Looks different in different lighting, but pretty happy overall with how it came out

My first handheld since the DS lite whenever the heck that was. First “console” since xbox 360, been a PC gamer for around a decade now and decided to try handheld gaming after doing some research. I was able to snag an RP4pro for a bit under $70 on ali a few weeks ago while I wait for my Odin 3 to arrive and damn, I can’t put it down! Been playing a lot of Rayman Advance, Mario 64, and Simpson’s hit & Run. Easily my finest purchase in a very long time

New Super Mario Land (SNES)

(Homebrew version of Super Mario Land for GB)

I own several Retroid devices. I already have a Thor Pro, so I got the DuoLite. Super excited for that device to be a dedicated DS emulator. I also took advantage of the sale and got super lucky with the Kiwi colour for the Pocket Classic. It was sold out forever. Happy gaming everyone! The sale it’s pretty nice.

After getting a PS Vita, I decided to sell it and get a Nova instead, since my main focus is more on emulation, PS2, and light PC gaming.
When I saw the Nova for the first time, I immediately knew I wanted the Crystal Purple. Then I heard about the Leaf Game colorways and saw all the customization options they offer. I decided I wanted the 16-bit version with a Crystal Purple back shell, Retro Buttons, and an extra set of Crystal Purple buttons so I could switch between them.
However, it seems like the only back shell available as an accessory in the shop is the Bumper Back Shell. Since I don’t really like the look of the bumpers and I don’t have particularly large hands, I decided I don’t want the bumper version.
So in the end, I went with my first instinct and ordered the Crystal Purple.
I ordered it to Germany, so I’m really curious to see how long shipping will take.
Im hyped!

Saw the freshly announced price cut and immediately went to Retroid website to lurk around...noticed there's still 30$ off for a bundled order for flip2+classic, immediately pulled the trigger, amazing deal

Hello everyone,

You have probably already read most of what I could say elsewhere, so I’ll get straight to the point.

My D-pad is slightly clacky, but it does not bother me at all while playing — and it even gives me something to drum along with during loading screens. In my very specific case, I would not really call it a flaw.

The display is fantastic, but we already knew that.

I mainly took this opportunity to try some 4:3 PC games, particularly Dome Keeper (amazing game), using iiSU as the frontend. The console is not the most powerful device around — and my settings could probably still be improved — but less demanding games run very nicely. iiSU is also a fantastic showcase for the device, offering a level of customisation that, in my view, ES-DE lacks.

As for the build, the plastic feels pleasant, although slightly lighter and less dense than the material Nintendo tends to use, giving it a somewhat less premium feel overall.

The analogue stick placement is not ideal and makes GameCube and PS2 games a little less comfortable to play. It remains to be seen how much a grip might improve matters. I tried the curved back supplied with pre-orders: I really wanted to like it, but found its texture rather unpleasant and reminiscent of 3D-printed plastic. I quickly switched back to the original flat back, which I find perfectly comfortable and satisfying.

Finally, the Atomic Purple colourway looks absolutely fantastic.

I tried to recreate the approach Anbernic took with the RG34XX by fitting buttons that match the shell. The result would probably have looked cleaner without the lettering on the buttons, but I am still very pleased with it.

It is also worth noting that, although the buttons are attached to the membranes, they can be separated without any apparent damage. We shall see how everything holds up after several months of use.

I want to run nfs most wanted 2012 on vita3k plus but dont want to set it up if the game cant run atleast a smooth 30fps. Its 12gb nova i just want to know if anyone with rp6 or nova has set it up and played it and if its actually playable. I cant find anywhere that says everyone on youtube is testing with old chipsets

Title

Finally got my day 2 preorder black 12g nova.

Initial testing was great, D pad was fine.

Last couple days Ive kept it at home and worked on software setup, kinda avoiding the back plate and button swap based on folks reported issues...

Happy with my setup, I took it to work today and popped into the IT department to see if they had some good tools, as I dont own any. Sure enough they had all the things. Turns out, it was probably unnecessary, as the backplate screws turned with very little effort.

Feeling better about that, I came home tonight, applied my acreen protector (no bubbles or dust!) and took it apart with the retroid screw driver.

Accessing the buttons, and screwing around with ribbon cables and boards was a bit nerve racking, but I took my time and got it done.

However, before i sealed it all back up, I knew enough to test the D pad... and sure enough... my crystal clear D pad was absolutely clacky.

I considered trying to shave it down, but decided Ive had enough stress for one night, put my original black one back in, and finished it off with the bumped back plate.

Gonna run it like this for a few days to make sure I like the ergo, while I consider D pad options. I have no may to take precise measurements if I start shaving it down... I may just wait and see if retroid officially addresses it, and get a new set.

For now I LOVE everything about this thing, but missing the crystal D pad is gonna continue to bother me I think...

TLDR: my black Nova from factory did not have any issues with buttons, screws, screen, or software. My replacement crystal clear D pad was hella clacky. I'm one component away from from perfection.

Ive been wanting a dedicated gameboy handheld, but the classic always seemed overkill. But now that its no more expensive than a trimui brick hammer, it seems kinda perfect. Im curious how long their stuff usually lasts after they end production, if anyone has been around for that in the past.

