I’m always surprised how quickly things move in the retro/handheld world. Here’s a recap of some of the most important stuff I found this week.

🎥 Now Playing

I released two videos:

Xbox Emulation on Android is Here! (Sort of)

There is now an unofficial Android port of Xemu available on Android, but it isn’t a particularly great experience just yet. In this video I test out a dozen OG Xbox games on the Retroid Pocket 6, and compare this new app’s performance against running the native desktop version of Xemu via ROCKNIX. Bad news: Halo kinda chugs.

AYANEO Pocket S Mini: One Fatal Flaw

The AYANEO Pocket S Mini is a high-quality 4:3 handheld with surprisingly poor screen quality that doesn't match its hefty price tag. Oh and for some reason they omitted the 3.5mm headphone jack yet again.

Fun fact: this was my first in-depth handheld review since the Mangmi Pocket Max nearly a month ago — this may have been my longest gap between reviews in years. I enjoyed the break, and it gave me the chance to catch up on some guides and roundups.

Other Russ Sightings

I also had two big podcast appearances:

• On Episode 2 of Expedition: Handheld, Adam and I chatted for nearly two hours about Xbox emulation, Lenovo’s wacky folding handheld concept, the unpopularity of Virtual Boy, and what we consider to be the maximum comfortable handheld size.

• The latest Nerd Nest podcast episode just dropped this morning, and it was jam-packed with gaming news and commentary, plus we had special guest ETA Prime join us. We spent a lot of time digging into our expectations for Project Helix, the newly-announced codename for Xbox’s next console (hardware device?). We all guessed what the next console will be named, and my money is on Xbox Blade.

📰 Power-Up(dates)

Some news this week:

• Retro Catalog, an excellent handheld resource database, recently integrated with compatibility database EmuReady to provide performance estimations for all the handhelds on their site. Now, when you visit a page (like for the Retroid Pocket 5), the Emulation Performance section gives you an indication of how certain systems will perform, with links to EmuReady compatibility reports for that handheld/chipset.

• As I mentioned a few weeks ago, Switch emulator Eden was recently hit by a DMCA notice from Nintendo, and this week their GitHub distribution page was taken down. It’s especially frustrating because the Eden team submitted legal countermeasures to the GitHub team, which were ignored. Thankfully their source code and releases are also hosted elsewhere, so it’s only a minor inconvenience for the team and emulation enthusiasts. Here is their full statement.

• Konami and Limited Run announced the Marvel MaXimum Collection which brings back six classic Marvel games, headlined by X-Men: The Arcade Game with online six-player co-op, plus rewind, save states, and a museum of high-res art and ads. The other must-have game is the Captain American and the Avengers arcade game, but the rest are older NES, SNES, and Genesis Marvel games which haven’t aged very well. Seriously, who wants to play the hilariously difficult Silver Surfer on NES again?

• AYANEO has confirmed via IndieGoGo that all Snapdragon G3 Gen 3 KONKR Pocket Fit units have now shipped, while long-delayed Pocket Fit Elite backers get coupons, accessory gift packs, and a fresh post–Chinese New Year shipping window for their upgraded handhelds. Elite devices are expected to start shipping by the end of this month.

• This week, Jason Schreier at Bloomberg reported that Sony no longer plans to release its single-player games on PC, which is a major shift after six years of multi-platform releases. This means we may not see games like Ghost of Yotei, Saros, or Wolverine come to Steam, which is a bummer, because I enjoy playing my PlayStation games on various handheld PCs. As I noted in my surprisingly controversial tweets, my ideal setup would be 1-year exclusive on PS5, then a PC port with cross-saves.

• LucasArts-focused emulator DREAMM just made late‑90s Star Wars and other oddities playable again on modern Linux-based handhelds, reviving long-lost CD-ROM curios like Star Wars: Behind the Magic with modern convenience features and controller support. Read more about it on Retro Handhelds, and here is DREAMM’s impressive list of supported games.

• GameNative got another big update, this time with a complete UI overhaul (which can be fully navigated via controller!), Amazon games support, better Epic cloud saves, major GOG and Steam audio fixes, improved controller and rumble support, bug fixes, and more. It feels nice and snappy now, and here is my recent video guide if you need help getting set up.

