MY HANDHELD BLOG

Never thought I would buy another Ayn device

November 29, 2024

The Ayn Odin 2 mini pro

There are things you think you will never buy again. For me I thought I would never buy another handheld device from Ayn. I do not hate them; I just had a lot of back luck with both the Odin 2 pro devices I once had. Back then I promised myself I would not buy another Odin device. I mean I still have sad feelings when I think of those devices, but life turned out a little different since I am now the owner of an Odin 2 mini pro.

Time passed and I tried out different a lot handhelds, some I really love and some not that much. I really learned a lot from every handheld device I played games on and installed new firmware on, but somehow, I always wondered how it would be if I still had my Odin 2 pro device. With that I mean would emulation be easier? Would that game that doesn’t run well on my other devices run well on an Odin device. That kind of questions. Yes, I know I could but a ROG Ally and those games run without trouble but then I only can play a little while and the chance that my hands don’t like long sessions on that device. I am not ready to go down that road yet.

This made me think about another device Ayn released this year. The Odin 2 mini a device that looks almost identical to a PS Vita, and that is still my most favorite handheld I have. Not to mention I kind of fell for the white color. They also used a different screen for this device. I mean if it would be the same screen as the normal Odin 2, I would never think about buying the device.

It really took me a long time before I felt comfortable to buy the Odin 2 Mini but, in the end, I hit the buy it now button and a little while later I was owner of yet again an Ayn device. Can you believe that I got another Ayn device? I still cannot believe it sometimes.

I can tell you that I was more than nervous when my Ayn Odin 2 pro mini arrived. I can’t even count the times I have been searching for something off on the device something that would be defect. For now, I have no trouble or problems with this device. I really think that my other 2 Ayn Odin devices were from an unlucky batch.

With all the emulators set up. I could play, I did not install a lot of emulators honestly just some switch emulators MMJ2, AetherSX2 and I was ready to go. I have to say that I am still really impressed by how strong this device is, and that I really enjoy gaming on this device much more then I would think I would.

For PS2 emulation it plays I think every game I have played on this one I play most of my games on 3X revolution. The upscaling makes the games look really good. That I secretly wish why PlayStation itself never done that for the games. Probably cost too much to upscale every game they have. Same goes for MMJ2 the upscaling is great. I also have been playing some Wii games that are on my list to replay.

I also tried a bunch of switch games even with all the emulators are slowly been taking down. Since I mostly play novel games there easily running on this device too. I also have been able to play some other games for Yuzu and with the battery able to run for 2 till 3 hours for switch games it’s for me great. I do not really play longer session then that.

I got some great advice for PSP games so I have installed the PPSSPP emulator on this one too. I want to give N64 a try maybe in the future but for now I do not really need that. I mean I have my Anbernic RGCube for those games. Gave Winlator a try but I’m not really familiar with that one so I have some more research to do before I fully can get games on that one.

I really love this device. It’s the same as when I first came in contact with the Ayn brand only, my personal opinion is that these devices are too expensive. I do understand that technology is not cheap sometimes, and that they are not a brand like for example steam deck, but I still think that I find this device too expensive. What I mean with that is for example you can buy a secondhand Steam deck or ROG Ally for the same price or a new one for a little more money here. For me as I love the smaller Ayn Odin mini device I do not mind paying the price but I still think there are a little too expensive.

Till the next blog everyone

Alexia