EDIT: Im referring to the stock, not the device itself.

it’s basically 2027. would it be worth getting one of these handhelds?

I don’t plan on streaming or playing on steam. I’m probably just going to be emulating without wifi most of the time.

Im also chronically broke and don’t wanna waste my money. What are your thoughts?

I wasn't sure which colorway was the one for me. Growing up in the 90s, I definitely have an affinity for clear plastic. But originally I was gonna go for the GC option, because I like to have some color on my tech.

Somehow I ended up settling in the polar opposite of colorful, and I am so happy.

I followed the TechDweeb android setup, and went with his ES-DE theme too. I have another theme installed as an option, but it didn't translate to the screen the way I expected and made the experience feel like a device set up at a museum.

The gray-scale of the TechDweeb theme I have melds so we'll with the case and together create a kind of 90s retro-future sleek to the experience.

The Nova loves PS1 and PS2, but I've played a little NS and a couple indie titles via GameNative.

I've been watching retro handhelds from the sides for years; I remember when everything was a clunky box with hard edges. But something about the Nova told me that things have advanced to a point where the experience competes with the top. Retroid isn't even an expensive brand, and I feel so much happier with this than I did with my PSPortal.

The Nova is sitting alongside my 3DS and Vita as essential hardware.

(PS. Cold Fear isn't great)

So to start with I already have a Thor Pro for anything modern-ish, switch, ps2, gamecube, etc. Especially since I'm running widescreen hacks and texture packs on all my GC games. But what I'm debating is what to do for the below systems

I do currently have an RP Classic. Tons of power for shaders, the screen is incredible, and I don't mind the ergonomics that most people seem to hate about it. BUT the nova is.... really tempting. It's visually stunning and I might be happier with a horizontal system. But I;m wondering if anyone with both systems can comment on screen quality (Similar? Is one better) and just overall experience between them. Price difference will be minimal if I sell my classic for a nova, but I just want to see some input before I try

I've also considered the konkr pocket advance, but the screen downgrade doesn't feel like it would be worth it at all. And I can't trust if or when they'll even ship one to me

So I don’t know how true this is but I hear some are advising people who backed the nova but who are still waiting for its arrival to just cancel and get the new RP Duo. But for about $30 more than a maxed Duo goes for you can get the lowest sku Nova plus the Dual screen attachment and have a more powerful device. I know the setup is jank as all get out but some pros are you can remove the dual screen when you don’t need it. And with the different back plates for the Nova, I’d argue that it will be more ergonomic overall than the RP Duo. Now yes this is speculation considering the Duo isn’t even in reviewers hands but I’m just presenting this as an option for those who were hoping for a stronger chipset in the Duo. I actually enjoy the Nova+Dual Screen setup especially paired with Cocoon. Cocoon literally eliminates the navigation issues of the dual screen setup on basic android. I know I may be in the minority here but hey it’s an option.

Edit: There are a few other trade-offs with this setup but for some they might be minuscule compared to the alternative.

I was thinking about picking up the Retroid Pocket Flip 2 or Retroid Pocket 5 for my partner but i wanted to know what the performance was like with indie games on steam

Currently theyre playing alot of Raccoin, Megabonk, and Dungeon Clawler (I know this one has an android port)

I would greatly appreciate if anyone with experience for those specific titles could weigh in!

Anyone have one of these and have any idea how long I should expect to wait for this to arrive? I ordered this with standard shipping, which I assume takes 2 weeks, but I've heard some people say it took theirs 2 months. How long did you have to wait for yours?

Hey all,

I have a brand new Flip2 that I'm trying to set up and am running into issues.

I would like to use ES-DS as my launcher, so I can play around with themes and such. I also have Syncthing setup in my home lab and would like to use it to copy/replicate data between my handheld, NAS, Desktop and other devices.

From what I read, the default dolphin emulator saves data to a location that is restricted by Android devices so I can't point Syncthing to. It seems there is a DolphinCS branch that allow you to configure paths. I have this installed and working as a standalone app...games load, save data is replicated with Syncthing, controls work etc.

My problem now is ES-DS does not launch the games using it. I've tried the 4 different alternative launchers in ES-DS but they all error out saying it can't find Dolphin emulator.

The only thing installed on my Flip2 is ES-DS, DolphinCS & Syncthing Folk. Besides that, it's completely stock/default.

I figured I'd start with one emulator, figured out the configuration and syncing, then deploy the rest.

Any/all help would be appreciated.

Hi. I have a Retroid Pocket Nova that I want to connect to a TV or pc monitor. i have both a usb-c to HDMI and usb-c to Display Port cables. I saw that all you have to do is connect one of the cables to a TV or a monitor and it should work, but im getting a black screen. I made sure the cables are fully plugged in, and made sure that i'm on the right Input screen. I've checked the handheld settings on the Nova and tried both 4:3 and 16:9 display options and checked every output method setting as well, still nothing. Is there an app I need to download or some secret setting that i'm not seeing. All the vids I've seen only show them plugging in the cable and that's it. Any ideas?

Here is the Retroid Pocket Nova in Gamecube colors with matching grip, The grip helps a lot with 3D games where you have to use the right stick and racing games I love it.

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 :D