RGC #26: Snoop Dogg Baseball
Back home, let's catch up on the news.
Landed back in the US yesterday! I checked my phone earlier and I recorded about 600 random video clips from my Australia trip, so I’ll likely throw them together into a travel video this week.
Overall, we had a great time Down Under, and I even got spotted while walking around town.
🎥 Now Playing
Two videos this week, simple guides and showcases:
You Should Underclock Your Handheld
If you have a higher-end AYN or Retroid device (like the Odin 3, AYN Thor, or Retroid Pocket 6), recent underclocking apps like ClusterTune and Pulse will give you improved performance and battery life while also reducing CPU temperatures and fan noise. It's a rare win-win scenario when it comes to handheld gaming.
The iiSU Frontend Has BIG Potential
After several months of development, the latest iiSU build has a ton of neat features and gives us a good idea of what to expect as it matures. Let's check it out and see why this Android frontend launcher is one to keep an eye on.
📰 Power-Up(dates)
Mangmi has announced the Air Y series, a new vertical Android handheld line, and a successor to their horizontal Air X and Pocket Max devices. According to the graphic they sent me, these handhelds are powered by Qualcomm chips, and the lineup will include a standard Air Y alongside an Air Y Pro variant; the Pro model adds a second analog stick (and presumably a faster chipset). The design is eerily similar to the recently-announced TrimUI Brick Pro handhelds, and the Air Y model in particular reminds me of the single-stick Anbernic RG40XXV. The devices seem to borrow the volume scroll wheel from AYANEO’s recent Pocket VERT and DMG handhelds, too. Pricing and performance remain unconfirmed, but the company did reach out this week to offer review units, so hopefully we’ll know more soon.
AYANEO has begun teasing a new budget handheld under its KONKR line, dubbed the KONKR Pocket Advance, with marketing that leans into Game Boy Advance nostalgia. Teaser posts reference "the soul of classic handhelds reawakened" (barf) and include a curved line evoking the top of the GBA's shell, though AYANEO has stopped short of directly naming Nintendo's console. No images or specs have been shared yet. In other AYANEO news, they briefly re-opened sales for the Pocket Micro 2, but it again sold out in mere minutes — this handheld will likely be for trigger-happy diehard enthusiasts only.
Retroid is giving some customers a free RAM upgrade. They announced that customers with outstanding orders for the (SD865) 8GB/128GB Retroid Pocket 5 or the Flip 2 will be automatically bumped to the 12GB/128GB configuration at no extra cost. The move appears to stem from Retroid depleting its stock of the 8GB models amid a broader RAM price spike driven by AI data center demand, making an upgrade more practical than cancelling backorders outright. Going forward, 12GB/128GB will become the standard configuration for both devices, with a $10 price increase taking effect July 15 — bringing the Pocket 5 to $209 and the Flip 2 to $219. The Retroid Pocket 6's 8GB/128GB option remains unaffected for now. More details (and screenshots) over at Retro Handhelds!
8BitDo's FlipPad, a slim USB-C controller designed to snap onto a phone's screen for vertical play, is now getting a release date. Preorders open July 15, with the device shipping July 30 at an MSRP of $30. First teased ahead of CES 2026, the FlipPad is compatible with both Android and iPhone (USB-C models) and provides latency-free gaming thanks to its direct connection, but has limited orientation options compared to similar BT options. I have a prototype that I’ve been messing around with for the past few weeks, and I expect to make a FlipPad vs GameSir Pocket Taco video before it starts shipping.
The Lenovo G02 saga has (kinda) come to an end, with the company pulling its controversial emulation handheld from sale entirely following backlash over the device shipping preloaded with copyrighted Nintendo and Sega ROMs. It’s nowhere to be found on AliExpress, but as always, there’s a catch: a new “GUSGU H7” handheld had now started appearing on the site, with the same specs/colors but without the Lenovo branding. As I showed in my review, the handheld has an excellent screen that I hope to see in future products.
Anbernic has rolled out a new unified system update creating a veritable ecosystem for the company’s T820 devices. The update includes a fresh suite of apps and overlays aimed at improving the software experience on its Unisoc T820 handhelds (RG Slide, RG556, RG476H, and RG406H/V). I haven’t had a chance to test it yet, but the update’s central feature is an update to its RG Home frontend and a new RG Control Center quick menu. Based on their showcase video released a few days ago, the new Control Center looks functionally similar to AYANEO’s Android setup. You can grab it either as an OTA update or via a manual download from Anbernic's firmware site.
