Reviews

Here we go again, another 353 device from Anbernic. Not exactly unexpected, when the RG350 and 351 devices went with metal, plastic, and vertical versions, with the 351 even throwing in a bonus design with the MP. The RG353M ditches the nostalgic form factor of the...

A baby Switch Lite, a mini Odin, the PSP's older brother but not the Vita. Here comes the Retroid Pocket 3, an eagerly awaited follow-up to the oft-recommended Retroid Pocket 2+. It's definitely had a facelift, but under the hood we're not getting a big overhaul....

It's a Gameboy Color! Wait, no it's not, I don't remember my childhood GBC having quite this many buttons. Well, at least this time around it's not so weird when your grandmother calls it your "Nintendo" because it does look a lot like the famed 1998 handheld,...

If, like myself, you were interested in x86 handhelds back in July of 2021, then you had already spent a couple of months in excited speculation over the rumored upcoming "SteamPal" from Valve. Releasing in the midst of a healthily growing x86 handheld market, how...

We're entering a new era in the retro handheld space. The age old question of Linux handhelds vs. Android handhelds has yet to be settled, but a new contender has entered the ring: PC Handhelds! Okay, that's technically not true. Gaming handhelds leveraging PC...

It's finally here! During the relatively short lifespan of the modern retro handheld scene, there hasn't been a handheld with more hype than AYN's Odin. Originally billed as the "199 Handheld", the Odin had a relatively simple mission statement: What if you leveraged...

The Miyoo Mini dares to ask: What if a cheap tiny handheld were also good? That's probably not the most charitable framing for the Mini's sub-$100 USD brethren, but there's a kernel of truth in it. The sweet spot for the portable emulation scene has been handhelds...

For the last few years, Analogue Inc. has been making a name for themselves as a top-tier purveyor of high-end clone console hardware. Clone consoles aren't something we've covered much here at Retro Handhelds. Rather than taking an emulation-based approach to classic...

And now for something completely different! The GUN4IR project is retro, and you technically hold it in your hand, but it's definitely not a retro handheld. If you'll allow us this brief side excursion, we recently were able to test out this system and felt that it...

The prodigal son returns! The Retroid Pocket 2 is a handheld that needs no introduction. It swept the portable emulation scene by storm in 2020, and was responsible for kickstarting Retro Handhelds as it exists today. The Android-based handheld remained a popular...

At first glance, the Anbernic RG552 appears to be yet another entry in the company's long running RG351 line. Anbernic has gotten a lot of milage out of the RG351 hardware platform and its RK3326 system on a chip. They've used it to create 3.5" handhelds with...

As we enter the waning months of 2021, Anbernic unexpectedly decided to release one more RG351 handheld. This probably won't be the last RK3326 devices that we see, but it will most likely be one of the last high profile devices to launch before the new generation of...

Anbernic's RG351v is a retro emulation handheld for players who are nostalgic about the original Nintendo Game Boy. That is such an obvious introduction that it almost feels a little ridiculous to start off with. You can't always judge a book by its cover, but in the...

MooreChip Technologies undertook quite the balancing act when they launched the Retroid Pocket 2 at the end of 2020. When creating a new emulation handheld, manufacturers generally need to settle on one of two different approaches. Are you going to lean into the...

Everything about the Anbernic RG351p appears incremental at face value. To start with, its name is literally just one better than its predecessor, the RG350p. The RG351p's hardware is a riff on Hardkernel's ODROID-GO Advance handheld. Its venerable Rockchip RK3326...