The retro handheld market in 2025 is a minefield of alphabet-soup brand names and cheap plastic shells that feel like they’ll disintegrate if you sneeze too hard. For every impressive device, there are a dozen clones that can barely run Super Mario World without catching fire. This isn’t just about playing Game Boy games on a slightly better screen; these pocket rockets are tackling systems we once thought required a full-blown PC. My job is to wade through this swamp of AliExpress specials and marketing jargon so you don’t waste your money on a glorified paperweight.
The biggest leap this year is how far up the console ladder these things can climb without wheezing. We’ve seen budget-friendly heroes like the Retroid Pocket Mini handle everything up to Dreamcast flawlessly, which is impressive for the price. But then you have the monsters at the high end, like the new AYANEO Pocket ACE, which runs PS2 titles so well it’s a little spooky. Of course, that power comes with a price tag that could buy you an actual PS2 and a lifetime supply of instant noodles. Is flawless God of War emulation on the bus worth skipping rent?
Raw power is useless if you’re squinting at a washed-out screen and your thumbs are cramping into oblivion. Thankfully, manufacturers have finally realized a screen shouldn’t look like a foggy bathroom mirror, with bright IPS and even OLED displays becoming standard. This means you can play your games in a room with a window, a shocking concept for some of these devices. We’re also seeing some clever control schemes, moving beyond just slapping on more buttons and hoping for the best. Some even have D-pads that can mechanically switch into analog sticks, which is the kind of weird, wonderful engineering I live for.
The Under $70 Anbernic and Miyoo Cult
Let’s be brutally honest: you don’t need to spend half a grand on a premium handheld just to play Super Metroid for the seventeenth time. The Anbernic RG-35XX SP and Miyoo Mini Plus have achieved cult status for a simple reason: they are cheap, reliable, and perfect for the golden age of 2D gaming. These little plastic rectangles will flawlessly run everything from the NES to the Game Boy Advance, often on beautiful IPS screens that make the original hardware look like a blurry mess. They are the definitive pick-up-and-play devices for anyone whose nostalgia is firmly planted in the 8-bit and 16-bit eras.
The party stops, however, the moment you get greedy and try to push into the 3D realm. While these budget kings can handle most of the PlayStation 1 library, they will choke and sputter on more demanding titles, turning your game into a slideshow of regret. Don’t even bother trying to run Nintendo 64 or Dreamcast; it’s like asking a hamster to pull a freight train. The processors in these devices are built for sprite-based masterpieces, not for rendering complex polygons, and no amount of software wizardry can change that hardware reality.
So, who are these devices for in 2025 when a Retroid Pocket can run Dreamcast flawlessly? They’re for the purists, the tinkerers, and anyone who wants a dedicated, no-nonsense machine for classic gaming without a major investment. You can toss one in a bag, hand it to a kid, or lose it on the bus without having a financial meltdown. The incredible community support, with custom operating systems like GarlicOS and OnionOS, also turns a good device into a great one by perfecting the user experience. They represent the brilliant, dirt-cheap entry point into this hobby, and that’s a title no premium handheld can steal.
Chasing the Elusive PS2 Emulation Dragon
The long-running joke in the retro handheld world has always been the promise of good PlayStation 2 emulation. For years, we’ve watched underpowered devices wheeze through Shadow of the Colossus at a cinematic ten frames per second. But now, premium contenders like the AYANEO Pocket ACE have swaggered in, demanding a king’s ransom for what they claim is flawless performance. The question is whether dropping up to $600 on one of these is a ticket to portable nirvana or just a faster way to drain your bank account. It’s a steep price for a dream that has consistently let us down.
Let’s cut to the chase: the AYANEO Pocket ACE pulls it off, but with a few giant asterisks shaped like dollar signs. Seeing God of War II run this smoothly on a device that fits in a jacket pocket is mind-blowing, and it handles the notoriously difficult titles that would make lesser handhelds curl up and die. The technology is here, but you’re paying a massive premium for a dedicated emulation machine that costs as much as a Steam Deck while doing far less. For 99% of people, this isn’t the answer; it’s a spectacular, single-purpose toy for those with more money than sense. The dream is real, but it remains an overpriced fantasy for anyone with a budget.
