Watched several reviews of this thing and bought it already. You are THE FIRST pointed out that DPad on top is a good thing, not a bad one. Bravo! Can't agree more! For retro games it's a better solution. And it is the thing that separates it from other bigger budget handhelds. I have a lot of handhelds already, and if there were no DPad on top in the RP5, I would never bought it. I want a device for comfortable DPad gaming. If we are considering this handheld as the one and only gaming device at the house, and retro is not the main dish, then yeah stick on top seems more reasonable. But the miserable experience of playing modern games with tiny sticks wouldn't be much better, sacrificing good DPad ergonomics in the end.
@@Wayf4rer yep I have them. They solve the ergonomic issue, but sticks are still small with small travel, plus the screen is kinda small. Which makes this handheld weaker option for shooters. That's from my testing By the way, this grips for me makes a little less comfortable playing DPad games
God I love your game selection in this video. Phantasy Star? Etrian Odyssey? Rune Factory? Summon Night? Monster Rancher? Castlevania? Ape Escape? WILD ARMS!? Niche titles but titles I love nonetheless! Well except Castlevania, that’s well known, but I love CV so yeah lol
Works great online with RP5 using SCHT server. Make sure you use the BBA Tapserver option for serial device and also use a memory card file instead of GCI. The latter gets corrupted online data.
Great vid, good style. I think Don Bradman cricket 14 through Winlator would be an interesting test case, as well as Cricket 24 on Nintendo Switch. But the former more than the latter
Funny enough that's what I like about it. I've always preferred playing on PlayStation over Xbox for the sticks. I have had both consoles since the 360, but the PlayStation controller did it for me.
To test PS2 max performance I would try the fps Black. It came out twoards the end of the lifespan when the next generation of consoles was already coming out and pushed the system to it's limits.
So you think Reteoid is collecting feedback like that which you gave on the launcher and software swapping button layouts? I hope they see this or other owners have emailed them about it, and that they'll be responsive with updates maybe 6 months from now
I'd be quite surprised if a tiny little channel like mine got on their radar at the moment, but I have seen several other reviews mention similar problems with the software, so maybe there's hope
Not a bad review but i have basic questions like how long the battery lasts, how long it takes to charge, any bluetooth support for headphones, whats the max storage size. Also dont think you mentioned if it has touch screen. Also whats the operating system, is it android and use google play to download the emulators and did the controlls automatically work with dual analogue sticks. Last thing does it charge with usb c and can you use it to stream xbox and playstation from a console. It looks quite good but your review was basically what games you like and not much about how to make the thing work or if besides the controller if its any better than a phone lol
Hi I am not the author but also an owner of the device. I think the review is quite good because it is a personal view on the handheld, and your questions are mostly tech specs. But I will try answer it for you. 1 - Battery lifetime depends on what you are doing. But in my rough tests it wasn't that long - from 3-4 hours for demanding games to 6-7 hours of easy games or streaming. 2 - It charges very quickly! Like in 40 minutes from zero to almost full. If you have a good charger of course 3 - It has modern bluetooth support (bluetooth 5 or whatnot) 4 - It has a touch screen and it is android with Google Play by default. You can install linux if you so desire 5 - s the reviewer said - software is kinda lacking, you need to do some work to prepare the device perfectly for emulation. Retroid in it's typical fasion suggests you it's own emulators and it's own launcher, but its completely optional. Some reviewers say it's better to download and setup all manually because it will be with latest versions. You can download it from google play or internet (depends really, you can't download everything from google play). 6 - Analogue sticks by themselves never gave me an issue (with the controller detection at least). Sometimes you need to setup your controller, but no, 99% of the times it works with everything it could natively. You have an option in control panel to choose analogue triggers or digital, retro button layout or an xbox one. Some setup for some emulators\frontends would be needed anyway, that's the nature of android emulation. 7 - Yes of course you can and should charge it with usb C. And you can use usb c to dock it next to your TV to have an retro station there. 8 - Yes it is quite good at the game streaming. May be you need to use the third party app with Playstation (may be not, sorry I didn't google\tested it). But I love streaming there my PC games via Moonlight. It is a quite good device for that, it has good WiFi 5 GHz and fast frame decode rate.
