“The more I learn about Retro Handhelds, the less I know about myself” – Lao Tzu, probably

What’s good fellow Sonic Adventure 2: Battle!: Chao Garden enjoyers? Our supreme leader Stubbs has granted me much-needed internet access to the locked room in his basement. And in that time I accomplished two things: 1: Buy a ZPG A1 Steak Sauce and Corn and 2: Write a review of it (Sorry family, I’ll be home soon). So special thanks to Stubbs for allowing me to write this as well as admin the official Facebook in exchange for my daily porridge. Oh, we are so back.

By now I’m sure one might be thinking “What? More content on the ZPG A1? Seriously? What else can possibly be talked about?” and to that, I agree. I don’t know how to answer that. Okay, that’s a lie, you saw the word count. In our official review here, Andrew goes over the brass tacks of the device, what’s in it, how it feels for him, and how it stacks up against the competition.

Damn….Maria…

by Joe

Ban also takes a look at the Unicorn comparing it to another one of our favorite 1:1 Android handhelds. I would HIGHLY recommend reading theirs before coming here because I want to take the time to delve into the deep end of button quality, the screen size, the next best “affordable” Android device, and my own insight on the enigmatic nature of the handheld in a more candid and cozy setting. As far as devices go, this one is very unique. This will be the best/worst review of the ZPG A1 Unicorn. There will be blood, there will be tragedy, but at the end of it all: justice.

He Bought….WHAT?

$131.78? Inflation!

As a civilian krustomer, my options were to buy it on Aliexpress for $130 plus $10 shipping or use that money towards the water bill. So I paid $140 overall for just the 6GB/128GB variant, and now I’m very dry. Naturally, I went with the super sleek and sexy Shadow the Hedgehog red and black. And that’s it, no case and no grip. I didn’t even buy an SD card for this because the onboard 108GB gave me all the space I needed for the games I would actually play on this thing. “ACTUALLY” as in the complete ROM sets for the NES, SNES, GB, GBC, Genesis, and Master System as well as my favorite titles from the PlayStation 1, Gamecube, Gameboy Advance, 3DS, and my favorite system of all: RetroArch Bios Pack.

That Feely Feel Feels… 

Extraordinarily okay! There are two camps you’ll fall into when thinking about this device: RGB30 upgrade or RG Cube alternative. I am the former. So the ergonomics I expect is minimal, but with an emphasis on fitting my hand size and pocketability. This means that the slight, *ahem*, rump mixed with the rounded edges is perfectly whatever for my tastes. It’s comfortable enough without being districting.

Rump.

Additionally, we have yet another 4″, 720 x 720p screen and it’s… Just like the others. It’s really one of the least remarkable things about the device funnily enough and the most really say about it is that it performs like the others, has pretty good color accuracy, a pretty limited brightness range that is best for indoors, and no visible ghosting. However, it has a small layer of light bleed on the very bottom that I have spotted in many reviews, so it’s safe to say that it will be pretty consistent across most of the devices. It’s at the very bottom so I doubt a reasonable person would get upset about it in gameplay. I am not such a reasonable person. I got over it. Onto the buttons!

Play “Bleed” by Meshuggah

The buttons are weird. I’m detecting not one, not two, but three different buttons that click. The in-line shoulder buttons sit loosely in place and shimmy around on a spring before getting an actuated click from a mechanical switch. What does all that mean? It’s squishy… and then it clicks. A little gross. Contrasting this are the face buttons that produce the same click, but they are so easy to press and have so little travel that you’ll do it by accident. They are also so close together that you can conceivably press multiple buttons at once without noticing… I’m not bad at video games, guys.

Contrasted to that are the start, select, and home buttons that give a nice smooth *thump* of a dome switch. These actually feel nice and aren’t stiff. It’s jarring at first the sheer lack of consistency with these buttons it makes me think this was a school project made by 3 different people who modge-podged a project together to turn in by the deadline. Then again, if I was the teacher, I’d give it a B. Because, in comparison to other devices, these buttons are fairly quiet and easy to press. Going for the A? Make them all feel like the start and select. Ce magnific.

