I'm voting for upgrading. This thing looks cool. I think the audience is a more casual gamer without as much technical skill. Think about how much it would be to get something like this 10-15 years ago. It doesn't seem like an outrageous price to me.
I find it semi-ironic that I just made the decision to finally buy a PowKiddy’s A13, which arrived yesterday, and now this video goes up. Luckily, I don’t feel like I made a bad decision based off of what you have shown us, Russ. More content on this Pandora box would be awesome.
I'll stick to my Powkidddy A13 for something like this. A bit smaller and less powerful, but also a lot cheaper. Do make an update on this device though. Would be great to see it performing at full potential. I know most people hate the toy-like aesthetics of the A13, but I personally love it.
The aesthetics and feel of the A13 just make it feel like it came out of the 90's, and as its bread and butter is MAME, FBA, NeoGeo, Shoot-em-ups, beat-em-ups and fighters, the 90's aesthetic feels appropriate. It's not a console you'd associate much with 80's home computer games, or PS1 3D action adventure.
18650 is used in more than high-powered flashlights. It's the form factor used in most lithium ion battery builds of any stripe these days. From power tools to teslas. Not trying to that guy... all love for the channel!
Hey Russ, I'd like to see you try customize the Pandora and add your own games and change the controls etc. Sounds fun and I am defiantly interested :)
18650s will be hiding in a lot of stuff like cordless drill battery packs, phone USB batteries. They're more ubiquitous than you realise. Pry open an old rechargeable something or other and it'll likely be a bunch of 18650s in a case.
To me there are 3 main categories of device: 1. Pocketable, bring it anywhere (Anbernic 280v), 2. Couch is best, but you could bring it on longer trip if you want (Nintendo Switch) 3. Lives at the TV (XBox). This thing fits somewhere between 2 and 3 and doesn't appear to do well at either one.
getting that SD card out and seeing what you can do. I'd probably delete a ton of games, add any missing faves. Also look into plugging in a keyboard see if "adding favorites" can be done quicker with a keyboard command or even speeding up pagination to work around the favorites problem. there's a really important overlooked thing here. This thing has HDMI input. HELLO!? all that empty space inside, you can load a secondary SBC board and drill holes in back and route additional cables and make more use of the hardware in a lot of ways. Kinda awesome. This is a hacker's machine for sure.
It's hard to tell the quality of parts from the video, but the price seems reasonable for being all inclusive. I tend to buy separate arcade sticks to use on a variety of systems, but I could see this being a convenient choice for someone. Although if someone doesn't care about having it in a portable case, I think the standalone Atgames Legends Gamer Pro control deck is possibly a better option for the home if you are okay with adding games to it. No screen, but great two player setup with solid controls.
It definitely takes the typical 3.6V Li-ion 18650s. Per the power supply input, the board runs off of 12VDC. Each li-ion cell runs ~3.6 - 4.2V per cell (depending on state of charge). 3 cells in series is 10.8 - 12.6VDC which would be proper for this device.
Weird device. I noticed four (4) screw holes that hold it together, but only two (2) screws in it. $200+ Gerät, albeit they couldn't bother to place all the fasteners in their respective places? Sloppy, sloppy 😒 I like a variety on your channel, Russ. Do what you like, Man™️ 😉👍
I think it's portable, I just don't think it's hand held. I could see tossing this in the car to go visit a friend and having an arcade like experience without an arcade cabinet. Relative to a cabinet, it's very portable. The target market seems to be small bar/restaurant owners. You can stick this on the counter or bring it to a table and charge a few bucks for some credits and let it rip. The settings are "locked" off by being behind the back and the credit system is inbuilt. I'm not sure 200 bucks is out of line considering it is performant and has an arcade stick. Compare to an 8bitdo arcade stick with super console x and your right around that cost and still need a monitor. That said it is a bit rough looking. Was it really missing two screws on the top plate?
The coin option isn't to charge anyone to use the device but to replicate inserting a coin vs a freeplay mode with Arcade games. Usually there is a set limit of coins it says you have and you can cap the amount of plays you get.
I'm intrigued by these things I just don't know how practical they are. I don't see myself using these very much but I do really like the idea of being able to prop it on a desk and play some of my favorite arcade games I grew up with and it makes me miss the good ole arcade days. I use to go to them all the time. I like the overall look of this. I do wish the price was a bit cheaper but if I had space for this and maybe would use it at least once or twice a week I'd get one. I'd like to get into having a room or office space for these things because I love these things I just want to make sure I use them. I'm an extremely casual gamer so I'm not sure whether it fits my needs.
The glue on the SD card is just there to keep it from shaking itself loose. Otherwise, the transit from China would have that SD card rattling around in the chassis.
Digging a little, the CPU may be the 28nm AMLogic AML8726-M8. As you stated a 2GHz 4 core ARM Cortex-A9 with a 6 core Mali-450 MP6 GPU. I was just curious as you didn't remove the heat sink. I'm actually more interested in portable devices which are less likely to crush me. Interesting nonetheless.
