You’re super welcome! If you’ve ever any specific concerns or questions when it comes to handhelds, I’m always here!

I can test it for you! Let me get back to you on that (just making a coffee right now!)

They had it already on the pre-loaded ROM list with the micro SD card, so I’ll take a pic or two (if that translates well), and let you know.

Quick Edit:

Works perfectly. All the bullets coming from the bottom rise through both screens on the proper angles, there’s no slowdown that I can see. It matches perfectly. This really isn’t something I can photograph since it all moves so quick, but I’ll try my best and update this again with some pictures. That said, not one issue. Perfection!

I can’t wait to hear what you think!

I’m not entirely sure if it is the exactly same gap size, but the screens do match with the action. The best example is Sonic (Rush, I think it is called?). The action matches sync on both screens, there’s no Hz misalignment as we saw on the RG DS back last year before release (and the patch which fixed it!)

They’re super different handhelds, despite being ostensibly the same thing!

I have two of the Thors from AYN. One is the Thor Pro they sent me back before release to review, the other is the low-end entry model, the Thor Lite. And to me they perfectly nail the 3DS requirements. Obviously you can run DS games to your heart’s content as well, even the Lite model has more than enough power to run them.

The DS Plus has the advantage of two screens matching size (the original DS had the same size top and bottom screen), and the resolution is exactly 4x that original size. So (this isn’t upscaling), what you get is 4x ‘integer scaling’. It will present the pixels perfectly!

The Thor Pro will run anything from Switch to the WiiU, PS3, PC game emulation, 3DS upscaled like you wouldn’t believe. But it is designed to be wonderful at everything, and has a price to match that. The DS Plus is super affordable and perfect with DS games. The included stylus you store in the body is the icing on the cake to me!

Power? Upscaling? Emulating any and all systems? AYN’s Thor. DS? Older low performance systems like PSX, GBA, SNES and so on? DS Plus.

Super understandable!

At least it occupies the lower end of the retro handheld price bracket. Some of the handhelds I’ve reviewed have been worth a stunning amount, I just love how the lower end with a niche laser focused specific purpose like this one can be a more approachable price. You could wait for the 11/11 sales coming up soonish on Aliexpress, they’re famously pretty good for discounted prices :)

I’ve just published my time with the Anbernic RG DS Plus, the bulk of this is the usual review things, but of some note was that I got to chat directly with Anbernic about the device and their take on it: why they revisited the original RG DS, the new NNDDSS emulator and some of the design decisions behind the Plus.

The RG DS Plus itself is Anbernic’s second iteration of making a NDS-focused retro handheld, a modern take on being able to emulate all of the original DS games. I love this one so much.

I also spoke with the devs behind Cocoon, who are working on bringing Cocoon (a super 3DS-ish front-end/launcher for dual screen handhelds) to the RG DS Plus very soon. Just a bit of a chance to look a little beyond the hardware itself and at what this could mean for dual-screen Linux handhelds going forward, Cocoon for the DS Plus isn’t far off now (they’re moving from being Android-only to both Android and Linux!)

If you’re interested in the RG DS Plus, DS emulation or where these weird little dual-screen handhelds are heading, you might like this one!___

Enjoy! Just wait until you hear that iconic theme music in the menu…reimagined :P

So nice to see you enjoying the Brick Hammer, too. Such a classy handheld :)

I had the chance to interview Mike Miller, the developer behind Halo: Combat Devolved, an ongoing project that aims to bring Halo: Combat Evolved to the Game Boy Color (and retro handhelds) using GB Studio. I’ve been playing through it on my Brick Hammer, it really feels at home on there.

We talked about the difficult process of translating Halo’s weapons, enemies, vehicles and levels to such limited hardware, the creative solutions he’s come up with along the way, why authenticity sometimes means changing the original game, and what he’s got planned for future levels. If you’ve ever wondered what Halo would have looked like as a '90s Game Boy game, or wanted to hear a bit more about how he’s made it all happen this one should be right up your alley!

It is, yes! Gamma uses DJ Khaled for his display picture everywhere, so this felt appropriate :)

So here’s my review on the 55G1 retro handheld.

