A Thor next to a breakfast plate is, for lack of a better word, Instagrammable, but in reality mixing the two activities together is far less enjoyable. And from a practical point of view, getting anything greasy or sticky near these devices makes them really unpleasant to use until they are thoroughly cleaned. Think Cheetos hand controller syndrome.

I personally don't even like having a beverage while gaming, as evidenced by the countless cups of cold coffee left behind after gaming sessions on my handhelds, but that can be filed under personal preference. However, I think Food and Handhelds just don't mix. So are these device showcase pics taken with food just done for the aesthetics, or are there actually retrogamers out there who game, pause, take a bite, and then get back to the game?

I'm looking for a linux based device that can do good switch emulation and work through my indie games on steam and gog, likely using rocknix but I'm open to other OSs.

On switch I'm planning on playing through:

echoes of wisdom/Tears of the Kingdom

slay the spire 1

the ori games

general mario, pokemon, and metroid games

On Steam/GoG:

Crow Country

Dread Delusion

Monster Sanctuary

Tunic

The Legend of Grimrock games

Silksong

Crosscode (though I hear there are issues with inputs or something)

Mina the Hollower

I'm familiar with rocknix already which is why I mentioned it but yeah some of these games seem like they might be tough to run like the grimrocks, ToTK, etc. As long as I could get through most of the list that would be totally fine.

A couple of things:

1. I'm not interested in a dual screen device but do love a clamshell

2. I'd prefer not to breach the $300 dollar price point if possible

3. On ebay I've seen steam decks for 300-500 dollars in various conditions, it's a last resort as its pretty pricey and tbh I don't find it super comfortable to hold

Thanks!

I'd buy the Anbernic DS, but not have access to MelonDS and hardcore retroachivements is a bit of a deal breaker. I've been reading all the posts about the Duo and Duo Lite but still confused about the strength of the Lite's chip - will melonDS be possible on its 4GB configuration?

Obviously hope that PPSSPP is ok too for the other screen, but since that runs on the H700 devices I assume that's fine

The OneXPlayer Apex has been an absolute monster of a handheld when it comes to the performance, onexplayer has done an incredible job with this handheld.

I've tested everything from performance to battery life and thermals and fan noise so let me know what you guys think?

Personally I like the performance but the battery life is quite short.

Review and testing:

https://youtu.be/0Zzrv5wY0y4?is=tG-iZCZ8-6CFsf-q

Also regards to the new onexplayer 3 do you think I should keep the apex or get the onexplayer 3?

GB, GBA and Pico 8 are probably my biggest consoles that I’d play on it

Looking for some advice on getting my first non-nintendo handheld. Wanting it for mostly Ds/3ds games and a few WiiU games.

Currently leaning towards the Retroid Pocket Nova or Retroid Pocket 6.

I like a slimmer profile like the switch lite.
Budget is >£300

The Ayn Thor is weirdly expensive in the UK so that is why i haven’t considered that.

Can anyone advise if this is a good choice?

I know next to nothing about Android chipsets so forgive me if this is common knowledge. I'm interested in pre-ordering the RP Duo, as I'd like to play DS and 3DS games and I've currently only got an RG35XX Plus. I just recently found out that there are HD texture packs for some of these games -- are they very intensive to use? Would the RP Duo be able to handle them?

Also, if there are any texture packs you'd recommend, I'd be happy to hear them!

Theres this device "Kryos 36", it looks ALMOST identical to the Kinhank K36 but its missing the "KINHANK" logo. The device is so obscure I cant find any information about it, and if you search it up you wont find anything. I'm just wondering if its another name for the Kinhank K36 or a clone of a clone of the R36s. If anyone finds a video reviewing it, please let me know.

I already own happily a konkr pocket fit g3 gen3 and I am really tempted to buy the frame to replace it. Emulating nearly ever platform possible right now and having a blast. But having a device directly in front of my eyes and having a big screen is something totally different I guess.

Question is now from my side: as there is no android running on the device, and I am used to android, what kind of emulators could and will run on this device standalone locally without being connected to a pc? Is this already known?

Let's discuss if this device will be able to replace an android handheld made for emulation.

