Just ordered an Anbernic RG CubeXX for retro emulation

[slotsmagic]

Bit random but announcing that I bought a cheap new handheld last night, hopefully it'll arrive soon as it's coming from an AliExpress UK warehouse.

I already have a Switch but I can't remember where the tool is to force it in to homebrew, can't be bothered ordering another, can't be bothered connecting my phone to it to force it.

So I fancy getting a dedicated handheld... as I get older I appreciate things which just 'work' and don't need tinkering with  

I did find my old Gameboy DMG01 in a drawer, in surprisingly good nick for a 30+ year old device - no dead pixels or owt. I was tempted to pay £40 the stuff to update it to an IPS backlit display, probably add a rechargeable lithium battery kit...

Then I realised may as well pay less and get a dedicated handheld that will play all Gameboy stuff on a bigger screen and doesn't need flash carts  

----

Gone with the Anbernic RG CubeXX 

It's got a 4" 1:1 screen, so ideal for consoles and handhelds which used screens close to a square aspect ratio, as well as older arcade titles including vertical. Won't be much use for wide-screen games... but if I want to play modern stuff I can use my little mini PC or take the Switch.

I liked the idea of a Gameboy shaped device... but I have large hands so went for a landscape orientation device to hopefully be more comfortable  

720x720 Resolution which means it'll hopefully not trigger my eye strain. One of the joys of hitting 40 and already having terrible eyesight is I find it really easy to get eye strain on modern crazy resolution phone screens  

It claims to be powerful enough for N64 / Dreamcast - apparently it's borderline if that is true - but I have no interest in emulating them on it anyway. I might play some Playstation but that'll be it.

Can't grumble at £46 brand new delivered to the door!

Will update when it's here

Why did I post here? Because I searched for Anbernic and got no results. Maybe me posting might help someone in the future  

 

 

Edited June 2 by slotsmagic

[andy-1]

For me I use my Dream Deck for emulation on the go, but at home I've got a pi 4 and an Odroid XU4.

On the Steam Deck I either use Emu deck of Batocera.

[slotsmagic]

1 hour ago, andy-1 said:

For me I use my Dream Deck for emulation on the go, but at home I've got a pi 4 and an Odroid XU4.

On the Steam Deck I either use Emu deck of Batocera.

I've got an old Pi4 here that I'm going to dig out soon - as much as I love my little Mini PC, I think I'd rather have a Pi4 as a dedicated retro machine, then use the mini for Windows.

I was actually pondering at one point selling the Mini PC and getting a Windows handheld PC, since a lot of them use the same or similar GPU anyway (Radeon 780M).

That would give me a gaming handheld, and a PC all in one.

BUT I'm a sucker for individual hardware. I'd rather have 2 or 3 things with each dedicated to one task, even if one device could replace them all  

I reckon this will be my old hand hand emulator - GBA, GBC, Lynx, as well as SNES and PS1.

The Switch will be used for my legit Switch Zelda stuff, and maybe things like PSP emulation and above. Since Nintendo have banned the console, I may well see if I can use it to play *cough* backups too. Why not since they've banned me? I'll have to look into it.

The Mini PC will remain my AV unit, and Windows games / apps thingy.

[andy-1]

To be fair my Steam Deck is a hand held pc just running on steam os which is based around Linux.I

I did a few years ago jailbreak a psp for emulation purposes.

Will look forward to seeing the 1 You ve ordered.

[wearecity]

I got an AYN Thor earlier this year, as my new on the go emulation device.

Put ES-DE and the companion to it as a front end.

[slotsmagic]

1 hour ago, andy-1 said:

To be fair my Steam Deck is a hand held pc just running on steam os which is based around Linux.I

I did a few years ago jailbreak a psp for emulation purposes.

Will look forward to seeing the 1 You ve ordered.

I found my old PSP in the garage a while back but no sign of the mains lead. Probably ought to source one. I had several over the years, the last one was used for playing Playstation ISOs on the go.

Ripped my own games for it and converted them... How I laughed when I cocked up the disc numbering for FF7 so couldn't progress at the end of disc 1. That wasn't a total waste of time  

Brilliant little machines. My mind was absolutely blown by GTA : Liberty City Stories. It really felt like a PS2 in the palm of your hand, whereas coming from Nintendo, the handhelds always felt a good generation or two before the home console equivalent.

The CubeXX I've ordered is a budget handheld, but £45 seems pretty bonkers really given I just sold my old DMG01 Gameboy on eBay for £50. After fees it's a straight swap.

1 hour ago, wearecity said:

I got an AYN Thor earlier this year, as my new on the go emulation device.

Put ES-DE and the companion to it as a front end.

Having just had a quick look at that, it looks absolutely bonkers  

I may be tempted down the line, especially if the switch fails, but for right now I'm sticking to my Mini PC for serious stuff, and just planning on using my (when they actually post it!!!) new little handheld for proper retro stuff

Edited June 2 by slotsmagic

[thealteredemu]

I’ve got the latest Retroid.  It’s a very capable handheld but on the pricier side.  I don’t use it that often as I have a switch 2 with all the classic NES and SNES games that I like to play

J

[slotsmagic]

21 hours ago, thealteredemu said:

I’ve got the latest Retroid.  It’s a very capable handheld but on the pricier side.  I don’t use it that often as I have a switch 2 with all the classic NES and SNES games that I like to play

J

Since I have the Switch 1 that I probably ought to use for more recent stuff I probably ought to just order another USB exploit pushing thingy and get that going again. I did used to have the app for doing it on my phone but they would also require me to find a USB-C to USB-C cable, and the app in question

The attraction of the CubeXX for me is the screen ratio, especially for Gameboy / Gameboy Colour. I often play the older Gameboy titles. Possibly nostalgia from my primary school days (I had a yellow DMG01 back in the day), possibly because the games are typically simpler  

Hopefully the CubeXX turns up at some point. Ordered from a UK Warehouse but took an extra day or two for Evri to get it?

