MY HANDHELD BLOG

My Second Choice.

August 1, 2024

The Anbernic RG556

After returning the second Ayn Odin 2 pro, which still saddens me even up till today, I still was toying with the idea of getting myself the perfect handheld. Never knew it would turn into a blog and so many other handheld devices. I want to try different types of devices and see the differences between them. Not that I have a lot of them yet, but I can tell you that slowly the collection will grow. After a lot of researching what games I wanted to play, and what was important for me. For example do I need to change settings with every game, do I want to set the device up myself and so on. Personally, for me it was important that the device wasn’t as expensive as a steam deck or Asus Rog Ally. I didn’t want to wait another few months and then get another expensive device that would disappoint me again. I mean I wanted to game, and be able to take it with me without thinking it would break or something would go wrong any second. I decided to buy the Anbenic RG556. that scored extra points for the AMOLED screen it had, and it was half of what I had to pay for the Ayn Odin 2 pro. As said as done and I ordered the device form an online store here so I could return it if in the end something would go wrong. Maybe I was a little to worried that time, but can you blame me with getting 2 defect devices returned already?

First let me tell you what I wanted to play on this device. I mainly want to play horror or novel games, and maybe some of those weird titles they don’t sell in physical stores. I also think it’s important before you buy any handheld device that you clearly have some things in mind for example.

- What games do I want to play on it?
- What kind of screen do I want?
- What is my price range?
- Do I want to take it on the go?
- What do I expect price and quality wise?
- Is battery life important to you?
- Do I want to edit and change settings a lot?
- Do I want to make an own setup?
- Can I change stuff or do I only want to plug and play?
- Beginner friendly or not?

If you have other things that you think are important you can always make a list of them, and with that list looking for a device will be easier right? I mean these are some of the points I use, but I can understand everyone has their own needs. I have to admit when I bought the Anbernic RG556 I did skip a few of these points. Learned from it, and was disappointed. I was so dead set on the fact I saw that some of the games I really want to play were good on this device I didn't care about anything else. I just wanted to play those games. In the end one of the games that were good on this have some good lags actually. I forgot that people who test them don’t play the whole game and probably don’t know about that either. Or maybe they have some better settings? Who will tell, but this made my clear that I should have listening to the list I had what I wanted in my device.

This is also a part of why I start this blog, I want to play all the games I love. See if they are really working well on the devices I have and will buy in the future. A great example is haunting ground, I saw this was working good on YouTube thou in the end some of the places in the game when you play further do have lags and the screen somehow doesn't match up. I didn’t see those places on the test video so good chance the one who had it online didn’t reach that place, and I understand they don’t have the time to play thousands of games because people ask them to check them out. It cost time simple. I want to play those games I love and hopefully help you to see if they work from start to end.

So, I have this device for some 9 weeks now. Let me say this first. I am not some great tech specs person nor computer genius. So, with tweaks and that stuff I try what I find as recommendations on internet. Yes, I did use a guide when I got this device to help me set it up. I am not going to find out the wheel again. Those guides are there to make our lives easier. I do have some computer skills and can easily learn in that content. When my device arrived, I was very eager to set it up, I really like and have fun with setting up adevice. I am also not a professional gamer. I’m just a casual gamer who mainly loves horror and novel games but also plays whatever piques my interest.

I was really over the moon with the AMOLED screen, I love my OLED switch and I love this screen. It has something for me simple as that. I think setting up took me a little longer than I hoped, decided that I wanted to have a nice front end so that took some time. In the end I learned about a switch emulator called Sudachi -for experimental reasons- since I heard that switch emulation wasn’t really a thing, I decided to check it out with visual novel games. Thinking that they are low end and maybe will be able to play. I can say that I was impressed, even when I play on low resolution (0.3 and some 0.5) they still work and some have minimal to zero lag. On the other side I was very much disappointed about the PS2 emulation with Haunting ground. This doesn’t mean I don’t like to play on this device. I am still very happy with my choice and I love to test out other things when I find them online with it. I will keep you updated about my findings, and will also update photos and movies on social media.

I will make a review for you later. I need some more time for research, so I can find online if there are any problems with this device. I think that ais important to share with you.

Till the next blog everyone

Alexia