Also Steamdecks are easy to get now. Biggest issue is the Wifi and Valve playing dumb about offline mode. But since I mostly use it for non steam stuff anyways that's only mildly annoying.
The Ayn Odin is worth the extra money over the Anbernic rg552. The Retroid Pocket 2+ is probably the best $100 handheld that I've tried. The Anbernic 503 seems promising but I'm waiting for custom firmware before I rank it in my collection.
I agree the Ayn Odin is worth the extra money, I also believe that you can get the Odin Lite which is 197 $ and can be better than the steam deck if you already have a gaming pc because then you can just stream your games to the Odin Lite
Yeah, Ambernic have lost their way in this department. They make great $100 machines for all your snes and mega drive emulation, but these machines that they charge more than double for hardly do more than their cheaper machines.
I love the Analogue Pocket design but the price tag and the expected shipping date is just way to far out BUTT I really want to see something come out of the Hyperkin "Ultra" Game boy that we saw back in 2018 which was the talk of CES...
Tell me about it I was there when the pre-orders went up and I still somehow got pushed I believe to the end of this year at best. I'm still looking forward to it but it really bummed me out.
I've gone back to using my GBA SP and Nintendo DSi for portable gaming. Thought about getting a 3DS because I never got one and never played Pokemon Gen 6 or 7 or the Gen 3 remakes, but the cost any of the used Nintendo handhelds are basically still selling at MSRP. If I'm travelling, I prefer having a laptop because I prefer having the full Windows desktop experience, and I rarely game where I don't have access to an outlet.
There's a RU-vid channel that does that. Pretty much at this point a $50 or less prepaid phone can do everything these Chinese emulation machines can with the exception of have physical controls though you can kinda solve that too.
I personally just use my mini pc (fits in my palm) with a 13" Touchscreen and attach my 3060ti with an eGPU like the "EXP GDC" or "ADT-Link". I suggest this setup for anyone who already has a laptop or mini Pc and a dedicated Graphics Card, all you need to buy is the eGPU. Make sure your laptop is compatible before buying anything. I heard that Chromebooks are working with this method now but research ur model.
I'm always amazed just how prevalent that memory is for people. I definitely remember doing that and it was prevalent all the way through to the SP because the original GBA wasn't backlit either.
@@adafrost6276 Those got me through some hard times. They were certainly not the best but they were 100% the best option you could find at the time and they worked off the power of the GBA itself which was awesome. It was actually the most brilliant thing I think they could have come up with cheap, simple, effective.
And now screens are so brights they’re almost blinding in the dark lol Or the RGB thumb sticks on the RIG ally that I need to keep off so I can actually see the game lol
The Steam deck is by far the superior experience and peerless in this space. As hard it is for me to admit after waiting so long for it and not being initially a fan.... it's incredible...
I have no idea who these clowns are, but it's pretty evident from their choices that they only want to come to the conclusion of "just get a steam deck, guyz, it's much better than the alternatives!" Anyone looking for an ACTUAL recommendation should check out the comments, and look up the AYN Odin (personal favourite), the Retroid Pocket 2+ (amazing for the price), GPD Win 3 (actual gaming PC but in a pocketable size) and the upcoming RG503 from Anbernic (who are such a trustworthy company with solid hardware builds that I narrow my eyes at the fact that this one...."spontaneously died"). Anyone with the money to spare would do well to look into the latest OneXplayer (who as a company have rave reviews from literally anyone who so much as TOUCH one of their devices)
Best handheld is a DS Lite with copies of Advance Wars, Mario Kart Super Circuit and Golden Sun. Or a GBA with a backlit screen mod. Thanks for coming to my TED talk.
Im just not a fan of black and white games.. the Playdate is a huge pass for me.. Seriously it's 2023! the specs of the Ayaneo is awesome, but it's just very pricey.
