Miyoo sent me one of their newest handhelds: the Miyoo Mini Flip to review. Its made to be a clear nostalgic nod (in design) to the old GBA SP:

The tiny thing is adorable (and it's so small!), it's perfect for the classic systems (though you won't get N64, Dreamcast etc), and I've essentially found this has been my modern Game Boy Advance SP. For the GBA, GB and GBC systems it's just perfection. I love how you can customize the surroundings with community-made contributions, like this one:

There's a handful of small downsides, like perhaps if you're old-old with poor eyesight, the screen might be a bit too small for you, but this was an easy recommendation from me.

As ever, if you'd like to read my full review, you can find it here with this link, plenty of pictures (with my cat!) and detail shots, if that's your thing in here too!

...or you can just ask me anything directly here, if you'd prefer :)

So Anbernic sent me their RG DS to review.

• They had a terrible desync issue for the first week-and-a-bit (you might have seen some YouTube reviews showing this). Which meant the top screen went to 40Hz after 30-40 seconds, while the bottom screen kept 60Hz. Basically that means DS games ended up looking awful and mismatched.
• They updated it a couple days back, which fixed that issue!
• Other issues are there (shortish battery life, the unit can feel warm - no big deal to me - other systems emulate either nicely or poorly

(cat tax, this is my cat Ciri with the RG DS)

Then I forgot to move my finger from closing a car door on it, which left me with a REALLY deep cut in my index finger, on the top joint. The second half of this review was SO hard to type up. Typing right now is not fun either.

So writing this up has taken me...20 mins?

Anyway, you can follow this link here and read my full review if you're at all interested. There's a lot of photos, and separate experiences with playing the games and emulating various systems

OR

You can just ask me RG DS questions here, I'm happy to laboriously type responses if you'd prefer that method :)

I've been lucky to interview a lot of my friends over the last few years now; developers from plenty of projects, programs and apps. But this is one I've been looking forward to sharing for a long time now!

I interviewed the team behind Decky Loader, all about their history and work keeping it running.

If you don't know, Decky Loader is (from my own article):

...[an] indispensable little tool that turns a brand-new Deck from ‘fun handheld console’ into a full-blown customization powerhouse. From adding plugins to tweaking the interface, Decky Loader quietly powers a lot of the creativity and convenience that Deck owners have come to take for granted.

Download it, and you can customize the heck out of how your Steam Deck looks and functions, by community-made plugins.

Anyway, I'm quite proud of this one, and really grateful that they all took the time to chat to me to make this one happen. If you're at all interested in development, Steam Decks, open-source, or just gaming in general, then I think you'll enjoy this one too!

The link to my article is here, please let me know what you think of it! I love doing these interviews, and I've been lucky that so many have followed along with them so far :)

So while writing up a full review on AYN's new Odin 3 handheld, one of my teeth decided to give up the ghost and deliver me with agony and trepidation.

Somehow I've managed to finish this one, but I also want to share that I've got a bunch more articles and things on the way. Some interviews with developers (one is a big program/project if you're in the Steam Deck space!), some features, retrospectives and more reviews for upcoming handhelds too (the RG DS which is...going to be a hard one).

I felt like this needed to be a bit of an explanation/apology, normally I share my things here regularly but tooth time is the worst time.

(this is me, discovering tooth shittiness)

Anyway, you can either follow the link to my full review, or just go for my tl:dr here:

If you're a first-time user of these Android retro handhelds then this won't be for you. Being a Snapdragon Elite chip powering it, the compatibility with emulators and games is in its infancy. This will change in time, but for now...it's simply not plug-and-play.

If you're into tinkering, enjoy the setting up, testing and finding the perfect settings to make things work well? If you want to be at the bleeding edge of where Android gaming is heading (literally, this thing plays AAA Steam and GOG games. Its mind-blowing!), the this really is for you.

AYN sent me the Odin 3 Max version to test and review, and I've thoroughly enjoyed my time. There's some frustrations, but if you're anything like me and wish you were around for The Homebrew Computer Club back in Steve Wozniak's time - hacking and testing and trying every little bit to eke out the best of a crazy future of tech? Then the Odin 3's a safe bet for you.

I hope you enjoy this, it's a fair read, but here is the link to my full review!

So now, keep an eye out for more 'regular' articles and interviews from me, and for all that is good in this world, keep your fingers crossed for me when I get to the dentist. Ugh.

This one might be a bit more niche than you're used to here, since it pertains to NeoStation, an emulation front-end for Android and Windows.

This is a newer one on the block, but the developer has been so dedicated and hard working on it, releasing weekly updates and announcements.

I was lucky enough that when I reached out to Miguel he was so happy to chat, and covered a bunch of what goes into making NeoStation, and what he hopes it might end up doing.

This has been the first interview he's done, but I feel like it won't be the last!

Anyway, as ever, if you want to read the whole interview with him (if you're interested in emulation, development work or just want something to do while you have a coffee!), then the link is here!

Hope you enjoy :)

So maybe some of you have seen the recent ROM hack come out, by the developer of Pokémon Emerald Seaglass, called Pokémon Lazarus. This one has a far larger scale to everything, it's quite clear that it is a massive undertaking for a sole dev, and most of the community is loving it.

Well, some aren't behaving well. There's been some petty, disgusting feedback from a (as ever) vocal minority. Those who are homophobic, bigots, who are mocking design decisions and the sound (which Nemo, the dev, has created from scratch), some who hate seeing a pride flag.