Now if you want my opinion more in a way that you are asking: I think if you are looking for an awesome handheld for game streaming from modern consoles - look elsewhere, sadly. I LOVE streaming games. And I will stream it here, however I have several different handhelds which are better for that task. I will stream here mostly DPad centric games (like Spelunky or Mortal kombat). For that - it is the king! But when you start to use it as a modern controller - you are out of luck. Sticks are small and clunky to use in this form factor. In shooters I miss a lot more, in twin stick shooters\top down actions my fingers hurt from the ergonomics. So yeah - for dpad + face buttons it's awesome. For other things - kinda questionable from controls point of view. There's one remedy though - the special grips for it. It is a plastic addon that adds palm support for it and it feels like modern controller. Sticks are small but at least not hurting my fingers. Thats a solution solely for the stick ergonomics problem. The screen is awesome, probably the best screen I have on handhelds. And if we are talking about retro games, yeah it is one of the best options, especially if you are looking for an OLED screen. 5.5 inches is perfect for old stuff in my opinion. Also a good lifehack - look for the black handheld color, then black borders will blend with screen making 4:3 feel quite native. The device is quite good if you prepare it after purchase! Just don't think this is the best handheld for streaming modern games (for that look for 7 inch stick on top devices, or lenovo legion Y700 with controllers). And finally about your question - "is it better than a phone" (presumably with strapped telescopic controller) - Yeah it's better in my opinion! When you strap controller to your phone it will be twice as wide as the Retroid Pocket 5, but with the same screen considering 16:9 or 4:3 aspect ratio. And heavier too! I think it's ugly. But if you don't, and don't think that it is better enough to justify 220 dollars, then power to you! I must add that you would have good options for phone controllers though, if you want to stream xbox - look for Gamesir G8, it will give nearest feel for the xbox streaming
Not really any better than a phone . But you do get a cooling fan and controller with a screen for cheaper than a normal phone with a strap on fan and separate controller .
Have my profile on xbox always and it never switched back. Weird, maybe try odin tools, which allows you to set the controller profile too and turn off the inbuilt option.
I really don't know what triggers it. The RP5 will still show Xbox mode, but the inputs will be wrong and act as if it's back to retro mode. I'll give Odin tools a shot, I'm curious
@ Could also be some kind of setting in your frontend? I have ES-DE as frontend and reversed the input there, as I prefer the nintendo style. For Android games and game streaming though, the xbox style has better compatibility, so having it set as default makes it seemless
I probably do, it depends what you like! Let me drop a few: > 7th Dragon 2020 > Breath of Fire 3 > Monster Hunter Freedom Unite or 3rd > Tactics Ogre > The Final Fantasy 1, 2 and 4 remakes
Really thinking about getting one of these only problem is I only play one game called mech Arena found on play store and im not 100% it would work on this device.. if anyone has any feed back on this device running that game it would really help.. thanks
Should I buy a handheld PC or an Android handheld? Is the RP5 the best in this price range, bro? I'm only playing games like Genshin Impact, zzz, WW, Honkai Star Rail... (I have a laptop for other tasks)
Hey, don't worry about it! Questions like these are natural :)) The RP5 does not have any games on it, you'd need to add your own games. You can find guides on how to do that on android devices pretty easily. I might make a guide for it soon as well!
If i was super into retro gaming i'd buy this . Unfortunately this isn't a product for me . I like it a lot but i want modern exclusive games so i'll just get a switch 2 . And for mobile games well my normal phone can do it .
Those are not dead pixels! If you swipe left over it, it will open a little tools menu for stuff like a screen mapping tool and stuff. If you want to disable it, swipe down from the top to get the android settings shortcuts and then swipe right to find "floating icon" and turn that off!
I just ordered mine and I can't wait for it to arrive. I love my Miyoo mini and TrimUI Smart pro, but it's hard to say no to a handheld that can play PSP, PS2, dreamcast and Game cube. If you want more games to test: Wii: Muramasa: The Demon Blade, Xenoblade, Wario Land: Shake It, Sonic colors, PS2: Jak 3, Devil may cry 3, Gran Turismo 4, Metal gear solid 3, God of War, Shadows of the Colossus. Ape escape 3 could be good to test the analogue sticks
Pardon me as I get used to filming and it goes wrong all the time
Watched several reviews of this thing and bought it already. You are THE FIRST pointed out that DPad on top is a good thing, not a bad one. Bravo!
Can't agree more! For retro games it's a better solution. And it is the thing that separates it from other bigger budget handhelds.
I have a lot of handhelds already, and if there were no DPad on top in the RP5, I would never bought it. I want a device for comfortable DPad gaming. If we are considering this handheld as the one and only gaming device at the house, and retro is not the main dish, then yeah stick on top seems more reasonable. But the miserable experience of playing modern games with tiny sticks wouldn't be much better, sacrificing good DPad ergonomics in the end.
I bought a 3D printed handle/case combo off Etsy to solve any issues with the sticks. Makes it perfect. For me.
