🎃 Happy Halloween and welcome to The Memory Core newsletter!

This week is all about Retroid's latest announcement of two new handheld devices, which, just like the company's previous rollouts, has been embroiled in controversy.

The Pocket 6 receives the lion's share of attention, but I also discuss why I think the Pocket G2 could be the sleeper hit of the year.

Scroll to the bottom for a news roundup that's dominated by even more handheld news and releases, plus a few new spooky ROM hacks to celebrate the season.

P.S. If you haven't already, consider signing up to get every new edition in your inbox, free of charge.

Retroid launches, unlaunches, and relaunches the Pocket 6

Retroid announced the long-awaited Pocket 6 handheld this week, plus a surprising second device, the Pocket G2 (more on this below). Unlike prolific rivals like AYANEO or ANBERNIC, Retroid only releases a few handhelds each year. Coming off the success of the Pocket 5, expectations were high.

But the Pocket 6 launch didn’t go quite as planned.

There were two divisive elements of the new design:

• A row of buttons across the bottom lowered the screen-to-body ratio and gave it a retro look
• The D-pad was still on top, although the upgraded 8 Gen 2 can easily handle modern consoles

Despite complaints, Retroid opened pre-orders on Tuesday. It’s not clear exactly what happened behind the scenes, but the company removed it from the website entirely less than 24 hours later.

Whether due to poor pre-orders or fan backlash, Retroid decided to go back to the drawing board with the Pocket 6, and this time, it wanted to involve the community in the process. It launched two polls on Discord and X, asking users to choose from options regarding the two main issues listed above.

The results showed a pretty clear conclusion, at least from international fans. With more than 10,000 votes counted, roughly two-thirds of respondents preferred a redesign without the extra face buttons. Likewise, an even higher percentage wanted the left joystick on top.

Interestingly, a spokesperson for Retroid revealed sales data from the limited pre-order window, which is shown below. It appears that the most popular colorways are Black and Silver, and 70% of buyers ultimately paid a premium for 12GB of RAM (instead of the standard 8GB).

Yesterday, the company came back with the new design that it feels will satisfy its fans. The extra face buttons are gone, with the M1 and M2 buttons moved to the back. This results in a higher screen-to-body ratio, although it bears a striking resemblance to the Pocket 5 and AYN Odin 3. Check out all three compared below. Good luck telling them apart.

Hoping to satisfy more fans, Retroid will also sell every existing SKU in two variants: One with the D-pad on top and one with the stick on top. With five colorways available and two RAM/storage options, that brings the total number of SKUs for the Pocket 6 to 20.

At the very least, it will provide valuable market research for future handheld devices, but it's arguably the most fumbled launch in the company's history.

This comes after fan backlash prompted the company to increase the RAM on the Pocket 5 to 8GB, cracked cases plagued the Pocket Flip 2, and a Dual Screen Add-on with a native vertical resolution required significant workarounds.

Retroid will reach out to existing customers with details soon, but pre-orders will relaunch on November 2 at 9 PM EST.

Shipping is still expected to start in early January 2026. You can review the pricing details below.

What about the Pocket G2?

While the Pocket 6 is clearly positioned as the company’s new flagship handheld, I’m more interested in the Pocket G2. Design-wise, it’s identical to the Pocket 5, but with a new, powerful, and efficient Snapdragon G2 Gen 2 SoC.

I ordered one and should receive it soon for testing, but I’m expecting a significant boost over the Snapdragon 865 found on Retroid’s current flagship gaming handhelds. Probably not enough to justify upgrading from the Pocket 5, but enough to play the PS2 catalog with ease, plus a good amount of Switch and lighter PC titles.

Granted, the 128GB of onboard storage on the only model available will limit the number of PC games you can install.

For reference, the Snapdragon G2 Gen 2 appears to be based on the 7 Plus Gen 3, with the same CPU cores and an upgraded GPU. It will be less powerful than the 8 Gen 2 on the Pocket 6, but not by as much as you’d think.

Although the clock speed is slightly lower (topping off at 2.8GHz on the G2 Gen 2 vs 3.19GHz on the 8 Gen 3), it will use a newer Cortex-X4 prime core, compared to the Cortex-X3 core on the 8 Gen 2. That means it will utilize an updated Armv9.2 architecture and be significantly more energy-efficient.

Arm claims the Cortex-X4 is 40% more efficient, which could result in incredible battery life. Not to mention cooler temperatures and less fan noise.

Then there’s the GPU, which, if the patterns we’ve seen in other G-series chips continue, could very well outperform the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2. This isn’t as relevant for retro emulation, but it is for demanding Android games and Windows emulation.

Turnip drivers, however, are relevant for emulation, but there’s potentially good news there, too. The G2 Gen 2’s Adreno 22 GPU is still part of the A7xx family of GPUs, which the Mesa Turnip team is actively working to refine. It’s the same architecture as the 8 Gen 2.

