Retroid Pocket 3+ Review: All This For $150! 

Hey Russ, I haven’t put any of my cd based games on the system yet, because I want to convert them all to chd. I can’t get the thing working though and was wondering why… it was in your written starter guide but now doesn’t seem to be in there anymore.

And "more warm" not warmer. lol!

@@Sneakers8b Hi, here is the link, it's in my Android starter guide: retrogamecorps.com/2022/03/13/android-emulation-starter-guide/#CHD Also here is a great video that someone made that walks through the manual conversion process: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-tjNjbmOAdwQ.html

Hey RGC, hope all is well and good holidays to all. My question for you is this...Because this particular device is ergonomically user friendly, the price is great, and because these devices seem to be the newest trend among the handheld gaming community, do you believe that they will ever turn these devices into Windows handhelds? I think these devices fit the handheld demographic perfectly but they all do the same thing... They should make a device with the RP3's same look but make it with the windows OS for steam gaming or pc gaming. What do you think? I would just like to know how the gaming community feels about it? Feel free to add to this comment because I'm really curious to know if this may be in the works....

Hello, I recently found your channel and got immediately hooked on the topic. So I got a question for you. Would you recommend buying this console over the Anbernic RG351P (leaving the price aside)? I'm asking, because in a video from May 2021 you said the Anbernic RG351P is your favourite device and I wanted to know if it is an outdated opinion of yours. I write this comment as an answer to your post in hopes you see it and are willing to answer it:) So thanks in advance!

Lmao

you got me in the first half.. not gonna lie

Shoulda got FOMO insurance

​@@bigedwerd * FML insurance 😂

@@user-vd7bb4bo5hAnd your comment is saying you have no ability for nuance or understanding of what joking is.

Came here to comment this!

I'm kinda bummed that they keep shitting out these marginally improved systems so quickly. I bought a Retroid Pocket 2, then a Retroid Pocket 2+, and now there's a Retroid Pocket 3+. It's like you can keep buying systems but at the end of the day there's a good chance a few months later a better version is out. Personally I'm over it as I found that I don't play games handheld that much anyway, so I won't be buying any more.

@@AizensPlan Maybe learn some self control and stop buying everything they pump out. The fact that you bought a pocket 2 when you have a 2+ boggles me.

​@@AizensPlan I have a Retroid Pocket 2 and I hate it. My Powkiddy V-90 is currently under $50 and I been playing that for many years. Powkiddy's work straight out the box "plug n play". the RP2 requires skills in tinkering and patience IMO. I lack that. To each their own!

I am a bit of a noob, I can run Emulators on my pc for certain things but I just want something with everything already loaded onto it? do these devices come with that or do you need to do it your self/buy a pre loaded card? Cheers for your videos

Isn't that the Odin Lite? 🤔

@@RGGeek "sub $200" meaning in the $120-$180 range 👍

@@RGGeek odin is expensive!

@@Scitch-et4vkit’s sub 200

@@mixedreviews6090 no it's not, it's $229

Happy Thanksgiving to you as well, Benjamin!

Happy Thanksgiving from the future!

Have you gotten yours yet?

@@Spectrik Nope! I just got the email that it's been shipped. I assume they were super backordered from being closed for so long to celebrate Chinese New Year, so I'm cutting them a little slack, but it's still disappointing that it took just under a month for the order to start shipping.

I know, right? I have a RG351P and it does have a lot of little scripts that make the device the way I want, with a very curated game list. Customizing the look and feel and all that is so satisfying.

Agreed. Light tinkering and setting everything up is half the fun. My PocketGo died recently (FYI only $40 but i still say the build quality is poor). Poor thing donated its body to science and im about to learn surgery on its corpse. Wow thats dark.

That's the scary part for me. I'm close to new born baby status when it comes to pretty much anything cpu related. Very intimidating, but I guess I have plenty of time before summer gets here.

@@AJ16484 watch a couple tutorial vids on setting up retro consoles from SNES and prior. Hit eBay for old RG350s for like $30-$40. Everyone should own at least one of those. Anyway once u got SNES goin, thats 90% of what you need to know. You'll still want to figure out BIOS files, RetroArch, and maybe 5 min research for every console u ad. People LOVE to overcomplicate this stuff though, the 5 min of research may be overkill lol. It can't be hard 😃, cause I'm dumb. The "harder" stuff is usually voluntary and unnecessary anyway.

Thanks for watching!

Same here. This is my first emulation handheld. This will be just fine for me until the steam deck 2 comes out.

Yeah that's going to be a huge bump from the OGA!

