Emulation stations: ZX Touch vs Anbernic RG35XX H
Always after a retro gaming fix, David Crookes puts two leading handheld contenders through their paces in a head-to-head test
Gaming on the go has proven popular for decades. The Milton Bradley Microvision was the first handheld system to have interchangeable cartridges when it was unveiled in 1979. The 1980s saw the release of many Nintendo Game & Watch devices alongside a host of other single-title handhelds by other makers.
In 1989, Nintendo’s iconic Game Boy was snapped up in droves, primarily due to its low price and the inclusion of Tetris. It went on to comfortably win in a race against Sega’s Game Gear and the Atari Lynx. Later, the WonderSwan, Neo-Geo Pocket Color, Sony’s PSP and PSP
Vita, and the Nintendo DS battled for gamer attention. All go to show that players want to play regardless of where they are.
Supplementing these major releases by big-name manufacturers are loads of handheld retro emulation devices by lesser-known companies – units that put classic games from yesteryear in the palm of your hand. Picking through them all is something of a game in itself. You can find yourself in a Top Trumps situation comparing stats as you pit them against one another.
The idea is that you’re able to load them with game ROMs – files that you typically find online. Ideally, you’d own the original versions of those ROMs, because there’s no getting around the fact that downloading and/or sharing copyrighted ROMs is illegal. But there’s no doubt people do go down certain paths and, if you’re a little unsure, you should look instead for homebrew titles and
ROMs released into the public domain. There are lots around.
Make your own handheld
You can also create your own retro handheld. If you have a Raspberry Pi, consider PiBoy Mini or keep an eye out for the Pimoroni PicoSystem, which makes use of RP2040 and encourages you to code your own titles. You might also want to check out the Playdate; it’s not a handheld retro emulation system, but a retro-inspired, black-and-white device that’s popular with indie developers and it features a mechanical crank as a rather novel input.
Here, we’re going to look at two very different emulation-based handhelds: one expensive, one cheap; one capable of playing games from a single system and one that can run titles across many. It will give you a flavour of the diversity of devices on sale, which also includes Retroid Pocket 2S and Miyoo Mini+. The big question is whether they’re worth a go.
“Here, we’re looking at two very different emulation-based handhelds: one expensive, one cheap”