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Retrogaming Hardware

I've found that despite having systems that can theoretically do anything, I tend to drift to using them for specific purposes when I have multiple options--like, there are retro handhelds I strongly prefer for SNES or GBA, despite pretty much everything I own being able to play both. YMMV. I agree that the best system is the one you have with you, because that's the one you actually use. I played a lot of the little $12 GB300 over the winter because it was in my coat pocket when I was on the subway.
 
Yeah, I would not be shocked if I try it out and find that I prefer keeping some other devices around. Like, Switch can run its own games perfectly and Brick is a bit more portable. But, even if it just replaces the 3DS and Vita that's still a win, and if it can play some of the games from the other devices in a pinch that's a very nice bonus. And maybe I'll like retro games and Switch games on it a lot and it ends up being my only device. We will see... sometime next year. Hah.
 
Oh, and I was going to mention that the only reason I'm even considering the Thor is because of how impressed I've been with the Brick. Compared to emulation on 3DS and Vita, Brick is so sharp and quick and convenient. The MinUI menus are way better, the screen is nicer, it feels better to play and it's just an all around better experience. It has surpassed my expectations. If I do end up retiring it, it will be entirely for the convenience of having more games on one device.
 
I thought about getting a Thor, but then remembered I'm in the USA and this kind of international direct buy product isn't factoring in the tariff nonsense into the cost and decided a purchase like this can wait for saner times.
 
I spent a lot of time in the last week thinking about the Thor. Odin 2 has the same internals, so I’ve been reading reviews of that too. I also dug out my N3DSXL to remind myself how big dual screen devices feel. And this morning they released a video of the Thor…

I’m thinking about getting an Odin 2 Mini instead. It’s a clone of the Vita, which is a lot more comfortable to hold than the N3DSXL. The Thor has an even worse dpad placement than the N3DSXL, too, and it just looked uncomfortable to hold in the video, especially while using the dpad and the L button. Plus, I just don’t trust hinges after so many issues with existing flip devices.

I also made up a list of games I’d want to play on a Thor, and the vast majority of of them only use one screen. Of those that use two screens, the second screen is often just a map or extra info that could be toggled in as needed or set off to the side on a 16:9 display. There are a pretty small number of games where it is important that the screens are stacked (the Sonic Rush series, Contra 4… maybe a few others).

But, reading about Odin 2 Mini did convince me that I want one. The 5” screen is the sweet spot for me (my 6.2” Switch feels too big!). And there’s no real reason to wait until mext year since it’s been out for a while and doesn’t have any issues.

So right now I’m thinking I’ll just replace my Vita with an Odin 2 Mini. I don’t know about 3DS and Switch, but I can just box them up for now and see if I miss using them down the road. And I think I’m going to keep the Brick around for retro games and Pico-8.

And yeah, tariffs suck. I think I’m just going to have to eat the cost.
 
I just went ahead and ordered an Odin 2 Mini Pro. I found that Amazon has some in stock for MSRP and they did not charge for shipping or a 30% tariff, so it was way cheaper than ordering anywhere else. It was still very expensive, but after thinking about it I realized it's the exact device I want. A few reasons:

1) It's able to play N64, DC, Saturn, Gamecube, and PS2 games. I haven't played these in years (and I've never played Saturn).
2) It can play Android and a lot of Windows/Steam games (mostly older/indie stuff). I already own a lot of games on Steam, and through itch.io bundles.
3) I have a Vita, a 3DS and a Switch already, but it's a pain to swap between them and keep them all charged. Odin 2 won't play every game from those systems, but I'll generally have a lot more of those games with me on the train or my lunch break.
4) Playing retro games on Brick over the last 9 months has gotten me hooked on fast forward in RPGs and save states for everything.
5) If I am really bothered by the way DS/3DS games look on one screen down the road, I can get a Retroid DS attachment.
6) Most other Android systems have a bigger screen or a weaker processor. Small + powerful is a pretty rare combination. Retroid Pocket Mini and Ayaneo Pocket Ace are the only other two that are close, but I think a 5" 16:9 screen is the smallest I'd go for Switch games. The screen is just slightly smaller than a Switch Lite, and the body is just a bit bigger than a Vita. It feels like a sweet spot for me.