Here’s a fun one: Snoop Dogg wrote the theme song for the reimagined Backyard Baseball game, titled "110% Juice," set to hit digital music platforms on July 15. The rapper said he wanted to capture the franchise's "friends, competition and making memories" vibe for the game's new era. Sonically, the song reminds me of a laid back 90s-era Fresh Prince jam, in a good way. Backyard Baseball is currently available on Steam for Mac and PC, with PlayStation and Xbox versions available to wishlist and Nintendo Switch and Switch 2 editions coming later as part of a full console rollout. (Eagle-eyed viewers may remember that I met a Snoop Dogg impersonator at CES last year, and boy, for a while there I thought I met the actual dude.)
❤️ Currently Grinding
Video Game: Blue Prince (PC)
On the plane ride home yesterday, the only game I played in earnest was Blue Prince, which I tried using GameNative on my AYN Odin 3. The game runs great using a ClusterTune medium underclock, you can get about 3.5 hours of gameplay on this fairly demanding 3D game. It doesn’t reach a full 60fps the whole time but being that it’s a puzzler I think the 45ish fps was just fine. I was worried that the Odin 3’s six-inch display would be too small for the game, but I found that it scaled nicely and everything was easy to read.
I’m still very early in the game, probably just the first couple hours. I’d say that I’m at the “walking sim” stage where I am mostly just trying out new rooms and getting a feel for how the house mechanics work. The premise is that you unlock “blueprints” of various ever-changing rooms in a mansion, with the objective to find the 46th room. The house layout resets every “day” (sort of like a “run” in rogue-like games) but over time you compile enough information and perks to solve the mystery. I know it gets pretty mind-bending and puzzley the further you get in, and I’m looking forward to that stage as well. The game is currently on sale for $18 on Steam right now (normally $30), and I think that’s a fair price for the experience. It’s also on Xbox Game Pass if you are a subscriber and want to give it a whirl there instead.
Book: My Shunshine Away by M.O. Walsh
Rather than doing a lot of gaming during my trip, I spent most of my spare time this week reading (I was on vacation, after all). I finished two books, the first being the excellent teenage coming-of-age/mystery novel My Sunshine Away by M.O. Walsh. This author has a penchant for page-turners that make mundane, everyday events sound insightful, and his characters are typically deeply (and very humanly) flawed in a way that feels uncomfortably genuine. Walsh also wrote the magical-realism-tinged novel The Big Door Prize, which was later adapted into a short-lived (and prematurely cancelled) Apple TV show of the same name. Quick note: if you watched the TV show and are craving some resolution, The Big Door Prize book at least comes to a more satisfying end — but it doesn’t conclude in the same way that the show was headed, which is sort of annoying in its own way.
Book: The Dog Stars by Peter Heller
The other book I read was The Dog Stars by Peter Heller, whose film adaptation (directed by Ridley Scott) is coming out next month. The book follows a guy who survives in a post-apocalyptic world, following a virus outbreak that decimates most of the US population. The book is written in short, halting sentences that help to accentuate the main character’s traumatic past and scatterbrained outlook on survival. It’s a slow read, but I loved its core story of finding goodness, however small, in an ugly world. Based on its trailer, the film adaptation seems to lean a LOT more into action scenes than what you’ll experience in the novel, but I’m looking forward to seeing how it all turns out on the silver screen.
TV: A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms
The flight from Honolulu to Sydney is thankfully direct, but also 12+ hours each way. On the way over, I actually watched the entire first season of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, which premiered earlier this year and is based on The Hedge Knight novella by George R. R. Martin. It takes place about 90 years before the events of A Song of Fire and Ice (aka the Game of Thrones books), and it’s the first of three Tales of Dunk and Egg stories written by Martin. While it is set in Westeros, intimate knowledge of the original TV series/books is not necessary (but certainly helps when it comes to family names and understanding the gravity of some moments).
The reason I’m bringing it up is because I was a certified Super Fan™ of the Game of Thrones show (and novels), but like many others the hectic and rushed final season never sat well with me, and I’ve fallen off from the series ever since. Given that it’s been 15 years since A Dance with Dragons first published - the same gap of time it took Martin to write the existing five novels in the series - I have long given up hope of reading this story through to its conclusion. For these reasons, I dragged my feet in watching A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, just because I was sort of done with this world (and HBO’s handling of it).
Well, I’m here to say that this standalone series is actually fantastic and renewed my interest in Westeros all over again. I had read the graphic novel adaptation of The Hedge Knight during my GoT heyday about 10 years ago, so I remembered the plot’s broad strokes, but man I really enjoyed this short, funny, six-episode buddy adventure. Much like how Andor woke me from my recent Disney-induced Star Wars slumber, this was a fantastic watch and I can’t wait for season two to arrive next year. Heck, I might actually get caught up on House of the Dragon now.
