For WiFi access on the r36s you can connect the r36s to your phone via USB C then go into your mobile hotspot settings on Android and turn on tethering and that works to update ArkOS and download box art. It will stay connected to the Internet as long as you would like.
Yeah that's what i thought and tried with 2 different cables and 2 different phones after watching multiple videos and stuff. Didn't work for me and doesn't work with every phone apparently
@@heheheha9094 It can depend on the cable too. Some cables aren't capable of data transfer. Also your probably well aware but it won't work unless you plug it into the OTG port of the r36s. Again your probably well aware of all of this. I can't say how well it works on other phones but it did work great for me on Galaxy S 22 plus.
Funny story: I was torn between this device and the RGB30 (I know they are not that similar, but they were the ones that caught my attentjon). I had the money for either one, but the way taxes work in my country forced me to get the R36S. This video made me feel better about this decision, so, thank you for that. I am waiting for my R36S to arrive.
@@suhtangwong so I've heard. I think it'll suffice to loosen the screws for the Dpad and face buttons. And, of course, I'll update ARKOS and use a new, branded, SD Card. I don't think I'll require anything else to feel pretty good about it.
I bought one a week ago and for someone who is 36 with a newborn, being able to play anything I really want to through SNES, at a whim, is pretty amazing. Absolutely worth it.
just curious if there's any arcade games installed?Was hoping for the Simpsons arcade,X-men, or Alien arcade.(also congratulations on your new addition to the family)
Usb tethering with your phone.. it's easy to update the R36S and scrape for game art.. already done it plenty of times! Just make sure you use a good quality usb c to c cord
i bought r36s last week and i didnt buy game sd card, i bought new one. now i have to download games and upload to the my new sd card but i dont know how to do. could you help me
This is a great handheld. Despite what the package says it actually accepts 512 GB sd cards as long as they are Samsung. I tested it. Put thousands of games on it as well as a bunch of cartoons and power rangers. This will be a great Easter gift for my nephews!
@@gabgab7544 You have to put videos into the movies folder, it's on the same sd card as your roms. Accepted formats are avi, mov, mp4, mkv, mpeg at a maximum resolution of 720p.
This game system is very amazing! The price point is a bonus! I use this over my mm+, rp3+, rp4 pro, and steam deck, that's how convenient it is. It's not the best but with mods it's amazing. You can unscrew the dpad to loosen it up, cut the buttons so it won't be so stiff, the bad will stay hard but it's usable. It's a great device and amazing for it's price. I recommend.
Bought 2 of these on sale last month for my children for $36/ea w/free shipping. Best deal ever considering what you get. Its basically ready to use out of the box using ArkOS other than a recommended update to ArkOS. No other tweaking was actually necessary other than for my own customization ADHD. Plays up to PS1 including DS without any issues. build is better than most Powkiddy devices. Had no issues as some reviewers have said with d-pad or buttons, not enough to warrant opening the device, ie dont play fighting games. If you can find it for $40-45 its an easy purchase, especially for a child. If you were going to spend $50+ on it, I would look at the Miyoo mini+ or RG35xx plus
Dude you crack me up. I love your humor. Glad you showed up in my feed a few weeks ago. Still making my way through your videos. Keep up the great work!
ahhh. the R36s. my first retro handheld. on black Friday i got it for 36$. I'm stoked you're reviewing it. i was happy just being able to play DBZ budokai. oh and it can actually play 007 golden eye N64
@@findinghumorthruitall took me a while to figure it out, but you can remap all the controls to have it be like a modern shooter, with left stick controlling movement, and right stick controlling aim. Then save that remap file to only apply to the current content, and it will only like that for only that game.
Got one of these a few weeks ago, and it's my first retro handheld. It's set me up nicely for the future, playing with it adding games and just sorting the settings out, learning experience. I had some issues with the shoulder buttons making my hands cramp a but but otherwise its really nice and makes me want to continue with my new hobby. 11/13 seems about perfect.
i bought r36s last week and i didnt buy game sd card, i bought new one. now i have to download games and upload to the my new sd card but i dont know how to do. could you help me
Let's not forget about portmaster's ports. I solely bought this machine for Fallout 1 & 2, TMNT Shredder's revenge, Duke 3D, Blood, Shadow warrior and so much more... ❤
@@TechDweebthen I hope you do a few of the physical things also, like loosening the dpad screw a smidge (maybe two) and snipping the button connections. Even if you don't, I would love to see you do ports and pico8
I actually use a wi-fi dongle with this for a while with no problems at all, even have Netplay sessions on retroarch playing fighting games (mostly). I don't like using it all the time though, so I only connect it to scrape, download ports or connect with SFTP to send my roms over. Got this device only to check it out and fell in love with ArkOS as well, specially the build made for this that uses the Fn button :) This is incredible for the price, I've been recommending it to everyone for a while now :)
Hey TechDweeb, I modded my purple R36s transparently by replacing the Dpad with membrane with an RG353V Dpad and membrane😅 Now it's no longer sharp-edged and has good diagonal inputs😋 The only thing that's perhaps a bit stupid is that the face buttons sometimes hang, but that's true hopefully goes away with use. For the price it's a remarkable handheld and looks good in my collection😎
@@RomuloAndradeI bought a lot of Dpads and membranes from the Anbernic Shop on Aliexpress😅 Since I have already replaced a lot of Dpads on my handhelds because I value a very good Dpad😊
Paid 35 for mine and I love it. Miyoo mini plus is way more premium and more portable but this one has the analog sticks. Also more powerful than the Miyoo.