I had a chat with Alex Dazin (KIMCHI), who confirmed that previous G series chips were detected as having the same GPU as their mainline counterparts. The A32 on the G3 Gen 3 was detected as the A750 from the 8 Gen 3, which played a big role in boosting compatibility out of the gate.

Regardless, I’ll share the results of my testing in a future newsletter. I’ve also just started testing the latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 5, so expect those results soon, too.

I suspect the Pocket G2 could hit the sweet spot for handheld gamers, powerful enough for PS2 and Switch emulation, but efficient enough for all-day play. If Retroid brings this chip to the inevitable Pocket Mini refresh, that could be the one to watch.

Handheld highlights

😓 The ANBERNIC RG DS appears to be gearing up for an imminent launch. The DS clone will come in under $100, but leaked specs reveal an RK3568 SoC that likely won’t be powerful enough to run MelonDS. Sorry, RetroAchievements fans. [YouTube] [Reddit]

🪄 MagicX teased its first clamshell handheld, the One Flip 50. It looks like a smaller (5-inch), cheaper ($95), and less powerful (G85) version of the Retroid Pocket Flip 2. [Discord]

🌐 In the wake of the disastrous Indiegogo redesign, the AYANEO Pocket DS has moved sales to its website. AYN did the same thing with the Odin 3 last week, and I’d expect more companies to move away from Indiegogo wherever possible. [AYANEO]

📈 Speaking of AYANEO, the company announced via email that it has sold 2,500 Pocket AIR Mini units on Indiegogo, with 15,000 units sold in total. The initial production run is 20,000 units, so there’s still time to grab one, but it’s interesting to see just how much the domestic market outperforms the global market in these gaming handhelds. [Indiegogo]

🆕 The TrimUI Smart Pro S is a follow-up to one of the most popular entry-level Linux handhelds, and it’s launching next month. Unlike its predecessor it will run Android, but hopefully it can still offer great performance for the price. [MechDIY]

💪 On the Windows side, the OneXFly Apex was announced, and it looks to be the most powerful handheld ever released. Like the GPD Win 5, it will feature a Ryzen AI Max+ 395 chipset and an external battery. It also has some interesting accessories, including an external liquid cooling tower to help combat extreme temperatures. [Indiegogo]

🎓 Finally, there’s a new website with resources, guides, and more to help you compare gaming handhelds or optimize performance. It’s not as pretty as Retro Catalog, but it has a lot of potential. [handhelds.wtf]

FPGA Focus

🤩 Taki Udon showcased the finished SuperStation One hardware in two separate videos, and it looks stunning. I’m so glad I ordered the transparent blue version. [X] [X]​

The Emulator Report

🌴 The Nintendo Switch emulator Eden dropped update 0.0.4-rc1, with a long list of enhancements. Just be careful when updating, or you might lose your save. Read the patch notes for more. [GitHub]

🍋 Just a few hours after the Eden update, Citron also announced version 0.9.0. As for which one you should download, it will likely come down to what games you want to play, but Citron appears to have more mature support for firmware 20.x. [Patch notes]

🚧 With all these dual-screen handhelds coming out, the developer behind the ES DS emulation frontend is working on a new update that adds dual-screen support. [X]

💾 The low-level x86 emulator Box86 released version 5.2 this week, and it now features real recordings of floppy drive sounds. What a time to be alive. [Release announcement] [GitHub]

Retro archives

🧟 I promised a few Halloween-themed ROM hacks for you this week, starting with a new Banjo-Kazooie hack, The Lair Witch Project, by Mark Kurko. You can watch the full playthrough at the video linked (minus a secret ending), and the download link should be added to the description sometime today. [YouTube]

🏁 Next up is a quick Halloween update for the Mario Kart 64 mod Amped Up. Once installed, you can press Z in the player select menu to toggle spooky new skins for your favorite racers. [X] [Gamebanana]

🔍 A treasure trove of prototype 3DS games from the initial E3 2010 showroom floor has been uncovered and made public by the 3DS Challenge group. Many of these haven’t been seen since 2010, and you can download them now to play on your modded 3DS. [YouTube] [Archive]

🍥 There’s a new video of Star Fox 64 running natively on a SEGA Dreamcast, and it looks incredible. jnmartin’s port is estimated to be 95% finished, so it might not be too long before you can load it up on your own hardware. [X]

🤔 The Mario and Friends ROM hack received a DMCA takedown notice from Nintendo. While ROM Hacks typically exist in a legal gray area, the most obvious explanation is that Nintendo is planning a release of some kind with the same name. [X]

That's all for this week! I hope you all have a wonderful Halloween, and I'll be back next week with more.

Signing out,

Archivist Rowan