🫡 Happy Friday! This week was yet another exciting one for fans of Android gaming handhelds, and I’ve got even more exclusive news for fans of dual-screen gaming.

I had a chat with the developer behind the dual-screen forks of popular emulators, and the future is looking bright. More on that in the first story.

We also got some details on even more handhelds, including an impossibly cheap Snapdragon 8 Elite device. I'll break that down in the second section.

Also, just a quick reminder that I’ll send another mid-week newsletter next week, and it’s a huge one for fans of the N64. You won't want to miss it.

On to the first story!

One developer’s mission: Dual-screen emulators for everyone

Early reviews and hands-on videos for the Pocket DS are finally breaking surface, and on the hardware side, it’s looking like a beautiful device.

However, software can make or break the experience for these dual-screen devices. The early videos clearly show that the software still needs some time in the oven, but yesterday, AYANEO livestreamed a software sharing session, during which the company outlined the improvements it has made so far.

While the baked-in AYA DS Launcher certainly looks impressive for dual-screen support on standard apps, there wasn’t much information on how it would work with DS and 3DS emulators, which is why most people will buy this device.

A single slide covering emulators read “We will provide demo units to developers for custom adaptation and optimization.” These demo units greatly improved support for the Snapdragon G3 Gen 3 on the Pocket S2, but I wanted to learn more.

So I reached out to SapphireRhodonite, the developer who appears to be spearheading the effort. With a background as a software architect and a passion for console preservation, he was a natural fit. He writes, “I see emulation not just as a technical challenge, but as a way of keeping the spirit of these consoles alive and making them accessible in new, creative ways.”

A good example of this is RetroAchievements. These are like PlayStation Trophies or Steam/Xbox Achievements, but for emulators. He writes, “I love playing on original hardware, but once I discovered RetroAchievements, I also started enjoying the experience of replaying these classics on PC and Android, since it gives me new goals and ways to explore games I thought I already knew inside out.”

While his forks have always aimed to add new features that the community suggests, the story of how he started working on the Pocket DS was somewhat serendipitous.

With a Pocket DS dev unit in hand, he’s already hard at work to bring external display support to Azahar, melonDS, and Cemu. This was a unique problem, since Android is primarily made for phones, not 3DS style dual-screen handhelds.

On finding a solution, he writes:

Until recently, most of his work has been focused on his own forks, but that may be changing soon. His work on adapting Azahar has passed early testing, and may be added into the 2124 release before the Pocket DS ships.

Likewise with his work on melonDS. There’s still some back and forth with rafaelvcaetano, the developer behind the Android port, but things appear to be making rapid progress. In fact, SapphireRhodonite commented on the pull request a few hours after we spoke, so hopefully that too is ready before the Pocket DS launches.

Other emulators, like the Android port of Cemu, are still very early in development. It’s unlikely that his work will make it into the main branch, as progress has been very slow. Still, you can download the beta for the dual-screen fork from his GitHub, alongside every other dual-screen fork so far.

In any case, he isn't concerned if his code never makes it into the main branch of any of these emulators. He's committed to maintaining his own forks. “That’s one of the beauties of open source,” he told me.

But he isn’t content to stop there. I asked him if he planned on working on more emulators and features, and he replied:

Of course, the Pocket DS is an expensive device, and many of you will likely opt for the AYN Thor or Retroid Dual Screen Add-on instead. But SapphireRhodonite has you covered there, too.

He recently received a dev unit for Retroid’s take on an external screen, the Dual Screen Add-on, and has already made changes to melonDS and Azahar to improve compatibility. He’s also in talks to get a dev unit of the AYN Thor, and has a OneXSugar Sugar 1 on the way.

While he cites “listening to players and implementing things they actually want” as “one of the most rewarding parts of this journey,” he notes that there’s one indispensable part of his work apart from collaborations with handheld makers like AYANEO:

As AYANEO and AYN go head-to-head, we're all winners

The past few weeks have been a flurry of handhelds, but if there’s one continuous narrative, it’s that AYANEO and AYN have suddenly started competing head-to-head on several high-profile handhelds.