The D=Pad is….nice. I didn’t expect to like it, but the rolls feel very nice and the rubber membrane isn’t fatiguing. It plays to different strengths, ones where precise inputs aren’t critically necessary, but specific enough so you won’t have to overly compensate for missed inputs. I’d easily recommend it for top-down games like 2D Zelda or Harvest Moon, as well as platformers like Mario, DKC, or Kirby.

Analog Sticks are certified: Fine. I have no qualms with their placement, the fact they are Switch style, or whether or not they’re hall sticks. I’ve never had an issue with Switch-style analog sticks other than drift, and I would pin the Vita’s analog stick as the uglier step-cousin. There is no cardinal snapping, so that’s good enough for me. Yes, they are asymmetric but the ergonomics of the device relegate that awkwardness.  

Game Testing

Now that we are fresh and fit off button feel and ergonomics, let’s get into juicy game testing. Expect mid but playable performance at 3DS, GameCube, and PS2 with High Performance and the fan turned on. Again, it’s a Helio G99, not an RTX 4090, so you will hit that performance ceiling pretty quickly without trying too hard. For testing, I have a tendency to play 5 or so games upon setting a device up to test the waters for button feel, input latency, ergonomics, and emulation quality. Not deliberately, these are just games I really enjoy and the prospect of them not performing well makes me cry. Here are the games and my findings (All RetroArch with internal run ahead unless otherwise noted):

Wahoo

Super Mario World – Snes9x Core: D-Pad rolls and flicks feel nice and intuitive. Input latency is good for Android. Running and jumping holding Y and B is natural and not distracting. The contrast between the rubber membrane D-Pad and the mouse clicks is jarring at first. Now that I have been fully converted to the church of 8:7, This is a very good SNES device.

The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap – mGBA Core: 8-way movement feels natural and R rolls are clicky and squishy, but not overly distracting. The aspect ratio doesn’t bother me so much between 3:2 and 1:1 Because the high resolution brings out crisper pixels.

The second most legendary bridge in gaming

Spyro: Ripto’s Rage – Swanstation Core: There’s a double jump glitch that takes precise timing and requires you to run, jump (Cross) and charge (Square). I do that to test ergonomic comfort and responsiveness. This one is a pass. Moneybags can go [redacted].

The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker – Dolphin Nightly: Yes, my tastes are very basic. This is a Helio G99, this isn’t going to run Metroid Prime that well. But can you get a locked 30 on Wind Waker? Windfall Island will get you some occasional stutter but is playable in 2X! So your medium-performing GameCube and under should perform well enough. If you are a psychopath like me, turn on widescreen hack and select stretch screen. You paid for all that screen, might as well use it.

BIG. MEATY. CLAW.

The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds – Citra MMJ: If you haven’t clicked on my name to see the sheer amount of Zelda content I have written, consider this a warning. 3DS performance is actually pretty good on here, But what I’m generally concerned with Is whether or not 3DS is actually fun to play on this. Eh. Citra never quite fixed the input lag issue before they died, So I will probably just stick to a regular 3DS. However the 1:1 left me pleasantly surprised, and with a touch screen available I can see how someone would have fun with this. I did not. Womp.

Wtf with this sound effect

Bonus: Shadow the Hedgehog – Dolphin Nightly: I’m blasting through Westopolis and killing everything in sight. My power is unlimited. Well, that’s a lie, heavy blast effects get some lag. Totally playable and you can decimate Sonic for some reason.

Software and Cardinal Sins

Just a reminder, we are running Android on this puppy. Stock Android. That means you’re starting from scratch to set EVERYTHING up, including all your emulators, controller mappings, graphics settings, overlays, directories, and system settings need to all be configured. Good luck. But seriously, just invest the time and learn to set these up. It’s not that hard and the experience WILL get better over time. Or just one and done it with ES-DE. Either way, Android is the true “Have it your way”, for better or worse. Another note on Android is the fact that there is some latent baked-in input latency due to how the OS handles screens. This lag is negligible and you will only notice if someone pointed it out to you in a review. Oops.

wat in tarnation

That being said… There is a very annoying and crippling issue. The device doesn’t have a digital Google certification. What does that mean? Your Google apps aren’t working. Play store? No. Chrome? No. Nothing. Just a pity slap of an error screen. You don’t even have a web browser. I have no idea how this shipped like this.