❤️ Currently Grinding

Retro Game: God Of War

After hearing that Sony reportedly won’t be porting their future games to PC, the first thing I thought about was that God of War Trilogy Remake they announced last month. When I first heard about the remake, I was already dreaming about playing that PC port on my favorite handhelds. But now, I’m taking matters into my own hands: I started playing through the first God of War (PS2) game via emulation, with upscaled graphics and widescreen patches. I’m halfway through the game on my Odin 3 (about five hours in), and it’s the first time I’ve seriously played the game since it first released in 2005. The puzzles aren’t nearly as challenging as I remember, and the combat is getting a little repetitive, but I’m still blown away at the grand scale and cinematic perspective of this game.

Modern Game: Titanium Court (demo)

I started playing this demo last week during Steam’s Next Fest, and I’m still thinking about it. Titanium Court is an upcoming strategy game that marries match-three mechanics and real-time strategy into a surreal fever dream fantasy painted in old-school computer graphics. I don’t want to give any spoilers, but I’d encourage you to try out the demo if you want to experience something that is both hilarious and unflinchingly unique. It only takes about 45 minutes to get the hang of the game and complete the demo, and I can’t wait to see what additional content we’ll get when it launches (date still TBD).

Somewhat side note: the story in the game so far very much reminds me of The Hike by Drew Magary, a touching and unexpectedly funny novel about a businessman who accidentally stumbles into an epic fantasy world while taking a short hike in the woods. It’s a quick and beautiful read.

Book: Philip Pullman - The Book Of Dust trilogy

Rather than my usual album recommendation, this week I want to talk a bit about the audiobooks I’ve been listening to for the past few months, which are the Book of Dust trilogy by Philip Pullman. This series is a prequel/sequel to Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy, which was developed into The Golden Compass film in 2007, and an (excellent) HBO series that ran from 2019 to 2022. Unlike the previous trilogy (which I would categorize as a coming-of-age philosophical fantasy/Steampunk series), this new trilogy feels more like an international spy thriller story, and it’s riveting. My daily commute is up to 45 minutes each way during rush hour, and this series has been an absolute delight during those mundane moments. It’s narrated by actor Michael Sheen, who has done a masterful job adding color to Pullman’s beautiful prose. I am finishing up the back half of book three (2025’s The Rose Field) right now, and I’m a little sad that my 50-hour audiobook adventure is soon coming to a close.

If you have a long commute, I’d encourage you to give audiobooks a try. They help make the miles melt away! I use Audible (affiliate / non-affiliate), mostly because I like having all of my audiobooks organized in one place, and you can get some great deals if you keep an eye on their promotions. I generally will sign up for one of their sales, then quit the service (you get to keep your books even after quitting), and then just wait it out until they have another promotion - which often comes around right when I have finished my previous audiobooks.

💰 Bargain Bin

A few deals this week:

• In the lead-up to Mar10 Day on Tuesday, Amazon is already discounting some physical Switch games:

  • Mario & Luigi Brothership ($30): Affiliate / Non-affiliate

  • Paper Mario: Thousand-Year Door ($30): Affiliate / Non-affiliate

  • Mario vs Donkey Kong ($30): Affiliate / Non-affiliate

  • Super Mario RPG ($38): Affiliate / Non-affiliate

• Razer’s transparent Kishi V3 is on sale for $80 ($30 savings) with three months of Apple Arcade, the only place you can play the recently released Oceanhorn 3.

  • Buy it here: Affiliate / Non-affiliate

• The ManbaOne controller that inspired Anbernic’s baffling RG-01 experiment is on sale for $55.

  • Buy it here: Affiliate / Non-affiliate

• There are two near-historic lows on DS-centric handhelds right now.

  • The MagicX Zero40 is only $46 after coupon. Slap DedicatedOS on this bad boy and make it a primary NDS device!

    • Buy it here: Affiliate / Non-affiliate

  • Anbernic’s RG DS is down to $88 after coupon. Be sure to use my recent RG DS guide to try out ROCKNIX, it’s a game-changer.

    • Buy it here: Affiliate / Non-affiliate

⏪ Previously on Retro Game Corps

Retro Emulation on the Xbox Series S/X and Xbox One

Now that you’ve tried playing Xbox on a retro handheld, why not try playing retro games on an Xbox? This guide is old but evergreen, and to sweeten the deal, the (completely legal and sanctioned) process of setting up Dev Mode on your Xbox is now 100% free, since Microsoft dropped the $20 developer fee last year.

🎬 Behind The Scenes

My youngest son’s elementary school had a career fair this week, and it was a blast. There were dozens of other respected professions there, such as doctors, firemen, and police officers, but of course the 100+ second-graders wanted to mob the nerdy YouTube guy to see if I was friends with Mr. Beast. I probably broke a lot of little hearts when I told them all how much work goes into running a YouTube channel!

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