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Published on

February 24, 2024

Retro Handhelds 🧠 Dump

I want to write a little something about my setup. And so, I will.

Actually more accurately, "my setups". I first joined the Retro Handhelds Facebook group as a bright-eyed and bushy tailed retro noob wondering why everyone seemed to have 100 devices. I had just purchased a Razer Kishi and was hoping to finally beat The Lion King for Megadrive and replay through Crash Bandicoot on it.

With my 3rd kid on the way, I figured it was time to buy a Switch for them.. and so I did. Zelda: Tears of Kingdom immediately came out and thus, I'm not entirely convinced my kids even know we have a Switch 😅 hehe

Meanwhile, I was becoming less and less convinced by the amount of flex in my Razer Kishi and ended up buying an RG353VS to satiate my retro desires which, since finally conquering The Lion King, had grown to also include Metroid Fusion, Ocarina of Time, A Link to the Past, Chrono Trigger and Wipeout.

Now, I'm not a heavy gamer but I've definitely been finding it a lot easier to find gaming time with all these handhelds around.

I keep my Anbernic RG353VS on my bedside table, for when I need to be awake for "baby-related, but I'm not actually required yet" moments. 3min of Metroid at a time allows for lots of required thinking time to make any progress in that game! 😅🤣 Its a bit small, and perhaps I should have bought an RG353P instead but it's super pocketable and I find that super handy for hiding it from the kids! 🤣

I usually have my Switch docked by my TV but also take it on the train during my work commute.

And most recently, I've discovered that Netflix released a free version of Dead Cells (and Hades coming soon!), so my Razer Kishi (and old phone) has become my 3rd handheld. It's a truly excellent game + controller combo for a quick round, especially when you are as terrible at it as me! 😅

And then there is my bonus 4th handheld, which is just my current phone, my Pixel 7. Though I mostly use it just for trialling out new roms or rom hacks (via a great little app called Lemuroid, though I've heard good things about Daijishō)... Or the growing list of Netflix games, plenty of which are... weirdly, surprising good.

This post was updated on

January 24, 2024.

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