I’ve never used a controller with that layout and the thought is making my brain feel weird
i assume anyone who wants one of the above discussed things probably already has one, but want to point out just in case that the newly stocked minis are using a slightly higher resolution screen driven at the original model’s res which means the output is always scaled and so will always look gross (seems like this is now fixed in firmware, so just a matter of the homebrewers to catch up, integer scale comparison). “plus” is still fine.
Okay I own a Miyoo Mini Plus now. The last time I really had an emulator handheld was a PSP until 2012. Now I’m kinda old and have fibromyalgia so can’t sit at a desk for long periods anymore. So I’m gonna use this to replay a bunch of GBA games in bed. And man, 4:3 IPS screens look really good! It’s nice to play on something that isn’t widescreen for a change. Even though it isn’t the correct aspect ratio, GBA games look damn good on this thing.
I’ve found I’ve been playing my RG35XX way more than I have any other emulator handheld I’ve gotten in the past, and while part of it is the tiny form factor (easier to carry around!), I’m gonna say the biggest part has been using MinUI.
Give me a million options to customize my UI, and I’ll get lost in the weeds trying to achieve the perfect box art curation, etc. Give me a minimal UI, and baby…I game…
I might get one of these sooner rather than later, because it turns out my GBA flashkart corrupted the SD card on it, which means I think my saves are nuked too.
Ah dang Jed that sucks.
The best advice I can give for these things is:
- Decide what format you want (4:3, 16:9, that new fangled one with 1:1, vertical or horizontal) and what the upper limit of emulation performance you want. Also check to see what homebrew firmware support is like for it, since the stock firmware on these things usually suck.
- Know that, as quality goes with the bigger name players in the field, it’s generally Anbernic > Miyoo > PowKiddy, with Retroid somewhere around the first two, depending on which handheld. There’s also fancier, higher end ones, but I try to stick to under $100 on these as best I can.
- Make your peace when you order one, because the second you get a shipment confirmation they’re gonna announce a newer, better one to spite you.
do any of these do networked multiplayer? i’d really like to do both something like GBA link-cable style pokemon-ing (PS1 link cable??) and local multiplayer games duplicated on two different units.
A lot of them do. If not on the stock OS then on the custom OSes. You’d need to check the Retro Game Corps review for each. They might be doing this through Retroarch so lol.
I fell off looking at these obsessively about 3 months ago and already feel lost to give you an idea how fast this moves.
i still haven’t bought one of these yet, but the one i currently like the look of is the rgb30. runs stuff up to dreamcast, plus it runs pico8 games natively, so i’d have an excuse to finally start exploring that little world.
most interestingly, though, it has a 1:1 ratio screen, and several of the reviews i’ve seen highlight how good this is for playing tate mode games.
(also it’s only like £60-70)
i should have another look at these. i thought steam deck covered my bases for most of it, but i do appreciate having something smaller.
i really just want something that can comfortably play melty blood and cave shmups.
lol
Do you have full functionality for pico8 games? I haven’t figured out a way to save progress in games outside of not exiting and sleeping with the game still open.
i haven’t tried them yet on any device!
Now that I have an Analogue Pocket that emulates (or whatever it is OpenFPGA does idk) most of the things I wanted one of these devices for, I’m not sure which thing to play them on. The Retroid Pocket 2 I have is something I feel good about leaving the house with, but I wanna keep the Analogue at home.
I also keep getting tempted to buy a new one of these, but I think I’m going to continue to hold out for either a sub-$120 emulation handheld that can play PS2 near-flawlessly or just buy a Steam Deck.
Sorry for Taki posting, but this one…this one seems pretty nice…
Edit: missed where it doesn’t have L3/R3…ah well…maybe the next one…
I dont think ill ever need to get a new console other than the steamdeck 
the best thing about it other than compatibility with basically anything i want to play (60% of that thanks to retroarch) are that it has a million buttons that you can reassign for any game, and all the grip ones are great, because this is a big chunky machine and i have big chunky hands
Ive been able to get some really PC-ass games on it like Thief to play smoothly with buttons instead of a keyboard. you can do some indepth shit like making a button contextual (eg i made a lean around corners button that changed the L control stick when held down. all by myself! 
)
It did have the most annoying install process imaginable (you need flawless wifi and a lot of patience) and i already need to mail it to Valve to replace it because the ABXY buttons are prone to shorting out, and did. So it’s not a perfect [very expensive] consumer product lol -_-
And there’s still no way to emulate GB games that feels right unless theyre on a flickering dot matrix screen in a big seethrough brick. if a handheld ever comes out that perfectly replicates my old Gameboy right down to the screen fade switch, and lets me put whatever GB roms i want on it, i will pay a fuckin kings ransom for it let me give you my stupid money damn it
i spent a lot of time thinking about these again - and been bored/disappointed by new videogame releases - so ordered an rgb30. that screen for vertical shmups is too tempting and then everything on top of that is a bonus.
Ordered a purp Miyoo Mini Plus for my birthday, should be here tomorrow, happy birthday…to me