Another week, another opportunity to gush about the Anbernic RG Rotate.

🎥 Now Playing

Anbernic RG Rotate: Nothing Like It

Unexpectedly, the Anbernic RG Rotate has become one of my favorite compact handhelds of the year. Let's take a further look at what makes this unique handheld so special, and go over some tips and tricks to help you get the most out of this special screen.

Purchase links if you’re up for it:

• Anbernic direct: Affiliate / Non-affiliate

• AliExpress: Affiliate / Non-affiliate

Aoostar AG03 eGPU Review

The Aoostar AG03 is one of the best eGPUs around: built-in 800W power supply, lots of connectivity (TB5, USB4, and OCuLink), and about half the price of competing ThunderBolt 5 eGPU docks. The whole eGPU thing is certainly not for everyone, but this one feels relatively future-proof — a rare feat in this hobby.

Other Russ Sightings

• Expedition: Handheld (Entry 12): Now in our 12th episode, Adam and I talked more about the RG Rotate, FSR 4.1 upscaling (hopefully) coming to handheld PCs soon, and a GBA SP mod that didn’t quite turn out.

• NerdNest: Jimmy joined us again to discuss our predictions for the Steam Machine SKUs, whether the world is ready for the Steam Frame (or VR in general), and Xbox’s potential “Disk to Digital” program. We were in the middle of heavy rainstorms in Hawaii at the time of recording, and I even lost power in the middle of it. Can’t wait to see how Bill’s editing chops married that all together, and the video should be out later today.

📰 Power-Up(dates)

• The Anbernic RG DS now has another Linux option to choose from, with Anbernic releasing an official Linux firmware for the dual-screen device. It ships with three themes and adds independent brightness control per screen, screen swapping, custom font colors, and a new button test interface. Setup is painless, just flash the firmware to a 64GB+ microSD card and boot it up, and you can return to Android by removing the card while powered down. They released the firmware via Google Drive, and of course the file hit Drive's download limit shortly after launch (classic Anbernic). Judging from the screenshots and videos I’ve seen, I’ll just be sticking to the ROCKNIX build I demonstrated a couple months back.

• Dusklight is a reimplementation of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, targeting PC and mobile platforms (Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, and Android). Currently supporting GameCube USA and EUR dumps, the project aims for accuracy to the original while adding a load of enhancements and customization options. As always, your own game dump is required, Dusklight supplies no copyrighted assets. Playing this game at 120fps on my Odin 3 is glorious.

• Analogue just introduced Memories (save states) to their 3D console. Memories work alongside original accessories, including the Transfer Pak and Pokemon Stadium's GB Tower. Each game supports up to 20 saves, with pinning available to protect ones you don't want auto-deleted. The update also adds hotkeys for creating and loading states, which is handy. Full changelog here.

• AMD is expanding FSR 4 upscaling beyond its initial RDNA 4 exclusivity. FSR Upscaling 4.1 is coming to RDNA 3 GPUs this July, with support for over 300 games at launch, and RDNA 2 cards will follow in early 2027. The announcement was made by AMD's Jack Huynh alongside video footage featuring the Legion Go and ROG Ally, suggesting handheld APUs might be under consideration too. This update is likely meant to align with performance upgrades on the Steam Machine, which has an RDNA 3 GPU.

• Yaba Sanshiro v1.20.5 is out, with a complete rewrite of the VDP1 renderer using compute shaders. The Saturn's VDP1 chip draws sprites and polygons as quads, but modern GPUs work in triangles, meaning emulators have historically had to approximate quads by splitting them, causing texture distortion (especially at upscaled resolutions). The new compute shader approach handles rendering on a per-pixel basis, accurately reproducing VDP1's quad rasterization without the triangle approximation hacks; most impressively, developer devMiyax reports no performance hit.

• KNULLI Scarab is out, and it's a major release: enough so that a clean reflash is required. New devices including the Miyoo Flip, Retroid Pocket 5 and Flip 2, Powkiddy X55, GKD Pixel 2, and BATTLEXP G350 are now supported, along with full support for the revised H700 hardware used in Anbernic's RG XX series. On the emulation side, RetroArch is updated to 1.22.2, and standalone Yabasanshiro has been added for improved Sega Saturn performance. Other additions include a new BatteryPlus system for more precise battery readouts, and overhauled RGB LED support via Silky RGB. The full changelog is available on GitHub.

• Batocera 43 has also been released, adding initial support for the AYN Thor, AYN Odin 2 Mini, Powkiddy X55, and Retroid Pocket 6, alongside improved support across the lineup. SM8250 (Snapdragon 865) and SM8550 (Snapdragon 8 Gen 2) device owners should note that migrating to v43 requires an Android bootloader (ABL) update first, the same prerequisite as recent ROCKNIX nightly builds, so the process will be familiar if you've been down that road. Grab it on their website.

• Two new tools have landed for Steam Controller owners who want to game on Windows without Steam running. Both work by disabling the controller's built-in lizard mode and presenting it to Windows as a virtual Xbox 360 controller via XInput, since Windows still can't natively handle anything more complex than a standard gamepad in 2026. SC2SmoothBrainifier is the more stripped-down of the two, living in the system tray with no GUI and no rebinding. It can pass through the basics: sticks, ABXY, D-pad, bumpers, triggers, and the standard face buttons. Trackpads, grip buttons, back buttons, gyro, and rumble don't survive the translation. SteamlessController covers similar ground but adds a few quality-of-life extras: right or left trackpad mouse support, back button mouse click mapping, a start-with-Windows option, and persistent settings. Both require Steam to be closed while in use.

