MY HANDHELD BLOG

The device I didn't know I really needed.

August 26, 2024

I am happy that I bought one

After some time playing games on the RG35xxSP there was one thing I really missed. I wanted a console where I would only play PlayStation 1 games on, not that I can not play the games on the RG35xxSP or on the RG556. I mean the RG556 can play those games just fine. I only wanted something more pocketable, something I also would be able to carry around in my bag. When I saw that this device came out, I was thinking do I want it or not? I also had been thinking to get the RGcube. I promised myself I would not start collecting devices again. Something along the way, that went wrong and I bought myself the RG40xxH. Yes, it is going to look like a collection again.

And so, it arrived at my doorstep. This one came with a Micro-SD card. I do have to admit I didn’t really need the extra Micro-SD card since I only wanted to play PS1 games on it and the selection wasn’t really good. So, I prepared a second card with only PS1 games on it. I can tell you that this is so much fun, the smaller screen compared to the RG556 is for me with PS1 games so much better. The screen fills up nicely compared to the RG556. I mean I tried full screen on the RG556 but I don’t like that it is stretched out. It´s not only PS1 Games that are good on this screen Super Nintendo games also play nicer.

This device has the joysticks I missed on the RG35xxSP and the RG35xx. I know I could have bought the RG35xxH but I am glad I didn’t. It´s not that I somehow dislike the device but I love the fact that the RG40xxH has different colors instead of the ones the RG35xxH has, and since this device is just bigger then the RG35xxH and that Is what I wanted.

In a short time, this easily became my number one played device. I have more than enough PS1 roms for a lifetime of playing on my computer. I was super excited to start with Silent Hill, but somehow when I saw Croc, Rayman and Gubble nostalgia took over. I still haven´t started Silent Hill at this moment but I hope that soon I will. I did start Resident Evil 3. I can remember back then I hated when you heard stars calling over the speakers. It meant Nemesis. Also, meanwhile I try to progress a little with Little big adventure, but man that’s such a nightmare sometimes. I always struggles with the controls somehow and I still do. I think the second game on the computer had better controls. This game is still one of the games that I really like, thou it was a little weird. I did also find more childhood games like Hercules, sometimes I really wonder why they only have 24 hours in a day. That is nowhere near enough to play all those games. Let´s not talk about the time that goes in to find and add all those games.

On my first Anbernic RG35xx I have Garlic OS, this made me thinking to do the same on the RG35xxSP. Thou I did learn that the same OS doesn’t really work well on this device. Luckily there are already more new firmware you can run on this device to make it look prettier and easier to search the game you want to play, but the latter I think is only when you don’t add tons of games unless you put them in your favorite file.

I have this one for a while now thinking about it still makes me happy like a kid in a candy store. There is a downside, and that is that the next device I will buy have to live up to very high standards. I always want to try out different devices and brands. The Miyoo devices are also high on my list to get same goes for some of the PowerKiddy ones. I am more than curious how the original firmware is for those devices and what kind of firmware I can add on these ones. For me those changing firmware and changing themes, if possible, to my liking is part of the fun.

Portmaster is simply said a program where you can add games that specially ported for the devices. You do need to have the original games bought for doing this, but there are also some free games. It takes some work since you have to get the valve or other files, because you need these files placed in the special designed folders in the SD card from your computer. Little did I know when I tried this the first time ended up with not using this actually. I do not have a steam library so, transferring the files is something I cannot do. There are free to play games that you can also download and play much easier but I wanted to play the Redneck Rampage games.

MuOS is a firmware you actually have to add a lot of things in manually, at that time it just didn’t feel right for me. It feels like it was a little bit above what I can do, but I’m sure that I will try to work with this again in the future. The second firmware I decided was Knulli. This firmware makes your device a little slower with starting up, but when you are playing you don’t have this problem anymore. Also, this firmware is quite recent so there will be updates. I’m not going in much deeper to talk about this I would say if you are interested there is lots of stuff to find online so feel free to look it up.

Then again it was time for a different firmware again. As much as I think the stock OS is fine and nothing wrong with, I just like to turn it into a more personal handheld with a firmware I think looks better. Only most of the time I kind of forget to game on a device when I start changing firmware and searching for themes I like. If I had more knowledge and time I would try to make my own themes, but I rather just game at this moment. Never know when that will change.

So, since I had some beans to pick with MuOS I decided that this would be the new firmware. I downloaded the firmware, flashed my Micro-SD card and put it in the device and started it up. That didn’t turn out well. I totally forgot to check if MuOS already support this device. It doesn’t support the Anbernic RG40xxH yet. This kind of crashed the device having the wrong firmware. I kind of thought I broke the device when I got all those line on my screen. O well then back to Knulli. Like I installed on my RG35xxSP too.

I do like Knulli firmware overall, there are some things that I not like for example the hotkeys for saving in a game. This means that you can save anywhere in the game using these keys. I tried to change them but it seems like that is not as easy and from what I read online I don’t want to be bothered with it.

Most times after changing interface and adding themes my attention will switch over to another handheld device more a device, I can customize to what I like. So, I was worried that with this device the same thing would happen. Well, I really was wrong about that. Even with the new firmware on I still play on this device daily…

Till the next blog everyone

Alexia