The chip itself is pretty interesting: the CPU is capable, while the relatively weak GPU creates a pretty unusual performance profile, which by now is no shock to anyone here.

I also chatted with Gamma (the mind behind GammaOS) about what he’s been able to do with the RG55G1’s drivers and where he thinks there’s more performance to be found.

And I spoke to Camille, lead dev/creator of Eden (a Nintendo Switch emulator), about the G1 Gen 2, Switch emulation, drivers and how the chip compares with other Snapdragon hardware in his experiences. Obviously I review things too, but these are the two unique angles in my lil article here.

There’s a lot I really like about the RG55G1, but the $150+ price makes it a difficult handheld to place. I think the part I’m most proud of in this review is the image of Gamma on top of MC Hammer’s ubiquitous album cover, which I used for his section in here:

Removed by mod

Well now I wish that was a thing!

(Sorry for any confusion!!!)

This is a small interview (by my usual standards!) with Jiayu, a girl in China who runs MagiGamer, a business she started making custom buttons and controls for various gaming handhelds. Tech, but with a custom twist :)

She makes buttons for things like the Nintendo Switch, 3DS & DS handhelds, the Steam Deck and her recent favorite: AYN’s Thor (as well as the Odin 3), and more.

I chatted to her a bit for some quotes to use in my AYN Thor article I shared here yesterday, but this is the full chat, only because I love the work she does and how she gives people an option to truly make a console unique for everyone. I thought it deserved to be shared :)

There’s plenty of behind the scenes pictures of the effort she goes to, and detailed pictures of the handhelds with her buttons installed. I thought this was a fun little one to share, hopefully you like it too!

___

If it doesn’t, I highly recommend the OSTENT 1,400 mAh batteries. Higher capacity than the original and they work perfectly. 100% the one to choose!

Oh absolutely. This was exactly me for the longest time. I review retro handhelds, so I’ve had everything from the entry-level to the high power ones (like the Odin 3 Max). I thought you couldn’t get better than upscaled graphics and save states, but when I got a re-obsession semi-recently with the PSP:

https://gardinerbryant.com/tag/psp/

…I’ve realized that native hardware just has magic to it. The handheld is slim, the design is retro futuristic in the best way (in my eyes), the jailbreak and add-ons are invaluable and the experience is just fun. I’ve just reviewed the Retroid Pocket Nova, am reviewing the Anbernic RG SP, and have a couple more on the way, but that isn’t stopping me absolutely loving WipEout on my PSPs :)

So my latest article is something that’s been on my mind for a while: the people still making physical games feel genuinely special, the lack of physical games going forward (looking at you, Sony), and what everyone lost with the old-old ‘big-box’ PC gaming era.

I just try to take a look look back at the era of PC gaming, manuals, maps and all the little extras that made opening a new game part of the experience. How “physical” has changed in recent years, and a handful of developers, publishers and community creators who are still putting real care into physical releases today (including RowanFN, whose work creating custom manuals and inserts I had the chance to cover last year)

If you’re interested in game preservation, collecting, or simply miss the days when a physical game was more than just a case and a download code (shitty shitty GTA VI discovery), I hope you’ll enjoy the read. It might be a bit of a…watch-me-go-off-on-tangents article, but it is still important in a way. I think.

They’re less known, but ZOOM-Platform are DRM free for everything, and given you the offline installers.

https://www.zoom-platform.com/

No, don’t worry! It comes up a bit! Being on a space like Lemmy, writing and chatting about a subject like F-droid, and seeing the link to our site…it is a natural assumption to make!

I’m just glad you enjoyed the article!!! :)

Isn’t Peertube on F-droid? People should get it so they can watch your video

Sorry for the miscommunication! I’m Gardiner’s friend, dash. Together he and I run the site linked here, but Gardiner’s videos are all 100% his side! If you asked me to film and or edit a video to save my life, I’d have to start digging my own grave because all of that is pure sorcery to me!

You can view my articles on the site specifically with this link here:

https://gardinerbryant.com/author/dash/