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Hardware Do you own any of those Retro Handhelds ?

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Well, i have almost finished setting this up, but i'm struggling with a couple of things:

  • MSDOS Games. How do they work? 🙃 Dosbox pure seem to use a new format (dosz) but i can't do anything with it.
  • The Wifi dongle. It gets HOT. That was fine for scraping the original batch of games i put on the SD card, but now it's literally impossible to scrap everything, so i'm doing the offline method with skraper (wich is taking a whole morning to download resources, btw)
  • I have several questions about what is considered playable by the firmware developers at large. I already expected this, but 3DO doesn't run exactly well. I don't think anything beyond N64 on console and DS on handheld should be included in the RG351P/M of any firmware.
  • Depending on the game, DS can be pretty uncomfortable. Also, graphics look kind of blurry, barely better than on 3DS. Thankfully, i plan on playing Pokémon and Castlevania here, mostly.
  • Going back to wifi, i guess it's because it's connected through OTG instead of being native, but it stops working on ocassion if you come back from sleep mode, or when plugging the charger.
  • .bin+.cue files appear both represented (logically) i've looked into if i can hide either of them, but no luck so far. I guess i'll have to edit the xml list files

Yep, i'm taking days to set it up. I've been using old formats for years now, so some of this stuff is pretty new for me. Also, my old HDD is a mess and looking for my old roms is basically spelunking lol
 
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So, the Analogue Pocket....

jNzbluL.jpg

Pictured: the Pocket with his older brother and a family friend.

The Pros
  • This thing is gorgeous. Just look at it. And when you touch it, it has a unique premium feel. It weighs a little more than expected, but it's OK in the hands, and it feels sturdy -- arguably more than the Switch. Slap a "Nintendo" logo somewhere, and I could buy it is an official Nintendo product.
  • The screen. This is the gold standard of screens for 2D-focused retro consoles. The 1600 x 1440 resolution is exactly 10 times the GB/GBC/GG screen. Game Boy games look fantastic, and you get a great selection of filters leveraging the high pixel density to simulate the feel of GB, GBC, GBA, and even a CRT. It is a small but curated selection of filters that can be cycled by pressing a button and the D-Pad. Also, the 10:9 aspect ratio is very close to NES and SNES internal 8:7 resolution, and those games look great as well. NES, SNES, and GBA games are not integer-scaled, but (again) the high pixel density hidden scaling artefacts.
  • It just works, and you know it works very well. As I wrote some pages ago, I got tired of RetroArch and the myriad of settings in submenus hidden in another submenus to get the optimal experience. Sure, if you are just going to play an old game out of nostalgia every now and then the vanilla settings might be OK... but they aren't for me. I also started to "feel" the emulation lag, most noticeably in platformers, which can be circumvented with the run-ahead options, but a) it is another setting; b) it doesn't work with every core (at least on Switch Retroarch). The Pocket is reliable -- I load a ROM, and everything I see is as good as the original hardware. And it has cores for more or less everything 8 and 16bit, including very obscure platforms. The magic of FPGA.

