These New Retro Gaming Handhelds Look Fantastic

As the handheld gaming market continues to blow-up, high-end PC gamers aren’t the only ones swimming in options. Retro enthusiasts also have a bigger selection of sleek emulation machines to choose from, including a handful of new devices with impressive specs and beautiful designs.

First-up is the Odin 2 Mini. Announced last week by Chinese manufacturer Ayn, it’s the more compact version of the company’s popular Android handheld. It sports a Snapdragon 8 Gen2 Processor and mini-LED touch display, perfect for streaming games and comfortably emulating up through the PlayStation 2 and Wii-ears. The battery is smaller, but that might be worth it for fans of the PlayStation Vita-style handheld that still mourn Sony turning its back on portable gaming. The white version looks especially crisp. The price is steep at $340 but the first run has already sold-out.

Then there’s the AYANEO Pocket Micro, an homage to the tiny Nintendo handheld of the same name. In addition to the D-pad and face buttons, there are also two analog sticks. Slightly bigger than its spiritual predecessor, AYANEO is promising resolution that’s four times better than the Game Boy Advance with a screen that won’t make retro games look stretched. I love the minimalist design and horizontal form factor. There’s no price or release date, but more information is set to be announced later this year.

Finally, we have the AYANEO Pocket DMG, a clear competitor to the popular Analogue Pocket which plays original Game Boy and Game Boy Advance cartridges directly rather than emulating them. The Pocket DMG will feature a 1240 x 1080-pixel OLED screen and an analog stick near the bottom that’s mounted on a touch pad. The more jumbled layout isn’t as aesthetically pleasing as its Analogue counter-part but it should give the Pocket DMG more flexibility for the kinds of games players can emulate on it. AYANEO hasn’t yet confirmed if it will also be running Android.

Nobody needs any of these handhelds but I still want them all. It’s great to see manufacturers exploring the more luxury end of the market the same way certain boutique firms have been putting together prettier and pricier Kindle competitors over the years. When it comes to emulation, handhelds like the Retroid Pocket 4 Pro, MIYOO Mini Plus Portable, ANBERNIC RG405M each offer a different mix of specs, firmware, and form factor for retro nerds to experiment and fall in love with.

None of them can compete pound-for-pound with the power and flexibility of a Steam Deck or Asus ROG Ally, but then that’s not the point of spending $300 to play esoteric RPGs from the early 2000s like Riviera: The Promised Land on a mega-powered Game Boy from an alternate future.