RetroKezins - Retro Gaming Blog

Game Handheld Releases For August 2022 ***Update August 4: The Retroid Pocket 3 pre-order is now expected to start today: GoRetroid.com .  [9PM EST] ***Update August 12: It appears the PowKiddy X28 may be close to releasing. No official release date announced but it could be soon... *** August 16: Confirmed the KT-R1C is on sale in China. Should open up for orders in the West before long at ktpocket.com (site not live yet)... ***August 17: The TRIMUI Smart (Micro Handheld) made a surprise appearance.  Game handheld releases are hard to predict due to supply chain problems and parts shortages, so most release dates should be considered tentative not concrete.  August 2022 In Game Handheld Releases KT-R1C KT-R1C (aka KT R1C) is currently on pace for the metal versions to possibly be ready for pre-order by mid-month and ship out in September. There is no firm date set as of now . Update: The KT-R1C as of August 16 is on sale in China (no word on when sales in the West will open up).   Th

Retro Pixel Pocket SPECS As Of July, 2022.  The upcoming Retro Pixel Pocket definitely has my interest. Even the prototype looks great. Right now. RGHANDHELDS.COM has exclusive access to the prototype and it looks like a great vertical handheld perfect for Game Boy, Game Boy Color and hopefully Pico-8. There has been reported success running up to some Dreamcast so far. This may be the "Miyoo Medium" we've been wanting!  Photo From RGHANDHELDS Discord (Prototype Model)   Retro Pixel Pocket Known Specs (From RGHANDHELDS Discord) Retropixel Pocket   3 inch 720x720 Laminated IPS LCD Allwinner A64 (sun50iw1) SoC features a Quad-Core Cortex-A53 ARM CPU, and a Mali400 MP2 GP 3000 mAh 3.7V Lithium Battery  1 Gbit LPDDR3 8 Gbit  EMMC  Supports micro sd card 2W High resolution speaker Supports Wi-Fi Size Comparisons From Jutleys  Next To A Miyoo Mini  Next To a Nintendo Game Boy Color

***The 280M is back on Sale on Amazon!! Still a great buy in 2022. $55 https://twitter.com/RetroGameCorps/status/1523379653515247617?t=_aoiD47MqN849tJYtj6okA&s=19  *** Anbernic RG280M Review (Second Look) Original Release Date: June, 2020 While the Anbernic RG280M (M for Metal) is getting fairly old in the world of retro handheld emulation (a year old is OLD in this realm), it's still a very viable option especially if you find it cheap. I purchased another recently for $55.99 on Amazon myself. The Handheld was $109.99 a year ago and the current MSRP is $81.99 which is a fair price. $100+ was a bit steep even a year ago but it's now a great price. 2020 was an insane year for retro handhelds with one release after another and the 280M got lost in that shuffle especially being released a month apart from the 350P and not long after the 350M. Overall Score: 8.6/10  The Good   🍬Very pocketable  🍬Build Quality is Top Notch  🍬Battery Life Is Good (6.5-8 Hours per C

Nintendo Wii U The Nintendo Wii U was a commercial failure despite being a pretty decent and innovative console. Nintendo completely botched the marketing of the console and failed to obtain good 3rd party support. Despite being a failure commercially, the system had some great games on it. I still use mine regularly and have 30 disc games for it plus 26 Virtual Console games transferred over from the Wii.  At this point,  I don't see my picks for the Top 10 Nintendo Wii U Games changing, so this is my definitive list (I may post a Top 25 list at some point):  Top 10 Nintendo Wii U Games #10 ZombiU ZombiU was one of the first Wii U games I played and it was certainly a unique experience on the Wii U. Like some other 3rd party games, the Wii U version was the best. The game is a lot better than most critics gave it credit for which is typical of mainstream critics anyway.  Where the game really shines is the environment for survival horror was unmatched at the time and the dead trul