Rookie mistake - should have ordered the protective case at the time for an extra fiver. Didn't realise it was an option from some sellers. Might just have to keep it in my old thick tablet case. At least that has room for a charger too since these are fussy about charging - you have to use a 5V 1.5A charger, anything else causes issues.

Also been researching firmware. The stock firmware seems alright, but I've downloaded the latest build of Knulli (Scarab) for this specific device, built in May this year. It's basically Batocera with Emulation Station pre set up for this device. Seems to be well regarded online. 

Does somewhat go against my whole 'looking for a simple device that just works' philosophy. I assume that is the thing with the likes of your Retroid - you pay more for convenience too, properly set up to just work correctly out of the box rather than needing community firmware to get the best out of it?

 

Edited June 4 by slotsmagic

[slotsmagic]

Well, it arrived. It's bonkers for the money in my opinion, the screen is lovely and bright with incredible viewing angles.

But it is a bit of a double edged sword for someone like me. I mean it works great out of the box, with a load of ROMs included (which I'm not fussed by, I have my own collection, but is useful for testing).

Performance out of the box with stock settings is very good, up to PSX. Anything more than that really is just a curiosity. But then it's a £45 device, and I'm only planning on using it for GB and GBC, among others.

It's comfortable for someone with big hands like me.

The only real annoyance I've got is sorting out shaders and stuff. Easy to copy games to it over WiFi (it was full of Nintendo ROMs... But no Mario titles ).

I guess the thing with shaders is that they are really 'tweaks', and opinions on them vary. I like SNES for example to have a bit of CRT filter, bit of geometry, maybe a bit of glow. Out of the box it looks fine - just like ZSNES or similar back in the day. But then you also find that as you start turning on more graphically intense shaders, the performance takes a hit, the frame rate stops being a solid 50/60FPS.

Understandable.

Great for £45 but if you want more demanding hardware, or love playing with all the graphical bells and whistles you might want to get a bit more processing power

Lovely screen though!!

I'm just too old and impatient for all the tinkering. Back in my youth I loved messing about with things and setting them up. These days I find that I can't be arsed and just want them to work the way I want them to out of the box  

 

Edited June 4 by slotsmagic

[jabbathehut]

You have gone down a rabbit hole from which you will emerge poorer but with many handhelds.Its starts with one then you need more .Apparently I have to many boxes from China.I of course disagree and can make a case as to why I need each and everyone.I would buy sell and then upgrade but lately ebay has become difficult so I can't buy on the basis that I will be able to sell it.Anyway from the android end we are more or less at endgame with elite gen 3 and 5.Windows handhelds are becoming crazy expensive and you still don't get more than a couple of hours. 

[wearecity]

8 minutes ago, jabbathehut said:

You have gone down a rabbit hole from which you will emerge poorer but with many handhelds.Its starts with one then you need more .Apparently I have to many boxes from China.I of course disagree and can make a case as to why I need each and everyone.I would buy sell and then upgrade but lately ebay has become difficult so I can't buy on the basis that I will be able to sell it.Anyway from the android end we are more or less at endgame with elite gen 3 and 5.Windows handhelds are becoming crazy expensive and you still don't get more than a couple of hours. 

Yep easy to get sucked in. 

I've had 5 Android devices in about 10 years.

Last 3, I had a GPD XD for ages. Then a Retroid Pocket 4, which I still have and use and now a AYN Thor, which is a step up from the others. 

Unless the Thor breaks, I don't see me getting another one for a good few years.

[jabbathehut]

Also have the thor great device .I sold my retroid pocket on the back  of that and also tried to sell my odin portal( i bought a switch 2 with the money) but that came back although there is nothing wrong with it.Have decided to keep it for now.Don't really need that and the thor but use the portal more for gamehub/game native .

 

 

[slotsmagic]

... Have seen some great deals on some more powerful devices, but have just ordered another matching Anbernic, although this time it is the RG40XXH  

Same processor, only real difference is screen resolution. My CubeXX is a 1:1 720x720, which is absolutely perfect for Gameboy and SNES.

However I fancied something 4:3 ratio, for playing Playstation and probably Gameboy Advance. The RG40XXH is another 4" screen device, but this time it's 640x480. So PlayStation and similar should look great.

Why not just get a more powerful handheld?

I like the idea of having a dedicated one for Gameboy / SNES, and another dedicated one for Playstation and a few other bits.

If I had one higher end console, I wouldn't have a fall back position, and these are hardly expensive things. The Cube I bought new was around £60, the RG40XXH was £50 including postage off eBay - admittedly used but looks in fine shape and has the original carry case. Should be here in a few days.

So it does appear that when you start with one retro handheld, the likelihood is you'll accumulate more  

[andy-1]

Thats way it goes, trust me 

[slotsmagic]

... and just accidentally won an Ayaneo Pocket Air Mini 3GB RAM model on eBay today too  

Right, that's it, I'm going to write an Allen Carr book about being addicted to retro handhelds