@@Wayf4rer yep I have them. They solve the ergonomic issue, but sticks are still small with small travel, plus the screen is kinda small. Which makes this handheld weaker option for shooters. That's from my testing
By the way, this grips for me makes a little less comfortable playing DPad games
God I love your game selection in this video. Phantasy Star? Etrian Odyssey? Rune Factory? Summon Night? Monster Rancher? Castlevania? Ape Escape? WILD ARMS!? Niche titles but titles I love nonetheless! Well except Castlevania, that’s well known, but I love CV so yeah lol
Plus 1 for the PSO pioneer 2 music ❤
Cool PSO enjoyer in my comments section
Works great online with RP5 using SCHT server. Make sure you use the BBA Tapserver option for serial device and also use a memory card file instead of GCI. The latter gets corrupted online data.
@@elnoel1220 I usually play on PC through Ephinia, but it's really cool to know you can make it work on the RP5 through dolphin :0
I subbed because you showed my favorite RPG of all time wild arms
Great vid, good style. I think Don Bradman cricket 14 through Winlator would be an interesting test case, as well as Cricket 24 on Nintendo Switch. But the former more than the latter
I wish more reviewers keep the sound on while playing so we can hear the button presses
@@DACatface I always try to include a short clip to show off the sound of the buttons! I hope it's enough!
As long as the joysticks are placed where they are on this device, it’ll always fall short of greatness.
Funny enough that's what I like about it. I've always preferred playing on PlayStation over Xbox for the sticks. I have had both consoles since the 360, but the PlayStation controller did it for me.
I primarily use mine for switch emulation it is super solid
To test PS2 max performance I would try the fps Black. It came out twoards the end of the lifespan when the next generation of consoles was already coming out and pushed the system to it's limits.
Odin 2 portals on its way I can’t wait !
So you think Reteoid is collecting feedback like that which you gave on the launcher and software swapping button layouts? I hope they see this or other owners have emailed them about it, and that they'll be responsive with updates maybe 6 months from now
I'd be quite surprised if a tiny little channel like mine got on their radar at the moment, but I have seen several other reviews mention similar problems with the software, so maybe there's hope
Great review! Can you share the name or link to the bezels/overlay you used in this review? Thanks!
Thank you! I just added the link to the Github in the description of the video!
Not a bad review but i have basic questions like how long the battery lasts, how long it takes to charge, any bluetooth support for headphones, whats the max storage size. Also dont think you mentioned if it has touch screen. Also whats the operating system, is it android and use google play to download the emulators and did the controlls automatically work with dual analogue sticks. Last thing does it charge with usb c and can you use it to stream xbox and playstation from a console. It looks quite good but your review was basically what games you like and not much about how to make the thing work or if besides the controller if its any better than a phone lol
Hi I am not the author but also an owner of the device. I think the review is quite good because it is a personal view on the handheld, and your questions are mostly tech specs.
But I will try answer it for you.
1 - Battery lifetime depends on what you are doing. But in my rough tests it wasn't that long - from 3-4 hours for demanding games to 6-7 hours of easy games or streaming.
2 - It charges very quickly! Like in 40 minutes from zero to almost full. If you have a good charger of course
3 - It has modern bluetooth support (bluetooth 5 or whatnot)
4 - It has a touch screen and it is android with Google Play by default. You can install linux if you so desire
5 - s the reviewer said - software is kinda lacking, you need to do some work to prepare the device perfectly for emulation. Retroid in it's typical fasion suggests you it's own emulators and it's own launcher, but its completely optional. Some reviewers say it's better to download and setup all manually because it will be with latest versions. You can download it from google play or internet (depends really, you can't download everything from google play).
6 - Analogue sticks by themselves never gave me an issue (with the controller detection at least). Sometimes you need to setup your controller, but no, 99% of the times it works with everything it could natively. You have an option in control panel to choose analogue triggers or digital, retro button layout or an xbox one. Some setup for some emulators\frontends would be needed anyway, that's the nature of android emulation.
7 - Yes of course you can and should charge it with usb C. And you can use usb c to dock it next to your TV to have an retro station there.
8 - Yes it is quite good at the game streaming. May be you need to use the third party app with Playstation (may be not, sorry I didn't google\tested it). But I love streaming there my PC games via Moonlight. It is a quite good device for that, it has good WiFi 5 GHz and fast frame decode rate.
Now if you want my opinion more in a way that you are asking: I think if you are looking for an awesome handheld for game streaming from modern consoles - look elsewhere, sadly. I LOVE streaming games. And I will stream it here, however I have several different handhelds which are better for that task.
I will stream here mostly DPad centric games (like Spelunky or Mortal kombat). For that - it is the king! But when you start to use it as a modern controller - you are out of luck. Sticks are small and clunky to use in this form factor. In shooters I miss a lot more, in twin stick shooters\top down actions my fingers hurt from the ergonomics. So yeah - for dpad + face buttons it's awesome. For other things - kinda questionable from controls point of view.