The form factor could be fun. I'd like to see a case like this with the ability to put a mini pc or pi4 in it and actually have a good experience. Pandora is just JANKY across the board and there's no excuse for it considering how long they've been putting out these things. I guess Wicked's viewers must keep buying them so there doesn't seem to ever be any incentive to make them decent. I wouldn't waste any more time on this unit in particular. Look forward to more reviews, tips and tutorials on the good stuff out there; especially handhelds. But hey, you gotta find something to report on while waiting for the next tier stuff to finally start shipping (fingers crossed there's no deal-breaking flaws with AYN Odin)! Still, good informative video as usual.
The thing about the Pandora arcade things is it seems like there's just one company that actually makes Pandora hardware, and there's a whole bunch of other companies who just take a version of the Pandora software and slap it on a single board computer, with no mind paid to optimising for that board, or for making sure the network features work. Unfortunately, it's basically impossible to know what you're going to get until you have it on hand. I don't know if the same is true of these Pandora 3D ones, but the genuine Pandora two stick consoles seem to all use a swappable board in its own plastic case, containing all of the electronics, and the games, so you can easily upgrade one Pandora device to another by buying the next cartridge. Basically you only need to buy a Pandora console once, then you just buy the upgrade packs. The upgrade packs also have JAMMA interfaces, if I recall correctly, so they can be installed in any JAMMA arcade cabinet.
Have you used an atgames Legends Ultimate or Gamer Pro/mini? Price to fun ratio is great great, and there are a lot of ways they let you customize out of the box (it's almost encouraged) with their BYOG feature, expandability, and overall quality over a A1UP's is pretty amazing. Their line up is as cheap as a plug-in box all the way up to a cabinet and pinball machine. They have tons of unique features that set them apart from other competitors. If you haven't given them much thought or think it's a cheaper A1UP knock off - I would highly advise to do a little digging! Would recommend this for a future video!
I was planning on doing a cabinet for my pandora 3d box. Mine isn't this unit though mine is 2 player box. These boxes do a very good job of making you feel like you are at the arcades... Man the nostalgia is killing me lol
Some of these pandora boxes are WAY cheaper if you live in Asia. I found a decent double-separated stick version for the equivalent of only around 75 USD and have been having a great time with it so far. Agreed though that 200+ USD is unreasonable for what's here.
I don't know why you're ignoring the fact that that enclosure and screen are easily gonna cost somebody $80. The control stick and buttons will run you about $35 , the board costing another $50? this thing is priced QUITE reasonably. Plus it's very hackable. HDMI input means you can make use of it with other things. space inside the enclosure allows for a secondary build in there if you wanted. that tank of an enclosure means you can drill holes and do all sorts of machining to it. Not even mentioning getting that SD card out and going to town. Hacker's paradise here.
Phew, I was afraid we were going to lose Russ to the Pandora sect. We'll still get plenty of videos about portables after all! I kind of like this machine (I like it a lot, but don't have that cash lying around). With all the shortcomings you've mentored though, it really necessitates some modding. It looks like interesting in car entertainment for kids maybe? I'll watch the videos if you make them for sure, love to see those.
This is nearly pretty awesome, but it's not there for a myriad of reasons, unfortunately. Still, I am pretty curious about what a difference upgrading would be, I'd love to see you tackle that.
So I impulse bought the version that has no screen and is just meant to be used with external displays. It was on sale for $100 and THAT seemed worth it to me, I just got a tv for my room and I feel like it’ll be really fun to use for that. I used to love those plug and play arcade boxes as a kid and this is like that on steroids so I’m pretty excited. I don’t think I would have bought this version but as a little arcade console for your tv for 100 bucks I think that other one is worth it. And I can use a controller to play other types of games on my tv with it. I’m glad there was a more basic version, I’m willing to spend a hundred bucks on something like this but when you get over 200 is when it doesn’t seem worth it
Russ, Make the modifications. The library is impressive if it weren't for the mistranslations. The Powkiddy A12 and A13 may be a better value for your money overall.
i feel pandora boxes serve those who want to see a huge game list and want zero setup, don't care even for the most basic configuration. It's pretty bad. The RP2 would have a completely different trajectory if it wasn't for android (that at launch seemed more like an afterthought and ended up being the star of the show)
Hey man did you purchase the device for review or was it sent for review? I think clarifying in description or video will deter people making judgements (even stupid joking ones like I have). I think your reviews are underrated. I personally would love to see your channel expand to more than just handhelds. Having said that, dude where’s your analogue pocket!?
Hi, thanks for bringing that up, I try to remember to say it in every video but sometimes I space it (one of the hazards of not using a script when I record). I've added it to the video description -- yes, this was a review unit sent from the store that I linked to in the description. I ordered an Analogue Pocket but I'm in the late 2022 shipment batch :(
Thanks. I hate it. :P I was always curious about these devices, and your video has shown me that these would absolutely drive me up the wall with the horrible user experience. Thanks for saving me $200+!!
