E-waste is one of those popular terms born of the internet that tends to be used as a blanket cover-all when there’s a lack of better options. In the same way that GOAT gets thrown around in describing something that may actually only rate as great-ish in reality, how can every third thing be the greatest of all time? They can’t. It’s just language. And when we look at things that way, I don’t think it’s fair to label some devices as waste.

There is absolutely garbage out there on AliExpress that shouldn’t be purchased by anyone. I’m the first to admit it, and I’ve learned the lesson with my own money on more than a few occasions. But as the big players in emulation have continued making their entries slicker, faster, and cheaper as time goes on, the lesser-known budget options that offer serious bang for buck are the handhelds that tend to catch my eye the most.

So I propose that with this article we examine what types of devices absolutely deserve their e-waste moniker, and find a way to recognize those that nobly stand on top of the trash pile and actually make a real effort to be a product that someone can own, use, and enjoy with a well-rounded playing experience.

Actual E-Waste

These are the devices that come along and have no redeeming qualities whatsoever. Yes, they might play games, but chances are it’s on a locked OS with some random ROMset of mislabeled trash. The plastic feels like it could shatter with the slightest of strength applied. These were the machines where the term e-waste was born, and deservedly so. Handhelds that have no real reason for being other than the fact that they are dirt cheap are indeed e-waste. Destined to live in a drawer before being donated down the line and finally reaching their final resting place inside a landfill.

“I don’t care if it’s $4 on the Choice Sale. You already have handhelds you don’t play at home.”

Just a few short years ago, before Anbernic was pumping out a new SKU every month, the world of dedicated emulation hardware was in a fairly sorry state. We’ve become unbelievably spoiled in the years since folks were home during COVID, looking for something to play their old favorites on. AliExpress marketplaces were once filled with a few niche devices and a whole slew of different Famiclone consoles.

These were the cheap plug-n-play TV devices akin to something like the NES classic, but just crappier in every way imaginable. Time moves almost as fast as the speed of manufacturing development in Shenzhen, and the landscape that was just a few years ago has changed drastically to become what it is today.

I don’t know what it is or where it came from, but it’s absolutely E-waste.

On the other side of the genuine e-waste coin from AliExpress Dollar Specials are the legally licensed Walmart impulse purchases. Several companies make low-quality handhelds with enough legit licensing on the box to target nostalgic geezers like me. None are worse in my eyes than MyArcade.

This company has been around for quite a number of years at this point, and I’ve yet to use a product by them that I haven’t thought was absolute crap. Any money that goes into these releases is clearly going to secure Mega Man for the box, because they sure aren’t out there making great handhelds and mini-arcades.

I’ve never liked MyArcade products, and I suspect I’m not alone

The displays are always garbage, the controls feel barely serviceable, and the whole experience smacks of a cheap knockoff with bad makeup. It’s the same kind of crap as the no-name Ali systems, but priced and marketed to the nostalgic Western consumer who doesn’t know any better. More power to them, I guess.

They’re still here, so they must be making money, but the systems aren’t something I think that anyone should own. You will receive your memories in a watered-down package that will make you question why you ever loved these games in the first place. Just don’t do it.

Strength of Character

These are the handhelds that are flawed, cheap, and might be tempting to label as e-waste, but you’d be wrong. These are the handhelds that have found their way into my heart on sheer character alone. They make a statement for themselves to stand out from the drek and boldly claim that they refuse to be ignored on the shelf.

Even if someone isn’t going to play with them, dammit, they look good up there with the others. Now, this isn’t to say that I would actually recommend that you purchase any of these types of handhelds, just that they have merit and deserve a little more consideration before they’re chucked away into the trash pile of forgotten handhelds.

I will never part with my Chicken. We’ve been through too much together.

If you can’t find love in your heart for a gaming device made up to look like a gold chain dangling, deal with it, glasses-wearing, chicken, then I have no hope for your prospects on happiness in the future. It’s even loaded with chicken-related games and ROM-hacks! Someone loved this chicken from its egg was fertile.

The fact that the people who made this beauty didn’t understand why this sold like hotcakes, and the other design was left to rot. It’s the fact that this was designed without the thought of kitsch in mind that makes it so perfect. There are a million better screens out there, sure, but few will ever shine as brightly in my heart as that of the Chicken Handheld.

No Waste Here

This is where I take umbrage with the term of E-waste. Over and over again, throughout the handheld emulation community, I see budget handhelds described as if they were junk. You might have seen others doing it and joined in, but whatever reasons you have, I’m here to tell you that you might be wrong.

And if you don’t think that you are, you’re spoiled. Don’t feel bad. We all are. I use the R36S as my go-to example because it encapsulates everything that I think is amazing in what can be achieved in this space. I’ve paid as low as $19 to have one of these handhelds shipped to my door from overseas. Knock on wood, I haven’t landed a clone yet.

Way too awesome to be e-waste

As discussed earlier, the landscape was essentially barren of options just a few years back, and if someone had come to you then and told you that this budget handheld could play games like it does, with the display that it has, in a familiar decently made form-factor, and often comes fully loaded with titles, you’d likely scoff. I’m sorry, but where is the waste? I don’t think that these handhelds are just “good for being so cheap”.

Not only that, but I think a lot of them are genuinely great products. They might have their own quirks and peculiarities, but that usually only endears them to me further. I love my Odin 2, but it just can’t wow me in the same way that something shipped across an ocean to my door for $20-$40 can. I still have trouble getting my head around how everyone involved in that chain is able to wet their beaks along the way, and I still get something this good for this cheap.

R36S @ AliExpressR36XX @ AliExpress

The wild west nature of the emulation hobby means that things like patent designs are more suggestions than hard and fast rules, and open source clone consoles can make the difference between enjoying a library of classics on the couch or having to put another $30 together first. If the experience delivers, then I’m in.

Familiar, sure, but I don’t see waste

The biggest demarcation line in whether a handheld should qualify as e-waste lies in one main distinction. Can it be loaded with custom firmware? There are handhelds I’ve used that could go from garbage to decent with a little help in the software department, but alas, they’ve been locked down by their makers.

This was the way of the hobby for all handhelds there for a while. The Miyoo Mini Plus wouldn’t be what it is today if some talented developers hadn’t stepped in to get the most out of the hardware. As such, handhelds that might otherwise be deemed landfill-ready can be molded into a great time on the couch.

Miyoo Mini Plus @ AliExpressMiyoo Mini Plus @ Amazon

If Not E-Waste, Then What Are They?

If the next time you’re on a forum thread or a Discord channel and someone uses the e-waste term, maybe you’ll pause for a second and think of whether this is true e-waste, or just a victim of a harshly competitive hobby.

Some great starter handhelds are available in the sea of E-waste

Remember the term “starter-home”? This was a term for houses that were generally smaller, older, and looked at as a lower rung on your eventual way up the ladder of homeownership. That reality has since been largely swallowed up over time, but the point is that no one ever referred to them as something like “garbage houses”.

They were serviceable units that served their purpose and did so well. Why can’t we take the same attitude with handhelds like the MyMini? It’s great! I say we keep the true e-waste condemned, but leave some room as a community to love the great devices that can be tagged as the starter-handheld.

MyMini @ AliExpressMyMini @ Amazon

Do you have a favorite device that has been unfairly tossed in with the E-waste heap? Let us know in the comments below, and chat with us in our Discord!

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