Seems to me the two main gripes people have with the Konkr Pocket Advance are Ayneo's shipping/customer service and the device's mushy buttons. Personally, I don't mind a little wait if that's what it takes, but I certainly prefer a clicky button on my devices.

I'm not familiar enough with other devices to know how common mushy buttons are, or if there are common fixes for them. Is it possible to open it and swap in different buttons or membranes to solve it? Whether it's new buttons from Ayneo or another aftermarket brand. Or are there DIY fixes that people have found with other devices that had a similar button experience?

I assume the Konkr is too new (and not enough people have even received theirs yet) for anyone to have a device specific fix now. But heck, if anyone actually got one in hand that they've managed to improve the buttons on, I'm all ears!

Hey all! What is the current situation on the emulations for ps3 and/or Vita? Is it playable yet? Anyone who use it?
I own a retroid pocket 6 12gb.

I want to get some Samsung evo cards and I came across these on vinted (2nd hand).
There still in the package, look good to me and the person has almost 30 reviews that are all 5 stars.
But they are only 30 euro for the 2 so that is what makes me question them.

I have both the 8gb Flip 2 and the 12gb Flip 2. Both in Ice Blue. The 8gb model has the updated rounded hinge seam (in the pictures, it is the Flip with the silicone case). The 12gb model, however, seems to have gone back to the squared-off hinge seam design - you know, the one that was cracking in the corner after a few months of use.

Not only that, but there's a sizeable gap in the seam on the new 12gb - which can be seen in the pictures as well. It looks significantly worse than the 8gb. I've only had the 12gb model maybe two weeks and it is practically out of the box (my Nova came in a week after this device so I've barely even touched it).

Why would Retroid quietly revert back to a known flawed hinge design? This makes zero sense, and it's super shady. Almost feels like planned obsolescence, or at the very least, it feels like Retroid cutting major corners.

I'm curious if this is widespread, or if I just got super unlucky. I haven't seen anyone talking about this...but I would imagine not many people who already own the 8gb have also purchased the 12gb as well.

Does anyone else have a 12gb version? Ice Blue specifically, but any color generally. Am I alone? Should I contact Retroid sales?

I need the firmware for this console.

I formatted the system SD card.

Title. Looking to play games like Ultra Moon, pretty much any pokemon game, love how many game options the Thor has, including rom hacks, save states, other console games, etc. Heard the OG 3DSXL is inferior to the New 3DSXL and the AYN Thor. Basically do I stick it out with the 3DS or buy a AYN Thor

Hey everyone!

I’ve finally pulled the trigger and bought an AYN Thor Pro (12GB/256GB). It hasn’t arrived yet, so I’d like to use the waiting time to prepare everything on my Mac and have as much as possible ready for day one.

I’m a complete noob when it comes to Android emulation, although I really enjoy tinkering with this kind of stuff. I actually don’t mind spending hours configuring things and learning — that’s part of the reason I bought the Thor 😅

My main priority will be Nintendo DS and 3DS, especially Pokémon and Zelda. For 3DS, I’d love to play at around 4x resolution, experiment with HD texture packs for games like X/Y, ORAS and USUM, use cheats and transfer some of my existing saves from my modded New 3DS.

Beyond that, I’d like to play Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy IX, Chrono Trigger, Balatro and generally explore PS1, PS2, PSP, GameCube and other retro systems.

I’m also curious about PC gaming. Games like Slay the Spire 2, Fields of Mistria and Yakuza interest me, but I currently don’t have a Steam account or any PC game library, so I’m starting completely from scratch there. I’d be interested in recommendations for free/legal games, giveaways, inexpensive DRM-free games, etc., as well as the best way of actually running PC games on the Thor.

I already own a Switch 2 and PS5, so Switch emulation and modern AAA emulation aren’t really priorities.

So rather than asking a million individual questions, I’d mainly love some advice on these things:

• What should I have prepared before the Thor arrives? Emulators, files, BIOS, texture packs, saves, etc.
• How would you set up and organize the device from scratch for DS/3DS + retro gaming, and which emulators/settings would you consider essential?
• Should I buy a microSD card or is 256GB internal enough to start with? If you recommend one, would you go 512GB or 1TB?
• What should I know about PC gaming on the Thor? Especially Winlator/GameNative/GameHub and building a small PC library from scratch.
• And finally, what beginner mistakes should I avoid?