💰 Bargain Bin
PNY is having a modest sale on their large capacity micro SD cards over on Amazon. Don’t get your hopes up too high:
1TB Pro Elite microSD for $149 (normally $179): Affiliate / Non-Affiliate
512GB Premiere X for $89 (normally $99): Affiliate / Non-Affiliate
Logitech’s cute little M420 silent BT mouse is on sale for $18 (regularly $23), it’s ambidextrous and very handy for travel. Affiliate / Non-affiliate
If you want an even thinner travel mouse, certain colors of the Logitech Pebble M340 (2.4GHz version) are on sale for under $15 (usually $23). I prefer the dongle-less M420 BT mouse, but this one is nicely compact. Affiliate / Non-affiliate
This month’s Humble Choice selection is actually pretty decent! For $15 you get Sea of Stars (Sunset Edition), Tunic, Neon White, and a few more games, all valued at $200+ if bought at retail prices. Signing up for a monthly membership gives you access to each month’s deals, but you can skip any month that doesn’t look like a good value to you (or just cancel outright at any time). Affiliate / Non-affiliate
Fanatical's Best of Platinum Collection Bundle (Summer 2026) lets players pick from a lineup of 23 beloved PC games, all delivered as Steam keys. Notable inclusions are Disco Elysium, The Evil Within and its sequel, RoboCop: Rogue City, and Wild Bastards. Most of the games are also Playable or Verified on Steam Deck, and pricing follows Fanatical's usual tiered structure: any 3 games for $9.99, 5 games for $14.99, or 7 games for $19.99, with the per-game cost dropping further the more titles you select. The bundle runs through July 17, 2026, though as always, game availability could shift before the promotion ends.
GameStop is currently running an in-store only sale for pre-owned games: buy 4 games under $10 each and they’ll only charge you $20 total, or if you grab 4 games under $5 each it’ll only cost you $10 total. Most of these lower-priced games will be popular/oversaturated stuff like CoD games, sports titles, etc, but it’s a great way to build out a physical collection while you can. There are grumblings that Xbox will soon announce a program that lets you convert your disc games to digital licenses (while still keeping and using your disc if you want), and if that happens I expect that these physical GameStop disc prices will increase (because, you know, corporate greed).
Best Buy is having a sale on select EA games, including some on PlayStation consoles before those physical games go away forever (yep I’m still mad about that). Check out the full sale here, with some highlights below:
Split Fiction
PlayStation 5, $32 (normally $50)
Xbox Series X, $32 (normally $50)
Nintendo Switch 2, $32 (normally $50)
It Takes Two
Nintendo Switch, $30 (normally $40)
PlayStation 4, $20 (normally $40)
Battlefield 6
PlayStation 5, $40 (normally $50)
Xbox Series X, $40 (normally $50)
WinGameStore (an authorized storefront and NOT a key site) is having an absolutely massive sale on THQ Nordic’s Steam offerings. Grab deals like Biomutant for $10, the newly released Gothic remake for $30, the underrated Quantum Break for $13, and the final Piranha Bytes title, Elex II, for only $13.
⏪ Previously on Retro Game Corps
GammaOS Makes Anbernic Handhelds BETTER
While Anbernic’s efforts to improve their software experience should be applauded, it is worth remembering who the true underground king of Anbernic firmware is: GammaOS.
GammaOS is a custom Android operating system that works on a bunch of Anbernic handhelds (among others), and greatly improves the device's functionality and features. In this video I show you my favorite features and how to install it on your device.
🎬 Behind The Scenes
While in Sydney this week, my family went on a tour of their famous Opera House. During the tour, they wouldn’t let us take photos of the Concert Hall because performers were practicing. Well, joke’s on them, because the acoustics sounded so amazing that we bought tickets to that night’s performance, where we were allowed to take photos (just not during actual performances).
We watched a collection of showcases from youth symphonies from around the Pacific; these kids were super talented, and because the event had relatively low attendance, they offered us open seating (we snagged great seats!) for relatively cheap - the tickets were about $30 USD each, quite a bit cheaper than the price of the tour we took earlier in the day. Most of the other attendees were the performers’ parents, traveling to Sydney to watch their children play in what was likely the pinnacle of their music-playing lives to date. As a dad and the husband of a former band nerd, it felt like a special moment, to be part of an intimate event in such a cool venue.
Enjoy the rest of your weekend,
Russ
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