Retroid Pocket 2

So after a month of procrastinating I found the Droix webstore which was taking preorders for the RP2. It was also only £100 including P&P and they are UK based so there was no concern about sudden unexpected customs charges. I wasn't expecting it to arrive till the end of the month but it showed up two days ago.

First impressions of the hardware are good. It's narrower and boxier than the Vita. The screen is sharp and clear (640x480). It has a full compliment of sticks, buttons and triggers. The d-pad is very clicky with minimal travel, even less than my GBA SP, but it does the job. I chose the transparent grape model and it looks pretty cool. I mean, it looks like a toy, but it looks like and expensive toy.

Then we come to the software though and this is where it gets messy. It's an android device, without a touch screen. You can flick between controlling it like a console or dragging a cursor around the screen, neither mode is great but it works.

The Retroid comes with many emulators pre-installed, MAME4droid, PPSSPP, N64oid, NeoDroid, ScummVM. I haven't played around with those yet, it looks like they mostly need some set up. It also comes with RetroArch which is a sort of multi-platform emulator, it also need some set up defining a key-combo to get out of games and fixing the right stick so that pushing it up gives an up instruction rather than a down instruction. None of it's complicated though just fiddly, I've been following this video and it's fine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRrGirSdFcE&t=306s

Oh, you also want to copy the image of the 32gig card which comes with the retroid onto something bigger. I had an unused 64gig lying around for some reason (I was maybe going to put it in the Switch? No idea) so I'm using that.

After doing all that and sticking some games on I've been having a great time playing GB, GBC and GBA games on it. The emulation for those at least is flawless. I haven't had time to get the PSone or PSP emulation working but I'll let you know how I get on with those. I believe that it runs PSone fine and Some PSP games are good, others are unplayable. Dreamcast supposedly requires set up for each game. If I get Skies of Arcadia running I'll let you know. I've seen video of people playing Ikaruga on it.

Other stuff which I haven't explored yet:

It also comes with a Retroid OS which is far more polished and has a storefront where you can donwload or maybe buy roms. Everyone agrees that this is dodgy AF and I haven't yet found a video which tells me how to access it.

Similarly the console comes with about 25gig of encrypted roms. I don't yet know how you even look at those.

tldr: Looks good, plays great, everything in between is totally fiddly.

I'm sure before long someone will have created SD card images with complete libraries of games that you can just stick in the console and play.

This whole thing sounds incredibly dodgy but also very tempting. If I had the time to fiddle around endlessly with emulator settings, I'd be all over it. Let us know if it ever becomes more idiot-friendly and I'd probably be in the market for one of these.

I'm sure before long someone will have created SD card images with complete libraries of games that you can just stick in the console and play.

This whole thing sounds incredibly dodgy but also very tempting. If I had the time to fiddle around endlessly with emulator settings, I'd be all over it. Let us know if it ever becomes more idiot-friendly and I'd probably be in the market for one of these.

I have an RG 350M which came with 128Gb SD card loaded with everything, ever, on everything (and I think it has 32gb of internal memory too). Since then I've merrily copied the lot onto my PC connected to the TV so I can occasionally emulate the TMNT Arcade Game and Mario Kart SNES.

It's a nice machine and fairly customisable, but I barely have time to play new games, so it's largely a curio which I occasionally pick up and try a game if I see it mentioned in an article or something. I also had a happy evening nostalgia trip through my old CPC464 library one time which made me feel both old and depressed but also thankful things have moved on a bit. Some of the games stood up surprisingly well though and playing on a small screen hides a lot of the flaws….

"and playing on a small screen hides a lot of the flaws…."

This is very true.

I need to dig out… whatever it was I bought not that long ago, I can't even remember the name of it. But that was basically what you've got, Bri, and I love it. I should make more time for good games.

Kuru Kururin is harder than I remembered. Still fun though.

Konami Crazy Racers is a solid Mario Kart rip off. We wanted to get it when the GBA launched but it was sold out.

Which GBA Pokémon is best?

Which GBA Pokémon is best?

Black or White (Gen 5), probably - though if you've got any nostalgia for the earlier games, the Heart Gold / Soul Silver remakes of the Gen 2 games are also very good.

No nostalgia here. I played two or three gyms of Pokémon Red on my Gameboy Pocket and that's it. I thought that maybe Little Miss Bloodaxe would enjoy playing one (or a pair) with me.

Diamond and Pearl!

I have also bought one of these and haven't done much yet so I have little to add but…yeah it is definitely not something that's gonna' be user friendly for people who haven't emulated much but I've put on a few PS1 games no problem and I'd say they run fine but who knows how long that will last beyond a few minutes here and there? The Retroid OS Brian mentioned is as simple as finding it in the folder from the Android home screen and installing it, this will give you a whole boat load of games that I can only imagine is 95% junk (some gems on there, Chrono Trigger eyyyyy).

I DID use it to test some games out though, Mario 64 had some frate rame issues, MK64 seemed like a disaster…I dunno' if it was worth them putting 'can run N64/DC games' as a feature on the 'box' tbh, still really sceptical that it can run games from those platforms but I didn't fiddle around with settings or different emulators so maybe some games are okay, Skies of Arcadia is probably a distant dream though. (I'm going to have to buy a Gamecube and the overpriced game itself to play that aren't I? ffs)

Super excited to add more games to it but I'm still gonna' have to probably wait til' I'm done with Suikoden on the Vita, at least for RPGs on there.

