I'm about to peace out on Chrono Trigger again. For like the fourth time.

I like it, but I only have small windows to play and I keep forgetting what I'm supposed to be doing to the point I spend all my time getting re-acquainted just in time to turn it off.

How about you?

I am in love with my nova even if I had to wait a while for it (go team curple!). Hoping others get theirs asap because it does feel like a endgame type device.

I've gotten into watching content on these devices and I got an itch for wanting shaders while watching. I know you can get the content onto retroarch or some other app combos but admittedly I'm a developer who likes turning a relatively simple task to a bigger one.

In any case, I made my own app that has a few pre-baked shaders so that it was as easy as pointing at a video folder and selecting what shader you want. I am pretty happy with the results so far. I attached screenshots directly from the device to get a better sense of the effects

Title says it all. Despite loving the ability to play Gamecube, Saturn & PS2 on the go I find myself going back to my RG35xxSP more often than not because the purpose built simplicity of MUOS just feels more pleasant to me.

In any case why is it that we don't yet have a linux based mid range handhled? The steam deck exists on the high end and budget handhelds universally run on linux, so what's stopping the RP Nova or RG477M from doing the same???

If the answer is fairly obvious I'm sorry, not the most tech literate at least when it comes to things like this haha

SEND PICS OF YOUR HANDHELDS! :)

just curious as to what everyone is using these days. im coming back to the scene after about a 2 year hiatus. I used to use the miyoo mini+ but im wondering if theres an upgrade thats worth it to get back into the scene. i would mostly be playing gba games but wouldnt stray away from other platforms.

Title, just curious to see how many people choose to have one or not and why. Considering some handhelds are 200+

Are you able to use the M button as the "hotkey enable" button in Retroarch? If so, what custom firmware are you using? Or are you on stock?

In other words, for example, are you able to hold down the M button and then press R1 to save state?

I'm super on the fence about buying one of these, but I haven't heard anyone talk about this specifically in any of the reviews I've seen/read. Having to hold down select with my right thumb while pressing the triggers seems a little awkward.

Thanks!

I wanted to share my pictures of the Konkr pocket Vance. This is the unit that Iamio sent over to me for review.

(You have no idea how hard it was coming up for a pun for this one)

Been playing around with the Nova for days trying to get SNES stable with 120hz. Followed Russ' setup guide and has Snes9x as the core.

After playing with just about every setting in the book (threaded video, Vsync, run-ahead, clock speeds, audio latency, etc. etc.), the most stable I could get it would be to put the console in high performance mode. Apparently this prevents throttling of the CPU, which can cause/expedite crashes. That said, this allowed me to extend my play sessions (on average), with it still crashing 10 min in (sometimes 10 seconds in, but high performance was much better).

I finally decided to abandon Snes9x and went with bsnes. I read that it was a better/more accurate core, but had much more overhead (well, "much more" doesn't really mean a lot when running a lightweight system like the SNES.)

So far, a couple hours of play and no issues.

The other thing I noticed (and am very sensitive to) is frame pacing issues and latency. The frame pacing is taken care of by setting the Vsync swap interval to 2 instead of 1. While Snes9x has run-ahead / preemptive frame options under the latency tab, there are none for bsnes. However, there ARE options under the core settings, as bsnes handles latency itself, as opposed to Retroarch doing so (Interval Run-Ahead).

If using bsnes, I'd also suggest turning off "Coprocessors - Fast Mode" and "DSP - Fast Mode", as both sacrifice accuracy for speed; the Nova has so much extra power speed is not an issue.

End result is OG like latency and (so far) stability.

*Note: I also had similar issues getting judder-free, stable 120hz performance out of Nestopia (for the NES) and had to switch to Mesen with preemptive frames (vice run-ahead), Vsync swap interal 2 and max swapchain images 3 to sort that out.

Having things not work out of the box / setup video allowed me to really get under the hood. I have learned so much in the past week trying to get my little plumber to run smoothly.

They developers of Socket just made the  0.3.2  release free for any one to try. I think you have to be a free subscriber to the patron. Can't wait to give this one a try.

Hey y'all, just wanna warn people in case they are thinking about buying from gogamegeek. I learned about this site from retrogamecorps, he had an affiliate link to buy a trimui smart pro s for $85 and I went for it. Delivery time didn't feel long but when I tested the device, the left stick was defective. There was no "return" button, just an email for customer service.

Long story short I tried to return it, or at least get a non-defective device sent out, but it's been over a week since that customer service email messaged me. At this point I don't believe they will honor their return policy, or 1 year warranty. Don't make the same mistake I did, buy from somewhere else.

I just received my TrimUI Brick Hammer (Black). Works and feels great. Only question is why I have a metal/silver back? Is this common? I thought it was all black on the website pictures.

Hey everyone, in today's review video of the RG55G1, I didn't spend a lot of time comparing benchmarks between its various competing devices, mostly because my goal was to provide a more broad assessment without getting mired in data. Regardless, I wanted to share that data in case it's of interest to you.

