I still use mine. Solid handheld console. I haven't felt the need to upgrade just yet. Maybe once one comes out that can play Dreamcast, Gamecube and PSP perfectly under $100 I'll get something else.
I had mine for 2 years. After a year the back pads glue started to melt. I removed them and cleaned the glue. Also I ordered a pack of new ruber pads because in time the button membranes gets mushy in time. I use Arkos on mine since the beginng and haven't switched to other os since. Very happy with it. Also bought a backup one when they were cheap, that's how much I like it.
i would say it's actually awesome for psx, i've tried countless games and had no issues whatsoever with the emulation. N64 is a different story and it's not fitted for vast majority of n64. To be honest it's my favourite way to play psx games overall, small screen fits them soo well
Great video man! This is my favorite Anbernic device due to the perfect 2x scaling of the GBA (which is of course my all-time favorite console)! I own both the RG351P (white) and RG351M (black) which I got for around $60 each (2nd hand).
that blue micro SD card that came with it, is Kioxia its a Japanese brand from Toshiba, its very good and reliable, the older anbernics came with generic no name SD cards but a year ago they started using japanese SD after people complained
Saw this pop up on my Ali Express recommendations. For under £30, and I’d never heard of it before. I own a RG28XX and a 405V, so I’m probably not going to snag it, but to see something quite small with 2 sticks sparked my curiosity.
This was the first really solid handheld that caused RU-vidrs to begin making a lot of content. This is one of the greats, insane how fast time has gone since then!
A good video to help grasp where you can save money if your goals are certain systems and not to over pay if you are getting power for newer systems you are not focused on. Good work on this!
Wouldn't get on a flight without this. The rg35xx feels better in my hands for two-button games but nothing looks and performs better than this thing. Got it during the height of the pandemic and it's always within reach since then. I'm not a tinkerer and I'm fine with it out of the box. Easy to add games and fine navigation. Wish it had a search feature and maybe it does but haven't found it. Not a problem; I enjoy exploring these devices.
IMO RK3326 devices are the golden standard. I have RG351MP and I love it. Compact, comfortable, sturdy. Perfect to play SNES, GBA, Genesis/Master System and PS1 on the go: instant savestates with hotkeys, instant load times to savestates from the main menu. Aspect ratio for GBA is a bit off but shaders and scaling options make up for it. Very power efficient chip - 6-8 hours of battery life and actually working sleep mode. upd: I don't like the volume buttons on MP, volume wheel like on 351M/P was much better.
I didn't get mine until late 2023 and I've got more retro handhelds than I can possibly need. I'm getting rid of some, (like my RG35XX, for example). The RG351p, however, is going to stay in my collection until/unless it dies, I die, or something else comes along with a 3:2 sceeen that's more powerful in the future. Solely as my dedicated pocketable GBA machine. It's great once you get ArkOS on it, fully scraped. Similarly, I imagine that the RGB30 (in the mail now as I type this) will likely become my dedicated Gameboy / Gameboy Color device that I'll have no plans to get rid of.
I have also been considering making a video about this device, I bought it on a sale and still feel like it's worth it. It has a very specific charm that is hard to beat.
@@8bitbongo hey man thank you. Well I enjoyed your vid too. Honestly, it convinced me to make my vid about the 351P as well. There’s just something about it that I enjoy a lot.
I recently modded a cheap japanese 3DS to play all my GB, GBA and DS roms on, which I think is an even better way to play your handheld collection, but having owned this handheld as well it is a great device to bring on the go for trips and just to have as the next best option. Feels really comfortable to use too, a bit better in the hands then a clam-shell device. And the double analog sticks are nice to have.
@@8bitbongoIt was probably price as the US versions are more rare and expensive (assuming he lives in US). I just sold my extra white new 3DS for $250 about 1-2 months ago and it has some sticky buttons (bought it used that way). You will have to mod it to do a region unlock, otherwise you will be stuck with Japanese games and Eshop. This should be a big deal since the eshop has been shut down and you can get all that thru modding anyway.
Still use mine. When viable upgrades cost 220 or more I won’t be upgrading any time soon. When a device that can play PS2 comes out with good,controls and screen and costs 150 or less I’ll upgrade. Nothing even close yet.
So something that is nice about GBA emulators, is that for the games that were made for the original GBA without the backlight, that had really high gamma to make the picture visible, there's an option you can tick within the emulator called "GBA color correction." And what this does is lower the gamma so that the image resembles something closer to how it would appear on the original system. Helpful for games that don't have built in display options.
I picked up the RG351M and had a lot of fun with it. The price is amazing. Exchanged it for a RG353P in the end and would do it again. The 4:3 aspect ratio fits more systems, the shoulder button layout is better and it has HDMI out + bluetooth for TV playing. Also, the display is much better. That was one of the weak points of the RG351 series imo.
It should play every single ps1 game perfectly if setup properly. It's N64 above (and Saturn) that is generally not worth bothering with outside of a couple of games.
