A $35 Hidden Gem? // M17 Retro Handheld Review 

Future specs @00:55 "2014" Resolution is 480x272 I need sleep 🛌

Don't you just love it when a cheap handheld has a game that it can't run advertised on its box?

I’m guessing they found a batch of cheap bezels that had that M17 label on it from the factory and said, “okay, that’s the name of our console”.

Thanks for doing videos like these. I ended up buying 4 R35Ses for my nieces and one for myself based on your video, and a few SF2000s for some of the younger ones since they were so cheap. You've been very helpful finding the right units. Thank you very much.

37 bucks AND it has stacked shoulder buttons. Unbelievable

The fact it runs things the miyoo mini can't at that price point is beyond impressive

It's great that Taki still reviews low end devices. I've always been interested in these really cheap devices. Just like the better-known brands, they also improve and become more powerful over time so it's neat to see what $35 buys you today compared to several years ago.

Thanks for the video. Got mine yesterday!

Just got mine from aliexpress for $35 and delivery in 2 weeks from day of ordersd. got a 128gb samsung micro SD and installed the software that you uploaded added all the roms plus some of my own now it works fairly good and is well worth the price

Hi Taki! Was happy to help you with M17 and glad to see that this video is finally released!! 👍 Thank you for sharing your tweaked image for M17! :)

I just received my R35S last week and its been such a pleasure of a device. My new SD cards should be here this weekend for some new ArcOS and optimizations

NO WAY. I literally just asked for this when I saw your R35S video lmao. Thanks!!

This outro is absolutely adorable

Thanks for you better stock SD it's helped a loting the M18/ R43 Pro going very well and a lot of your items work between the two system, grant not completely. 😃

this would be an awesome console for the kid. not too expensive to replace but good enough to where they could theoretically grow into a more powerful handheld when the time comes.

Ok, the Taki out at the end was adorable.

I love how your baby entered at the end!! ❤

@0:52 the specs hail from 2024… Taki s speaking to us from the future!!

It's pretty mind blowing that you can get a device that runs everything ps1 and under for this cheap. Even if you have to do a lot of setup, that's very cool. I managed to pick up the RG Nano on TEMU for $33, and it has similar performance but is already setup with decent software and a good (but tiny) ips lcd screen.

Damn you Taki. You keep tempting to buy these value handhelds.

I love the super cute outro!

What I find kinda funny is that this device is almost neck-and-neck with the PSVita for emulation performance. Not to say you shouldn't buy a PSVita, the Vita is best for Vita games, but still. Was worth bringing up.

I was just about to buy this thank you

15:31 lol this game.. Thanks for bringing back some memories about it- even tho i didn't completed the game never

Cheers Taki, love these sorts of videos. Getting the most out of a slightly trashy handheld warms my heart. Wondering how easy joystick and battery replacement might be?

0:53 Ahh... those were the days

Man I loce you Taki Udon! Your videos always make my day!

just got one, gonna be perfect for my gba, gbc, and gb games

only retro handheald i can buy btw taki pls keep up the cheap handheald reviews

This is interesting to me as my main unit is the super console x pro. A handheld with emuelec would be an easy transition. It would also be my first handheld of this nature. Good video and am considering making this purchase

Thanks Udontech !

Ooh this M17 retro handheld is only $35/€z, it's music to my ears and M17 looks small but really nice for my tiny hands. I will buy that M17, it would be so cool to play old Gameboy advanced games like Pokémon Ruby, Sapphire and Emerald what are my childhood. Taki Udon thank you for this awesome video of that cheap handheld console, I don't have much money to buy the most expensive handheld gaming pc like Aya Neo Kun, Onexplayer 2 pro, Asus Rog Ally or Lenovo Legion Go so I will try this one. Games looks good on M17 defienitily gameboy games like Pokemon. 😊❤

Thanks for fixing what the maker would never do. That's insane!

the size and layout looks perfect for PS1 and DC... hopefully we get something similar in the future than can do that

I like it. It's cute. The psp panel isn't that bad. But it makes sense with the price though. I would say if the emulec community can work on the soft ware it would be great for up to ps1. :D :D

Thank you for the preview. It says coming soon 💫✊🦍

OH MY GOD BEST OUTRO EVAR!