Final important note: the intro theme to Chrono Cross is fucking godlike don't @ me.

Skies of Arcadia is probably a distant dream though. (I'm going to have to buy a Gamecube and the overpriced game itself to play that aren't I? ffs)

No, you're gonna have to buy a Dreamcast and the overpriced game itself.

But the GameCube version has more content!

What's up with the Gamecube version?

Better image/sound quality on DC, more content and better balancing of combat encounters on GC. Pick your poison.

The textures and music were massively compressed to fit the whole thing onto a single disc.

I never thought the additional content was all that impressive, either; it's a couple of unrelated sidequests with optional OP bosses, and a pointless fetch quest.

I see, fair enough. Sega have X amount of time to release a remaster until I get it then!!!!

N64 games didn't run particularly well on the N64 so I'm not surprised they aren't great.

I'm enjoying playing the two Kuru Kururin games and GBA Sword of Mana for now. I do want to get stuck into some PSone games though.

Still can't quite believe that Ocarina of Time ran at a locked 17fps. We moan now if a game's locked at 30.

For no good reason whatsoever I spent last night playing GBA racing games.

Konami Krazy Racers - This was a launch game for the GBA and I remember intending to buy one with my GBA, but it was sold out everywhere. I guess everyone was feeling the lack of Mario Kart at launch. It's amazing the useless shit you can remember from 20 years ago. It seems pretty good though, less twitchy than Mode7 racing tends to be.

GT Advance was the racing game I actually bought with my GBA. It's fine. It's possibly the most basic driving game I have ever played. I like that you are supposed to racing around in a city but only the streets are rendered.

Monster Truck Madness - I think I can remember one of the magazines giving this a good review. It does manage to present a full 3D racing game on the GBA, hmm, does it running on the Retroid mean it runs on GBA hardware? Anyway, the game's awful.

Moto GP - I think it was Edge which really liked this one and it is way better than I was expecting. It's not even mode7, it's sprite-based like Super Hang On or Lotus Esprit, but it's so smooth and responsive that it probably as good as that format ever got. Before I knew it I had been playing for an hour and had finished two championships.

You're probably just better off playing Mario Kart Super Circuit, which is brilliant.

We actually managed to get a four-player game of that going at one point, just cables absolutely everywhere.

I have played MK SS a lot and it is great. I'm sure I'll be playing it again before long.

I got FPse running on my Retroid this morning (Following this configuration guide https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NofUypHnmRA).

It's pretty great. Wipeout 3 looks fantastic on it.

Anyone ever heard of Castlevania? It's pretty good.

I just remembered Advance Wars exists the other day, so I'm going to revist that very shortly. Also every Fire Emblem on GBA!

Yeah, I've got them all installed too. I played a few AW games last year though, and Wargroove. Days of Ruin is still the best one.

Anyone ever heard of Castlevania? It's pretty good.

That's the one with Samus Aran, right?

Sounds right.

I got the double-jump in Castlevania.

Wait, which one are we playing? Upgradable abilities says Symphony of the Night or later.

Aria of Sorrow gonna' hit so good after binging the the latestseries of the Castlevania anime last night

Aria of Sorrow gonna' hit so good after binging the the latest series of the Castlevania anime last night

I'm playing the first GBA game. Harmony of Dissonance maybe?

I think that's the second one, the first is Circle of the Moon I believe. I really like Harmony of Dissonance because Juste has both a front and back dash so he's got mobility out the wazoo.

I checked, I am playing Aria of Sorrow.

Al's right, Circle of the Moon was first. That's probably my favourite of the GBA ones too. That whip spin is

Aria of Sorrow had the coolest fucking gimmick.

So they are all good then.

I've played Dawn of Sorrow, that was the DS one, that was pretty good.

It is good but usually placed under Aria because of touch screen stuff and I think the anime stylings stuff? All I know is I the little touches they did were pretty cool, like if I remember correctly the fish enemies soul in Aria gives you the ability to fire a water projectile but the same-ish enemies in Dawn do the same but Soma will actually fire it out of his mouth like the soulhas changed his body makeup temporarily.

Clock Tower Boss is kicking my ass. I just watched a video to see what I'm doing wrong and apparently my tactics are good, my thumbs just can't keep up.

I have escaped the Clock Tower! I'm really enjoying this.

Dude let me know when you find the Balmung, I was on low health and getting out was nightmare. Then arena boss phase 1 made me super salty.

Lightning Doll's soul is pretty freaking strong wow

I find I use the skeleton ability to throw bones all the time. It lets you attack above and below and there's a pretty good chance it will hit big opponents twice. Also you can totally spam it because it's really cheap.

Valkyrie is pretty fun too. Oh and Persephony's vacuum cleaner.

You're having better luck than me in getting Souls. T_T

It's just grind.

Fucking hell. I just figured out that the map rooms are fast travel. facepalm

Also, one of the buttons is jump.

Good to know.

Fucking hell. I just figured out that the map rooms are fast travel. facepalm

That's pretty hardcore! Good job the castle is relatively small.

Beat the game, Spoiler - click to showJulius was a fucking hard boss fight, way harder than the (true) final boss whatever the fuck that was. Really fun game but has to be said, Souls didn't have too much of an impact for me in the end although it's still a fucking cool gimmick. I got the Claimh Solais and everything had no chance.

I either move on to Harmony of Dissonance or play JULIUS mode, which wouldn't take long since he's an absolute beast, sasuga Belmonts…