So Anbernic sent me their RG DS to review.
- They had a terrible desync issue for the first week-and-a-bit (you might have seen some YouTube reviews showing this). Which meant the top screen went to 40Hz after 30-40 seconds, while the bottom screen kept 60Hz. Basically that means DS games ended up looking awful and mismatched.
- They updated it a couple days back, which fixed that issue!
- Other issues are there (shortish battery life, the unit can feel warm - no big deal to me - other systems emulate either nicely or poorly
(cat tax, this is my cat Ciri with the RG DS)
Then I forgot to move my finger from closing a car door on it, which left me with a REALLY deep cut in my index finger, on the top joint. The second half of this review was SO hard to type up. Typing right now is not fun either.
So writing this up has taken me…20 mins?
OR
You can just ask me RG DS questions here, I’m happy to laboriously type responses if you’d prefer that method :)
Nice we have been talking about the device in the retro gaming corps discord channel. Looks like a lot of fun. If my miyoo mini plus ever dies this will probably be my next handheld.
That’s the one!
Russ had his video out pretty quick, and while some issues aren’t fixed, some were with the update Anbernic pushed out.
Its getting some hate, and some is deserved, but I can’t help but just love this device!
I was just about to say that I usually trust Russ will all my retro gaming handhelds, but I’ll gladly take a second opinion. Glad to see that you follow him as well and aren’t afraid to put your own thoughts out there. Nice work!
He was right, about a whole lot. But he also ran it and reviewed it as it was sent to him, which was broken and requiring an update.
Thankfully both Anbernic and Gamma have fixes now. Gamma’s is actually far more extensive. But for a retail experience, its fine.
I maintain that as a modern DS, its wonderful. Emulating everything else…not so much. I wouldn’t buy this to play PSX or SNES, but I would for DS.
Thanks for reading my review :)
Nice! Glad to see you are enjoying the device.
We regularly joke that Anbernic comes out with new devices every couple of months in every way shape and form factor. Not exactly a bad problem, but they often have issues with quality control. But if you get a refund and new device it usually works out.
This can’t handle 3DS titles, right? Not that it matters; my N3DS XL is still going strong
Nope. Well, technically it could with a handful of very very light 3DS titles. But its just not powerful enough for the 3DS.
You’ll want a Thor for that. I’ve been using it instead of my N3DS.
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Potassium + PerfectDark = doom and destruction. Banana for illustrative and measuring purposes only.
It did look good though?
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I get asked this question a fair bit! Each time ive shared a review recently I added a banana pic. I tend to get asked what my review of said banana is.
But I have an autoimmune disease where potassium is terrible for me! So…I never know how good these bananas are :(
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They don’t taste like penicillin!
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They’re just (basically) two 4" phone screens, one above the other. So its only going to be modern capacitive stylus like is pictured.
That’s the ‘trade-off’ with these. You get modern and bright, upscale screens but you lose that original stylus input.
That said, I’m obsessed with the DSi consoles, and I’ve actually enjoyed using this stylus on it. Or, whatever misgivings I initially had disappeared after an hour or so, when I got used to it.
Thanks for sharing this review, it’s great to see your reviews and interviews here.
I’ve seen a similar recent DS-emulation system review and they were playing Rhythm Heaven, and what really looked like it would bother me is the emulation input latency (it appeared roughly 10-20ms). Have you played Rhythm Heaven or other latency-sensitive games and do you notice any input delay?
I’ll test that game for you!
Will come back here and edit this comment with my findings :)
Wow, thanks!
Does it work with port master?
My friend is a dev for PortMaster (spoiler, interview coming soon with klops and the team!), and he has one of these.
So…‘maybe’? Unsure for now, maybe is all I can say.
Excellent! That’s my one gripe with MMP. I want to play stardew/balatro on a small handheld darn it!
Any update on how the console is holding up? Have you updated it to Rocknix?
Hi there!
It is perfect! No surface wear (having a review unit mine was from the earliest batches, where the paint/plastic has a glossy finish, whereas newer ones do not!) in the slightest. No issues with any inputs, physically it is as nice as when I got it, and I play this a lot
Software-wise I’ve run everything, I’m actually back on stock right now for…actually I forget the reason, I think a failed article I was working on (comparing the options I think!), but the benefit of Rocknix is that it runs from a micro SD card, so when you’re not wanting to use it you can just eject the card and be back on stock or Gamma!
I have not one bad thing to report, if you’re looking to play the DS library on nostalgic hardware (feels like a DSi LL!), then you’ll be so happy with it :)
Glad to hear! I ordered a blue one today. I am sad they dont offer the glossy finish anymore, but the matte will look just as cool. Thanks for the update!!
I never played any DS growing up, but my girlfriend did and I’m excited to try them out. If it works well enough, I’ll get her one as well.
