New retro handhelds keep getting bigger, cleverer and pricier. Russ from Retro Game Corps has made a video pushing back on the idea that you need to keep up. His argument, in his own words, is that every handheld can feel magical depending on the context and the price (01:17), and that most players don't need to chase the top end at all.
It is a useful message from someone who spends much of his time reviewing exactly those top-end devices. Here is how he makes the case.
Complexity is creeping in
Russ opens by noting that he has been reviewing higher-end dual-screen handhelds, and that while the market is improving fast, devices are getting weighed down by complexity and rising prices (00:43). More power brings more settings, more emulators to configure and more time spent tinkering instead of playing.
The cheap device that started it
His centrepiece is the FunnyPlaying Retro Pixel Pocket, a small, square-screened budget handheld (01:23). What impresses him most is the feel: he says its face buttons and D-pad are remarkably close to original Nintendo hardware, better than some far better-known handheld makers manage (02:35). He also shows an early version of Bloom OS, an upcoming Linux front end for budget handhelds, and its quick game switcher (03:46), and says the whole thing was easy to set up, the kind of device that would have blown his 12-year-old mind (05:14).
A tour of the small and simple
From there he lays out a row of other pocketable options: an Anbernic clamshell running a custom front end, a customised Miyoo Mini, small metal handhelds from TrimUI and Anbernic including one with a swivelling screen, a Game Boy Advance-style device, and an Evercade-compatible pocket console (06:08). The common thread is not raw power. It is that each one does a narrow job well and gets out of the way.
Play more, own less
The most practical idea comes near the end. Russ argues that you don't have to chase the newest flagship because simpler devices are often more accessible and more fun (10:16). He goes further: deliberately limiting how many games you load onto a handheld makes you more likely to actually play, and finish, the ones you choose (11:42). Anyone with a 4,000-game library they scroll through and never start will recognise the problem.
What it means if you're buying
The takeaway is not "never buy a flagship". It is that the right handheld depends on what you want to play and how much fiddling you can stand. If you mostly play older 8-bit and 16-bit games, a cheap, well-built device with good buttons may give you more joy than a powerful one you spend evenings configuring. The prices and specifications Russ quotes are in the video, and they change often, so check them before you buy.
Viewers mostly agreed. Many echoed the idea that the best device is the one you already have, several joked that there is no "endgame" handheld, only the current one, and a few shared their own stories of selling expensive devices and going back to simpler ones.
From the creators
Watch the video
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