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Comment by k__ | Hacker News Reader

Half-OT:

Can someone recommend a hand held console that runs NES/SNES/GB/GBA/DS games and has a good battery life or maybe even a replaceable battery?

I always get ads for such consoles, but the reviews are all bad.

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For that list of systems, the Nintendo New 2/3DS models are probably the best choice. They require some softmodding [1], but after that can natively play DS [2] and GBA [3] [4]. The New 3DS also has great emulators available for NES, SNES and Game Boy [5], and has native ports of a few Nintendo 64 games. Being mass market devices, their build quality and QA are much superior to cheap Chinese devices or DIY Korean ones, and they're also widely and cheaply available on the second hand market in most western countries.

[1]: https://3ds.hacks.guide

[2]: Directly from the cartridge slot or using Twilight Menu https://github.com/DS-Homebrew/TWiLightMenu

[3]: Using "Virtual Console injects", see: https://3ds.eiphax.tech/nsui . Virtual Console injects for the other systems on your list will also work, they will then run in Nintendo's own emulators for those systems.

[4]: Just be sure to hold start/select when launching DS or GBA games to avoid bad quality upscaling and run them at pixel accurate native resolution.

[5]: bubble2k16's emulators can play pretty much anything on >New< 3DS models, use mGBA for Game Boy: https://wiki.gbatemp.net/wiki/List_of_3DS_homebrew_emulators

I just bought a retroid and I like it. The hardware feels nice to hold and buttons works well. The software is just android 6, but I ready it can be upgraded to android 8. It comes with an app that, if you install, it runs an app on startup w/ many emulators and roms loaded. Its a bit underpowered for playstation but it could run games. It has a good community too

It's Chinese to security may be a concern, but you can run offline.

https://www.goretroid.com/

The 3DS (especially if you can pick up a used one) is actually an excellent choice for access to almost all of Nintendo's handheld library after installing the custom firmware hack. DS and 3DS games are supported via cartridges and the rest can be found by installing the .cia files. I haven't tried NES and SNES games, but it runs GBA and GB games great.

The 3DS is an excellent choice due to it’s hackability and pretty decent processor(s). However, OP also asked for a replaceable battery. I’m assuming that means something like AA like the OG Gameboy had. Does anything come that way anymore?

No, I don't think single use batteries have been on handheld consoles since the OG GBA :-) But the 3DS/XL's Li-ion battery is pretty easy to replace with a screwdriver.

I take OP's statement to mean a battery that can be easily replaced without taking the device apart.

I'm pretty sure you can replace the battery on (most? all?) 3DS models. At least on my New 3DS it's user serviceable.

Check Taki Udon (https://www.youtube.com/c/TakiUdon/videos), it's a YT channel that reviews all those retro consoles.

(a good enough newish) Android phone, I'd say Poco M3 is the best budget choice ($130) and it's a perfect emulator https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=318&v=3rHHikNnjYQ&feature=yo...

Retroarch and Citra

Xbox wireless controller

Optionally this holder: https://www.amazon.com/PowerA-Moga-Mobile-Gaming-Wireless-Co...

I use a setup like this and can play everything perfectly pretty much

It's not quite what you're asking for, but I looked into something like that for a while and didn't really find any I liked and wanted to carry around with me, so I ended up just installing retroarch on my phone and bringing along an 8bitdo sn30 controller.

I don't have a high end phone or anything but it's capable of playing everything up to the DS pretty well. I even got metroid prime to boot up on dolphin...though the framerate was far too low to play.

The sn30's pretty light and easy to carry around and feels pretty darn close to an actual snes controller. Battery life's pretty decent too.

IDK about DS, but a classic PSP (1000/2000/3000) with a modded firmware handles the others just fine, along with PSP/PS1 games. Think I might have played n64 on mine?

Has a replaceable battery, too.

+1 on the PSP. It looks like you can also put an SD card in there now, which is neat!

Poor N64 support for the most part, buggy audio and frame drops... almost beat SM64 on it but there were a bunch of caveats, would rather play on something else for N64..

Perfect for GBA games though!

DS Lite, with something like a SuperCard [0] (or whatever is being sold these days).

DS Lite directly supports both DS and GBA cartridges, has great battery life, and its battery can be easily replaced. And I love its form factor, folds nicely compact.

A micro SD card mounted in the SuperCard can be loaded with good emulators for NES, SNES, GB, Sega, and probably others. It's plug-and-play, no hacking of the DS Lite necessary.

[0] http://www.eng.supercard.sc

I got the rg280v because it's incredibly portable. I'm not sure about the battery life because I never want to play for more than a few hours at a time, but I haven't had problems. I would expect, though, that they're all built for you to go in with solder if you want to replace a battery. https://maya.land/rg280v/

Also, are we in a place where there are solid handhelds that can play n64 games well?

I remember Goldeneye always seemed to be a problem on them

I have an older Bitt Boy in GB-like shell and it works quite well, it struggles a little with SNES. The battery is swappable but you'll get few hours out of it. Charges from micro USB.

https://bittboy.com/

I have a RG350M and have been extremely happy with it. if it's too expensive, then the plastic-cased version of the same console is the 350P

Sounds good, thanks!

Seems like the 350P also has a lower screen resolution.

Are these things usable for multiplayer?

Do you think the 351 models are a better investment, they have more power, but also a wider screen which doesn't help with older games, I'd guess.

I'd suggest checking out /r/SBCGaming/ (Single Board Computer Gaming) on Reddit to do some research:

https://www.reddit.com/r/SBCGaming/

The PS Vita is by far the best hardware for this if you can find a good used one.

Quick note: NDS will be tough to emulate on these low power hand helds, plus the dual screen to 1 screen will be awkward

An inexpensive and/or used Android phone paired with an attachable or BT gamepad.

Yeah, XBox Gamepad + Phone holder[1] is the best combo for your hands. I don't think, that it's comfortable to play on these small consoles.

1: https://cdn.slashgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/8bitdo-...

I don't know, I think this is it.

I've played with a Raspberry Pi running RetroPie emulator that emulates most (all?) of the above. I could add batteries, a small display, build in controllers ... but you would have the Odroid essentially.

This? https://www.experimentalpi.com/PiBoy-DMG--Full-Kit_p_18.html

Or this? https://www.tomshardware.com/news/piboy-cm4x-srx-compute-mod...

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