If I remember it correctly, you can solder a Wi-Fi chip inside. This device actually has a Wi-Fi chip inside, but it's disabled due to some interference with the speakers or something.
Great video. I love the build and it looks good on my desk. My unit freezes after sleep mode as well and my save states don't work for every game but it's OK for arcade and quick rounds of Blitz and Mario Kart.
I bought the RG251M rather than the P. It has a metal case rather than a plastic one and if you want built in wifi, there you have it. However ISTR at least one video about how to add wifi to a RG351p as much of the mounting areas are there. The board in a 351M and 351P is almost identical.
I would consider the M model for built in wifi alone. I'm curious how the metal shell feels compared to the plastic one. You can use a dongle to get wifi on the P model but it ruins the shape of it. I heard you can install a wifi chip internally and maybe that is something I'll attempt in the future haha
This could've been perfect for it has all the necessary basic buttons for emulation. Hope they release a more powerful version of this (Maybe A Helio G95 or so) for psp emulation or other consoles.
It's my favorite handheld aside from my PSP and Vita. Only problem is while trying to copy my SD card, I inadvertently deleted 80 percent of my SD contents. Not being tech savy with emulators and roms, it's just sitting on my desk. My unit did not come with a wifi dongle.
Yea these devices can become a headache real quick if you don't know what you're doing. I do think the 351P is more user friendly than other retro handhelds, especially if you just install the pre-formated microSD they give you. But like in your case, different resellers might not include everything when you purchase it..
You always see someone commenting something like, "JuSt gEt a PsP tO eMuLaTe! ItZ bEtTeReR!" No, the PSP has screen tearing issues even on SNES games. It can't even run N64, well there's like 4 games and they have to have no sound to run ok but still. This bad boy was doing N64 pretty good for what it is! I showed some friends who are casual gamers and they thought N64 on this thing was pretty cool too, not like some snobby Discord mod who cares about aspect ratios, frames, and pixel density perfection all the time like a nerd. Just enjoy.
Have the RG351M with this beautiful metal shell not the black one its this beautiful metal premium feel to it that hooks me over and over again..i wanna mod it so much now after a few years catching some dust here and there make it nerdy af. Thx for this review because for what it is and does its just nice sure tons of new and other devices etc but idk for me remembering it as a og gba from back in the day if i had that like i would have never letting my hands off that thing ever so thats why and what i wanna recreate as an experience for my self my younger self and my more grown up self..
@@8bitbongo i have it and i can say its premium. Like seriously all clicky all buttons the screen is bright the battery is actually solid i just need to reinstall my system with a new sd card. But other than that its so nice..i have the version wich sorta look like a light greenish somewhat its not the complete silverrish if that makes sense idk what this color is called yet but its a fine fella. Blasting it with skullcandy crusher via kabel its bomb.
the rg351p is only worth it for those who want to get it primarily for gba. Otherwise you are better with the rg350p with nearly the same performance but with more comfort and a 4:3 screen.
rg350 will struggle with some of the more heavy SNES games, and can't play all of ps1 perfectly. There's even a selection of N64 and PSP games that run either perfectly or so close to be worth playing on the rg351 series, as well as ports that just won't do well on the 350. The screen isn't a big deal really, the difference is there but it's not crazy. With rga or a filter you won't be able to tell there's a problem unless you put it side by side and see it's a little less sharp than the 4:3 screen. And of course you get internet capability with the 351 series. If the price is right, or you really desperately want a slightly better screen, then the 350p is a good option. But I would want a decent drop in price from a 351p personally for it to be worth it - and they are basically the same price!
I have the RG351p and had the RG505 which is an android handheld which can emulate all PSP and some GameCube and I will say I was very disappointed. The RG351p and prior Anbernic devices were very high quality. But this newer device, it was bulky, the control layout is in such a way that it's hard to use. For example the non stacked shoulder buttons are so high up on the device that it's almost impossible to hit the L2 R2 buttons. It's pretty much a giant rg351p but with it being so big the analog stick are in a weird place. The RG505 has a vita screen which looked great on a Vita but looks bad on a modern android device, it just looks muddy and low resolution by today's standards. IPS screens have come a long way since the Vita. Speaking of Android anbernic hardly optimized the android interface for the RG505 at all, it's just not a great user experience. On top of that many of the RG505 if not all have a defect where if you charge the system while turned off the battery percentage gets stuck, causing the device to shut down from a low battery before the battery is actually dead. The only way to fix this is by removing the back shell, and unplugging and replacing the battery. At nearly $200.00 it's a bad device. Truthfully I usually take these systems as they are, I'm not overly picky but it's bad, I ended up selling it. Anbernic use to be a no brainier, they always made devices that were a balance of quality to performance at a good price. But since these devices have blown up the quality to price has dropped. I have owned a bunch of anbernic devices since they have started making them and they were all great and I feel like they peaked with the RG351p which is why I have it. For things like GBA, Gameboy and even PSX it's a perfect little on the go device, hands down to this day the $100.00 asking price is definitely worth even comparing the other systems they have available right now, some of which are less powerful then the rg351p/m. I think if you are wanting to play the bigger stuff, something like the steam deck, while massive can't be beat, I love mine. This other hot garbage coming from these Chinese companies are way over priced. There latest device launched at like 260 something which is 140$ shy of the steam deck that emulates all the way up to switch and plays modern PC games. Last thing as for the metal devices like the rg351m, I had one of anbernics metal devices back in the day and I didn't like it. In my state it gets very cold in the winter and picking that bad boy up was uncomfortable for a good ten minutes haha, but that's subjective.