Yes, there’s a fix you can do but how is Jeffery-no-PC going to navigate this? He ain’t. And neither will I. I side-loaded all my apps and was done with it, Problem solved. Sure you can even sideload a web browser too, but I’m just emulating this guy and internet updates still work as they should. Still, though, the fact that it shipped like this is abysmal even for experienced users and I’m calling The Police. Update: The Police broke up in 2008 and I have no means of contacting them.

Is This Handheld For You?

RP2s – the ‘S’ stands for “Salivate”

Now see, when I shill my well-earned American Freedom Bucks on a new and shiny electronic toy, it’s because I want it. I want to play it. It was MADE for me. THIS HANDHELD WAS MADE FOR ME. With our ZPG A1 Uni-friend, this was no different. The 1:1 screen appealed to me for all of the 2D games, especially that glorious SNES integer scaling in full screen (See my RGB30 Review HERE) and the control setup was so bonkers I just had to touch it and sniff.

From my experience with the KT-R1, I already know the limits of the g99, so going in knowing that GC/PS2 wouldn’t exactly be playing to the console strength, was fine for me. I also love having complete control over how my emulators are configured with Android, and tweaking all my settings that you can’t normally access in out-of-the-box Linux devices. 

So enough about me, how about you? Well to put in perspective, a good sub $150 Android handheld will immediately direct you to your Retroid Pocket devices, of which you can catch my review of the RP2S (My first ever official RH review) or my RP4 review. The RP2S is what I would consider to be the most affordable thing for your buck Android handheld out there, still. And this will probably continue going into the RP Mini as well.

This device is an absolute love letter to the current state of pocketable devices and is complete with a very bright 480p 3.5” screen, Great buttons, and the best damn analog sticks you can get for small devices. The software experience on this guy is about as optimized as you can get currently with an in-depth setup wizard. Sure, you are still thrown into the deep end of Android, but at least Google Play works out of the box. Yes the ZPG is more powerful, but again PLAYING TO ITS STRENGTHS, your performance for the low end will be comparable other than GC/PS2.

I swear to God if I hear the word “premium” to describe metal devices I’m gonna –

So is this device for you? That depends. Are you looking for a true enthusiast handheld with a great screen, quirky but satisfying controls, great ergonomics high-res, one-by-one screen, Android device that doesn’t hold your hand and contains all of the software sins of a device developed by one person?

Or would you like a tried and true easy-to-use and cheaper device that is a bit blockier with a smaller 4:3 screen at 480p? I can’t tell you which since both are valid, But the Affordable Android scene has been pretty thin this year other than Anbernics more expensive outings. If you are jonesing that much for an Android handheld Like this one that comes with its own potentially deal-breaking flaws, check out the RG Cube.

Is This Handheld For Me?

It’s me, your boy.

Overall? Sure. After the arduous and time-consuming task of setting this doodad up, I ended up really enjoying the awkward and charming qualities of how the device looks, ergonomics, and button quality. Well, the experience on the 1:1 screen has been heavily talked about already, I think that everything here, including the price, is about where it needs to be. That being said, I am fully hot and bothered at the sheer lack of usability you have with a device out of the box because of that Google certificate situation. A new user should not have to deal with this kind of thing out of the box, So hopefully an OTA update fixes that. 

An OTA update released! It didn’t fix it.

Operating system aside, This edgy two-toned ultimate life form of an enthusiast device nearly won over my heart. The batshit control setup makes this guy stand on its own as a functional and quirky brick that can take its place next to the RG Cube, RGB30, and even the RP2s. As we begin the Retroid Pocket 5 and Mini hype cycle, I think I’m eager to see how far Z Pocket Game will stretch their audacity, forever challenging us with a pervading thought of “… Why did you make this?”

ZPG A1 Unicorn

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