ANBERNIC Gaming Devices

[Asura]

I'm starting him off on a handful of 8-bit games, and once he completes one he gets to add another game.

I assume he's got until he's around 15 to 1-credit Ikaruga or you're sending him back

[wakka]

Lovely stuff Dave. I love the sticker with the number for Nintendo support! I remember phoning that (the UK version) back in the day a couple of times for help with games. The people on the other end of the phone were always really nice.

[dataDave]

Lovely stuff Dave. I love the sticker with the number for Nintendo support! I remember phoning that (the UK version) back in the day a couple of times for help with games. The people on the other end of the phone were always really nice.

I was in two minds about adding that one as I didn't want to directly try knocking it off as a Nintendo machine. You see people doing entire GB and even PSX wraps/overlays and I just think it looks gash.

I called Nintendo support just the once, as I'd been stuck for days on Link's Awakening. xD Indeed, it was a nice experience.

[wakka]

I think it's a cool touch and doesn't seem like you're trying to make it look 'official', more just a fun customisation.

[randombs]

We got a Miyoo Mini for our son, which has been great so far. If he accidentally drops it or anything it's no biggie.

I'm starting him off on a handful of 8-bit games, and once he completes one he gets to add another game.

Those buttons look delicious!

[dataDave]

Those buttons look delicious!

Yeah, they do! They’ve got a really lux textured feel to them as well which absolutely slaps over the stock shiny ones.

Sakura Retro Modding on Etsy do both the buttons and those stickers.

[randombs]

RG353V arrived this afternoon and I’ve been giving it a spin.

The stock OS wasn’t bad but I put ArkOS (Linux) on it for now and a couple of games to try out.

First impressions are that it’s pretty darn wonderful. I’ll need to play it a while longer to see how comfortable it is, but so far it feels good for anything other than Street Fighter.

Booting into Android was cool and the touchscreen looks and feels sublime.

Wife is enjoying it, too, and was playing some Dr. Mario.

I was worried the analogue sticks would get in the way like they do with my Vita but they’re recessed and stay out of the way. The dpad and buttons are nice and the buttons are larger than those on the Vita. Shoulder buttons aren’t as troublesome as I thought they would be but I haven’t actually played anything that uses them yet.

The console gets a bit warm (something I hadn’t considered) but it’s not uncomfortable.

So far my only issue is that the headphone jack is on the top of the unit so the cable could get in the way. However, I can probably just use my AptX usb thingy and wireless earphones.

Looking forward to hooking it up to the telly for some Dr. Mario with wifey using our Buffalo SNES pads. I love that these Linux/Android devices will just work with stuff like that

[Asura]

The console gets a bit warm (something I hadn’t considered) but it’s not uncomfortable.

Yeah, I had to get used to this too it's a good thing; the entire body is a heatsink of sorts - but yeah, it's unnerving the first time you notice.

[randombs]

Spent some more time with it this evening. I’d resigned myself to PS1 and below but I tried Christmas Nights and Sega Rally (Saturn) as a joke and it handled both without breaking a sweat. I actually played Nights but just watched the Sega Rally intro so I don’t know how it’ll be in-game. There are people who are fine with things like frame skip or slowdown but if something doesn’t run at full speed I just can’t enjoy it so I was really happy.

Tekken 6 on PSP wasn’t great but I don’t mind because I can use the Vita for that.

Soul Calibur (DC) was more or less full speed. Replays and stuff would stutter a bit but it remained at 60fps during matches.

It’s nice how everything just works. I can delve into each emulator’s menus but the default options appear to be tuned for the system so I really don’t need to.

Otherwise, I’ve been enjoying the various mod cons such as copying files over Wi-Fi instead of faffing about with the microSD card and a USB adapter.

Yeah, I had to get used to this too it's a good thing; the entire body is a heatsink of sorts - but yeah, it's unnerving the first time you notice.

It makes me think of how I used to play my Saturn/DC in the summer when the 360/PS3 controllers would get uncomfortably warm

[QualityChimp]

Literally just finished updating the Miyoo Mini to Onion OS V4.0.3 and it's lovely.

Need to do some tweaking, but already it's fixed most of my problems.
Open a game and tapping the menu button saves the game and goes to a Game Switcher mode.
Left and right cycles through the last few games you played, so you can flip back and forth, but it also saves.
You can hold the button and it'll save and quit straight back to the menu you got there from like favourites or games list.
There's a lovely vibration to confirm your input.

Power button - a tap saves and goes to sleep, hold saves and turns off.
Perfect if you need to temporarily stop, but want to carry straight on in a moment.

You can config to turn off at a certain battery percentage too.

Mainly I need to tweak the shoulder buttons to save/load ffwd/rwnd on a couple of emulators.
GB cycles through colours, MAME does nothing, for example.

Need to get some of those PICO-8 games, especially Combo Pool!
EDIT: Combo Pool GET! (Thanks for saying the games are .png files, dD. That really confused me!)

Nice video with upgrade instructions and review of all the extra features.

[dataDave]

I think the PICO-8 build on there is the actual system itself, and not just an emulator. If that's correct it's running the games natively without any lag.

I'm waiting for black ones to come back in stock again. If I use the boy's white one too much the wife will think we're good with just the one unit between us, but that isn't the point.

Have fun trawling the PICO-8 site. If you find any bangers post them in here.

[QualityChimp]

Apparently, from that video, it's quite hard to get hold of the Mini at the momentum, so good luck!

PICO-8 looks fun, so thanks for the suggestion.
I quite liked the Seinfeld Simulator, but it's very silly.

As I say, we're spoiled at the moment with handhelds and each serves a purpose.
I'm not saying this is better than the competition, just has its own merits and wanted to say how pleased I've been with the unit.

[randombs]

I’m getting hand cramps from my RG353V even after just a few minutes.

Someone put a pop socket on their Miyoo Mini and I’ve heard it could help with mine, too.

I had similar trouble with my PS Vita and that was solved with clip-on grip but there aren’t similar things for this one.

[QualityChimp]

Funnily enough, the previous video I posted suggested some add-ons for the Mini and I had strong Handy Boy vibes!

[dataDave]

There's no chance I can play any 6-button fighters on the MM. NeoGeo is kind of okay, but that d-pad isn't the best for half-circles or side-to-side inputs. But then that's what the MiSTer is for.

What one of these handhelds really needs is that micro switch thumbstick that the NGPC has. That's absolutely perfect for fighting games and in terms of input precision I'd probably place it on par with a full-sized joystick. Is that particular component still in production, even?