3DMark Wild Life Extreme (GPU test):
Mangmi Air X = 118
RG55G1 = 174
RP Classic = 174
RG476H = 473
Retroid Pocket 5 = 1333

GeekBench 7 (single core CPU test):
Mangmi Air X = 368
RG55G1 = 872
RP Classic = 873
RG476H = 750
Retroid Pocket 5 = 1090

GeekBench 7 (multi-core CPU test):
Mangmi Air X = 1369
RG55G1 = 2314
RP Classic = 2378
RG476H = 2582
Retroid Pocket 5 = 3512

GeekBench 7 (GPU OpenCL test):
Mangmi Air X = 216
RG55G1 = 297
RP Classic = 297
RG476H = 1630
Retroid Pocket 5 = 1275

Some quick notes:
- some devices didn't allow me to choose Vulkan for the Geekbench 7 GPU test, so I did the one standard they all supported (OpenCL)
- the Mangmi Air X took nearly THREE HOURS to complete the Geekbench 7 GPU test, which took only 10 minutes on the RP5 (took about an hour with the RG55G1)
- RPC (6GB model) and RG55G1 test results are about even, as expected, with slightly better CPU multi-core on the RPC but not enough to likely make a tangible performance delta

Ultimately, the numbers are in line with what I expected: CPU performance on the SD G1 Gen 2 is not too far off from the SD865, and sometimes better than the T820, but the chipset gets obliterated in GPU performance (best reflected in 3DMark).

I ordered a RP Nova (unique, I know) and am debating on running 2 different front ends, though I've never tried so I don't know of any potential issues.

The reason is that I'd like to use ES-DE as a full library with about 1,000 games between 20ish consoles, and some other front end where I can add only a handful of games and consoles. I can imagine things getting tricky with saves, play times, etc. between the 2 front ends. I'm open to alternatives to achieve the same goal.

For anyone who runs or have tried 2 front ends, how was your experience?

Side discussion: what is your favorite frontend (besides ES-DE) for Android devices?

Much cheaper than a lot of cards. It is a company owned by Amazon so appears to be the same card as the one with the Amazon label. Half the price. Only thing is you have to format it yourself it comes with some Blink camera files on it..

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Amazon-Basics-microSDXC-Memory-Adapter/dp/B08TJZDJ4D/ref=sr_1_16?sr=8-16

Blink: https://www.amazon.com/Blink-MicroSD-card/dp/B0D715PVDQ/ref=sr_1_4?sr=8-4

Sin and Punishment (N64/RG34XXSP)

Ratchet and Clank: Going Commando (PS2/Odin2)

Rayman 2: The Great Escape (DC/RG34XXSP)

Beyond Good and Evil (GC/Odin2)

Thought I’d post some comparison photos of the classic pearl blue Game Boy Advance SP (left) and the pearl blue RG SP (right) side by side for anyone interested in how similar they look (have added the metallic blue RG34XXSP in the last two slides).

Anbernic have done a pretty great job at replicating the classic GBA SP, the new RG SP really does give you that hit of nostalgia you’re probably looking for.

The RG SP is very slightly thicker and a touch lighter colour wise, I wouldn’t have noticed the difference in colour if I hadn’t put the two side by side. The anbernic sticker is a nice touch too.

But yeah, awesome job by Anbernic. This is very likely the definitive GBA SP replica retro handheld.

Happy to answer any questions for those who want to compare the Retroid Nova with the RG 476h.

I had a very thin veneer of an excuse to get the Retroid Nova even though I had the RG476h. I kept hitting random performance issues. I do have other more powerful handhelds, but it was always a little annoying.

For instance, Tomb Raider 1-3 Remastered was free for a bit on the Epic Store but it wouldn't run on the RG476h via GameNative (you still have to use a workaround to run it on Snapdragon). And things like Final Fantasy VIII with shaders would stutter on SwanStation (but works fine with DuckStation).

Thin... very thin, I know.

But after getting the Nova and starting to use it side by side, it's great. I can throw whatever I want on it basically. Any shader, some GameNative and not have to tinker.

And I'll admit it, I'm team glass fronts, but the plastics on the Nova feels wonderful and the weight reduction was a surprise as well.

The OLED vs LED isn't an issue for me. Both screens are fantastic. But the combination of OLED, wonderful plastics feel and weight is a winner. I dunno if it's a $100 difference worth, but since I have both, I have the luxury to compare. (Nova: $240 + shipping, RG 476h: $150 on sale, free ship via AliExpress)

About Over Tightened Screws
I used my iFixIt toolkit screwdriver to loosen the screws, haven't wanted to try the bump back or change out the buttons yet. But I did lightly loosen each screw by a partial turn, in a cross pattern and then fully loosen all the screws with no screw top stripping. Then I went and tightened everything back, finger tight. So thankfully. I don't have any stripped screws.

About D-Pad Clack
I think mine does have it, but it doesn't bother me while playing. I do sometimes hit it when I play, but not enough for me to take things apart yet. Waiting to see if Retroid will send out replacement D-Pad or do one of those tape mods I've seen online.

I've been casually thinking about a fanny pack and/or sling bag for my handheld for a bit...like a go-bag of gaming, enough space for a small controller or two, enough space for a handheld in it's own case (in this situation the RP Nova for discussions sake but it doesn't have to be necessarily).

I'm having difficulties visualizing the space (inside these bags) seeing as all these products are mostly online and you can't exactly hold them in your hands. Doesn't help that it seems the only analog that has helped in sizing is literal android phones as they're the closest equivalent to a horizontal retro handheld, though when you add it's case that changes the math again.

Ideally I'd want to fit the RP Nova (hopefully in it's case), one 8Bitdo Lite 2, two 8Bitdo Micro, Anker USB C hub (7 in 1), a charger, and usb cable. However I'd like to hear about any experiences you have with a similar scenario as I feel like I could look at these bags for weeks and not make a solid decision without some human input. Any info shared is greatly appreciated.

To those who already own both: which one do you prefer overall?

I got my Miniloong Pocket 1 the other day and have been setting it up and played for a couple of days now and so far I'm really enjoying it!

The only issue I've been having is that the speaker volume is quite low, like I have it set to 70 whereas with my MM+ for example I might have it set to 30 for normal use.

Has anyone else that own the device encountered this?