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Retrogaming Hardware

So, I bought one of these Retroid Dual Screen add ons. Went with the black model and the clip to match my Retroid Pocket Mini. Basically, I want to see what emulating DS and 3DS is like on a device that isn't a single screen - this is kinda the dream for those two systems, being able to presumably uprez both screens beyond what the original hardware can do, but still have two screens and still be portable. I'll let you all know how it is - apparently these aren't shipping for a few months according to Retro Game Corps on yt, so it'll be a while.
 
Kazin said:
So, I bought one of these Retroid Dual Screen add ons. Went with the black model and the clip to match my Retroid Pocket Mini. Basically, I want to see what emulating DS and 3DS is like on a device that isn't a single screen - this is kinda the dream for those two systems, being able to presumably uprez both screens beyond what the original hardware can do, but still have two screens and still be portable. I'll let you all know how it is - apparently these aren't shipping for a few months according to Retro Game Corps on yt, so it'll be a while.
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I ordered one, too. I'm a sucker who really wants that two-screen action.
 
Beowulf said:
I ordered one, too. I'm a sucker who really wants that two-screen action.
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It is, in my opinion, the only way to play DS/3DS at all! I can't do emulation on one screen, even windowed on a PC. I hate it. Hopefully this works well... Supposedly the emulators support two screens, so I guess we'll see.
 
I've been playing Pokemon White on the Brick. It took a while, but I'm pretty used to switching back and forth between the screens with the R button. But yeah, a dual screen handheld would be great, and there are some games that really only work with both screens.

The one odd thing is that the add on will be a touch screen, but it will be on top. That seems awkward to use, and it's the wrong screen. I guess you could swap the screens to use it in a pinch if your device doesn't have a touch screen already.
 
It only works with certain devices, apparently, all of which (unless I'm mistaken) come with a touchscreen already. I didn't know the added screen was a touchscreen too and I bought the thing already lol

One thing I am curious about is whether or not I'll be able to charge the device while playing or not. It doesn't look like it? But honestly I'd like to keep the additional screen just plugged in all the time whether I'm using it or not, I think, so it'd be nice not to have to detach it to charge it.
 
Retroid just posted a video showing the dual screen add on, including just straight up emulating Nintendo games on both DS and 3DS lol:

 
But yeah, honestly, it's good to see, particularly 3DS emulation, since that's primarily what I'm likely to mess around with, hopefully with a bump in resolution.
 
Kazin said:
But yeah, honestly, it's good to see, particularly 3DS emulation, since that's primarily what I'm likely to mess around with, hopefully with a bump in resolution.
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Oh, yeah, 3DS emulation is the reason to want the second screen for something as powerful as the RP5. I actually ordered the Magicx Zero 40 too, which I suspect will do DS nicely but definitely won't be able to handle 3DS. (Also, it's just a weird device, and I love weird devices. I have plenty of high-quality standard ones at this point. Gotta change it up.)
 
Ampown MagicX Zero 40

This is an Android-based handheld with a unique feature: A tall vertical screen. It’s clearly intended as a compact DS-emulator device, as it runs DraStic really well and the screen is the correct size to display both screens (with a bar in-between to represent the hinge space that most games accounted for) and it’s a touchscreen. It also works great for vertical arcade games originally intended for a tall screen.

It also runs the tier 2 retro games (up through SNES/Genesis/PS1) just fine; and has N64 and PSP available but isn’t particularly good at them. (And it has to cram the 16:9 PSP display into a tiny space for the low-end games it can run.) In terms of emulation performance, it’s on par with an R36S or anything of that ilk; don’t have any illusions that 3DS would ever be possible here. The problem with running most other systems, however, is you end up using less than half of the screen because it’s squashed into the top.

And that gets to the big issue: It’s a small non-folding handheld, and that means the screen is relatively small. The original DS had two 3” diagonal screens, each with a 3:2 ratio. This has a 4” diagonal screen, which means that to keep the ratios correct, you functionally only have a 2.5” diagonal space for each screen. (You have slightly more for systems that use a 4:3 ratio, like any of the consoles; and a 1:1 ratio like the Game Boy works pretty nicely as it uses more than half the screen.) The d-pad is a little small and the buttons feel a little “loose,” but they’re appropriately responsive and playable. This has a dedicated menu button, which I’m always a big fan of. The device is light and will fit in a cargo pants pocket no problem, but it’s not actually ideal to play on for long periods. And because it’s running Android instead of one of the specialty Linux frontends, it takes longer to load up and get you into a game. It’s the DS emulator equivalent of the 2.8” screen candy bar handhelds (Miyoo A30, Anbernic 28XX) where the best play experience is small-screen handhelds like Game Boy, Game Gear and Lynx.

The menu UI is mildly confusing right off the bat because it’s not clear which things are switched with the D-pad versus the triggers and it’s a little hard to maneuver. It does fully expose Retroarch and all of the usual configurations. DraStic is properly loaded with cheat codes and all the usual functionality works fine. The other systems all run through RetroArch by default, so you have the usual access to add cheats or change filters as you see fit. (By default, everything displays FPS, which is mildly annoying to have to remove.)

