mirrors the basic function of the Wii and its Wiimote. One of those components was the libogc SDK toolkit that the Homebrew Channel’s developer, fail0verflow, claims to have originally known contained trace amounts of stolen code.

RetroAchievements Come to SkyEmu

RetroAchievements in SkyEmu

SkyEmu might not be the most popular multi-console emulator out there, but it should definitely gain some traction. Recently, it was announced that Cheevos are not only now supported, but SkyEmu is also the first browser-based emulator to do so.

PokeMMO Comes to PortMaster

PokeMMO Gameplay Screenshot

Do you love the world of Pokémon but wish it were more like World of Warcraft? Then you’ll want to check out PokeMMO, a free Massively Multiplayer Online game that looks just like you’d imagine. Previously, it was available on Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, and iOS. However, lowlevel.1989 has managed to make it so you can play PokeMMO via PortMaster!

PokeMMO Port for PortMaster

More Software News

Emulator Updates

Azahar
  • Azahar 2121 Release Candidate 1
    • Redownloading owned DLCs is now supported.
    • Added a new Turbo feature which allows increasing the emulation speed to a pre-specified percentage using a hotkey or on-screen button for desktop and Android respectively.
    • Added a new Screen Gap feature which allows the gap between the top and bottom screen to be configured by the user.
    • Fixed an issue where Streetpass Mii Plaza wouldn’t detect its own update data.
    • Fixed an issue where certain decrypted DLCs would fail to install and would instead be incorrectly detected as encrypted.
    • The maximum value for the 3D slider has been increased from 100% to 255%.
    • In cases where the current application may change mid-emulation, such as launching an application from the HOME menu, the shader cache is now associated with the currently running application.
    • Fixed cheats and the RPC server affecting the wrong processes.
    • Fixed an issue which could cause emulation to break when no audio input samples had been captured.
Vita3K-ZX Android
  • v12.5 build 14
    • Fix PowerVR and Mali Android 10 or lower can’t run this emu
    • Merge branch vita3k main partially (not all commit update for now because this commit Vita3K/Vita3K@5aa398b broken in android build, and it will slowly merged and changed for now)
Flycast
  • Commit 7538424
    • Mali GPUs Gain Per Pixel sorting mode
    • 4 Player Local SplitScreen Gaming with Users around the world!
    • Use a Real Dreamcast Controller, VMU, and Rumble Pack on Flycast!
    • DCnet Allowing Dreamcast And Flycast Users To Play Native Online Games Together!
DOSBox-X
  • v2025.05.03
    • Show TURBO status in title bar.
    • Fixed MinGW32 builds failed using gcc15, due to a conflict in inline macro.
    • Revise EGA/VGA emulation to treat the CRTC CGA/Hercules
      CRTC bit remapping as bits to mask out, instead of defining
      the upper limit of the memory mask.
    • Updated libpng to version 1.6.47
    • Updated XCOPY to version 1.9a
    • Updated SDL2 library to version 2.32.4
    • And More…
XoDos
  • V5.1.0
    • Changed and fixed UI
    • Added More features for easier usage
    • Added information about android device in terminal
MAME4droid 2025(0.277)
  • 1.24
    • Up to MAME 0.277, where Konami GX blending effects are now looking much nicer.
    • Sega Model 2 3D geometry is behaving better.
    • Some remaining issues with Philips CD-i graphics decoding have been fixed.
    • You may be able to hear improved sound emulation in some Famicom, WonderSwan, and Game Boy games.
Yaba Sanshiro
  • 1.17.1-PRO
    • Showing the time gap to the best score
    • Auto-scrolling to your own position
    • This leaderboard only supports Sonic R
    • I plan to expand it to other classics like SEGA Rally and Daytona USA.
Geargrafx
  • 1.2.0
    • 🎯 Greatly improved accuracy (almost 100% compatible with comercial releases)
    • 🕹️ TurboTap support (up to 5 controllers)
    • 🎮 Avenue Pad / Arcade Pad support (6 buttons)
    • 💾 Backup RAM support
    • 📺 Option to select composite or RGB color output
    • 🔢 Option to select scanline count (224p, 240p or manual)
    • ⌨️ Force fullscreen or windowed mode with new command line parameters
    • 👾 Libretro core:
      • Retro Achievements
      • Memory saves
      • Exposed all settings as core options (gamepad type, TurboTap, scanline count, overscan, output color, sprite limit…)
    • ⚙️ Debugger: PCEAS new symbol file format support
    • 👾 Minor bug fixes and improvements
    • NOTE: The savestate file format has changed. New savestates will no longer be compatible with older ones, and vice versa.
Hypseus
  • v2.11.5
    • Added -ramdir argument.
    • Improved -romdir checks.
    • Add transparency keying API calls.
    • Add LUA API VDLP audio switching.
    • Removed startup window teardown.
    • Portrait game display improvements.
    • Fix several required argument checks.
    • Add LUA API VLDP scale & rotate calls.
    • Removed all the old nes_6502 typedefs.
    • And More…
NESd
  • 0.12.0
    • Added support for rewinding to a previous state in the emulator
    • ROMs can now be launched directly from the command line: NESd <path/to/rom.nes>
    • Added an adaptive icon for Android
    • Added licenses for the used fonts
    • Key bindings can now be set to “hold” (default) or “toggle”
    • Refactored the file picker, improving search
    • Optimized UI performance
    • Switched from the default font to Inter
    • Improved test coverage so issues can be found more quickly
    • Updated the logo for the nightly builds
    • Replaced the SAF plugin (Android Storage Access Framework) with a custom native implementation, making file browsing and access more reliable
    • Colorized all parts of disassembly in the debugger
Gopher2600
  • v0.40.0
    • Colour Model
    • Improved DWARF decoding
    • ELF

