One final update to anyone who might still be interested in this machine.
So I got one in an Aliexpress sale before the pandemic, and played with it for a bit. Yeah, its not bad, but it has a LOT of faults.
- The screen has a VERY narrow viewing angle. So narrow, in fact, that most games look very bad and will give you a slight headache after a while. It does have HDMI, and it works mostly nice, which brings us to the next point...
- The d-pad is bad at diagonals. You have to be very precise and press hard, so forget shooters, or any game that requires diagonals (Street Fighter? Forget jumps, and hadoukens. Contra? forget it. Gradius? nope. Double Dragon or Final Fight? you'll see how much diagonals are needed. Mario Bros? You can run slide. You get the point). But that is not the only thing...
- The machine has a nasty fault, where if you press some of its buttons somewhat firmly (and I don't mean hard, but firmly) it activates other buttons or d-pad functions, which makes your character go haywire. It makes playing platformers a chore, especially SNES games. Also, the start button activates the Y and/or Z buttons sometimes. I am not sure if this is because the handheld case causes bending, or if the inside of it does not provide enough support for it when pressed anything but somewhat lightly, or bad button design (if you play Genesis games,the problems does not appear to present itself if you keep the default configuration). Speaking of Genesis games...
Not faults, but issues:
- Genesis games. They run badly. Some games are somewhat playable, other are a slideshow, its a crapshoot.
- Also, you have to modify control configuration for each game, and there is no way to put a global configuration for machines emulated. You also have to trick it into selecting a different button for the select/coin key. because yes, you only have 7 buttons available. The menu button is not remappable. So if you want to play games that use more than 7 buttons, such as SNES and PS1 games, you have to make certain they do not require them all.
The positive aspects:
- PS1 is ok for some 2 games, and some that use some mild 3D. Castlevania? Check. Resident Evil 1? Check. Final Fantasy 7? Some frameskip, but check. Suikoden? Check. Final Fantasy Tactics? Weird text issues, but readable, so still is a check. Haven't tested it with a lot of games. Games that require a moderate 3D of fast moving 2D are a no go. 2D fighters are a no because of button/d-pad issues.
- SNES runs at 90% speed, which is awesome. Buttons/d-pad issues ruins it though.
- GBA runs mostly well.
- GBC runs with converted roms
- NES runs at 50 fps but in NTSC mode.
- Neogeo/Arcade is weird. It doesn't run the larger ROMS, which is weird because it loads PS1 discs. Must be the way they load on RAM. When it works though, its nice. Buttons require remapping so start is both start and coin.
And that is it. Frankly, if you want to play RPGs, or S-RPGs, this is not bad. But if you want to spend your money, do yourself a favor and buy a Pocketgo. You'll get a lot less frustration out of it. As it is, this is a collector's item.
