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 & Industry News
- Retroid Announces Pocket G2 Discontinuation, Higher Pocket Classic Prices: Retroid made a surprising announcement this week, as the Retroid Pocket G2 will be “temporarily discontinued.” The Retroid Pocket 5 will remain in the company’s lineup moving forward, while the Pocket Classic “will see a price adjustment.” As we later learned, the price of the Pocket Classic was increased by $20, now making it $149.
- [UPDATE] Anbernic RG Vita and RG Vita Pro Price and Release Date Revealed: Pricing and availability information were finally shared for the Anbernic RG Vita and RG Vita Pro. Pre-orders open on March 23 at 6 AM EDT (3 AM PDT), with the RG Vita coming in at $99, and the Vita Pro priced at $139. However, these are only available during the 72-hour Early Bird phase, before rising to $109.99 and $149.99, respectively.
- Anbernic’s Next Handheld Might Flip the Script With a Rotating Screen: A video surfaced on r/SBCGaming showcasing a handheld that features a square-ish touchscreen display running Android. At first, you’ll notice that there aren’t any controls, but then the person pushes the edge of the display to the left, with it flipping vertically, to reveal the ABXY/D-pad buttons.
- AISLPC RG43V Pro: This handheld made a surprise appearance on the RH Discord this week, and is said to feature a 4.25-inch screen, while being powered by the RockChip RK3562, which is paired with 2GB of RAM. The RG43V Pro is also said to be the “same price” as the RG40XXV, which makes it even more intriguing.
- Nintendo Rumored to Release Switch 2 With Removable Battery in Europe: According to a report from Nikkei, Nintendo will be releasing a new iteration of the Switch 2 that features a user-removable battery. This is due to the handheld console being in violation of Regulation 2023/1542 in the EU, which requires companies to release products with batteries that are “readily removable and replaceable by the end-user at any time during the lifetime of the product.” Nintendo is seemingly getting ahead of the problem, as the Regulation will not take effect until February 2027.
Apps and Software
- RetroAchievements Finally Adds Wii Support, With Four Months of Waggle Grinding: RetroAchievements is officially waggling its way into the Wii era, and there’s a months-long launch event to prove it. Support for Nintendo’s motion-controlled box has gone live on RetroAchievements, with an organized community event running from March 19 to July 19, 2026.
- RetroAssembly v6: If you’ve ever wanted to play your games from any device with internet access and a web browser, you have to take RetroAssembly for a spin. The latest update, v6, is now available, bringing with it initial support for PlayStation games. Not only that, but you’re finally able to add games to a favorites list, and it’s even possible to import existing save files from RetroArch and load them using RetroAssembly.
- Animal Crossing for GameCube now has a native version for PC and Is Coming to PortMaster: Just this week, the original Animal Crossing game for GameCube was ported to the PC, providing a native gameplay experience without the need for emulation. Not long after the release, it was confirmed that the game may soon be arriving on PortMaster, and is said to be running “on R36S with ArkUS, but needs some tweaks on graphics settings.”
More Software News
Emulation Corner
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.
- The Best Ways to Play: Game Boy Advance
- Hacking The Mainframe: Maximum Carnage Edition
- Next Level #4: Bard-’em’up
- Anbernic RG Vita Pro First Impressions
- AceMagic M5 Review: CPU Brawn, GPU Pawn
On the YouTubes
RH Partners
Looking for Deals?
This week marks AliExpress’ 16th year, and to celebrate, the online retailer is having a huge anniversary sale across the entire site. And of course, that means we have a bunch of new coupon codes to enjoy, along with the RHMARCH codes that last until the end of the month. Not only that, but Anbernic’s Spring Sale is already underway, offering savings of up to 55%!
AliExpress Discount Codes
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