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.

The Three Games Saving My Devices From the Scrapheap

The Three Games Saving My Devices From The Scrapheap - 16x9

In the RH discord, the admins grant the role of “Aspiring Device Minimalist” to members who own a large collection of handhelds, are willing to commit to downsizing to 10 devices or fewer, AND need to provide photographic evidence. I’m not chasing that role, but ever since I spent a year not buying handhelds, I’ve been asking myself, “How many handhelds do I actually need?”

RH Games of the Month: Tune In to Musical May

RH Games of the Month Tune In to Musical May

In Europe, where I live, May is a month of celebration for many since it’s Eurovision, a time when each country enters increasingly more over-the-top musical acts in a song contest. Coincidentally, the theme that the RH Discord selected for this month’s games is “Musical May” — games which either have a musical theme or which have an impressive soundtrack.

Retroid Pocket Classic First Impressions: Vertical Champ

Retroid Pocket Classic First Impressions - Angled View

I scoffed at the Retroid Pocket Classic when it was first announced. The off-center buttons and bright colors? I couldn’t care less when I saw that. I had the AYANEO Pocket DMG, and I was happy. Something changed, though, and I ended up pre-ordering the bundle with the Flip 2 the night of release.

Anbernic RG557 Review: We Waited for This?

Ban Baking the Anbernic RG557

It’s a really weird world right now. The US market is having its own issues, and Anbernic just went 4 plus months without releasing a handheld. But now Anbernic has decided this is the exact time to come out with a new device for their market, and they figure it’s time to go pricey and powerful. The Anbernic RG557 has hit the scene as a refresh to everyone’s favorite ergonomic piece, the RG556 from last year, but the question is now. Is this thing worth the $250 asking price? 

K36S Impressions: Yeah, Another One

K36S_CPSIII_Box_Close

The Game Console K36S

It was my duty, to you, the reader, to review the new K36S, or at least that’s how I justified spending $35 on another system that I knew wouldn’t measure up to handhelds I already owned. It could just be another R36S clone with a slightly altered design, but what if it ends up being the greatest budget handheld ever produced that I could potentially miss out on?

On the YouTubes

Don’t think that the writers are the only ones getting things done. The RH video team is constantly working on new videos, and now’s the best time to subscribe. This week, Stubbs spends a surprising amount of time with the AYANEO Pocket ACE, while Ban and Zu get their hands on the upcoming Helegaly Action Pi.

Retro Handhelds on YouTube

Looking for Deals?

Retro Handhelds Deals of the Week - 11-1

Another week, another set of deals to be had. Hit the button below to check out our favorite deals of the week. We know how much everyone loves a good deal, so we’ve been cooking up something to help you get the best deal possible.

Retro Handhelds Deals of the WeekHandheld.Deals

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