If you’ve been following the gaming handheld scene for a while, you’re likely very familiar with these two brands. If not, they’re very different, despite the similar names.

AYANEO has a wide variety of product lines, including everything from mini PCs to the most powerful Android and Windows gaming handhelds on the market. Its products are typically the first to adopt new components, screens, and chipsets, with designs that push the envelope.

However, its products tend to be excessively premium (read: expensive), and they launch via crowdfunding. It also has a reputation for launching new products at a rapid pace, with limited support for older products.

On the contrary, AYN (which stands for All You Need) plays it much safer. The company only releases a few handhelds a year, and while they are still expensive, they’re a much better value. The Odin 2 lineup in particular was massively popular, with the Odin 2 Portal frequently cited as one of the best handhelds you can buy.

In case you missed the events of the past few weeks, the short version is that AYANEO announced the highly anticipated Pocket DS, a Nintendo 3DS-style dual-screen device, only to be undercut by a similar, but smaller device called the AYN Thor a few days later.

The Pocket DS doesn’t appear to have been affected, raising $500,000 in the first 24 hours and currently sitting at well over $800,000 raised with more than a month left. Still, AYANEO appears to have learned its lesson.

So when AYN revealed its flagship Odin 3, with a Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset and a $300 starting price ($329 after the first 48 hours), AYANEO kept an ace up its sleeve.

The KONKR Pocket FIT, from an AYANEO sub-brand announced earlier this year, appears to be designed specifically to compete with the Odin 3. It tops off with the same 8 Elite chipset, and AYANEO held off on announcing pricing until the day after AYN revealed pricing on the Odin 3.

The base 8 Elite model of the KONKR Pocket FIT starts at $269, $30 cheaper than the same configuration of the Odin 3. That’s the super early bird pricing, which lasts for a full week instead of the 48 hours that AYN offered. In other words, if you order today, it’s a difference of $60 for the three cheaper configurations.

The Odin 3 has the added advantage of an AMOLED screen, but if you’re just looking to leapfrog to the most powerful chipset ever seen on a handheld, this is by far the most affordable option.

Currently, the Odin 3 crowdfunding is absolutely smashing the KONKR Pocket FIT, at $850,000 vs $100,000. Whether that’s a result of brand loyalty or a love for AMOLED screens, it’s hard to tell. Interestingly, most of the Pocket FIT backers thus far have opted for the cheaper G3 Gen 3 models.

As for me, I’m over the moon that these two companies are finally facing off. Competition is always good for the consumer, and I can’t wait to see what ANBERNIC and Retroid do to get in on the game.

With these Snapdragon 8 Elite devices coming in at such low prices, it will be difficult for other companies to justify selling older chipsets, even in mid-range devices. And that's good news for all of us.

Handheld highlights

🆕 ANBERNIC has teased the RG 476H, which is another T820 device with a gorgeous 4.7-inch 120Hz 4:3 display. The company confirmed to me that pricing will start at $149.00 for the first 72 hours, then jump to $164.99 retail. I have one coming in for review, so expect more news soon. [YouTube]

2️⃣ Speaking of ANBERNIC, the company may have a dual-screen device on the way. Chats from the company’s Chinese QQ page reveal a potential DS clone with a T620. It may be months before we learn more, but it could be a nice budget alternative for DS emulation (and not 3DS). [Reddit]

💨 AYANEO teased the Retro Power edition of its upcoming Pocket AIR Mini handheld. The 4.3-inch 4:3 display looks incredible for retro games, and if the rumored sub $140 price point is true, this could be a killer handheld for the price. [YouTube]

💸 AYANEO also gave us a few more glimpses of the “exquisite” Game Boy clone, the Pocket Vert. It will use the same 3.5-inch LCD as the Analogue Pocket, which has pixel-perfect 10x upscaling on Game Boy games. [X]

🕹️ The Atari Gamestation Go is now available for pre-order. Made in collaboration with My Arcade, it has a massive 7-inch screen, an integrated paddle, trak-ball, and keypad, plus more than 200 built-in games. Does that justify the $180 price tag? Well… [Atari]

