Hands on with the Retroid Pocket Nova; A custom OLED love letter to 4:3 gaming
So this is my written article covering the Retroid Pocket Nova. This one might be interesting to you because as well as chatting to Retroid, I asked them to share a couple of the early design renders of the Nova with me to feature in here.
They said yes, and you can see some of the differences between what they were planning, and what we got!
Along with that I chatted to developers like those behind Leaf Studio, rootComputer: the Steam Curator behind Is it 4:3 (the page covering all the PC games they add to their collection, which is super apt for the Nova), and bmdhacks, a friend and dev from ARMSX2.
Naturally I cover the usual things in here, but I thought these might be interesting too!
Hope you enjoy it :)
https://gardinerbryant.com/hands-on-with-the-retroid-pocket-nova/Open linkView original on lemmy.world
6 replies
Great interview as always, I'm glad this device is living up to the insane hype from when it got announced. Everyone looked at this thing and immediately decided it's the best 4:3 handheld ever. And it seems to be just that. The fact that it can perfectly emulate PS2 at 2x resolution on low power settings is wild. I would've been frothing at the mouth to get this if I were younger.
Side note: I've never been a fan of transparent shells (kind of heresy in this hobby, I know), but I'm really liking the look of these frosted transparent ones. Clear purple looks like it could go hard.
Those thumb sticks look painfully low
It looks like the device is d-pad centric + the 4:3 screen makes it focused on more retro emulation. Also, Russ (from Retro Game Corps) pointed out that the back is pretty flat OOTB, and this means it's more comfortable to shift your hands down. The ergonomic back is also going to ship with the retail units if you want to swap that in (requires screwdriver though, no fancy magnets or anything)
I'll give it a read over tea later. Thanks for sharing. 🙂
Been wanting a reto handheld for quote some time ever since the miyoo mini v1 days years ago. Never have bought one before. Idk if I want a big capable versatile machine or small easy to pocket little doodad.
I used to have a GBA as a kid and a NSDL as a college kid.
Dunno where I'm going with this comment, I'm just rambling now lol
As a happy owner of both a big powerful versatile machine (Steam Deck) that can play anything from the late 70' up to modern AAA PC games, and small pocketable-ish but underpowered console (RGCubeXX) that's good up to the PSX, I'd say go for the most powerful your budget allows. The Deck is my main gaming machine but for anything up to the mid-90's, the RG is great EDC. I feel this one, provided there is an open source OS released for it, could be an excellent compromise.
I’ve been buying these since the GP32. I grew up with a Gamegear>GB Pocket>GBA.
There’s always a faster, more capable unit pushing what you’re capable of doing. I’d get whatever the current more affordable, pocketable darling is with the form factor you like (Eg TrimUI Brick) and if you love it and find yourself lusting after higher end emulation and PC game translation gaming after sinking time into your little one, then you’ll know it’s worth it and what you’re looking for.
I have just as much fun with the cute cheaper ones as the more powerful ones once I find a game that gets me hooked. I do like to tinker though.