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Comment by arduinomancer | Hacker News Reader

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arduinomancer

In case you haven't seen, there's actually a quite a big market of generic portable consoles now days.

Specifically cheap linux-based emulator handhelds.

Had no idea this was a thing until I came across this subreddit recently: https://www.reddit.com/r/SBCGaming

Its quite impressive what you can buy for ~$30. It would have been pretty mind-blowing to have one of those as a kid.

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Another good resource if you're interested in handheld or SFF computers for gaming is ETA PRIME's channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/ETAPRIME

He goes pretty in depth on the products he reviews, and periodically does videos where he compares several competing products and suggests which he recommends depending on your budget and other priorities.

I owned a GP32 back in the day. The killer app was of course Super Nintendo emulation, but it was also amazing to have a media machine at that time, and something you could easily develop for. I wonder if the mindset is different these days though. The title linked machine seems overkill for 16 but nostalgia. I wonder if people really want a portable machine that they can stick steam on and play indie games?

> I wonder if people really want a portable machine that they can stick steam on and play indie games?

Well it does not have Steam, but the Switch is full of indie games and it looks like there is a market for it.

Man, if my Switch supported Steam Link it'd be hands down my favorite portable ever. I've got a ton of games that would play just fine with the Switch's controls, but simply don't have Switch ports, plus plenty I'm just not going to buy a second copy of just for playing on the Switch.

If your Switch is old enough ist should bei possible to Run Android in it. Should Just Work with steamlink or moonlight

I can say that I do. I (before COVID) travel a lot, and played games while on the road. I would love to have a capable handheld system like this, especially if it can also be plugged in to a keyboard, mouse, and monitor and do dual duty as my personal computer when I am traveling for work.

Odroid is also venturing in that space with the Odroid Go series.

What can I get for $30?

Not sure for $30, but for $50 you can get the Odroid Go Advance which is a very nice piece of hardware: https://www.hardkernel.com/shop/odroid-go-advance-black-edit...

You can get a handheld that can emulate most 2D consoles (e.g. gb, gba, nes, snes, genesis, DOS, etc)

https://retromimi.com/products/pocketgo-retro-gaming-system

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