❤️ Currently Grinding

Retro Game: Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords

Gosh, I loved Puzzle Quest back in the day. It came out in 2010, during what I consider to be the apex of match-three gaming (before all that Candy Crush Saga nonsense). Puzzle Quest incorporated RPG elements and a battle system into the familiar gameplay loop. I really liked the strategic elements of this game, which forced me to anticipate moves several steps ahead — that skill carried over well into other match-three games I still enjoy today (namely, Zookeeper on the DS). I originally played it on the Xbox 360, and I still haven’t settled on an emulated version I prefer on retro handhelds: the DS version is too blurry, and the Wii version’s pointer controls are hard to translate onto an analog stick; I usually play it on PSP, but I still need to try out the emulated PS3 version, too. The ho-hum sequels dampened my love for this game a bit, but a remake was released on Steam last year.

Modern Game: Bioshock 2 Remastered

I think I’m a bit of a BioShock snob, because I didn’t particularly like BioShock 2 when it first released - the gameplay felt a little samey, and the story lacked the same shock factor as the original (but really, very few games do). I’ve noticed how many people prefer this sequel to the others (which are some of my all-time favorites), so this week I started up BioShock 2 Remastered on my Odin 3 via GameNative. It’s got some strange slowdowns from time to time, but otherwise it is playing well at 1080p with medium settings. However, I’m finding that the game is a little too cramped on a 6” display, so I think I’ll be transferring it over to my living room PC to continue the story.

Album: Spring 2026 Playlist

Every few months I release a new playlist, and this week I pushed out my Spring 2026 offering. The theme of this collection is “attack of the ear worms”, focusing on songs that have gotten stuck in my head at some point. For the past few releases I’ve made an accompanying video to go over my selections, but I’m knee-deep in video production before I head out to do some summer travel. No video this time, but the playlist itself stands on its own two feet. As with all of my lists, they are meant to be listened to in a specific order; I spent weeks agonizing over the song order!

Listen to it here:

• Apple Music

• Spotify

• Youtube Music

💰 Bargain Bin

• Humble Bundle's Indie Icons Showcase is live, and it's a steal at the $10 tier: that's all you need to unlock the full lineup, including Celeste, Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, The Witness, and Superhot. The bundle sneakily defaults to $25 at checkout, so make sure to adjust the price before you buy if you’re looking for the biggest bargain.

• Fanatical's Capcom Masters Bundle is live, letting you cherry-pick from 11 Steam games spanning Ace Attorney, Kunitsu-Gami, the complete Arcade Stadium bundle, Onimusha, and more. Pricing is tiered: two games run $13.75 each, three drops to $13.50, and four or more lands at $13 a pop; a solid discount on titles that normally retail anywhere from $30 to $70. The big ticket items are what you'd expect: Resident Evil 4 and Resident Evil Village bring the spooky, while Monster Hunter World, Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin, and Monster Hunter Rise + Sunbreak cover the “also made into a film by Paul WS Anderson” category.

• A smattering of Amazon deals this week, but no microSD cards unfortunately:

  • UGREEN 8K HDMI cable, $10 (Normally $13)

    • Buy it here: Affiliate / Non-Affiliate

  • UGREEN 3-Port 30W USB C Charger, $10 (Normally $17)

    • Buy it here: Affiliate / Non-Affiliate

  • Logitech G502 Hero Wired Gaming Mouse, $32 (Normally $70)

    • Buy it here: Affiliate / Non-Affiliate

  • GameSir Super Nova Controller, $36 (Normally $50)

    • Buy it here: Affiliate / Non-Affiliate

• Discord is marking a decade of Nitro with a new benefits program aptly called Nitro Rewards, bundled with a starter edition of Xbox Game Pass at no extra cost to existing subscribers. The starter tier includes 50+ PC and console games along with 10 hours of cloud gaming. No price increase; it's just folded into the existing Nitro subscription. Alongside Game Pass, Nitro members also get hardware discounts: up to 30% off at Logitech G, 15% off SteelSeries, and 20% off KontrolFreek. I’ve never used Nitro but this might be a cheap way to get Xbox Game Pass and some of those perks to boot.

⏪ Previously on Retro Game Corps

Anbernic RG Nano (Re)Review

Anbernic are no stranger to cute and endearing form factors. One device that has faded into obscurity in recent years is the RG Nano. This week, let’s revisit my second, more favorable review of this tiny little guy. Fun fact: this one also didn’t come with a headphone jack, but it makes a little more sense considering its tiny size.

🎬 Behind The Scenes

You’d think after all these years I’d be better at applying skins, but it’s still a frustrating experience for me. The biggest culprits are definitely controller skins, these vinyl wraps are such a pain to apply on rounded surfaces. I did a full hack job on my Steam Controller last weekend (pictured on the left), but thankfully a bunch of coaxing with a hair dryer smoothed things out (pictured on the right).

To add insult to injury, I don’t think these skins look that great on the Steam Controller in the first place. I just hope we see swappable face plates at some point, I’d be down for that.

Have a nice rest of your weekend!
Russ