Screen issues aside this is a nice little system. Some nicer colour options would have been good too.

The usb c cable is just way too cool!

I didn't think I was going to be triggered by seeing the pixels on screen off centered but here we are and I can't unsee it now.

Poor man's Anbernic. For that price - I love it. 😁

i love this channel, it focuses on gaming and how video games are fun only, any other western channel it'll be whining about wish/aliexpress/temu and chinese this and that

With all these emu handhelds you have done so far I believe it is time now to rank them by years Meaning the best of year 20xx and so on...

The xand y flipped is because of the region where those buttons are the area's default layout. I usually see this from regions like China or Japan

Going up until ps1 is enough for me, would definitely buy it since the USD stopped falling.

Taki Out here Finding and showing off Holiday Stocking Stuffers for The Nephews and the rest of the little Family Gnomes.

The original GPD XD has the same Chipset. This Chipset will give you basically PS1 and Below Emulation.

Do you plan to continue updating it? Nice video How you change the aspect ratio?

My dream handheld is something this size that easily plays PS2 and GameCube

I see this as the direct next step upgrade from datafrog sf2000. From 20 to 35 you earn a lot. No screen tearing. Most low end sys covered. The screen is pretty bad but a 8 yrs old can stand it. The funny thing is the stack buttons and the right analog stick which won't even be used for the systems it runs. With ego and fantastic sw. support and all that I might still choose sf2000 over this. Just hope sf2000 can upgrade their screen and I'm good to go on the low end side of the spectrum.

Hi Taki, Thank you for providing us with this better version of Emuelec😀 But can you maybe tell me how to set all emulators back to full screen?? Thank you 

0:52 "In terms of specs this hails from all the way back from 2024"? Back to the Future rules!

Thanks for doing this "retro handheld ballin on a budget" video, as I've slot of family and now my nephew is gonna get schooled in the retro, as all kids who started in the fortnight generation should be Maybe I'll spend the time on this or go for the v90 as it's smaller and better and the same cost IMO

Thanks heaps for the reorganised OS. I downloaded it and re-added the games etc to the new SD. It is definitely better and has more options. Of course its not fully "done" but it's still very useful. Thanks for your time in doing that. I have better machines than this but the controls, volume and light weight of this are very favourable.

btw, make a video with the $3 handheld that you found recently, at least a short, I want to see it

I just got an R35S and it's really really good for $43. Considering how pain free it's been? I would just say go for an R35S honestly.

Looks like it's worth picking up. It works well enough with a few tweeks. You can't buy stuff and hope that someone will release custom firmware but this one at least has a chance. Another reviewer complained that the processor was from 2011. That's kind of funny since most of these games are a lot older than that....

“alll the way back from 2024” had me giggling 😂

I bought this one along with the xu10 and the powkiddy rgbs20 tbh if you upgrade the software it’s ok but the screen is choppy but for 30 and it plays I feel like you get what you pay for budget friendly a psp price rn is crazy

@TakiUdon I've done that update but cannot see where to go on psp set up, plus everything is french on the every single game, R2 is just for load and save state plus quit no more set ups for psp ?anyway thanks for you effort :D

I was hoping to play some N64 gauntlet legends. From the sound of it. Doesn’t seem like it will run it correct?

I personally hope to see this modded with custom firmware and optimized then itd be a great little handheld. Also I'm sure there's some physical mods that can make the dpad better

Could you possibly do a review on the retroid pocket 2s ?

Video up for 15 minutes and price already up to $45 on the link....

Its funny how this performance basically matches a rg351mp which used to cost 170€ brand new on amazon

This is really neat. I can see how this would be really good for a kid or even an adult who just needs something basic. It's a shame that it takes a lot of effort to whip it into shape. Still, for $35 I think I'd look at it as a challenge to beat instead of an actual turnoff.

Headphones also outputs only mono from my testing, could be a per device issue though

There's an updated version of this without the huge bezel. I just got another one today and they're different.

Not gonna lie, as much as I love the Switch, I've always wished there was a Switch Mini with these exact proportions, but maybe smaller bezels. This is exactly the perfect size horizontal handheld in my opinion.