That's created the fact that you had the still waiting and I got mine I think it's been a month now or two you know what I don't even remember because most of the time I just play after get home from work so yeah I'm enjoying it I had 264 GB the upgraded it to a512 is not the SSD version it's who is SSD but it's not a SSD as in it's the reason why it's speed is not the SSD read and write speed it's the other version so basically you can get the biki the MP or the B&M key and that's what I have a both so the read and write speeds are locked too I think you was fingers 505000 not sure but it's great I'm having a blast well I got my have actually got something dis powerful before I thought my my real me 85 you was powerful but this is it a whole never ballpark
don't waste your money or time with the Anbernic RG552, it's garbage, for retro gamers the RG351MP es way better, the screen scales perfectly 4:3 games, and is powerful enough to play n64 and below
I don't think it's a great idea to go over $50 on those cheap Chinese handhelds... at $30-40 range they're great, more then that and it's like, why not just buy a switch or plop the full price for the Steam Deck.
Or buy an extra switch lite and homebrew it or a vita or a 2dsxl or a psp. And that's the problem with these people making these handhelds is that you can buy current licensed handhelds or older ones for all for less money homebrew it and have everything these handhelds have. Aside from the mini laptop one. But retro handheld gamers don't care about the windows thing so it's not even on the mind of someone looking for these things. So your best off buying one of the 4 or 5 I mentioned and homebrewing it then you'll know you have good buttons and a d pad too.
I don't understand why the GPD Win 3 keeps getting the short end of the stick. I'm not having any issues with mine. I did have some stick and shoulder button issues, but that was me not being careful and letting it fall on a hardwood floor. Runs up to PS3/Switch/360 well. Yes, it's $1,000, but that's only because GPD being a smaller company, they can't take the hit like Valve can, keeping in mind Valve also has a storefront. The price isn't that much different from most decent laptops.
Theres reasons not to recommend the Win 3 anymore and rather wait for a Steamdeck or Aya Neo Slide if you need a keyboard. GPDs service is bad and theyre slow with responses, the keyboard is bad and too sensitive, it feels cramped in your hands without the grip, the fan is noisy even when its doing simple tasks, Intel iGPU drivers are wonky and slow with updates, battery life is meh, but thats mostly due to the intel chip not being as efficient as AMD. I have one but I would never ever get one again nor recommend one.
@@NexXxus86 Valid points, but me being content with it and having my own use cases for it, I have no reasons to look for a replacement right now. I always say to only buy the Win 3 if you're willing to work on your own repairs and be ready to troubleshoot if need be. At its best, I have no complaints, but it's definitely better suited for the techy who isn't afraid to get his or her hands dirty. Speaking of, good thermal paste can really quiet the thing down a bit if it gets noisy. I generally carry a portable battery with me anyway. Yes, GPU drivers are definitely wonky, but they're definitely making improvements and games are running better for me than when I first got it. That said, though, I would recommend the average non techy go for the Steam Deck 100%, but I wouldn't recommend to go even for devices like the Aya Neo since those go into more enthusiast levels of cost. The average person would probably opt to just carry a Switch with them to compliment a Steam Deck anyway. More and more PS3 and Xbox 360 games are also finding their way to the Switch as time goes on, so there's that too. Sorry for the long comment, but I just wanted to balance it out as best I could. 😅
The Neo next. That is the only thing on this list that replace a steam deck. The rest are just not the best choices in emulation. an overpriced GameBoy and an underwhelming RG552. The Odin pro is miles ahead of the RG552.
Where is the pow Kitty 10 where is the analog Game Boy killer where is the Odin where is the other Ambernic I know it's a short video but you got to make it detailed enough and not just have these generic choices there's a lot going on especially with the Odin
I certainly would before I paid $1,400 for that hilariously overpriced and underpowered wannabe switch. (obviously underpowered compared to a real PC not to a switch) Out of all these that one was the biggest joke.
It's crazy because that was prevalent all the way through to the SP basically. The original GBA was notoriously not backlit either. And no one outside of Japan got that special version of the original game boy Pocket.
i would be willing to bet that the steam deck is not sold at a loss but not much of a profit atall as long as pays for its self the store purchases cover the profit part im pretty sure
windows isn't too bad on the steam deck now with dual boot. Definitely have to know what you're doing but you get the best of both worlds with windows and steam OS. Oh yeah its 1000 dollars cheaper than aya neo products.