@@RetroGameCorps I think the Go-Retroid Team are already at work for the next handheld. It won't be the RP4 due to Tetraphobia, but rather the RP5 in Mid-2024. And again they will keep the same software and chipset, but will alter the external. I'm hoping the new shell keeps the same screen, but improves the portability and the ergonomics. First major improvement would be to have a door for a User Removable Battery, which would greatly increase the device's longevity and lifecycle. For ergonomics, I would suggest they move the joysticks to the top, put Start-/+Select buttons adjacent, then the D-Pad/Action Buttons underneath, and then move the speakers back to the front. Then remove the side-buttons and have them on the top. As such: Back, Home, Power. I don't even need Volume Buttons as that can be done from the Notification Shade, like the Brightness. I don't even need the Stacked Shoulder Pads, I find the new in-line ones from the Anbernic RG 353m to be superb AND a lot more pocket friendly. But I am not against having Stacked Pads and Volume Rocker, these are just ones I needed to mention. While the RP5+ will come in Late-2023 with a faster chipset. I am hoping at a minimum it gets the MediaTek Dimensity D820 chipset with 6GB RAM, since that has 4x Big Cores, Modern Mali iGPU, and decent software support and maintains a USD $140 price. And at the maximum they should go with the QSD 870 with 8GB RAM, since that's a formidable ex-flagship processor with optimised driver support for emulation purposes, and hopefully it isn't more than USD $170. The former should mean perfect Wii Emulation, while the latter should be able to step up a little higher to Original Xbox, Windows Xp, and PS Vita emulation (if and when they're accessible). Neither will be suitable for NSwitch, we would have to wait for something like QC 8g3, Apple A16, or Apple M1 with a more advanced emulation software. Or the more appropriate response would be to use it on a Larger x86 device like the Valve SteamDeck, GPD Win-Max-2, or even faster devices.

How did you buy one?? I can only seem to find pre-orders :(

Six months? You think it'll be that long?

You’d have to be crazy to get a Pocket 4 with the 4+ just around the corner.

inb4 Apple releases a new iphone next year

Prolly called 5 cus of chinese 4 superstition.

im going to wait for the pocket 6+. i know its a pretty long wait, but 8 months from now it will be worth it

Did you get it yet?

I've got an RP3 and I'm thinking the same. I don't think I'll bother with an upgrade kit when *either way* the gist of it is "comfortable PSP, slow PS2".

100% in your camp. I'm just not seeing a compelling difference between this device and the RP2+, except perhaps for form-factor which makes several cramped-UI titles on PSP more playable. But the 2+ plays Dreamcast, PSP, and N64 beautifully in most cases and with almost no tweaking. I've gone completely through Skies of Arcadia on Dreamcast with no issues and Banjo Kazooie runs amazingly.

i wonder how powerful mid range chips will be next year.

That 's right , buddy ! I support you 100%! I also have RP2+ and I didn't feel much real progress in speed and power in PS2/GameCube. Although there were high hopes that it would be the same as with RP2+ . Let 's hope that the next version will be better .

I'm kind on your side, but the fact that you can play upscaled PSP, Android Games and a GOOD support for cloud gaming, is a HUGE improvement over the RP2+. That's why I'm so inclined to get one in a near future.

Glad you enjoyed it!

I finally order my first retroid ( 3 plus) can't lie I like the form factor of the 2 the best. But with the better chip and the bigger screen had to go 3plus. Bigger screen means more options I don't mind the black bars when playing the smaller screen ratios.

These devices are still ages away from mobile phones. You can get 2-3x the power and tech on a phone for the same price

@@tynao2029 It would be amazing to see another attempt at the erricson but by someone like Motorola. To pretty much be the pc for handhelds.

so i should wait for the pocket V4?

@@tynao2029 which $150 phones are 2-3x more powerful than this?

@@Aardvarked88 so many man. LG, Samsung, Google, TCL, so many Android phones from the last 4-5 years

Imagine when we get to the point where we can emulate the Vita on one of these cheap chinese handhelds?

@@skycloud4802 Right? I can't wait bro

@@skycloud4802 it'll be all over then. Everything coming out is garbage, all the good games are old. once you have vita/ps3 emulation on a sub 200 dollar device? lol..... why ever upgrade past that point in your life? so much stuff to play and only so many days to live

Pretty sure the RP3S rumor was squashed as someone thinking an Odin Lite could be rebranded a Retroid product. That being said, for the retro emulation a lot of us want to play (GameCube/PS2) the Odin Pro is kind of minimum spec necessary with the current state of software/hardware possibilities.

It was made by a fan.

At that point I'd rather just buy an Odin Lite which is readily available. Instead of waiting a year for a supposedly RP3S+ that we don't even know is real or not.

Even if it was real if the rp3+ does what you want I don’t see why u should wait. There is always something better

@@majicalpandatech For me personally the RP3+ doesn't quite do enough to warrant an upgrade. I would want something close to an Odin/Odin Lite but in a smaller form factor.

Anbernic's will ship with Play Services too. But the form factor, look and the fact that it has an hdmi output makes the RP3+ a no brainer

@@FilipeAguiarCarvalho Right now no google services on the rg505 and knowing Anbershit…they tend to not care

Hey, thanks!

That's how started too. Just get a controller for your phone and you'll be set.

@@carlos2004 The 8Bitdo Pro 2 is on my Christmas list :)

I'm also still enjoying my RG351V, but eyeing the possibilities on the horizon.

you want console mid to high? Ayn has released his newest console, his name is Ayn Loki Mini Pro. just buy it. don't just comment here!