I went pretty quickly from "I'll get an Android someday" to wanting a Thor and then buying an Odin 2 Mini. But, I think it's a culmination of a lot of thought over the last few years about how I play games as a parent with a busy schedule. I hope it's as good of a fit as I'm imagining. I'll share some impressions and updates once I have it in hand.
 
Got my Retroid Dual Screen thing today. What a pain in the ass to set up - it recognized it pretty much right away, but I had to download this version of melonDS to have the external screen settings even visible (the app downloadable from the Play Store doesn't have it), then set "external display" to "top screen" and then use the customize settings to remove the top screen from the bottom display, then resize the bottom screen display to fit as big as it can. I don't know if what I wrote just makes sense, but that's what I did to get it working.

PSP worked great by just holding on the PPSSPP icon before launch and setting display output to external screen. Voila, 16:9 aspect ratio PSP on my Retroid Pocket Mini. Yay!

Haven't messed about with 3DS all that much yet (I have to find some roms - apparently they need to be in .cci format). The emulator I was told to use was Azahar, which I had to fiddle the settings to get to work with the external screen - if I recall correctly, I had to set a hotkey to "swap screens" to toggle through a bunch of options until the screens were oriented correctly.

Hopefully future builds of these emulators have a dual screen toggle that just works. That was a pain.
 
I've had my Odin 2 Mini for about 2 weeks now. I'm still getting used to some quirks of Android, but overall I am very happy with it.

image0.jpg


It's only a bit bigger and heavier than a Vita, but it does feel more substantial. That's better in some ways and worse in others. I like that it feels more solid and premium (Vita was always a bit creaky), but it does feel slightly less portable. Or, maybe I just need to get used to it. One unexpected thing is that, because the screen is evenly spaced between the top and bottom of the device (Vita is closer to the bottom), sometimes I can't tell which way is up for a second when I pick it up. I'll have to get used to looking for the shoulder button bump outs or the start/select buttons.

Sticking to the Vita comparison, the screen is the exact size as the Vita's. Instead of OLED, it's MiniLED. That's supposed to be a downgrade, but it looks great to me. I have no complaints about the screen whatsoever. One benefit on MiniLED is that it can get extremely bright, to the point where you can play it in direct sunlight. I usually leave it at about 15% brightness, which looks good to my eyes and saves on power. The face buttons are bigger, the start/select/menu buttons are not recessed, and it has L2 and R2 buttons. The d-pad is very similar to the Vita one, and the buttons are all slightly clicky. Overall the controls are great, no complaints.

It does seem like the battery needs to be babied a bit. the Odin 2 Mini has a smaller battery than the other Odins, and I keep seeing posts about battery issues from people who left it charging all the time. From what I've read, the best practice is to only use slow charge, and try to keep the battery between 20-80% charged. Sleep mode is very effective, except when you have a Switch game running in which case the battery will keep draining as if it were running the game. I'm used to just plugging consoles in and leaving them until I want to play, so I'll have to make a habit of being more conscious of this one.

Android is a mixed bag. It's nice that it can run so many systems, but setting up emulators is a pain. I hate Retroarch (I downloaded Robert Broglia's .EMU series for most older systems), and every emulator for newer systems has slightly different settings and menus. Hopefully I won't need to poke around in them too much once I have things set the way I want them. I don't have an existing collections of roms for these higher end systems, so I'll chip away at that over time. I'm using Beacon as the front end, which I actually love. It's very simple and has just a bit of customization. It just works. I'm slowly figuring out what Android apps are useful. In the end, this thing is basically a phone with the cellular parts and camera removed, in a Vita body. It's kind of amazing that it works as well as it does.

To be honest, I haven't had that much free time and most of it has been messing around with settings and trying out different games. I finished Pokemon Heart Gold on my Brick a few days ago, so I'm just now ready to actually start a game on the Odin 2. From what little I've played, DS and 3DS games run great. I do not mind the side-by-side screens at all (I know others have complained about that). I have one screen as big as it gets and the other in the corner, with the L2 button swapping their positions. The one Switch game I tried has worked nearly flawlessly (there was one brief point with a light that flashed incorrectly). I have not tried Windows games yet, but everything else seems like it just works.

