We’ve seen a lot of ups and downs in the handheld world this week: some devices keep improving, while pricing and availability remain a challenge for the hobby in general.

🎥 Now Playing

Here are the videos I released this week:

The AYN Thor Keeps Getting Better

Four months after my review, the AYN Thor has seen key improvements in software and accessories. Here is an updated, long-term look at this dual-screen marvel.

SpruceOS Update: More Devices, Same Beauty

SpruceOS was recently updated to include support on several new handhelds, and a handy offline installer/scraper tool. You can also use the same microSD card across all your SpruceOS handhelds! Let's go through the installation process and its many features.

Custom Firmware Saved the Anbernic RG DS

The Anbernic RG DS was a severely compromised experience at launch, but thanks to new custom software developments, it's a decent $100 DS handheld. In this video I'll show you some software options, my preferred setup (Linux, baby!), and how to install it yourself.

Other Russ Sightings

Holy smokes, I was everywhere this week. Most importantly, I launched a new podcast with my friend Adam from PCWorld. It’s called Expedition: Handheld, and we released Episode 1 yesterday. This will be a weekly video/audio podcast focused on all things handheld! I also appeared on Hi-Tech Lo-Life’s Next Fest Round Table, and spent a few minutes yapping about my two favorite demos so far. And then finally, we just released a new Nerd Nest episode focused on Valve’s lootbox-related lawsuit.

📰 Power-Up(dates)

Some (mostly bad) news this week:

• AYN has announced sweeping price hikes on their Thor and Odin 3 handhelds, as a result of RAM/storage supply issues. The new pricing goes into effect next Sunday (08MAR), so you have a week to pre-order them at the current prices. Affiliate / Non-affiliate

  • Thor Lite – $249 (no change)

  • Thor Base – $309 → $319

  • Thor Pro – $369 → $399

  • Thor Max – $449 → $489

  • Odin 3 Base – $329 → $339

  • Odin 3 Pro – $399 → $439

  • Odin 3 Max – $449 → $489

  • Odin 3 Ultra – Discontinued

• If you ordered an AYN handheld from their AliExpress stores, some buyers are seeing their orders suddenly cancelled due to AliExpress' automatic cancellation policy if a product isn't shipped in time. If you have a pending order from them, you should be able to go into your order settings and extend the shipping timeline manually to prevent this.

• Speaking of price hikes and memory shortage woes, Retroid has announced a $15 price hike on the 8GB RAM variant of their Retroid Pocket 6 (now $245 before shipping), and they have discontinued the 12GB variants altogether. The 8GB RP6 price increase goes into effect tomorrow (02MAR), so today is your last day to order it at the lower price. Affiliate / Non-affiliate

• Blaze Entertainment (Evercade folks) have announced the latest in their Hyper Mega Tech budget handhelds, and this one is in collaboration with legendary developers Rare Entertainment. Headlining the selections is Banjo-Kazooie, but it also features hits like Battletoads, R.C. Pro Am II and more. Read the full list at Retro Handhelds.

• In a massive bummer of an announcement, retro game preservation site Myrient will permanently shut down on March 31st, and they are urging users to archive anything important before then. The owners explained on their discord that the closure is due to unsustainable personal hosting costs, abusive and exploitative download managers, and sharply rising hardware/hosting prices driven by AI datacenter demand.

• Steam Next Fest is happening now and it’s stacked with playable PC demos. My two personal favorites are Titanium Court and Grind Survivors, but I’m also pretty excited about the Panzer Dragoon 2 remake, the game with fighting skate-trains, and of course, Shaun Inman’s Ratcheteer DX.

❤️ Currently Grinding

Retro Game: Comix Zone

This game was released late in the Sega Genesis’ lifecycle, and I was always impressed by its bright, colorful graphics as they popped out of magazines in the mid 1990s. While I do love the comic-book style that anchors this beat ‘em up brawler, its insane difficulty (you start with only one life!) and short runtime don’t hold up as well in the 21st century. It’s a more manageable experience with the help of a few Game Genie cheats, and I knocked out the entire game in around 20 minutes on my AYN Thor last week.

