Retro Handhelds - news and discussion

any trusted / relatively reliable ali market that ships everywhere? looking for 3000 psp still in original's packaging or at least its parts so i could try soldering it myself
 
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Masturbator said:
any trusted / relatively reliable ali market that ships everywhere? looking for 3000 psp still in original's packaging or at least its parts so i could try soldering it myself
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It looks like there are a few sellers, I'd go with the aliexpress rule of thumb:
  • look for units sold in triple digits or more
  • price shouldn't be too good to be true
  • shop needs a name, not Shop12345
  • 4.5 stars or more shop rating at least
 
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Anbernic RG557: Unboxing & First Look​

It looks like we're getting closer to mid-range handhelds being able to do PS2/Gamecube without tinkering, but I'll hold out for the inevitable RG407
 
They ever fix the crazy input lag on these things? Haven't checked in on them since they first were starting to be a thing, and back then you could see the input lag in the review videos. Someone recommended I look into these when I asked about hacking a switch in another thread.
 
Action Orange said:
They ever fix the crazy input lag on these things? Haven't checked in on them since they first were starting to be a thing, and back then you could see the input lag in the review videos. Someone recommended I look into these when I asked about hacking a switch in another thread.
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That's an interesting subject, The answer is yes for Linux-based devices, no for Android
Here is the homework of some redditor that I stole:


handhelds-latency-test-8-different-devices-by-v0-a5xbfnm4j6md1.webp



I remember some other redditor made a table for more devices but I cannot find it. In general Linux has about half the latency of any Android-based device and honestly I think it's quite good, I even managed to beat Celeste on a Linux-based device and I really didn't notice a difference compared to playing on a PC.
 
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XMassAllYearRound said:
That's an interesting subject, The answer is yes for Linux-based devices, no for Android
Here is the homework of some redditor that I stole:


View attachment 7241162


I remember some other redditor made a table for more devices but I cannot find it. In general Linux has about half the latency of any Android-based device and honestly I think it's quite good, I even managed to beat Celeste on a Linux-based device and I really didn't notice a difference compared to playing on a PC.
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Thx for the reply, this is a very useful info graphic. I hadn't even considered that some of these handhelds ran Linux. That's honestly a game changer given steam proton being a thing. I believe retroarch supports Linux natively as well? I imagine retroarch with runahead frames would be a very pleasant experience on one of the Linux devices. Let alone the fact that many of my favorite steam games have very meager requirements, all things considered. Zeroranger on a pocket sized device sounds like a dream come true tbh
 
Action Orange said:
Thx for the reply, this is a very useful info graphic. I hadn't even considered that some of these handhelds ran Linux. That's honestly a game changer given steam proton being a thing. I believe retroarch supports Linux natively as well? I imagine retroarch with runahead frames would be a very pleasant experience on one of the Linux devices. Let alone the fact that many of my favorite steam games have very meager requirements, all things considered. Zeroranger on a pocket sized device sounds like a dream come true tbh
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Before you get to excited take into consideration there's only a small collection of native Linux games that run on these devices, ZeroRanger is one of them though. You can check the compatibility by going to the website for portmaster and searching for it.

The reason for this is also listed on the website but the TLDR is that all handhelds are arm-based, almost all of the handhelds don't have vulkan, none have xorg and most only have OpenGLES, so it heavily limits which games can and cannot run, most notably all games made using Unity cannot run.
 
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Well shit, I was hoping these would fall under 'Smartphone' exemption
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What's retro about these? The Gameboy is retro, the Gamegear, this is all new hardware. Using it for emulators does not make it retro, even the design/layout isn't retro. Why waste money on this when even a shitty smartphone has more power? just get a controller for those.

And no mention of the analogue pocket which has an FPGA, as close as it gets besides the OG hardware.
 
cybertoaster said:
What's retro about these?
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Retro refers to the systems they play, not the hardware, although as you said FPGA exists. Talk about it here if you want, why not? Go nuts.

cybertoaster said:
Why waste money on this when even a shitty smartphone has more power?
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Its not about the power, up to PS1 doesn't need much power. It's about comfort, portability, and built-in buttons. An RG28XX fits easily in the pocket and is great for GBA, but a Gamesir needs a bag at least. Does your phone have a case? Better take it off if it needs a USB connection.
Besides I tried to use my phone for retro gaming, it wasn't very good outside of PSP and GBA. Touch controls just suck, and the ways around it aren't great. Whearas I love my RG40XX H because it lets me play every 2d Castlevania game comfortably on the john, as God intended.
 
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Action Orange said:
They ever fix the crazy input lag on these things? Haven't checked in on them since they first were starting to be a thing, and back then you could see the input lag in the review videos. Someone recommended I look into these when I asked about hacking a switch in another thread.
Click to expand...
A lot of the input lag is actually display latency, rather than anything OS-related. The Odin 2 is a particularly infamous example, where it had far worse latency than other handhelds with the same internal hardware (Odin 2 Mini, Odin 2 Portal) solely because of how slow the display is.

The current crop of OLED devices are much better, particularly those with higher refresh rates, such as the Odin 2 Portal. They're still not perfect depending on the scenario (for something like decode latency over Moonlight, the Odin 2 Portal is around 6ms, while a Steam Deck is <1ms), but they're fast enough to be on par with most other devices and largely imperceptible.
 
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Retroid pocket 5 runs dreamcast and PS2 decently. The sticks aren't great for my hands but I like the device. Being Android based is a downside for any future purchases. I liked the older handhelds with emulation station being the entire OS. Having to manually install emulators and configure them is annoying. Started using Daijobou as a front end and it works well enough.
 
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T-2EW/H said:
Retroid pocket 5 runs dreamcast and PS2 decently. The sticks aren't great for my hands but I like the device. Being Android based is a downside for any future purchases. I liked the older handhelds with emulation station being the entire OS. Having to manually install emulators and configure them is annoying. Started using Daijobou as a front end and it works well enough.
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Oh noooooo you have to tap install on an apk the horror!!?!
Nooooooo I have to press a on the retroarch icon and press it again to launch my game AHHHHHHHHHHH niggerman save me I'm going insane
 
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Why do black borders bother plebbitors so much?
Just play the game what's the problem?
 

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I have mixed feelings about this:
Anbernic-RG34XX-SP-official-reveal-kv-1.webp
The sticks just don't make sense for a GBA machine. I just can't see anyone getting this to play Playstation games
 
 
Tbh I think people should just get either a 3ds or a PS Vita, I wouldn't trust the build quality of these Chinese handhelds whatsoever. A modded switch lite would also be better.
 
the clap said:
I have mixed feelings about this:
View attachment 7343545
The sticks just don't make sense for a GBA machine. I just can't see anyone getting this to play Playstation games
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If it had L&R2 and L&R3 inputs I would play PS1 games on it. Seems like it doesn't so I don't see the point of it having those, unless it's strong enough to emulate PSP.
 
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