🥧 Last week, I wanted to include a link to the MiSTer Pi, which was finally back in stock, but it sold out before Friday came around. There is good news, though, as the next batch is up for pre-order, and it should ship in October. [RetroRemake]

The Emulator Report

♨️ GameHub has dropped several updates in the past week, and it finally supports Steam cloud saves and online play. It also adds support for the Rockstar Launcher, which might mean it can finally play GTA5 without having to pirate the game. [GameHub]

💮 Azahar 2123.2 Release Candidate 1 is now available. It’s not the dual-screen update I talked about earlier, but it does have some important bug fixes, especially on Windows and MacOS. [GitHub]

🚫 It seems like there’s an “escape hatch” for the upcoming changes to sideloading APKs on Android. Using a developer tool called Android Debug Bridge, you’ll be able to install unverified apps by connecting it to your PC and executing a command to push it onto your device. We still have a year until the sideloading of unverified apps is blocked, so there’s still plenty of time for this to change. [Android Authority]

🎮 The PS1 core on the Analogue Pocket by Japanese dev pgate1 received a big update, and it’s closer than ever to making PlayStation games playable on the handheld FPGA device. Few games run at full speed and there’s no audio, but seeing the progress is still exciting. [GitHub] [YouTube]

🪦 Reports on the death of the Winlator Cmod fork may have been greatly exaggerated. One of the developers, Pissblaster649 (yes, that’s they’re handle), abandoned the project and declared it finished, citing community harassment. A few days later, the lead developer announced that it’s not going anywhere. [Reddit] [Reddit]

👀 There’s a new Android emulation launcher on the horizon, and it’s called, well, Emulation Launcher. No one said devs are creative with naming. It may be a while before this one is finished, but it could be a nice alternative to Beacon or ES DE. [Reddit]

🧪 YouTuber 100th Coin published a video that dives deep into how accurate Nintendo’s official NES emulators have been over the years. It’s a little technical, but it’s interesting to see how they’ve improved (and sometimes, gotten worse) over the years. [YouTube]

Retro archives

🙀 Someone took the entire original Super Mario game on the NES and turned it into one long level. It also removes all warp zones, shortcut pipes, and power-ups, so if you die you have to start the whole game over. It also provided an interesting technical challenge, so check out the video for more details. [YouTube]

🌈 Brazilian YouTuber Nai Adventure has made a wireless Dreamcast controller with a full color VGA, called the Dream Color+. There will be a full reveal at the Canal 3 Expo in Brazil this weekend, but you can see a short preview video on X. [X]

💰 Nintendo has reached a settlement with Modded Hardware, which was modded Switch consoles and MIG Switches. Founder Ryan Daly will pay $2 million dollars to Nintendo, and he’s banned from “handling, selling or promoting any modding devices or modded consoles.” He doesn’t face any jail time though, so I guess that’s a win. [VideoGamesChronicle]

⚖️ On that note, Genki has also settled with Nintendo for an undisclosed amount after showing a mockup of the Switch 2 at CES 2025, before the console’s official reveal. The company still denies any legal wrongdoing, but poor decisions were clearly made. [Bluesky]

👾 BEEP-8 is a new 8-bit fantasy console, similar to the PICO-8, but free. Games are fully playable on your phone via a browser, and there appear to be 8 games available as of writing. [X] [Website]

📼 Acclaim’s big showcase ended up being a bunch of new indie games, which isn’t what fans were hoping for. Still, there are some interesting retro-style games in there, although at the moment they’re all limited to PC. [YouTube]

🍿 There’s a Nintendo Direct scheduled for later today, but a new domain registry may hint at the title of the next Super Mario movie. NBCUniversal registered two domains that point to Super Mario Galaxy as the follow-up to the mega successful movie, which is set to debut in April 2026. [Reddit]

That's all for today! If you're enjoying the newsletter, please consider sharing it to help this community grow.

Signing out,

Archivist Rowan