this post was submitted on 21 May 2026
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78
Hands-On with the Retroid Pocket Classic; A Love Letter to the Game Boy Era (lemmy.world)
submitted 6 hours ago by PerfectDark@lemmy.world to c/games@lemmy.world
7 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

This looks to be the last handheld review I'll be doing for the near future at least. I did have the TRMUI Brick Pro on the way...but they've delayed that release with no confirmed date yet (I suspect the RAM woes play a big-big part in that), so for now it is what I suppose is the ultimate nostalgia machine - AKA the Retroid Pocket Classic.

Remember the Nintendo Game Boy Color Pokemon special edition? Well, you'll no doubt see where Retroid's inspo came from. Not that they hide it with the 'PKMN Yellow' name for it.

^ the screens have improved over time

  • Super powerful with 6GB/128GB on the model they sent me
  • Chunky plastic that makes you feel like you're in a Toys-r-us dream
  • Perfect-perfect-perfect for systems like GB/GBC/GBA and things like Game Gear (I played Game Gear games for the very first time on this one!)
  • The display kicks all kinds of AMOLED butt, you really can't beat it
  • Nostalgia is a clear selling factor for this one

If you're interested in my Retroid review, as ever you can read through it here. Or you can ask me whatever you might be interested in here if you don't wanna read through. Clicks don't bother me, we don't run ads on the site so there's no scramble to get people over.

Although this is posted last thing at night on my side of the world, so it might be morning when I wake up and respond to you if you do have any questions!

Link is here:

https://gardinerbryant.com/hands-on-with-the-retroid-pocket/

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[–] silver@das-eck.haus 3 points 2 hours ago

I absolutely adore my pocket. Just finished playing through polished crystal on it and it felt like I was stepping back into playing on my GBC as a kid while being fresh. I also love that I can just install audiobookshelf, plexamp, ereaders, etc.

[–] Blue_Morpho@lemmy.world 20 points 4 hours ago (2 children)

I have a Retroid but despite the hardware being fantastic, I wouldn't recommend it because Android is a bad retro gaming experience.

Instead of turning on the device and instantly being in a game, you have to boot Android, which is ridiculously slow. If you don't do a full shutdown after playing, you'll find your Retroid's battery dead the next time you pick it up because of Android's idle battery drain.

Linux retro handheld's like the Miyoo Mini work so much better. You turn it on and you are in your game in 10 seconds instead 45 just to get to the os and then need to load the emulator, load game and restore state. When you hit power on a Miyoo or equivalent Linux, your game state is saved and the device fully powers down so there is no idle power draw.

[–] Prove_your_argument@piefed.social 2 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

So I do casually follow the handheld emulation stuff. I've always thought android sucks as a platform for gaming in general, but shouldn't all of those retroid problems apply to the ayn thor? My assumption is that people are in love with that thing, but maybe the boot times are just better or they did a better job of the driver/power management?... or maybe the marketing is just on point.

I have a deck so I don't really see a point to having another handheld, but I still want to understand why x vs y.

Also am full time linux on desktop os at home and work and I can definitely see how the boot and sleep state times would be much better just in general on a properly tweaked distro.

[–] Blue_Morpho@lemmy.world 1 points 56 minutes ago

The Thor is more like a mini Steam Deck replacement instead of a Gameboy replacement. So the limitations of boot times and standby time aren't seen as a problem when the alternative is a laptop.

[–] Calfpupa@lemmy.ml 1 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

I'm not sure what the default retroid settings are, but android could be tweaked to at least have a better battery life than that I'd wager. Have you dug through the settings? I have old phones that last nearly a week on android if left with the screen off, no tweaking (galaxy s7)

[–] Blue_Morpho@lemmy.world 1 points 58 minutes ago (1 children)

There's nothing to really tweak on Android because it is Android which hides most things from your control. I did everything I could. If you play every day and charge every day it's fine. But if you treat it like a classic handheld you will be frustrated.

A real handheld like a Gameboy Advanced can be left in a drawer for a year and ready to go. That's the experience that a Linux retro gives you. You don't have to constantly think about charging. It's instantly ready whenever you are.

[–] Calfpupa@lemmy.ml 1 points 55 minutes ago

In Developer options you can limit background processes, deep sleep, and other power usage settings, which were the main ones I was thinking of.