I think I'm going to post a bunch of older systems and games in the sale thread soon. Even though it's not perfect, I much prefer just having all of my games in one place, with save states etc. I'm probably going to hold on to my PS4 (mostly for streaming and blu-ray), Switch (I may hack it and give it to my kids some day), Brick (it's just a nice little device for Game Boy/NGPC/Pico-8), and the Odin 2 Mini. Everything else is going to go.
 
R46H Hand-held Console
($38 on AliExpress)

I’ve previously reviewed the R36S and the R36H, low-end handhelds sold under a variety of brand names (BOYHOM is a popular one). Like Anbernic’s RGXX series, there are a number of variations that are all basically just external hardware differences; they’re all running the same ArcOs in the same internals. These all use the RK3128 chip, usually 1 gig of RAM, and whatever battery gets them 4-5 hours of playtime. They play up to PS1 just fine and are usually loaded with N64, NDS and PSP games that they can, at best, do a mediocre job with. And they have a full Retroarch menu so you can use cheats and fast-forward and edit all of your inputs and filters and things. And they all run $30-50 on AliExpress, depending on sales and taxes.

The R36S and the R36H are the vertical and horizonal versions with 4:3 ratio 3.5” screen. The horizontal version doesn’t have a menu button and has left analog stick on top, which were my big complaints about it.

This version, the R46H, has a 4:3 ratio 4.3” screen; it’s basically the RG40XX-H version of these devices. It’s got a rounded, slightly fatter grip that’s pretty comfortable and the left stick is on the bottom, but it doesn’t have a dedicated menu button so you need to use the Select key for your hotkeys by default. It also seems to default all systems to full screen, which means needing to adjust your settings for portable systems so they aren’t stretched.

Other vertical handhelds that are functionally the same include:
  • The R36S Plus is a vertical system with a 1:1 ratio (square) 4” screen. The R36Ultra has the same 4” screen and a slightly different button layout.
  • Not to be confused with the R36 Pro (3.5”) and R36 Max (4”) which are yet another manufacturer’s version of the same two things with slightly different buttons.
  • The R36XX is just an R36S with wi-fi.
  • The R36T has a weird d-pad and only one stick, and a weird rounded filter on the 3.5” screen that’s apparently supposed to resemble a CRT (but according to reviews, doesn’t really). It seems to be based on the K36S, which shares the weird d-pad and single-stick vertical layout.
  • The Kinhank K36, unrelated to the K36S, is yet another version of the same device, though running a different frontend and with big “butt-cheek” grips.
  • The BATLEXP G350 (secretly made by Anbernic) has a better build quality and is otherwise the same device; as it runs in the same price range it’s the best one to get.
Then we have the other horizontal versions:
  • The R43S is a horizontal system with a 16:9 ratio 4.3” screen and the left analog stick is on top.
  • Not to be confused with the XF43, which has a slightly more ergonomic design but the same 16:9 ratio 4.3” screen and layout. (Reviews seem to think the controls on this one are particularly nice.)
  • The R50S, on the other hand, has a 16:9 ratio 5.1” screen and BOTH sticks on top, which I cannot imagine is actually comfortable to play on. (Honestly, the 16:9 screens for these low-end devices are a waste, because the PSP is the earliest system which used that resolution and this chipset can’t really run it. You’re basically paying extra for black bars.)
  • The XF40H has the 1:1 ratio 4” screen in a horizontal form-factor with the advantage that it appears to have both sticks on the bottom and a menu button.
Overall: For PS1 and earlier systems, this is a perfectly cromulent device. For not much more money (especially in this era of randomized tariffs), the Anbernic RG40XX-H is this but better.
 
The Retroid Pocket 6 was just announced (and an upgraded RP5).