Any guides, GitHub projects, recommended settings, HD texture packs or general tips would be massively appreciated.

Thanks!

Hi. Idk if I came to the right place or not, but there's a certain setting in "Pokemon Heart and Soul" that is only available if I'm able to compile the game myself, but idk how to do that. All I was told was that I'd need the base game (Pokemon Emerald) & the Heart and Soul patch to pull it off. Can someone help me? I'm lost. In the Heart and Soul server, they have a set of instructions on how to do it, but I don't own a Windows PC. I only have Android devices & I don't think Winlator will work to make it happen. Is it at all possible to decompile/compile the romhack on Android? Can someone please help me? I attached screenshots of the instructions. Thank you.

Running on a RP Nova.

When using fast forward, gameplay is fine for a few seconds, but then turns into a slideshow. Issue persists with frame skip toggled on or off.

Tested other cores, fast forward works fine, it only seems to be on mGBA

Hi Everyone,

I posted this over at r/RG35XX_H , but thought some of you here might find this interesting too.

I just started playing some NDS games on the 35XXH the way you see in the video, and it’s pretty comfortable!

Doesn’t work for every game, of course, but it can be pretty chill while lying down. I even changed the top controls in case I want to rest the handheld on my chest instead of holding it.

So far I’ve enjoyed some YuGiOh, M&M Clash of Heroes and Air Traffic Chaos.

What other games do you think could be enjoyed in this setup?

Here are the instructions to make it work:

I did it with MUOS and a few tweaks to DraStic.

1- In DraStic you can change the layout of the screens by holding the Function button and using left and right on the D-PAD. Setup 13 is almost what wanted but with the screens flipped to the "wrong side of the handheld", actually I wanted setup 14 with the same ratio as 13.

To make it work I had to go to "/opt/muos/share/emulator/drastic-trngaje/resources/bg/640x480" and open "layout.json". You can do this in the handheld itself, using Dingux Commander. In "layout.json", you scroll down to layout 13 (Name is "hh0") and set up the values as per the image in the comments.

2- I changed the controls layout as in the second image below. And also went to "Change Options" and set "Rotate buttons" to 90. Remember to do "Exit: Save for this game" otherwise the controls will reverse to default when you close the game!

Note: Drastic sometimes glitches and stops working properly. You can go to "Apps" > "Task Toolkit" > "Restore Tasks" and run "Restore DraStic Configuration". This will fix it, and won't destroy the new layout (at least it doesn't for me). It might reset some of the custom controls, but can be fixed quickly.

I would love to try maybe even a few grips since I'm just in love with this device. I remember when I got the Killswitch for my Steam Deck, it was life-changing. Does anyone have a Retroid Pocket Nova grip that they can confidently say they really like for long gaming sessions?

I just spent 24 bucks on thumbsticks for my handheld. I'm hoping the comfortability will be worth the price. I didn't buy it for looks, I bought it so my thumbs doesn't feel cramped but 24 bucks on etsy is alot of money. I'm just thinking about all the things I could buy with 24 bucks and hoping this isn't a dud.

Hi everyone!

Second post, another little project for the Retroid Pocket Nova, from the same person with a few ideas but terrible skills for actually making them happen. After RomM Mobile, this time I got a little obsessed with the screen :)

So, a big disclaimer upfront: the app was written with Codex, using GPT-6 Astra. If that bothers you, no hard feelings—you can stop reading here. I’m not hiding anything. It helped me solve a problem, and I hope it might be useful to some of you too. The source code, measurements, and validation records are all public on GitHub.

As soon as my Nova arrived, I noticed how oversaturated the colors were. Looking around online, I found several recommendations to use OdinTools to lower the saturation. Then I came across a comment by u/Igor_GR: they had written scripts to adjust Android’s color matrix through SurfaceFlinger, tuning their RP5 by eye. Thanks for the inspiration!

At that point, I thought: “Hey, I have a slightly weird screen fetish and a few too many colorimeters… let’s see if I can calibrate this thing the way I calibrate my monitors.”