PowKiddy A30 Review Ordered: December 1 2021 Received: December 11 2021 Price Paid: $53.48 including shipping (free) + taxes on AliExpress.  https://a.aliexpress.com/_msgKxWU Overall Score: 4/10 (Stock Setup) The PowKiddy looks cool and has a fun Game Boy Advance retro aesthetic, but that's about it. Anyone hoping for an improvement over the TrimUI Model S (PowKiddy A66) will likely be disappointed unless custom OS workarounds become available. The result is a handheld that looks "ok" but functionality is pretty limited.  The saddest part about the PowKiddy A30 is that it looks good and wasn't that far away from being a good buy. PowKiddy seems to just crank out handheld after handheld but doesn't take the time to make them good... The Good   👍It looks nice, so makes for a decent shelf collectable.  👍For a near Micro-sized handheld, it's still a comfortable size for extended sessions.  T

Game & Watch: The Legend of Zelda 11/12/2021 Game & Watch: The Legend of Zelda https://www.nintendo.com/products/detail/game-and-watch-the-legend-of-zelda/ Game & Watch: The Legend of Zelda is now finally available. I saw the local Wal Mart where I live has plenty in stock. At $49.99 its pretty cool as a collectible while still a bit expensive for what you are getting (software and hardware-wise) but Nintendo always banks on their brand awareness and they never price things too low. For me I'm taking a hard pass. In a modern world with retro handheld options that are near infinite combined with the fact I've already purchased the 3 full games included several times each, there's just not much to get excited about here even though it is a slight upgrade over the previous Mario Game & Watch release.  For hard-core Zelda fans it might still be worth it as a collectible. It would look nice on a Shelf.  Official Product Description With a

One new product from Epilogue that is on my radar is the GB Operator which is a way to play GB, GBC and GBA cartridges on your computer (Windows/Mac/Linux). If it works well, it could be a great option for backing up saves and playing/storing original carts instead of dealing with ROMs from others on your computer. The primary emulator used is the well-known mGBA.  According to the site, in addition to playing cartridges (through emulation) the device is set up to detect whether cartridges are original or pirated bootleg carts which could be a great tool for collectors for only $49.99. I can't speak to the quality of the device as I haven't got my hands on one yet.  https://www.epilogue.co/product/gb-operator Ships in August, 2021... What Others Are Saying:  RetroDodo GB Operator Review

Pretty cool find on YouTube and Facebook I saw earlier from Retro Game Corps on a method to port Super Mario 64 to the RG351P and soon RG351. Pretty exciting tutorial here. Hit the link below.  The 351P wasn't all that great when it first came out but it's getting better and better all the time with the retro community support its getting.  https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=w5PSw19_SEo&feature=youtu.be

In a surprising move,  Nintendo just released an update for the Wii U so I guess you could say it's still a supported system.  Personally I liked the Wii U a lot. Ours is still hooked up. I think it was mostly a misunderstood and underrated console that wasn't marketed very well by Nintendo.  I don't think anyone was expecting any more updates for the Wii U which Nintendo had all but abandoned.   https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2021-03-02-theres-a-new-system-update-for-wii-u

UPDATED February, 2021 Virtually everyone involved in retro gaming has heard of RetroN consoles manufactured by Hyperkin who is well known for 3rd party gaming accessories as well. I've always had mixed feelings about RetroN consoles as the quality is often a mixed bag. RetroN consoles are not always straight hardware clones as some rely heavily on emulation as well. RetroN is heavily Nintendo-centric.  *Note: No links in this post are affiliate related. I do not benefit in any way from any purchases made through the links here. I also do not endorse the links. They are for reference purposes.  RetroN Jr.  The RetroN Jr started out as an April Fool's joke but then became announced as reality in 2020 by Hyperkin. Haven't heard much about it recently so I'm not sure if this console will become a thing or not. Playing GB and GBC games on the television could be an interesting thing though.  RetroN Ult Rumors constantly circulate about Nintendo relea

Hard to believe 20 years have gone past since Paper Mario (N64) came out in North America but its 100% true. I recently replayed the game and it has mostly held up well over the years despite how easy the game is unlike a lot of 64 gamers which haven't aged very well. I was reminded of the anniversary in my Twitter feed earlier.  https://twitter.com/OnThisDayGaming?s=09 Paper Mario was an interesting move away from the traditional Mario formula as a single-player RPG. The Nintendo 64 library as everyone knows did not include many RPGs at all. Maybe this was the best Role Playing Game on the system.  The puzzles in the game were probably a little too easy and overall strategy for the game was minimal. Despite being an extremely easy game it was still interesting enough to be really good and also very accessible to gamers who have no experience in RPGs.  Link to old IGN Paper Mario Review (2001)