In theory you could use this for running other Android apps, but in practice I can’t think of much I’d want to play on it—the vertical screen is smaller than most phones so you don’t have a lot of real estate for tappy games; and virtually anything that wants a controller attached to your phone also wants it in landscape mode. So not a lot of value there. I did appreciate being able to plug it directly into my PC to add games rather than needing to pop the SD card. (And it came loaded with almost the entire DS library; all I needed to add were some hacks and fan translations.)

Overall: This ran me $93 after shipping and tariff costs; I specifically wanted to try it out because of the gimmick. Kinda like the Powkiddy V10, this has one specific use-case that it’s good at (compact DS emulation) and pretty much everything else…meh. So it’s only worth the money if you’re excited for that specific use-case.
 
I mean… that’s not a bad niche, though, considering the DS library is amazing and most other emulation systems deal with it poorly if at all. I don’t really need it right now but it’s intriguing.
 
Daikaiju said:
bsky.app

eric van allen (@seamoosi.bsky.social)

Hey! Are you someone who likes dedicated gaming handhelds? Anbernic, Retroid, etc.? Maybe you've got a few and have opinions, especially on how they handle playing retro RPGs? We'd love to have you on Axe of the Blood God this week! Get in touch!
bsky.app bsky.app
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I actually had a friend send me that last night! I'm not on bluesky, but sent the guy an email through his contact form, because I feel like I'm well-suited for that discussion.
 
Beowulf said:
I actually had a friend send me that last night! I'm not on bluesky, but sent the guy an email through his contact form, because I feel like I'm well-suited for that discussion.
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My thoughts exactly. Tell Kat i said hi,

and I still remember her speed running my first Diablo 3 kill and skipping the post kill dialogue.
 
How does that little DS thing handle closing the hinge for games like Zelda or Another Code?
 
Beowulf said:
I actually had a friend send me that last night! I'm not on bluesky, but sent the guy an email through his contact form, because I feel like I'm well-suited for that discussion.
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Never heard from them and the podcast went up with someone else. Boo.
 
I love the gimmicky nature of it, but I only love it around $100 worth. And I get the impression that it's not actually super-comfortable to play on.
 
Beowulf said:
And I get the impression that it's not actually super-comfortable to play on.
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If the specs I'm seeing for everything is correct then this weighs less than a Switch 2 with attached JoyCons. But I do still agree with this point.
 
Yeah, that looks like a really nice device. For $20 more than a Retroid Pocket Flip 2, you get a second OLED screen. It makes DS/3DS really convenient to emulate, but also you can just use the top screen for Dreamcast/PS2/Gamecube.

I'm happy with my Brick + Switch combo for now, but I can see one of these replacing my 3DS and Vita down the road. I'm very curious about reviews and how well they hold up.
 
I’ve been thinking more about the AYN Thor. Before it was announced I was not considering picking up an Android device anytime soon, and I did not feel like I needed another 2 screen device. But, the more I think about it the more I'm considering getting one.

Here’s my current handheld collection:

IMG-4466.jpg


3DS plays DS and 3DS games, Vita plays PSP and Vita, Switch plays Switch, and Brick plays PS1 and earlier, arcade, and Pico-8. Every device has a niche.

When I thought about adding an Android device for Gamecube, etc. down the road, I assumed it would replace one of my devices. So, a Retroid Pocket 5 to replace the Vita, for example. It’s not a perfect 1:1, but I mostly use Vita for PSP games anyway, and on balance it would be a huge increase to the number & quality of games I’d have available. Thor could do that, and also replace the 3DS.

And then I started looking into Switch emulation on Odin 2, and it has improved quite a bit in the last couple of years. It’s far from perfect, but I looked through a compatibility list yesterday and almost everything I would want to play runs perfectly or close to it. Could it be a good enough Switch replacement if I get a Thor Pro or Max? And really, would I need the Brick at that point? Thor is pretty portable (a little less wide than 3DS and a bit thicker overall), and retro games would look great on the bottom screen (the same screen as the Retroid Pocket Classic & Mini).

4fe40f089696834c4906303a743d01c5-d891fc5b-3473-449a-85c1-56663e291fcf.jpg


So could a Thor replace all 4 of my handhelds?! If I actually went all-in, I would lose access to some Vita & Switch games, but gain access to N64, Dreamcast, Gamecube, PS2, Wii, Android, and even a few WiiU and PS3 and Windows games. And, more importantly, I could actually play all of my games at any time. I've been carrying my Brick in my backpack and I've played a ton of games on it this year, but I hadn't touched the other three until UFO50 came out on Switch. And even then, I haven't played UFO50 much because I don't carry my Switch with me. It's like, the iPhone camera is the best one in the world because it's always in your pocket and you'll actually use it. So having access to all of the games I want to play on one device makes a ton of sense if I actually want to get around to playing them.

Well, I’m getting ahead of myself. I want to wait for reviews and impressions about ergonomics, the hinge, and any other issues. And, we are expecting a new baby in January, so I probably will be too sleep deprived to set up a new system until late spring/summer anyway. And even if I got a Thor I’d box up my current systems for a while to make sure I’m actually happy with it and don’t regret anything. In the meantime, it's something to think about and I'm surprised by how much I like the idea.
 
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