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    Pandora's Box & Mini Arcade Thread

    We have a thread for general emulation and also for chinese handhelds with a focus on Anbernic so I'm assuming this is okay. It's become a real source of intrigue of late because there are so many of these as well as unofficial ones and the release model makes little sense to follow.

    Additionally you can by the boards, single stick versions, twin stick versions, ones with a screen, ones with a tabletop cab, twin cabs etc ranging all the way to super expensive elaborate units with tons of peripheral support, four player units, sit down cabs etc. What I find impossible to navigate though is where the better end of the market sits. 3D support is okay but doesn't seem too worthwhile, lots of videos show Tekken 6 running which seems great but it's just the PSP version emulated. 2D support seems to be the main focus and you sadly can't get a version of this stuff with a focus on racing for a decent price. The mini-cabs seem to be hitting a great spot like the A12 shown in Yakumo's recent Retro Core vid



    And though it doesn't seem to be easy to cheaply get hold of, in twin sticks land I think the Pandora's Box 18S seems to be the newest version (love light up features) though I find telling the point of new versions of these hard to understand:




    Does anyone have any of these kinds of units or experience of them?
    On paper it seems insane these are available whilst Capcom charges £200 for the same thing with 16 roms on it

    #2
    That Powkitty thing is £65?! Wowsers!!

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      #3
      It's an amazing price, isn't it?

      The last Chinese handheld I picked up was the GamePark GP32 (Or something like thast!) and although okay, it had some real issues with build quality and even 16bit titles suffered with slowdown.

      I've seen the Retro Core review of the RG350M and it's on my Christmas list to give to my Wife, it looks epic! Handheld PlayStation games on the go and looks really impressive.

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        #4
        I’ve not had one of these since I think the Pandora’s box 3. I used it on an arcade cab, so I was looking for a fairly authentic experience. It was a total mixed bag on quality. Games varied from emulated fairly well, to downright unplayable. The Konami beat em ups (Turtles and Simpsons I think I played on it) played well, I’ve got original boards and while I could tell the difference, they were fine to play. Next I tried Carrier Airwing. It was playable, but had pretty bad screen tearing. The completely unplayable games were anything that required a vertically oriented monitor. It played then on a small sliver of the middle of the screen. The aspect ratio was completely off.

        Final verdict was that while it’s worth it for someone looking to play some arcade games, it’s not someone like me who spent years buying original boards. Groovy MAME provides a more authentic experience and can be had for free.

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          #5
          I read a comment on a YouTube video stating that the A12 can link to another unit for multiplayer but can’t find anything to that effect on any of the marketing collateral. Can anyone confirm or deny this? The prospect of having a portable VS City cab setup is truly mouthwatering as I can see me and my mates meeting up down the pub for fight tournies. I assume it’s juicy enough to run Third Strike?

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            #6
            I can't find anything for connecting them together though I've seen Third Strike on it which seems fine. I wonder what the chances are that they will release an updated version with an IPS screen?

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              #7
              That PowKiddy A12 looks ace!

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                #8
                This thread was already a mistake. Just ordered an A12 after finding a reddit page with instructions on how to quickly change the game listing menus to english.

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                  #9
                  I need to stop faffing and get something like this.
                  I keep looking at the handhelds and mini consoles and the new Astro City mini.
                  I've got an XBox, which is good, but feels sluggish. Definitely got lag playing Elevator Action 2 and Spider-Man Vs The Kingpin.

                  I also think I should push myself to learn how to program a Pi emulator too!

                  Can't wait to hear what you think about the A12, Neon.

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                    #10
                    It was the convenience of seeing they're on ebay for about £65 that caved me too

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                      #11
                      You can link, because you're not linking to ROMs.

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                        #12
                        Originally posted by samanosuke View Post
                        I read a comment on a YouTube video stating that the A12 can link to another unit for multiplayer but can’t find anything to that effect on any of the marketing collateral. Can anyone confirm or deny this? The prospect of having a portable VS City cab setup is truly mouthwatering as I can see me and my mates meeting up down the pub for fight tournies. I assume it’s juicy enough to run Third Strike?
                        That's news to me. You can add more controllers to it for multi player games.

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                          #13
                          Originally posted by Yakumo View Post
                          That's news to me. You can add more controllers to it for multi player games.
                          Yeah, I saw that from the normal marketing info but nothing about using it as a VS City. But wouldn’t it be amazing if it could be used that way? Makes you wonder why even the normal handheld devices don’t at least have a wifi link up... but I guess it would need the developers of the emulators to support it maybe?

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                            #14

                            This is the very cheapest one listed as UK based. I'm doubtful it is but the 1 week shipping is a lot faster than other options and P&P is free so the £66.80 price is decent. There are about six or so other listings within penny's of this one too if people want other options but as long as it delivers this seems the best option as it shouldn't have customs as an issue either.

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                              #15
                              Gotta admit, I'm kinda tempted by these... Anyone got a link to the bigger 2-player ones? If they run Third Strike?

                              I really like the idea of having an arcade perfect Third Strike always there. Literally the only thing keeping me from the Switch version was that I just can't play fighting games on those controllers.

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