Compared to the Odin 2 Mini, the RP6 has the same processor, a slightly larger OLED screen, a bigger battery, and it's like $100 cheaper. D'oh!! But, at the same time, the O2M has a bit smaller form, which I prefer. I am also happy with the MiniLED screen. The RP6 looks a bit more bland too, and I don't like the glass front. A bigger battery would be nice, but I'm sticking with what I have.

Oh, and after using the O2M for a month, I am pretty sure I'm going to sell my Brick. I thought I would want to hold on to a smaller device, but I'm happy playing everything on my O2M, and the Brick feels redundant now. It was a great little starter device.
 
I'm still feeling real burned by the Retroid I got a couple years ago. Shipped with a non-functioning shoulder button, and they refused to replace it or help me out on repairing it myself.
 
The quality control on emulation handhelds is just not as good as it is on corporate devices. I’ve read a lot of random complaints about Brick buttons, screens, etc. that did not apply to my own device at all. It’s a bit of a dice roll when you order one.
 
Patrick said:
Oh, and after using the O2M for a month, I am pretty sure I'm going to sell my Brick. I thought I would want to hold on to a smaller device, but I'm happy playing everything on my O2M, and the Brick feels redundant now. It was a great little starter device.
Click to expand...
Only two weeks later and I've waffled on this already. I missed having a little Game Boy. Also, I was playing some Pico-8 games on my phone and touch controls are just miserable for this type of game. I was looking into Playtiles, which look like a pretty clever way to add physical controls in a pinch. And Odin 2 can play Pico-8 games via a browser (weirdly using the analog stick instead of dpad), or by emulating Windows or dual booting. But, Pico-8 really feels at home on the Brick.

Fortunately I only boxed it up instead of selling it. I'm going to go with my old plan - set it up with Game Boy/Color, Game Gear, NGPC, and Pico-8 only. There are so many great games from that era/tech level, and they are all designed to be quick, pick up and play experiences. And, the chunkier graphics/small resolution fit the smaller screen better.
 
One minor complaint I've had about my Odin 2 Mini is that the analog sticks are a bit too tall. Sometimes when I put it in my backpack pocket it snags on the stick. I've been looking at low profile replacement sticks on Etsy just to see what is available.

Monday night I went to get the Mini out of my bag and one of the sticks was missing. It seems like it must have popped off when I was putting it in my bag at the train station. I checked my bag thoroughly and it is no where to be found. I checked on Etsy this morning and the low profile Hype Stix are on sale for $9 (a buck off!) So, now I have some new sticks on the way. It was what I wanted to do anyway, and losing the stick was a nudge in the right direction. Hopefully the new ones don't snag and are comfortable to use, but I'll report back.
 
I got a Odin 2 Portal 'bout a month ago and it's incredible. I probably will pick up a Thor eventually, too, but can't really afford it right now. I'm completely sold on this hardware in general now and totally get how people can own multiple different emulator handhelds for different systems. Shit can get so nerdy and granular.
 
My low profile sticks came in, and they’re great! I tried to capture the difference in height here:

IMG-4902.jpg


Vs.

IMG-4904.jpg


I’m not sure how well it comes across, but it’s the difference between more than 2x the dpad height to around 1.25x. It makes the whole device feel more slim and compact. Also, the right stick doesn’t obstruct the buttons as much.

IMG-4905.jpg


The stick movement has a bit of a lower radius compared to the default ones. It’s not as extreme as the little Vita sticks, but somewhere between that and a Switch stick. Right now I’m playing mostly 2D games anyway, but I tested out a bit of Mario 64 and Wipeout Pure and it felt good in both.

Hype Stix sent three sticks so I have a backup. They also threw in a clear stick and one flat topped one. I actually don’t like how tge clear one looks or how the flat one feels, but it’s really nice to be able to test them out myself. They came in a nice box and included a game boy keychain as well. I am super impressed, and feel like I got more than my $9 worth.
 
I ended up selling my Brick, because it was mostly redundant. The one thing I missed was the native Linux version of Pico-8. Lo and behold, a native Android Pico-8 app just released.

github.com

Releases · Macs75/pico8-android

A wrapper for PICO-8 to run on Android. Contribute to Macs75/pico8-android development by creating an account on GitHub.
github.com github.com

It doesn’t have front-end support for individual games yet, but I was able to add a link to the app in Beacon and it defaults to opening Splore to the favorites page, which is just fine.
 
