Ever since I was a teenager, there have been certain phrases that still manage to motivate me into action. These phrases include “limited run” or “limited edition”.
Following the release of the AYANEO Pocket DMG, I’d been looking at trying to get my hands on one of the new wave of devices with the LG Wing’s old 1080p near-square screen. I initially ordered the Retroid Pocket Classic on launch day, but came to my senses and remembered that I don’t really prefer vertical handhelds.
When Retroid announced it would be selling a limited number of “Retroid Pocket Mini v2” devices, I made the purchase. I was curious how this new consumer-ready v2 would differ from the videos showing self-modded v1 devices made by our favorite YouTubers.
Retroid Pocket Mini History
Most people in the retro handhelds scene know the story by now. When the original Retroid Pocket Mini launched, it was advertised with a 3.7-inch 1280×960 screen. But the actual device outputted a different resolution, even though it still reported itself as 960p via software tricks. The result was wonky shaders and distorted images.
Community investigation revealed that the screen was actually the same 1080p 31:27 panel as the AYANEO Pocket DMG, partially hidden behind bezels to appear 4:3.
Once the cat was out of the bag, Retroid announced that anyone who had purchased the device directly from them could receive a replacement front shell, which would enable the full screen to be used. They also allowed a limited number of devices to be returned.
My assumption is that the v2 devices being sold now are likely refurbished v1 units, returned by customers, fitted with the new shell, and sold directly by Retroid. This got me wondering: is there any difference between someone buying a v2 direct from Retroid, compared to fitting the replacement screen to the v1 themselves?
The Box & The Physical Device
When the device arrived, I fully expected Retroid to be reusing existing packaging, but Retroid has at least printed V2 on the box itself
The most surprising aspect of the packaging was the color options. This seems to indicate that Retroid may be considering selling a Black and Red (SFC) colorway.
Inside the box is the standard packaging, a user manual, and the same Retroid-branded power cable that came with the v1. Included in a Retroid “guarantee of quality”, which, after the whole debacle with the incorrectly advertised screen on the original Retroid Pocket Mini, I found this “guarantee of quality” disproportionally funny.
I’m actually a fan of the All-Black look. Through accident more than design, I own black colorways of most of my favorite small handhelds, and the v2 fits right in.
The first thing I chose to check was the face buttons. I’m not so adverse to clicky buttons, for example, I think TrimUI makes my favorite D-pads, so I chose not to buy extra membranes for the face button mod.
My tribute to the New Zealand Rugby team
Having the device in my hands, I can see that the buttons are clicky, but not in a way that is offensive to me. The noise they make is certainly not that much worse than the clicky noise the shoulder buttons make.
After switching on the device for the first time and reaching the initial Retroid set-up page, the quality of the screen became immediately clear. I chose to install all the default emulators, as I was interested in how Retroid would have configured these for the v2’s screen. Being a devotee of ES-DE and Obtainium, I would expect to install these once testing is over.
The Software
The RP Mini is my first Retroid device since the RP3+, and while I didn’t choose to use the Retroid Launcher included with that device, I was familiar with it and knew it to be fully functional. This did not appear to be the case with the new Retroid Launcher shipped with the RP Mini.
The new launcher appears functionally very similar to Dajisho; however, the reskin Retroid potentially has done looks gaundy to these old eyes, and certainly lacks any of the charm present in either a standard Dajisho install or the Switch-like UI of the old Retroid Launcher.
My worst experience with the new Retroid Launcher came from the unkillable tutorial screens, which launched every time a new Console System was selected, no matter whether it was the first time or not. The only way I found to neutralize these pop-ups was to ensure that at least 1 compatible ROM file was in each console folder.
On a recent episode of the Nest Nest podcast, the panel talked about “time to game” and how they liked systems that essentially got out of your way and allowed a game to load as quickly as possible. Based on my experience with the new Retroid Launcher, this is not a concept Retroid’s software developers are familiar with.
Not Now Annoying Tutorial Bubbles!
I moved on to testing the default emulators. Moving over the SD card from my Odin 2, I loaded up some personal favourite GotX games: Koudelka on PS1, KuriKuri Kurin on GBA, Wave Racer 64 on N64, and Peter Jackson’s King Kong on PS2.
In each case, I was disappointed that it looked like no setup activities were completed on each emulator in order to make them take advantage of the 3.9-inch, nearly square, 1080p screen. Duckstation defaulting to 1x resolution was particularly disappointing.
The results, once configured, looked incredible. Each emulator I used defaults to putting the image in the center of the screen, not at the top like I’d prefer (there are likely config options to fix this, which I’ll investigate). This doesn’t take away from the sheer quality of the image displayed or the way that the letterboxing melds into the black bezel due to the blackest blacks of the OLED screen.
I know this isn’t new information, as every review I’ve seen for the latest generation Retroid projects says the same; however, this doesn’t take away from the effect of seeing it in person. One aspect I wasn’t expecting to notice was the controls.
I know the Retroid Pocket Mini and the Odin 2 use nearly identical D-pads and sticks, but somehow those on the RP Mini felt smaller compared to the Odin 2’s. I know this to be nothing other than my brain playing tricks on me, but there we are. Using the buttons to play a game didn’t annoy me at all, despite them being unquestionably clicky,
My most pleasant surprise was the SD card slot cover. In the conclusion section of his video about the original RP Mini, RH figurehead Stubbs talked about how the card slot wasn’t flush with the device when an SD card was inserted. I was happy to find that this was no longer the case with the v2, and the slot closed properly and didn’t stick into my hand while gaming.
Unlike Stubbs, I was actually impressed with the device’s audio. While the ROG Ally still has my favourite audio to date (I’ve never held an MSI Claw), the RP Mini has my favourite audio from a smaller handheld.
The v2 comes with Android 13 installed as default, whereas the Mini v1 came with Android 10. Prior to the launch of v1, Retroid expressed concerns that the RP Mini might suffer poor performance using A13 due to only having 6GB of RAM onboard. Thankfully, during my limited playtest, I discovered no issues.
ROCKNIX
My main motivation behind the purchase of my RP Mini v2 was to set it up with a Linux handheld, initially using ROCKNIX, then potentially moving to Knulli if they offer support for the device in a future version.
It was at this point that I knew something had gone wrong
I was disappointed to find that, out of the box, the RP Mini v2 isn’t compatible with Rocknix. In order to load ROCKNIX, the correct device needs to be selected from a menu, and on the RP Mini v2, this menu isn’t legible (it essentially looks like a blue screen). If, through luck, the correct option is selected, the image with then boot upside-down.
According to the ROCKNIX Wiki, this is due to Retroid changing the bootloader compared to that which was shipped with the RP Mini v1. While the ROCKNIX Wiki has a documented solution, following these instructions as written didn’t work for me. I eventually did manage to work out a fix, and I’ll document this for a forthcoming article.
Limited Edition
I’m reasonably pleased with my purchase of the RP Mini v2, especially after fixing the issue with ROCKNIX. While I did panic buy at launch, since I was scared of it selling out, the device remains on sale at the time of writing.
However, RH Discord member i.m.duran appears to have proven that, as of June 21, 2025, only 102 units remain for sale, and this would fit since Retroid has always claimed only a limited number of units would be available for sale.
Are there only 102 units left?
The Retroid Pocket Mini v2 is available for purchase at the Retroid website using this link
While the Retroid Pocket Classic remains the cheapest way to get access to a device with the same hi-res screen, the horizontal form factor, additional power and Linux support mean that I think the RP Mini v2 is the better purchase, and it doesn’t appear to be a device which will stay available to buy forever.
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