Your compact Game Boy, PSP, and more

At this point, there are hundreds of ways to play retro games. If you have a game console, a laptop, or even a smartphone, there’s a good chance there’s an emulator that you can download that will let you play some of your favorite games from your childhood. What these purely software-based experiences don’t capture is the tactile pleasure of having a dedicated console for your older games. Something that captures the spirit, size, and feel of a Game Boy Advance or an SNES controller. That’s when retro handhelds like the Anbernic RG325XX H come in.

Like popular options from Retroid, the RG35XX H is designed to be a simple place to play a lot of different old game executables, or ROMs. Anbernic has made dozens of these different handheld consoles before, in a variety of different shapes and sizes, and with varying amounts of processing power. The Anbernic RG35XX H gives you enough power to handle just about everything up to the original PSP, in a horizontal form that’s easy to carry around and pocket. It’s not unlike the Game Boy Advance, just if it could play as many console games as it did handheld ones.

The great thing about getting a retro handheld, whether you just saw it in a TikTok ad, or you’ve been researching which handheld makes the most sense for you for a while. This is just the start of a new hobby rather than some pre-determined endpoint, and for less than $70, the Anbernic RG35XX H gives you everything you need to have a great time right out of the box, regardless of how hands-on you want to be.

Related

How we test and review products at Pocket-lint

We don’t do arm-chair research. We buy and test our own products, and we only publish buyer’s guides with products we’ve actually reviewed.

Price, availability, and specs

The Anbernic RG35XX H starts at $67.99 when you buy it directly from Anbernic, and costs a bit more when purchased from Amazon and AliExpress. Regardless of where you purchase it from, there’s a good chance you’ll have to pay a shipping fee, so keep that in mind. The handheld itself runs Linux, and is in most ways much like a mid-range smartphone save for its lack of a touchscreen and handheld-style control scheme.

The model I received for review has a translucent case that exposes some of the internal components and looks right at home with the other members of the clear plastic design trend that’s come back in style during the last few years. You can, of course, also purchase the handheld in purple and black. The H700 quad-core ARM Cortex-A53 and 1GB of LPDDR4 RAM inside are enough to power a variety of games, though not perfectly unless you’re willing to tinker with emulator settings. The 3.5-inch screen is plenty bright and works great for console and handheld games. If you look at the spec sheet below, the Anbernic RG35XX H might not seem impressive, but it’s how all of these components combine that makes it a great handheld.

What I liked about the Anbernic RG35XX H

Buttons are clicky and responsive

The RG35XX H is a compact little device, but don’t let that convince you it is by any means cheaply constructed. On top of a D-pad, ABXY face buttons, and two shallow (but so far drift-free) control sticks, the Anbernic RG35XX H has four, cramped, but click-y shoulder buttons. Click-iness is the name of the game on this handheld. All the buttons have a pleasant, responsive spring to them that’ll make you want to click and tap, as opposed to the mushy buttons you can find on some cheaper handhelds and controllers.

I didn’t play anything that demanded quick button presses, to be clear. I spent most of my time playing Final Fantasy Tactics Advance and The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap, when I wasn’t testing the handheld. But even with a more leisurely play style, I was happy with how the Anbernic RG35XX H felt every time.

The screen is bright and highly visible

While the LCD display on the RG35XX H isn’t particularly high-resolution, it looks a lot better and is a lot brighter than any classic handheld I’ve ever used. On a 3.5-inch display, 640 x 480 resolution can go a long way, especially when its laminated, and it feels like everything is happy right at the top layer of the screen.

The viewing angles of the Anbernic RG35XX H are also surprisingly wide, wider than a lot of modern handhelds that I own, like the Steam Deck. I’m not sure why you’d be playing Golden Sun at an off angle, but you totally can on the Anbernic RG35XX H and not feel bad about it.

Anbernic did all the work for you

The biggest plus I can think of buying the Anbernic RG35XX H, outside the synergy of the handheld’s surprisingly competent hardware, is that Anbernic did the hard part for you. All the emulators you need are pre-installed. The launcher is already set up, you just need to update it. And hundreds of games are already on the handheld when you first boot it up.

If you’re nostalgic for the games of your childhood, or just interested in exploring a time period of games that you might not have participated in, the Anbernic RG35XXH offers one of the simplest and cheapest ways to get started. Critically, nearly all the well-known games from a given console’s life are on here. You’ll be covered when it comes to Pokémon, The Legend of Zelda, and even Street Fighter. This handheld includes all the classics and then some.

What I didn’t like about the Anbernic RG35XXH

It’s smaller than you think

While the dimensions of the RG35XX H make it highly portable and pocketable, they don’t make it particularly comfortable to hold for an extended period of time, at least for my hands. The same design that makes the RG35XX H Game Boy Advance-like and fun also kind of makes it an ergonomic nightmare. It felt like every time I was playing I was either holding my hands too close together or too far apart. The Anbernic RG355XX H has two rubber pads on the back you’d think would either land on your palms or your fingers, but I didn’t find either position super comfortable.

Ultimately, this discomfort wasn’t a problem playing for short periods of time, but for a long road trip, I might have to reconsider. I’d recommend taking breaks if using the Anbernic RG35XX H starts to feel uncomfortable.

Pre-installed ROMs put you in a weird gray area

I wasn’t sure to include this as an explicit criticism, but I think it shouldn’t be ignored. The ROMs on the Anbernic RG35XX H might not be stolen, but there’s no easy way of knowing where they actually came from. You should play with a clean conscience — retro game cartridges can be hard to find, and plenty of these games aren’t available digitally, also you didn’t put them here — but their dubious nature does make it hard to know if you’re even playing the real deal.

That means you could run in to ROMs that just won’t load, or break halfway through playing, and the only way to know is by trying them. There’s also no way of knowing if you’ll get the exact same ROMs I did when I first opened the Anbernic RG35XX H. It’s very possible these are the result of a quick Google Search and download. It’s totally understandable to roll that dice on this for the convenience of getting a handheld that’s easy to use as soon as you receive it. Still, you shouldn’t deny yourself the experience of setting up your own emulators to your liking or, better yet, curating your own library of physical cartridges and dumped ROMs. It can be fun in its own right, and at least you’ll have a better idea of what you’re getting into then.

Should you buy the Anbernic RG35XX H?

For the price, the cost of a single modern PS5 or Series X game, it’s hard to deny the Anbernic RG35XX H. It’s satisfying to play both physically and digitally, and aside from some comfort issues that might not even affect anyone with smaller hands, it’s the ideal first retro handheld.

It might not be able to play everything you throw at it, but if you’re curious about reliving the Game Boy or NES childhood you never got to have, I think you’ll be very happy with what the Anbernic RG35XX H has to offer.