Nice! I’ll try that on my retroid.

I had bought a little anbernic GBA SP knock off specifically for that but I pretty much only use it for playing a few minutes of random NES games while something on tv isn’t fully holding my attention.
 
I went back through this thread recently to remind myself of my retrogaming/emulation history. Before 2021, 99% of my games were played on official hardware. I had tried out emulators a few times, but I never liked the experience as much as playing on real hardware. It looks like the pandemic is what got me started on emulation, and it kind of snowballed from there.

Aug 2021 hacked 3DS (played lots of fuzzy GB/NES games)
Aug 2022 hacked Vita (played lots of PSP games)
Feb 2023 bought and hacked New 3DS (I wanted access to SNES games, lol)
Dec 2023 added retroarch on Vita (the low resolution 3DS screens wore on me over time)
Dec 2024 bought Brick (the RGC review convinced me, and I was sick of the Vita's interface)
Sep 2025 bought Odin 2 (Thor got my attention, but I realized I much prefer the Vita form factor)
Dec 2025 sold 3DS/New 3DS/Vita/Brick (Odin 2 can run most of the games I want to play from those systems)

If the pattern continues, I'll get tired of my Odin 2 by the end of the year and buy something new. Haha. BUT, I really hope I've broken the pattern. looking back over these, each step taught me something about what I wanted out of a device: access to lots of games, a unified interface, a high resolution display, a compact form factor, etc. I don't know what else I would want at this point. As long as the hardware holds out, I think I'm going to stick with the Odin 2 for the foreseeable future.
 
Does anyone have a recommendation on something like an Everdrive for SNES/SFami? I'm looking for one that will work with an Analogue SuperNT. (Original hardware is better, sure, but my childhood Super NES needs a little TLC and I'm not really interested in getting it modded.) Also, my apologies if I've asked this before. I've slept since then.
 
If you don't want special chip stuff, the Super EverDrive X5 or X6 is a cheaper route. But I'd go with the FXPak Pro - you get everything but the chip in Tengai Makyou Zero and a couple of shogi games, which means stuff like Star Fox and Super Mario RPG are on the table.
 
Oh, right, if you're rocking a Super Nt, that has jailbreak firmware. Unless you just want a cart, you've probably got similar capabilities of a Super EverDrive X6, with a few extra chips. No Super FX or SA1, though, so that's a bummer.
 
I've been playing on a jailbroken Super NT for five years, it basically just lets you load ROMs from the SD card (which I do constantly for kaizo SMW hacks). If you want extra chips and/or the ability to save state, the FXPak Pro is the thing to get. I personally don't have one but a bunch of people in the kaizo community do; it's what I'd get if I was in the market for that kind of thing.
 
So I was looking up the FxPak Pro and it looks like you can get it from the guy who designed it for like $230. I’m assuming all the versions that come up from AliExpress for like $70 aren’t terribly trustworthy. Other concerning thing though is I’m seeing comments on Reddit about the latest legit firmware having issues with SA-1 games like MarioRPG, and not being able to downgrade the latest hardware to one that works. Not sure if that’s been fixed yet…
 
I know ikari is the guy that did the initial design and firmware, but KRIKzz manufactures them. I probably wouldn't trust an AliExpress one, yeah.

Doing a little digging, and yeah, it seems the latest firmware has some issues, unfortunately. The timing has never been perfectly accurate (I've got a much older SD2SNES revision), but it appears the last firmware tanks the speed some on SA1, and the last revisions can't go to lower firmware. Drats. I do wonder if you could turn up an older revision cart that's legit - I guess that's one solution.
 
Wait, what? They released a revision/firmware that breaks compatibility with some games on a $200+ device that were working before? The heck? I'm glad I have one from a few years back, and won't be updating that firmware...!
 
I think it's a change that was done to account for the new hardware they swapped to, but yeah, not ideal. I haven't updated mine in years - I think I'm still on like a 1.10 beta or something.
 
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