Not something I am interested in per se but I will still watch the video to support the channel until the next big handhelds drop. Maybe you learn something that you can apply to future devices.
How to configure an M1 Mac (should be basically the same for any model, so a Mac mini would do, of course) or newer perfectly, would be nice. They basically all have the oomph to do quite nicely, I hear, but finding the best version of Dolphin or configuring actual Retroarch to get to settings OpenEmu doesn't offer can be frustrating for Mac users...
Get ahold of Wicked Gamer. He can tell you which batteries to use. Maybe he knows how to turn on the wi-fi as well. He's reviewed a couple of those units. Yeah man, i want you to do it. Let's see how far you can push it.
The performance, screen, and build quality is quite good outside of that very conspicuous ribbon cable , but the stick and buttons make me want to hurl, as well as the U.I. Also octagonal gate makes me want to hurl even harder. Square gate for life as authentic Japanese cabs use square. Having said that, I think maybe loading up a different OS on there, and getting authentic Japanese buttons and lever would work wonders for this device, although with shipping those parts are going to run you another 55-60 dollars. If it was 220 shipped, I think I could get that in a heartbeat, as it would be nice to take to locals meetups. It would be interesting to see if you could get some older PC fighting games like Melty Blood working, I have some friends who would like that.
I vote for another video on this device. I'm desperate to find out if cfw can turn on that wifi antenna! And I would imagine that even rudimentary cfw would have to be so much better than the current UI.
hey Ros. love the channel. I also highly value your opinion. From what I've used so far your opinions seem to be always on point. two things I'd love to see. Could you make a recommendation video? like games, you like to play? preferably older ones? also do you have favorite arcade sticks? I'd love to hear your feedback on some arcade sticks. Love that you focus on retrohand helds but it might be a good move if you also cover some retro game (at least in top 10 list kind of way) and more arcade accessories.
Hey man love being part of the Retro corps, my idea is try out a android projector with some form of emulator on it, see which one will be the best package
I am kinda interested to see what this device full potential is because out of the box experience seems to be a swing and a miss but some of them can be tweaked with time and effort
I like the old intro music better! 😭 That being said I rather get an Xbox series S with the screen and add the joysticks afterwards. I know it's more expensive overall but it could do so much more.
Personally I would get a Super Console X with 60,000 games with Emuelec and with all the bells and whistles and connect a USB arcade stick to it, all for a fraction of the price.
$225 is insane for that thing. I was thinking 125-150. I'd say move on lol there's just too much competition to have to spend so much time getting something to work. Especially at that price point. HOWEVER, there are so many unanswered questions, like what does the white button do? Is there really WiFi? So yeah, I would watch either way lol
insane? No. metal enclosure and screen. There's $80 right there. Controls, another $25, system board, another $40. Assembly labor. hello? they gotta make some money on the thing. You simply don't understand what's in this build. It's a limited run item, not ubiquitous and so they aren't going to make a ton of enclosures to bring the price down. It's a surprise you don't understand this. Probaby ships free to the U.S. too, that wouldn't surprise me.
I'm just getting into emulator machines and was bewildered by the choice with Pandora. I also preferred to buy my own arcade stick but the main thing that put me off Pandora was that I read a lot of the games have screen tearing. Maybe that wouldn't be an issue with MAME and Amiga games which are the ones I want to play. So instead I have formatted an old laptop's hard drive with Batocera and that is now a dedicated Batocera machine. Now I'm in the process of learning how to configure the MAME and amiga emulator on it so look forward to playing on my 65" smart TV.
meh screen tearing is overblown. most amiga games were so slow not likely to see tear like you might with a 60fps fighting game. Even then, people act like games from the 80s were enjoyed in some sort of perfection. No way. terrible screens, mega slowdowns in games. tired of the rose colored lie. new stuff is great.
@@michaelbuddy Well, if I can't get the Batocera configured right on my laptop, I'll buy the unit show/linked in this video with no screen and just a joystick. Or maybe just the base unit as I'm concerned about the joystick not being responsive as he said though he didn't clarify if that was the joystick or the software.
Are there any "bartop" or "countertop" Pandora devices that you would recommend? I love the all-in-one form factor, being able to pack something like this away is actually of huge value to me.
How was the latency on the 10th anniversary box with lightgunshooters? The retroshooter set is not so good it had latency... Can u say that the 10th anniversary is better???
I've been looking for information on how to upgrade the operating system and add my own games. I'm hoping to put mine into a cabinet to spruce it up a bit.
While I love your dedication to handhelds, I'm cool with you branching out to things like this. However, I don't think this is the best product for the majority of people. Just one opinion.
I dont quite like these pandora systems. For such high price, you dont get something that is really worth. And for this particular one, it would be better to buy something else. A good alternative is being 8bitdo's arcade stick and and pair it or plug it in a good system(something like a phone or a good emulation device)if you really want the arcade feeling :)