The Cons
  • Accuracy - Convenience Trade-Off. I think seeing the Pocket as a Premium Game Boy is underselling it -- it is effectively a portable SNES! With a huge caveat -- no save states for SNES games. And it is not the only platform -- MegaDrive, NeoGeo, Famicom Disk System also do not support them. Apparently, save states are hard to get with FPGA. The NES and various handhelds support them, though, and overall, I feel it is an acceptable compromise (most SNES games were designed with a modern sensibility). The WonderSwan, of all things, is nuts, supporting not only save states but fast forward too!
  • Sleep Mode (or the lack thereof). Unfortunately, Analogue tied save states to sleep mode. The Pocket doesn't have a stand-by mode, it turns off after creating a temporary save state, which is re-loaded when turned on. A low-powered mode that turns the screen and the audio off while keeping the game running might be a good compromise, but who knows if they will implement it...
  • Abandoned cores. Not all cores are equal, and while there is a lot of love in the community-made ones, those made by a mysterious developer known as "Spiritualized", who might or might not be Mr. Analogue with fake mustaches, could surely be improved. They have not been updated since 2022, and sometimes lack features or are poorly documented -- the GB core has not been updated to support Analogue's own filters and custom palettes, how the NES core handles aspect ratio is poorly documented (I still haven't understood how to switch to 8:7 reliably), and the GameGear one outright uses the wrong resolution. Some Pocket (I think from Batch C shipped this Summer) also crashes with the GBA core -- thank God I haven't encountered this bug. Everything works, but sometimes it could work a bit better...
  • The OS. The OS is simple and barebone, but that's OK. When you turn on the Pocket, by default the OS allows you to choose between running a cartridge, accessing the Library (more on that in a moment), navigating to the cores menu to load a ROM, and, of course, accessing the settings. Within the settings, you have the option to set starting a cartridge or going to the core menu as the default action. This is cool since I'm primarily using the console to play ROMs with cores! Unfortunately, exiting a game brings you to the "main" menu no matter what (not to the core menu). Why? Who knows. Then we have the Library, which is a great, completely useless idea. You see, the Library tracks every game you play, and it even allows you to load fancy title screens. You can select a game from the Library, and load it. Indeed, that's a great idea! Unfortunately, it only works with cartridge games. Why you would open the Library menu to select the game you physically inserted in the console is a mystery. The whole feature is so ill-conceived that it feels like a parody. Finally, the filters are great, but at the moment you can't save the settings... You can enable frame bleeding in GB/C/A filters, but that's not saved. You can customize the CRT filter, but you have to do that every time you boot the console (and remember, there's no sleep mode). Nothing OS-related ruins the experience, but while the hardware feels good and premium, the OS feels very amateurish. Combine that with those abandoned cores totally not made by Analogue....

Overall, I'm very satisfied. During these last three weeks, I finished Super Metroid, Kirby's DreamLand, and Trip World. Playing on the Pocket really feels good, and it really is the definitive handheld for 8-16bit games. I hope in the next months, Analogue will polish the OS (I need those GB filters and palette, damn it!). Yes, it is a very expensive product, but I feel I'm getting my money's worth.
 
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Finished! After finally picking a menu theme, i can say i've finally finished setting up my RG351p

GDVoOc1XYAAnwEX


This is my first experience with one of these retro handhelds and, if anything, i can say i'm pretty happy with it. It's second hand and an old model, but that doesn't make it less enjoyable.

Honestly, the first thing that drew my attention when i held it in my hands was how comfortable it was despite having such a basic form, it feels like a GBA but not quite, kinda sorta like a lost succesor to the GBA in a sense, or a prototype of it at least.

One thing i didn't like at first, and still don't like tbh, it's the sticks. They're comfortable to reach but they just don't work, to put it bluntly. For starters, there's only one console in the whole list of compatible machines than it can actually run decently, but i also feel they make the console feel too busy overall, and less pocketable. Plus, being a pocketable console and knowing how frail these joysticks are, it really makes me wary of them.

The star of the show - and, i will guess, the main marketing point on release - is the screen, a IPS screen with a 3:2 aspect ratio that looks absolutely gorgeous, with 2x the resolution of a GBA. GBA games look pristine on it and, using Amberelec at least, GB games run at integer scale with a pretty neat bezel that only needs some adjustment for the coloration - comes with a DMG bezel while using GBPocket colors, i fixed that.

GDPafDOWwAA1CYO


My only major complaint is one i've had from as far as i remember with minimum requirements for PC games: Being able to boot a game doesn't mean it's able to run it. Marketing for this thing includes logos for 3DO, N64 and Dreamcast, games that the console, be it for emulator optimization or just for pure raw power, it just can't run.

3DO games run slow and choppy, N64 is spotty and has lots of stuff disabled to be able to run properly - it runs nicely the most popular games, and the ones that run aside of those are mostly by accident, like Castlevania 64 - Dreamcast, as far as i've tested runs good at times, but that's it.

Plus, when running any of these, the battery depletes incredibly fast, so it's definitely not worth it.

Also, it technically can run DS games, but they run kind of bad? Single screen aside, they look blurry, like DS-on-3DS-blurry, and at least on Pokémon SoulSilver framerate was strangely uneven, like there was something clearly wrong with it. Castlevania games run fine, though, at least as far as i've played.

