Retro Handheld Gaming Thread

[Brampton_Boy]

I have fallen out of love with video games for the better part of 15 years - while I would play a handful of games (i.e. Baldur's Gate 3), I found modern games to be too complex, too large and riddled with DLC, micro transactions and day 1 patches.

I recently started following a channel called Retro Game Corps and I was shocked to see how far emulation had come. You can play all of your old favorites (PS2, Dream Cast, XBOX...and even Switch), all on your phone (or similar handheld). I had a spare Galaxy S22 and decided to throw on a USB C controller and test it out. Over the past two weeks, I have had an absolute blast - all the games from my childhood and teenage years at the tips of my fingers. Setting this up is surprisingly easy - they have websites that have literally have ever ROM from the Atari to the Wii U (Switch is a bit harder to find).

What I love most is the tinkering - playing games at 5x screen resolution and custom shaders make these old games look completely remastered. Setting up Steam Link and running full powered PC games on my phone has also been great. I have been having so much fun, I ordered the Odyn 3 (dedicated handheld with Snapdragon Elite chip). While I still don't have a loft time for actually playing games. it is a great way to pick up and play something for a quick nostalgia hit (Street Fighter Third Strike is my favorite).

The retro gaming community is also fantastic (o many informative channels and forums dedicated to it).

I strongly encourage you to give it a try. Most modern phones can play everything up to a PS2/Wii without issue. You will need a higher end chipset (Snapdragon 8 gen 2/3/elite) to play Wii U and the Switch.

 

[rikwebb]

I've got one of the R36S handhelds for when I'm away or for journeys that don't involve driving, had the odd issue with a couple of PS1 games that didn't want to work but apart from that I've really enjoyed using it

 

[Madmick]

Yeah, these are cool.

The way I see it, there's really no justification to spend above $330 on any of these since once you're up there you're above what Steam has sold the Steam Deck LCD (256GB) for on sale just in the past three months (definitely not $400 which is its current retail). Although I'm not sure if we'll see those prices going forward. Fortunately, that's exactly where the AYN Odin 3 you mentioned is priced, and last I checked, this was regarded as the consensus #1 dedicated retro gaming handheld within the niche.

Otherwise, if your budget or your target system(s) to emulate aren't dictating your considerations, then it would seem the one major choice is whether or not to get an ARM device or a x86 device. The ARM devices will tend to be cheaper and will be best if running Android. The x86 if you want Windows/Linux, and the ability to also run more demanding PC games since no emulation layer is required, or you'll at least have Proton via Linux supporting the same games it does for the Steam Deck.

Coincidentally, @mb23100 and I were recently discussing RGC's channel and his top picks for 2025 when he mentioned he bought one of these retro handhelds in the Gaming Hardware thread. The Anberic RG Slide was RGC's favorite new device, and it's only running $150 currently.