Thanks for the sub! Good question, I have not modded a 2ds myself, but I've done some research on this and I know that the 2ds/3ds line has pretty powerful emulation capabilities. Maybe this is something I test out myself in the future!
My ambernic I found at a park someone must be mad it's a Gameboy model iv played it for hours (mostly pokemon diamond) the n64 games run a little bad but they work it dose get warm if left on witch is bad but it's a great road trip device Oh and I forgot not all of the button are on the system so not all n64 games work with out em witch sucks
I accidentally deleted some files and haven't figured put how to configure a new SD card. I still have some games on it but it's not set up like it was in the beginning. I like the console but just need to learn more about emulation.
I played many many hours on my 351P but the back pads came loose getting sticky residue all over and that was the cause of my moving on to another device. I really should go back and remove those pads and clean off the residue as I really did love the device.
It's too bad the price is $99, the RG35XX at $55 is a better deal to me, I only wish it wasn't 640*480 as that doesn't match any retro games for integer scaling (except maybe Genesis and SNES?)
Do you happen to know if this, or another emulator handheld device, would be able to utilize Boktai's sun sensor mechanic? That's what I'm looking for.
There is an option for the sun sensor in the button mapping settings of the GBA emulator. I use ArcOS, not sure if the option is there in other operating systems.
Is there a third party wifi module with usb c connector that can be plugged in directly to the device (which would eliminate some of the bulging aspect of the external module)
So the device when I purchased it actually came with a ton of games pre-downloaded. I can't really make a video on where to download extra games simply due to copyright reasons, but a quick google on where to find ROMs should give you your answer. There's also some good Reddit communities out there that cover this topic extensively.
I don't like where the power button is. It should be on the top of the unit. I'll probably accidently turn it off. The sides of the unit shouldn't have anything on them.
In over 1.5 years or more of using mine, I've never once hit the power button while playing. Particularly when you have fingers at the ready to use the L1/L2/R1/R2 buttons, the part of your finger that's at the power button is too far away from the console to hit it. It's also inset making it more difficult to hit. Should you actually manage to accidentally hit it, it'll go into sleep mode so a high chance you're not completely screwed.
This device has definitely piqued my interest.... Never ever seen or heard of these at all before either... What i dont get really is do u just recieve all those game options for free or it comes with the device u purchase or r u having to purchase each and every game separately? I tried to buy an oled switch and well... Idk if its cuz ive just grown up a bit more but I preferred gba advance, ds and some 3ds games. I still have my fire emblem sacred stones for gba as well as pokemon leafgreen and emerald but i have the old school cartidges. I worried about any older nintendo titles especially pokemon games going dead and getting rarer and rarer to be able to aquire and enjoy the oldies stuff but these system ideas to replicate them gives me a shed of hope that they wont die out completely cuz ya know... Game cartidges for specific console systems dont last forever it all wears and tears like a car unfortunately... 😅
This device came with a microSD card filled with a bunch of free games. If you want more games, you'll have to back up your current GBA games on your computer or find ROMs online. I agree though, although I like the newer nintendo games, I prefer the gba and DS era.
in my country is selling similar price with rg353vs or ps. Other than form factor and screen ratio, there really isnt any reason to get rg351p due to the lower power processor rk3326 compared to rg353's rk3356 processor
Nice review bro, I’m planning to buy one next month hopefully 🙌🏼 did you put CFW on it or are you running the stock OS? And btw Kioxia is basically Toshiba I use their USB drives all the time they’re made in Japan so they are absolutely quality👍🏼.
I'm using the Amber Elec firmware, so not the stock OS. Retro Game Crops has a good guide on installing that. And I did not know that about Kioxia, thanks!
I'm using AmberElec on mine without any problems. You may need to re-flash there card and install it with a different guide. I personally used retro game corps start up guide on the 351p and didn't have any issues.
Sorry guys need some help I have had a new rg351 since January and have loved it. But this morning all the Gameboy advance games and section just left like the section was deleted. Anyway or suggestions to get it back😊
Depends on what you are looking for. RG351P is definitely easier to set up and start gaming. Plus it's cheaper. Also, performance is pretty similar based on what I've seen online. Haven't tried modding a 3ds myself though
