Dropping AAA RPGs and gaming online, like it’s 1989.
Description for this block. Use this space for describing your block. Any text will do. Description for this block. You can use this space for describing your block.I’ve seen a whole load of trash over the years when it comes to emulation machines, poor materials, bad durability…Cheap! That’s the word that comes to mind. So after hearing about Anbernic’s RG35XX I was interested. Hearing that it’s a solid purchase with a reasonable price tag. I was interested. Discovering it was available in that beautiful transparent purple a la the Atomic Purple GameBoy Colour. We’re on to something.
| Pros | Cons |
| Great Design Wonderful Display Huge Catalogue of Games | Awful OS No Sleep Function Missing some big and obvious titles |
Full Disclaimer. I was born in 1991 and can only assume what gaming was like in 1989 when Nintendo first launched the GameBoy in Japan. What I do know is that despite being older than I am I don’t think a video game console has ever had as much impact on me as the GameBoy. I adored endless hours of Tetris on an old hand-me-down before upgrading to my own GameBoy Colour. Why is this little paragraph relevant?
It’s I’ve been chasing that GameBoy feeling ever since. I was a day one PS vita buyer. I have to assume that makes me one of about 12. I’ve grasped desperately at Nintendo’s Online Services and was hugely excited when they announced the GameBoy and GameBoy Advance libraries, scarce as they may be. I’ve invested in Smartphone grips for Xbox controllers and products like the Backbone to try and convert my daily driver into a gaming machine. They’re all good…but they ain’t it.
Look and Feel
The aesthetic is where we’ll start. It’s a small handheld device, a little wider than an average smartphone and a little shorter. Unlike the GameBoy’s I remember the entire top half of the RG35XX is taken up by a 3.5-inch display. Bezels are minimal and because of how compact the unit is overall the display feels pretty big in comparison to the rest of the device. The face button should look similar to a D-Pad, Select, Start, 4 face buttons ad a Menu button. More on that menu button later. The speaker to the bottom right under the face buttons should look familiar too. On the rear of the device, there’s a set of curved back buttons, L1, L2, R1, and R2 and under those buttons, we can see the battery pack. The internals of the device are visible thanks to the transparent purple body. Anbernic offer a transparent white as well as a Gray unit that is reminiscent of that old traditional ‘89 GameBoy. It looks great! I’m a big fan of the overall presentation and the plastics feel substantial, solid, and sturdy with little flex to them. It adds to the premium look and feel of it.
Buttons and Inputs
The buttons on the device are pretty good for the most part. The face buttons are labelled A, B, X and Y and are clicky with some decent travel which I like. The D-Pad isn’t ideal. Not bad by any stretch, the inputs are good and while I never felt like it was missing attempted inputs I experienced some accidental ones. The d-pad sits quite high and again has some good travel but I found it rocked during presses which resulted in some accidental diagonal presses. I could often press right and find the character fucking unexpectedly. It wasn’t perfect, but it did the job and was a huge issue for me but it’s worth considering if you’re looking for a machine with real precision on the inputs. The Start and Select buttons are a little softer and mushier but are used for all the functions you might expect. the Menu sits just above them and has a similar feeling as the Start and Select. Finally, there are 4 shoulder buttons, L1, L2, R1 and R2. These are a little small and tucked away but considering the form factor over all it’s impressive they’re on there at all. They do the job when required.
The input options were, other than the slight D-Pad issue, really good, responsive and feel nice to use.
Games & Software
This is the tricky bit. There’s a whole bunch of games pre-loaded on this device out of the box. There’s a variety of different systems that are emulated across GameBoy and GameBoy Advance, NES and SNES, Sega Master System, Mega Drive (Genesis), and the Game Gear and some nice additions like standing cabinet games, NEOGEO and PC Engine. It even pushes into PlayStation games but seems a little limited in this spite, not that I had any problems. Now that’s a good list of hardware and there are a lot of games on this little device but there are a few curious little omissions. This is likely down to licensing and legal concerns (we’ll touch on that in a sec) but the obvious inclusions are glaringly missing in places.
Adding to this is the frankly dreadful OS running this thing. It’s awful. There is no real ‘sleep’ function first and foremost. It claims there is but from what I found it was essentially a function that turns off the display while leaving everything else running in the background which leads to massive power drain. It’s practically useless. It’s really ugly, slow in places and lacks a really useful search anywhere. Anbernic has loaded this thing with a ton of games and while there is a search function on there I’ve found myself getting frustrated that it’s missing certain titles only to stumble on them later. There’s a favourite function which lets you save your favourites into a convenient little list and it wasn’t until I spent a chunk of time wading through the catalogue of games to find my favourites, saving them and then having a nice little list to jump into that I stopped feeling so annoyed by the overall OS experience. The RG35XX is a lovely little bit of kit that deserved a little more care and respect when it came to the software side.
DIY
That is the real big story with this device I guess. It’s lovely hardware. I can hold it in my hand and love it. I boot it up and it’s awful. But then I jump into an old favourite and I’m back to loving it again.
When it comes to emulation and emulation devices like this, the community is the lifeblood of it all. The OS being the biggest issue for me I read up and found that there are replacement OS’s out there and available that give it a whole new lease of life. Garlic OS is one making the rounds and is free. If games are missing it’s really easy to just remove the SD card, pop it into a computer and you can add your own ROM files to put the games you need on it. Keep in mind that it’s illegal to go downloading these willy nilly and you shouldn’t be using ROMs for games that you don’t already own. But it’s a way you can improve things overall.
This however isn’t reflective of an out of box experience and so needed its own space for discussion.
Conclusion
Out of the box, the Anbernic RG35XX is a beautiful bit of hardware. Like a cute little GameBoy that, with its transparent purple finish, threw me straight back to my childhood. While the software could do with a little more love and care this slipped by the wayside by the time I booted into Castlevania Symphony of the Night, Pokemon Yellow and Megaman 4. If you’re looking for a retro throwback I would say it’s worth the purchase and once you’re done cringing at the Home Screen you’ll be enjoying yourself with the RG35XX.
If you’re a hobbyist who is interested in modding, updating and reinstalling this system then you’ll have a great bit of hardware on your hands with enough power to run games up to the Sony PlayStation with steady frames and solid consistency.
I’m not sure I’m entirely satisfied with this RG35XX. But I’ve had a good time and with a few tweaks I could have the perfect little retro gaming device on my hands.
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