Who is buying that for $1,500?! (I'm including tax shipping etc) I feel like they threw that one in just for giggles. I mean they even say it's weaker than the deck for gaming which is the only reason anyone would buy that thing anyway.
I am enjoying the heck out of my RG351MP from Ambernic. It is the last generation of the Ambernics so it only plays up to PS1. But since I got it mainly to play retro games and not the latest games for the current generation, I am just fine with that.
What annoys me is there's no level of consistency with how the games run. Some PS1 games run great while others run like crap. I mean I guess that's just how things are with these devices but it's still super annoying.
@@JohnDoe-wq5eu I don’t have that issue with mine. All my PS1 games run fine (unless there is a bios issue), only had minor issues with Jumping Flash 2 having flickering and Doom’s lighting is a little off, but not game braking. And one of the menu screens on stage Racer flickers, but rest of the game is fine. What I find odd that Doom runs great (the lighting issues are minor), just the opacity in the light layer is odd, while Doom on SNES on the same machine runs even worse than on real hardware. Also picodrive barely runs 32X games. It shouldn’t be an issue. The device isn’t perfect, but it plays enough games to keep me occupied
See I don't get that level of device. You can buy a ps vita for about the same price, it does all the retro systems just as well, along with perfect ps1 psp and vita games. It takes a bit more work to set up, but ultimately it's a much better choice in a similar price range. If you want a retro device go for something like the odin. Powerful enough to play those psp and ps1 games, but also do n64 gamecube and ps2. It let's you play a bunch of stuff a ps vita won't, but the two together can play basically anything before the ps3
Two things, firstly that's why I don't want to buy one of those Ambernics because exactly what happened there. And secondly this constantly reminds me what I really want is just a stronger better switch because that would be absolute perfection. I really don't want to buy something that I know either can't be fixed or sent back or in some way dealt with besides like these Chinese emulation handhelds basically forced to either do open part surgery on them to try to get them working or simply give up and chuck them in a pile.
You don’t pay more than $100 for these emulating machines. I have the Ambernic and it works fine. But it’s just the small RG280M. Plays pretty much anything up to PS1. And that’s all you need for a little handheld that size. For anything else a smartphone with a controller peripheral is the better value.
I have the RG351P. Minor annoyances that I encounter: - flashing custom firmware because stock firmware isn’t optimized (pretty easy to do tbh) - no built-in wifi - weird shoulder buttons placement - no fast charging
@@sloppynyuszi Yep. I do think anything over a $100 too much for something that can just poop out and die. I definitely think in general a cheap smartphone is the better choice. I mean it's all about choice. More choices the better but some are easier than others.
@@haziqshams Fast charging would be nice but I never expect it. But yeah the firmware and especially the Wi-Fi (or lack thereof I should say) is a bit ridiculous. I feel like these things should be set up for ease of ease and the games that it comes with should all work flawlessly. (within reason obviously) So often these things are just pumped out with little consideration and effort.
This list is not great. Obviously there are some unique devices, but the main retro handhelds for emulation and Android gaming are Miyoo Mini, RG351v, retroid Pocket 2+, and AYN Odin Pro/Lite. That range covers $60-350 depending on what you want to play and what form factor you prefer.
I had an RG552 for a while. Replaced the Linux OS on it. But that 2.5ghz wifi, along with the placement of the analog sticks and shoulder buttons, and the poor battery...and the lack of bluetooth. Yeah...there's a lot of room for improvement. Not worth the $250 I paid for mine.
i REALLY wish you guys would have waited to do this vid until the Aya Neo 2 :/ It's gonna be around the same price but will have an AMD APU with Zen 4 and rDNA 2 (i might be wrong and it could be zen 3)
I was hoping this was one of those videos where they have to defend random tech like netbooks from 2008 against the Steam Deck. Also F in the chat for Matt's Ambernic