@@teknisiiphone7677 Or just get a Steam Deck.

@@chrismichaelgardner for 4x the price?! Are u kidding me?

@@chrismichaelgardner Some of us prefer something that's actually pocketable. As a Switch Lite owner I certainly wouldn't consider anything larger.

Was thinking the same. I also just got an rp3. Not worth the upgrade.

Same here, got my Retroid about a week before the announcement. The next time I buy a retro console, it will be when it can definitely run GameCube and PS2, and definitely if it can run Wii.

Almost the same for me. Waited nearly 2 month for rp3 then literally 5 days later, rp3+ was up for grabs 🤦🏿‍♂️ but I ♥ my rp3, one of the best investments I've ever made! Let's hope rp3+ can live up to that. I'm happy to have something to play while waiting.

How do you get all the games on the RP3+??? And do they all save???

@@Skellz Do you mean like where to get ROMs for retro games? Or do you mean how to get them onto the device once you have them? If the former, you can dump the files yourself from old game carts if you have the hardware to do so, or you can find them online. Downloading them might be considered piracy depending on what country you're from, since games are copyrighted, so if you do that it's at your own risk. A quick Google search will find what you're looking for, something like "best safe rom sites reddit" or something. Again, this might be illegal so I'm only saying this for educational purposes and I by no means recommend actually doing so. If you mean how do you get games onto the device once you have them, you can just load them onto a micro SD card which you then put into the device, or you can use a USB cable to connect it to your PC. It's just like transferring files to an Android phone or tablet. As for saves, yes they will all save just fine. You can save in-game just like you would if you were playing the game on original hardware, though depending on the emulator you're using the save file might be located in different folders so you might have to search a bit to figure out where the save file is if you ever want to transfer it to a different device. For example, a lot of emulators just put the save file in the same location as the ROM, but Retroarch has a dedicated "Saves" folder. Along with that there's a thing called "savestates" which just saves the game exactly as it is regardless of whether that's a valid save point in the game. This is useful if, for example, you're in between checkpoints and need to stop for some reason or maybe there's a really hard jump you're trying to make in a platformer or something. But don't rely too heavily on savestates, because they are unique to the emulator you're using, so if you ever have to transfer your files to another device you'll lose those savestates. So it's better to use in-game saves whenever you can, since they'll basically always work no matter which emulator you'll use. Hope that helps. And if you want more info, check out Retro Game Corps' RP3 Starter Guide here on RU-vid, it's really good and that's how I learned about a lot of this stuff.

Some other random stuff: -Battery life is god damn amazing and Android's standby mode is the best in the business. -Chipset is powerful enough to run run-ahead on Retroarch on every system that supports it (mainly 8 and 16 bit systems as well as GBA) while still maintaining 2-3x fast forward. Almost feels like real hardware in terms of response. -For PS1 on Retroarch, use the Swanstation core, instead of Rearmed or Beetle. Set Vulkan renderer and 2-3x resolution depending on game. -For N64 on Retroarch, use the Mupen64 GLES3 core. -For DS on Retroarch... don't, it kinda sucks unfortunately, Drastic is still king here which is very frustrating considering how dead the development of that emulator is -For automatic cloud saving (keep your emulator saves synced between devices), I recommend an app called DropSync, it's free and only requires a free Dropbox account -Don't buy this handheld for PS2 or Gamecube. Not worth the effort, even games that are green on compatibility sheets will have random stutters and slowdowns.

We just have to wait a couple more years. Those "almost perfect" models are meant to tease us into buy something sub-optimal

Note that people have had a problem with that case where the case keeps waking the device because it's putting pressure on the power button. It can be fixed with some modification though.

@@SeedyZ Ahh good to know, thanks bud.

I'm still super happy with RG552 as well. Although it's been out for a year now, the Jelos Linux recent updates have breathed new life into this handheld. Also on the Linux side it's much easier to play systems like Atari 800, Atari ST, C64 and Commodore Amiga as the configuration is all setup once you drop roms and bios in the correct locations.

Oof man the battery life on the WIN600 is atrocious. In my mind it’s the Steam Deck>Odin Pro>RP3+

@@sunnygalli I have an Odin Pro actually. With TDP tweaking the Win600 should get somewhere between 2-3 hours, and also has 45 watt charging, so it should charge back up pretty fast as well. The Steam Deck is larger that I would like, and AFAIK doesn't work with Batocera. I also am not a Steam user.

@@harleyn3089 FYI Batocera does work with the steam deck. EmuDeck is also pretty amazing. Overall the $100 or less jump to the steam deck is better overall if you can tolerate it’s larger size.

Has yours arrived yet? I ordered mine 3 days ago and I’m extremely exited

(Apologies it took me so long to reply to this, friend!) Mine did arrive a few days, on the 13th after I ordered it on the 2nd. I’ve used it extensively every single day I’ve had it so far and I couldn’t be happier!

I think we all do that lol! Russ is awesome.