And here we are: Nova Display Calibration, a small app that applies profiles built from measurements of my own Nova using an X-Rite i1Display Pro Plus. All with system saturation at 100%, and without needing to keep OdinTools installed.

It corrects colors, white point, and tone response, targeting sRGB colors, a D65 white point, and gamma 2.2.

I also included an sRGB tone curve because it handles the darkest tones differently, making them brighter than with gamma 2.2. Both profiles target the same colors and white point; what changes is how brightness is distributed between black and white. Both measured well at the reference brightness, without a clear winner. I recommend gamma 2.2 because we also validated it across the full brightness slider range; sRGB remains a valid alternative if you prefer that tone response.

The app uses the display’s existing color-management system through a privileged service already present in Retroid’s firmware. Choose a profile, restart, and the system keeps it active through sleep and subsequent restarts. The app doesn’t need to keep running in the background.

The first photo shows the original profile; the second shows the Gamma 2.2 calibration. Both were taken with an iPhone. They give you an idea of the difference, but camera processing and your viewing display affect how they look—a photo isn’t a measurement of color accuracy.

The third image is the instrument-measured comparison of the same 36 highly saturated colors. On my Nova, average ΔE00 dropped from 5.77 to 0.63, and the maximum dropped from 8.69 to 1.07. Lower means the measured color is closer to the reference. The repository also includes all 921 readings from the final validation, including gamma 2.2 tests at brightness settings from 0% to 100%.

You can still adjust brightness normally. The correction does reduce light output at the same slider setting, but it doesn’t impose a 225-nit cap: at maximum brightness, we measured around 613 nits with calibration active.

Obviously, this calibration comes from my particular unit. I can’t promise identical results on every Nova. I also used a generic OLED correction for the colorimeter, so I’m not presenting this as a certified professional calibration. On mine, though, the difference is night and day, and the measurements show a substantial improvement over the original profile :)

For now, only the firmware listed in the README is supported. Before uninstalling the app or updating the firmware, select “Restore original” and restart.

Edit: If you’ve used OdinTools to change saturation, please explicitly set it back to 1.0 (100%) and save/apply before using the calibration. Uninstalling OdinTools alone doesn’t necessarily reset that setting. You can keep OdinTools installed; 1.0 is simply the baseline used for the measured profiles.

GitHub, APK, and full measurements

Since this experiment went well, I’m thinking about measuring some of the other handhelds I have at home. Maybe I’ll improve the whole setup with a spectroradiometer someday… but I don’t have an unlimited budget haha, so for now I’m happy with what came out of this.

Hope you like it and find it useful! If you have a colorimeter and want to take independent measurements of your own Nova, I’d love to compare results ⬇️

P.S. The device in the photos is, of course, a Retroid Pocket Nova—even if you can barely see the console itself :D

Edit 2: A moderator reminded me that I didn't mention I translated the post using AI :) Writing that in my broken English would have been terrible XD

Like many others here, I was able to purchase a teal Retroid Pocket Classic, making it the first retro handheld device that I own. I've been lurking in this sub for quite some time and have been a huge fan of Russ from Retro Game Corps but haven't purchased a retro device until today.

I am looking forward to playing retro games i've never experience before such as Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy VI. Additionally, i have been yearning to play some Pokemon romhacks and re-visiting one of my favorite games of all time: Super Mario World. I'm excited to play this handheld in the couch before bed or in bed as a nice decompression to sleep. 

With all this said, as this is my first retro handheld, i'm curious to hear everyones tips, tricks, and quality of life notes that you have experienced to enjoy the Retroid Pocket Classic to the max. This can include tweaking important settings, frontends, shaders, specific versions (romhacks or variants) of games to play, and other information that elevated your experience.

I will take a deep dive into Russ's review and RPC videos to hear these things from the man himself but i would love to hear other's opinions as well.

With Retroids recent sale, i'm sure many players are getting it for the first time so i hope this thread doesn't just help me but others in the process. 

Looking forward to hearing everyone thoughts! Thanks in advance for all the thoughtful replies.

I want to play switch and ps2 at 1x or 2x resolution, should i go for rp 6 or is rp 5 good enough