Anyway, Nemo has decided after this bullshit to step back from the public and stop interacting. We've seen this again and again with developers. And it's getting SO damned exhausting:

With that said, I’ll be taking a step back from the community for a bit. I’ll post bug-fixing and new feature patches to the Development Discord server, but I don’t plan on posting anywhere else for a while. If I go on to develop a new project (which I do have planned!), it will likely be in secret until close to release, if I choose to release it at all. With everything going on in my life (Master’s program, work, real world commitments, etc etc), I guess I’m just not prepared to also handle the bad side of attention on the internet.

Anyway, if you'd like to read my article about the scene and this shitty news for Nemo, as every you can find the link to my post here!

If you've not heard of projects like Winlator, GameHub and GameNative, they've been working on bringing what once kinda seemed like the impossible, to being pretty easy and effective: playing full PC games on Android phones and handhelds.

You can run Steam titles like Tomb Raider (2013), GTA V, Red Dead Redemption, and Sleeping Dogs. Heck, someone even managed to finish Cyberpunk 2077 on their Magic 8S Pro — though the FPS was, well… not great.

But one issue popped up with GameHub. It was found to be a little bit sneaky with telemetry and permissions.

So, someone decided to take that program, strip the permissions and telemetry and call it a day. This program is called GameHub Lite From the current dev:

GameHub Lite is a community-modified version of GameSir's GameHub that strips out all the privacy violations while keeping the functionality that makes PC gaming on Android accessible.

Anyway, this is a long-winded way of saying that GameHub Lite came about for a very specific need, and addressed it. It still amazes me that somehow in the span of a couple years, we've got these extremely powerful Android handhelds somehow running (some) PS3, Switch and Steam Games.

I chatted to Producdevity: the dev of GameHub Lite and also Utkarsh from GameNative about their experiences in the Steam emulation scene, and the current PC emulation landscape in general.

If you're interested in this kinda thing, then you can find my link here to the interview with them

Well, I took some time to jot down some thoughts on the one handheld that everyone seems to agree was the bee's knees: the Nintendo 3DS (and all its various iterations thereafter!)

It's one I've gone through a few 'phases' with - collecting, modding, selling, then buying a 'perfect' one, then...the pattern just repeats and repeats. I love how truly customizable it is now that it is...essentially an abandoned generation. The community took things to great new heights (those themes!!!), 3D printed docks and displays, vinyl stickers...it makes me so happy to see how very few 3DS consoles look like anyone else's.

The market is getting crazy though. Prices are only going up (and special editions are going waaaay up), but it's nice to see options like the Thor, Pocket DS and Anbernic's RG DS coming up to give modern users some solutions to playing.

Anyway

Don't expect anything wonderful here, I wasn't even sure what to write for this article. I guess while I call it a retrospective, it just touches on some key points in the lifetime of the 3DS system.

If you wanna read me rambling (as always) but this time on the flippy console, then this is the link for you to go and check it out!

P.S. 100% ready for any 3DS games recommendations to be shared!!!!

So, once again I'm just going to share the latest in a long, long line of developer interviews I've done.

You might be getting tired of me telling you this, but I do these purely because I found the devs themselves rarely got any chance to share their experiences while programming. It's just my little way and a small chance to share their stories.

This time around, I chatted to the very newly launched ARMSX2. This is a PlayStation 2 emulator built for Android and ARM-based systems, aiming to deliver full-speed, accurate emulation through open development and fresh collaboration from across the emulation community.

They launched their 1.0 for ARMSX2 only 15/16 days ago now, so things are very early on this one.

But if you have interest in programming, emulation, the old PlayStation 2 days and so on, you might find this interesting! The link is here if you want to check it out :)

So the next in my long line of developer chats is here. I got to talk to Whatcookie, a developer from the PlayStation 3 emulator, RPCS3, and ask them all about their work with the emulator! If you're interested in programming, emulation or the old PS3 days, then you might find this one interesting.

Oh, and I've done a fairly long list of these now. Way too many to list, but I've got a couple of special ones still on the way before I focus on writing something different for awhile.

Hope you enjoy it! :)

https://gardinerbryant.com/emulating-the-impossible-inside-rpcs3-with-one-of-its-developers/

I just wanted to share this!

Nintendo Switch is a bit of a touchy topic when it comes to emulation, we've had some super rough times with Yuzu being taken down (legally) and Ryujinx also being taken down (voluntarily), which left the Switch emu scene...fractured to say the least.

You've probably seen Eden's name or logo around in the last year or so, though. They've swiftly become 'the' emulator to fill that gap.

Anyway, I interviewed two of the devs from Eden, asking them about the history of Eden, the tech, their plans for the future and...well, plenty more!

If you'd like to read through the full interview, you can use this link. It's a lengthy chat this time, so maybe grab a cup of tea or coffee for it!

If you've not seen these before, this is just one of many interviews I hold with my friends who are developers. I like to chat to them a bit and give them the chance to share why they do what they do! So we get a chance to 'peek behind the curtain' of the programs and projects we love and use :)

I do hope you enjoy this one!

AYN recently got in touch with me, asking if I'd like to review the AYN Thor in an article, and...naturally I said 'yes'. I've been super excited, seeing that there's a new boom in DS retro handhelds, hoping that this might mean a viable alternative to the older genuine Nintendo hardware.

I'll just give you a tldr here:

For me, this really is the alternative. There are some caveats, but they're so few, and those it does have really don't affect me much. This can handle all the consoles I need, I've been enjoying Wind Waker HD, MGS 2, Mario Odyssey and so many DS and 3DS games (Metroid: Samus Returns has been a blast!)

If you'd like to read my full review, the link is here. Plenty of pics in there too. I chose the white model, since it was the closest look to my DSi (my fav of Nintendo's handhelds!)

Regardless, this is a handheld I recommend if you can afford the higher price point!