D-Pads Displays and Other Dealbreakers
A processor capable of running GameCube games is utterly useless if the D-pad feels like you’re pressing a wet sponge into another wet sponge. I’m talking about that disgusting, squishy response that makes pulling off a shoryuken feel like a random act of God. The best handhelds have clicky, responsive D-pads and face buttons that give you actual tactile feedback, because precision matters when you’re one pixel away from a spike pit. Some companies are even trying to reinvent the wheel with nonsense like a D-pad that switches into an analog stick, which is an identity crisis I frankly don’t have time to troubleshoot. Just give me controls that work, not a science fair project.
Let’s be brutally honest: a washed-out, dim screen will make even the most perfectly emulated PS2 title look like a sad, forgotten memory. In 2025, there is no excuse for a handheld that doesn’t have a bright IPS or, even better, an OLED display. The vibrant colors and deep blacks are what make retro games pop, not some ridiculously high resolution that your GBA ROMs can’t even use. I’d take a gorgeous, color-accurate 480p screen over a grainy 1024×768 panel that looks like it’s being viewed through a layer of dust and regret. If I can’t see the game properly in a well-lit room, the device is an expensive paperweight.
The Mandatory Custom Firmware Ritual
Buying a shiny new retro handheld in 2025 is an exercise in cognitive dissonance, because the hardware is almost always betrayed by the software it ships with. These manufacturers will pack in a gorgeous high-resolution screen and enough power to run Dreamcast games, only to saddle it with an operating system that looks and feels like a knock-off MP3 player from 2004. You’ll be greeted by hilariously mismatched box art, menus that lag for no reason, and pre-installed emulators that are somehow three versions out of date on launch day. It’s the digital equivalent of being handed the keys to a sports car that has a flat tire and no radio. The entire experience screams that the company ran out of money, or patience, the second the device was assembled.
This is where community-made custom firmware saves the day, and installing it is a non-negotiable first step. Talented developers create free operating systems like ArkOS, JELOS, and OnionOS that are meticulously optimized for specific devices. Suddenly, your menus are clean and snappy, your battery life improves, and games run better thanks to properly configured emulators. It transforms your gadget from a frustrating tech demo into the polished, all-in-one retro machine promised in the marketing materials. These firmware projects are less of a nerdy hobby and more of an essential public service for abandoned hardware.
The phrase “installing custom firmware” might sound like you need a degree in computer science, but the reality is far less dramatic. For most popular devices, the process involves little more than downloading a file and using a simple tool to flash it onto a new SD card. The community has created countless step-by-step video guides that hold your hand through the entire thirty-minute ritual. Seriously, you will spend more time agonizing over which games to load up than you will on the installation itself. Enduring the dumpster-fire stock OS is a choice, and it’s the wrong one.
The Only People Who Should Actually Buy One
Let’s be brutally honest about who actually needs one of these things in 2025. If the idea of strapping a flimsy plastic claw to your thousand-dollar phone just to play Chrono Trigger makes your soul wither, then yes, you are the target audience. A dedicated handheld is for the player who craves the deliberate, tactile experience of a device built for one purpose: gaming. It’s for the person who wants proper buttons, a real D-pad, and an escape from the endless notifications and compromises that come with phone emulation. This isn’t just about playing old games; it’s about recreating the focused joy of a Game Boy, but with the power to run a Dreamcast library in your backpack.
On the other hand, if you’re a casual tourist in the land of retro gaming, for the love of god, just use your phone. You do not need to spend $350 on an AYANEO Pocket ACE to play Pokémon Emerald for ten minutes on the toilet. Your phone is already in your pocket, the emulators are mostly free, and it’s perfectly capable of handling anything up to the 16-bit era without breaking a sweat. Buying a dedicated handheld when you only have a passing interest is like buying a professional chef’s knife to slice a single tomato once a year; it’s an expensive, impressive paperweight that will just collect dust in a drawer.