So, where does the Anbernic RG351p stand for me? It's a GBA Replacement+PSOne portable, one that i'm very happy with it. It has made its way into my daily gaming schleude and i'm now going through the Game Boy 'vanias as well as Golden Sun. It was clearly aimed at the GBA audience, as the screen clearly proves. Hell, if you ask me, i would say it was literally aimed at me, joysticks notwhistanding.

Am i going to get another emulation handheld? Hell yeah i will, in fact, i've started saving for a Retroid Pocket 4 and will probably get one at the end of the year. I don't plan on collecting them, but i want to keep this one as a low end handheld and then get a high end one - I don't see PC handhelds as the same kind of machines as these ones, so even if i seriously considered getting a Steam Deck or similar, it wouldn't have the same purpose.
 
Derachi said:
That Retroid Pocket 4 Pro is caaaaallling to meeee………
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It really is a sleek little thing. I really like the clear white color. If I didn’t have an Odin 2, I’d definitely be getting one of these.

You should go for it!
 
Red Monster said:
It really is a sleek little thing. I really like the clear white color. If I didn’t have an Odin 2, I’d definitely be getting one of these.

You should go for it!
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I think it’s like, exactly the unit I want: pocketable, powerful, has all the I/O and buttons I’d ever want.
 
Most of my issues with the Pocket have been (almost) fixed in the last few weeks:
  • A cool guy named budude2 has released his own GB/C core, supporting every possible filter (but no save sates... yet. It should be fixed soon);
  • The Neo Geo Pocket Color core is in public beta, and will be finished soon;
  • Analogue solved the problem of filters not saving their settings and added a new option, which has made it possible to display NES in 8:7 with every core.

The OS is still a bit weird with useless options, but nothing deal-breaking. I'm confident that the community will iron out everything else in a few months. Alas, the "low-power sleep mode" will remain a dream, I feel.
 
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kasparov77 said:
They all seem uncomfortable to hold... Just look at the position of the sticks.
I'd much rather use a switch lite with a cheap grip case or a steam deck if I really want to get into emulation.
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I’ve never held a Switch Lite, but I can say that the Odin 2 is one of the most comfortable handhelds I’ve ever used. It’s a lot easier on the hands for long sessions than something like the Switch OLED. And the Odin 2 has nothing on the Logitech G Cloud in terms of ergonomics. The G Cloud is a comfy piece of tech.
 
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kasparov77 said:
They all seem uncomfortable to hold... Just look at the position of the sticks.
I'd much rather use a switch lite with a cheap grip case or a steam deck if I really want to get into emulation.
Click to expand...
Maybe it's because I'm weak with tiny baby hands, but I find the Steam Deck to be heavy and uncomfortable for longer play sessions. I mostly use mine a portable emulation machine to take to a friends and plug into a dock. Systems like the Miyoo Mini+ are my go to emulation machine, and I'm waiting for something like the Retroid Pocket Flip size wise but is linux based and as strong as something like the RP4 or Odin 2. That would be my dream portable emulation handheld.
 
kasparov77 said:
They all seem uncomfortable to hold... Just look at the position of the sticks.
I'd much rather use a switch lite with a cheap grip case or a steam deck if I really want to get into emulation.
Click to expand...
Hacking the Switch Lite is a pain, though, and as Bass said, the Deck is just too big for some people.
 
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Does it count if i actually still own all the original handhelds, and they're also still working? ^^
 
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VolcanicDynamo said:
Join me, Derachi. Get yourself a cool retro handheld!
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I’ve been eyeing retro handhelds for at least a year or so and honestly I feel like the longer I wait the better off I’ll be, these things just keep getting better and better. The Retroid Pocket 4 Pro is getting pretty darn close to what I’m looking for in terms of power, price, size, etc but I think if I wait another little bit the the perfect retro handheld is gonna come along.

(Honestly the Odin 2 seems like it but it’s a bit too expensive for me right now)
 
Derachi said:
(Honestly the Odin 2 seems like it but it’s a bit too expensive for me right now)
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The Odin 2 is very close to being the perfect retro handheld. The only things holding it back are the price, and the fact that Android can’t do Xbox/360, PS3 and Wii U. And that isn’t even AYN’s fault.

I’ve been very very happy with mine. It’s expensive, but I think it’s worth it to get such a quality handheld that can do what this thing can do. Playing God of War 2 in 1080p, with a widescreen hack at 60fps is mind blowing.
 
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