Modern Game: Halo Infinite

The Halo franchise is easily one of my all-time favorites, yes I even enjoy the 343 Industries games (especially Halo 4). But I have a confession: I never got around to beating Halo Infinite’s single-player campaign. I finally finished it on my Xbox Series X this week, and it was a pretty good ending despite some insane difficulty spikes near the end. This was the first time my 10-year-old son watched me play a Halo game, and he found it ABSOLUTELY HILARIOUS - every time I sticky-bombed an Elite, or thwacked a Grunt with my rifle butt, he would bust out laughing. I remember at one point he turned to me and said, “Dad, this game is really fun.” At a time when gaming in general seems to be getting increasingly snarky and mean, it’s easy to forget just how organically joyful and spontaneous a good Halo skirmish can feel, and having my little bud cackling next to me was a great reminder.

Music: Joyce Manor - I Used To Go To This Bar

Admittedly, most of the music I listen to consists my old standbys; long ago I came to terms with the fact that I am generally stuck in my old-school musical ways. But every once in a while a new album will wrestle its way into my iTunes playlists, and Joyce Manor’s new album did just that. This is their seventh record, and it came out about a month ago; their music is energetic, brash, and brief, and they just skirt the line between punk rock and power pop. I Used To Go to This Bar doesn’t overstay its welcome, delivering nine tracks in just 19 minutes, and some of these tracks (especially during the first half) may be some of the best rock anthems they’ve ever written. Only time will tell if it dethrones Cody as my favorite Joyce Manor album, but it’s got a pretty good shot.

💰 Bargain Bin

A few deals this week:

• The Anbernic RG DS is back to its launch price of around $100 on AliExpress if you use coupons. Here are the codes (US-based, you’ll have to check the AliExpress homepage for your region for those codes):

  • CD02US = $2 off $15+

  • CD04US = $4 off $29+

  • CD07US = $7 off $49+

  • CD09US = $9 off $69+

  • CD16US = $16 off $109+

  • Buy the Anbernic RG DS: Affiliate / Non-Affiliate

• The same handheld is also available on Prime for $130. It’s not exactly a deal but its only a few bucks more than their official site with free two-day shipping and hassle-free returns. Slap ROCKNIX on this thing (following the guide I linked above!) and it’s a pretty decent dual-screen NDS experience. Affiliate / Non-Affiliate

• Anker’s teeny tiny 3-port, 65W charger is sling-bag friendly and easily charges any handheld you throw at it, and it’s on sale for $26 on Amazon right now. Affiliate / Non-Affiliate

• Nacon are going through a bit of a rough patch, which may be why they’re having a massive sale. Games like Robocop: Rogue City, Session Skate Sim, and their popular Life games are heavily discounted. Come original until 3/11, when the sale ends.

⏪ Previously on Retro Game Corps

Clamshells Used To Be MUCH WORSE

The first few clamshells to hit the retro handheld market were admittedly rough around the edges, but Powkiddy’s X18S launch was infamous. This handheld was the first Unisoc T618 device to release (later surpassed by the Retroid Pocket 3+ and the Anbernic RG405M), but it got almost nothing right, and its poor build quality was especially offensive considering it $175-ish price tag. And you had to walk uphill both ways to play it!

🎬 Behind The Scenes

A couple months ago I bought the Kobo Clara BW ($140 on Amazon, affiliate / non-affiliate) and I freaking love it. I had previously tried out my wife’s Kindle and I couldn’t stand the clunky, advertisement-laden experience, and wrote off eReaders altogether. I’m not sure what prompted me to try again, but the Kobo experience is a huge improvement: the interface is simple (and ad-free), you adjust the brightness by simply sliding your finger up and down on the screen, and it has an EXCELLENT dark mode that naturally adjusts its color temperature based on the time of day. Loading my own ePUBs is dead simple: plug my device into a PC via USB cable, then drag-and-drop my books onto its generous 16GB storage. The battery lasts for weeks, and I appreciate that it’s a single-use piece of tech that further decouples me from my phone. I’m currently reading Across the Sand by Hugh Howey (author of the Silo saga, which was adapted into a series on Apple TV), and it’s pretty good so far.

That’s it for this week, see you next week.
Russ