How big is it? I really wanna buy a good sized carrying case, but I can't find the size of the whole thing 😭 nice vid btw

still waiting for the day to come where handhelds in this price range will be able to play PSP games on 60fps at 1080p they're getting closer to that

Actually it not really the price hanhelds but the sipping prices are the major concern sometimes they cost double the price that of handheld itself.

If it plays SMW, I'm in. 👍🏼

Budget handhelds have come a long way in the last 5 years jeez

man udon literally woke up and chose violence

Hello Taki. Thank you for This Video and the better Stock FW on github Today i Tried your better Stock on my M17. Great - because i like to Play those Games in their native Aspect Ratio. But can you Tell me How to disable the FPS and Other onscreen stuff in the N64 Emulator - left side - is there a hotkey to disable? Also in FPS shown in PSP Emu. Will there be a Version 2.0 of your better Stock? Or an CFW?Thank you very much

Your better sd mod is amazing. IT works also with rev 3. Most PSP files on the original SD card are compressed. If you play these files as an uncompressed ISO file, the game runs much faster. not all, and not perfect either, but a little better.

$61 CAD, runs Mario RPG better than my V90 runs PS1 basically the same as my RG350 including the fact that Bloody Roar does not run 60fps. It's a nice device, would be better if it had 2 micro SD card slots. But for $60 it is not worth it and why such HUGE bezels? They should have made that entire bezel section just pure screen like the RG405M. Great review of a not so bad budget handheld. =D

I bought this about 2 weeks ago from ali and it arrived about a couple of days ago. This thing doesn't have a bezel with m17 on it anymore. More importantly it has an IPS panel similar to the psp 1000 aftermarket IPS panel. It also now says 2gb of ram It plays a lot of psp and ps1 games really well and the screen is really good for the price. i paid about 5 bucks less just for the IPS screen for my psp1k so I feel like I got my money's worth My

A knockoff Switch Lite with a knockoff PSP screen, what a time to be alive

Will a glass psp display cover glue down into the space where the plastic one is with decent fitment?

This video transcends time itself...

Good pick

The games sounds are so good.

YES! Happy gaming everyone, Taki out. By little Taki 😊

Hi! I need some advice, do you recommend this M17 or the SF2000, in general? Which one has a better screen, too? Thanks!

I think the resolution is actually 480×272.

Ok, after tweaking things for over a week, I love this thing. But there's one BIG problem now. The battery! I get less than 1 hour of PSX game time on this 1500mAh POS. I tried unscrewing the back but got nervous after sticking a wedge in a seam. Hope someone does a teardown and battery replacement guide because I'm scared to do it!

Why does it seem with n64 emulation that the audio is usually more likely to show signs of lag than the animation rendering.

hey do you test if the psp screen alternative ips screen is compatible?

Hi Taki, im using your M17 Repo. Thanks for all. The Question is. ¿how can i disable the Video Statistics on N64 and PSP? There are enable by default. And the Languaje in PPSSPP is French and i cannot find how to change that setting. Thanks in advance for all your effort.

I got mine for $66, it's still being shipped, however I think for what it offers, it's most definitely worth it.

I've been using both the original SD image and your image, tinkering under the bonnet, and although I've managed to get Master System and SG-1000 games working, I haven't been able to launch anything with any other cores. So no Saturn or 32X which use picodrive, and I had to tweak the configs to use Genesis Plus GX for Master System and SG-1000 instead of gearsystem, which isn't launching. Neither is Vice (for c64) or yabasanshiro for Saturn. Are the other cores lying in the cores directory compiled for that architecture? Have you got any of them to run?

Thats pretty cool..

Looks upscale next to my Data Frog, but maybe I ought to just keep using my Vita and PSP for emulation.

Would be cool if there was some kind of Raspberry Pi 5 mod kit for PSP or PSVita

On the latest interation of the M17 i just received, i have no controls in game with your stock firmware setup. All i can do is launch the retroarch menu and/or exit the game. Face button interaction in game is NIL for GB

If you could give me any tips on this handheld on chaning the controlls that would be great.

0:55 Ah yes the golden age of 2024. I remember those days fondly. Lol

The M17 slapped on the bezel is like 'BUT WHY THOUGH?' My eyes keep going to it, and that's a BAD thing.