There's one remedy though - the special grips for it. It is a plastic addon that adds palm support for it and it feels like modern controller. Sticks are small but at least not hurting my fingers. Thats a solution solely for the stick ergonomics problem.
The screen is awesome, probably the best screen I have on handhelds. And if we are talking about retro games, yeah it is one of the best options, especially if you are looking for an OLED screen. 5.5 inches is perfect for old stuff in my opinion. Also a good lifehack - look for the black handheld color, then black borders will blend with screen making 4:3 feel quite native.
The device is quite good if you prepare it after purchase! Just don't think this is the best handheld for streaming modern games (for that look for 7 inch stick on top devices, or lenovo legion Y700 with controllers).
And finally about your question - "is it better than a phone" (presumably with strapped telescopic controller) - Yeah it's better in my opinion! When you strap controller to your phone it will be twice as wide as the Retroid Pocket 5, but with the same screen considering 16:9 or 4:3 aspect ratio. And heavier too! I think it's ugly. But if you don't, and don't think that it is better enough to justify 220 dollars, then power to you!
I must add that you would have good options for phone controllers though, if you want to stream xbox - look for Gamesir G8, it will give nearest feel for the xbox streaming
Not really any better than a phone . But you do get a cooling fan and controller with a screen for cheaper than a normal phone with a strap on fan and separate controller .
Have my profile on xbox always and it never switched back. Weird, maybe try odin tools, which allows you to set the controller profile too and turn off the inbuilt option.
I really don't know what triggers it.
The RP5 will still show Xbox mode, but the inputs will be wrong and act as if it's back to retro mode.
I'll give Odin tools a shot, I'm curious
@ Could also be some kind of setting in your frontend? I have ES-DE as frontend and reversed the input there, as I prefer the nintendo style. For Android games and game streaming though, the xbox style has better compatibility, so having it set as default makes it seemless
I just want an Odin 2 design but the price of the RP5. The RP5 ergonomics is a real deal breaker for me.
I’m confused. My device has the joy stick on top left
Great video man! Any particular psp suggestions?
I probably do, it depends what you like!
Let me drop a few:
> 7th Dragon 2020
> Breath of Fire 3
> Monster Hunter Freedom Unite or 3rd
> Tactics Ogre
> The Final Fantasy 1, 2 and 4 remakes
Really thinking about getting one of these only problem is I only play one game called mech Arena found on play store and im not 100% it would work on this device.. if anyone has any feed back on this device running that game it would really help.. thanks
Should I buy a handheld PC or an Android handheld? Is the RP5 the best in this price range, bro? I'm only playing games like Genshin Impact, zzz, WW, Honkai Star Rail... (I have a laptop for other tasks)
When do you think we’ll get a cheap handheld like this to be able to play Xbox 360 games?
I think we will need to see viable emulators before we can think about cheap devices running these systems😔
I’m a novice. Does the RP5 have games already loaded on it? Or would I have to figure out how to put games on it? Sorry!
Hey, don't worry about it! Questions like these are natural :))
The RP5 does not have any games on it, you'd need to add your own games.
You can find guides on how to do that on android devices pretty easily.
I might make a guide for it soon as well!
If i was super into retro gaming i'd buy this . Unfortunately this isn't a product for me . I like it a lot but i want modern exclusive games so i'll just get a switch 2 . And for mobile games well my normal phone can do it .
I see you have the same dead pixels white line on the right side when you open an application. I think it's a software issue. 🤔
Those are not dead pixels! If you swipe left over it, it will open a little tools menu for stuff like a screen mapping tool and stuff.
If you want to disable it, swipe down from the top to get the android settings shortcuts and then swipe right to find "floating icon" and turn that off!
I just ordered mine and I can't wait for it to arrive. I love my Miyoo mini and TrimUI Smart pro, but it's hard to say no to a handheld that can play PSP, PS2, dreamcast and Game cube.
If you want more games to test:
Wii: Muramasa: The Demon Blade, Xenoblade, Wario Land: Shake It, Sonic colors,
PS2: Jak 3, Devil may cry 3, Gran Turismo 4, Metal gear solid 3, God of War, Shadows of the Colossus. Ape escape 3 could be good to test the analogue sticks
Time stamps if you want to keep up with the big boys!
Of course!
Just added them!
They should've gotten an 8gen 1 in that thing . Why 865? It's getting old
Shove in 8g2 and call it rp5 pro then it's perfect. I'll buy it.
Is this TechDweeb? 👀
@@marvellousdazza2836 I can only dream of being as cool as techdweeb
@ Your secret is safe with me…
if retroid pocket use 7inch display, then they wouldn't called it pocket anymore
They should've gotten an 8gen 1 in that thing . Why 865? It's getting old