Wifi can be fixed by adding external power supply trough USB switch. Also some dongles works just fine, for example Tp-link TL-WN725N. In any case it is just power supply issue, not device itself.
I think you should do a video series with "bargain' handhelds. Since theres so much on the market, it would be great to narrow down the quality ones with less issues so consumers know what theyre getting. Os and ergonomics being very important. Amazing video as always!
I just got mine about a week ago. I'm still familiarizing with it, but so far I like it. !!!Very inportant change out the SD card for a new branded one. And flash the newer version of ArkOS on it. You can get internet on it with USB-Tethering with your phone, I heard newer phones don't work with it. I tried a few PS1 games, all run perfectly. PSP not so much, but I just tried them out.
I have one of those and I love it. After I've used it a bunch the d-pad did get a little better, but it did take some time. We're gonna have to have a discussion about how you got the ports on that bad boy. I was excited when I got Dragon's Lair to work on it. Love that 'game'.
R36S is awesome, especially after some simple mods: ArkOS update, D-pad mod, screen fix... we even developed a new grip! New to UA-cam but we've got tutorials for all of that.
You didn't design anything. You slightly modified an existing design so it works with the R36S and then didn't share it back with the 3D printing community. Instead, you only sell it via your store. When I discovered this and added a comment on the video about this, you made sure all my comments were deleted. Not very sincere. For anyone with a 3D printer, you can get the grip on thingiverse and printables for free, just search for "R36S grip" and find the red one.
Another banger of a video from my fellow Canadian root beer lving tech reviewer! Thanks for doing all this for our community! I found this for $53 (Canadian) on Ali-express but it seems some sellers had it marked down even more in the past.
Just got one of these from the AliExpress sale and I am pleasantly surprised! Love the feel, the OS seems great, and hey it’s transparent orange and looks slick as heck.
I have this, it’s pretty good. The screen is great, not thrilled about the L1/L2/R1/R2 buttons, they are very loud. The rest of the buttons are ok, can’t say I enjoyed a fighting game on that device, but for $40 it’s a good entry level handheld.
Have had mine for a couple of months now. Never had a big problem with the controls and while compatibility with the 3D systems may vary, for 40 bucks I'd say this was one of my better investments in the past couple of years. Also the amount you can do without WiFi to customize it is surprising. And when you do use WiFi tethering or a dongle, it's nice to get even more on the device. I'd say people who have first hand experiences with the good and bad are both equally valid but for me, it's a great, cheap device.
Several new updates that are easy to install with a wifi adapter or just using a sdcard. These improve the OS in several ways, much better emulation of some systems, a proper hibernate function so your battery doesn't drain and the function key now works! I paid less than £30 from Aliexpress including delivery and got it in 5 days to the UK!
Personally. I'm waiting for the premium one. Anbernic or retroid need to make an updated one with hall sticks, maybe a slightly larger screen off the 405m (but not a chonk like the 405v) a more modern chipset (why tf aren't we getting snapdragon 8 yet) and my wishlist would include a slightly analog l2/r2 if it could be figured out. I love vertical form factors much more than horizontal. But it seems like only the realm of the cheap, which bums me out
I have an R36S and it was wonderful until I started messing with the settings and then I messed everything up somehow someway I made my way back to fixing the problem but I no longer have right bumper activity for Game Boy advance. It’s just the fast-forward feature even though I have it turned off.
Just a quick tip, if you have an android phone that allows usb thethering you can actually connect it to your phone and update and scrape artwork that way without needing to take out the sd card. I bought one a couple days ago and i love it but the dealbreaker for me is the loud shoulder buttons, it makes it so obnoxious when youre playing and theres somebody next to you. Its the only reason im probably not keeping it and sticking with my rg35xx
Buttons can be relieved by turnin' some screws, scrape and flash it via SD saves you some hussle, alotta tutorials would help you, yes its freakin heck yeah worth it!
Great review! For my girst handheld I was choosing between this, rg35xx plus and rg353v (while rg35xx h was still not otu, bummer), and ended up with the plus as it seemed the best middle ground, sacrificing the sticks for wifi and price, basically... And love it .. but I seem to want them all! Though sadly I have not enough time to even enjoy one fully .. I cheer myself up watchig you playing all of them lol
I at first ordered the X6 handheld for 12$ on sale.... it appeared amazing.. but I upon reaching realized the R36S was superior in every possible way for 35$ rather than 12$ so I cancelled the X6 and ordered the R36s in Black color. So glad I found I UT b4 it was too late
Just got it in and you're right, this thing is amazing. I spent the morning playing Power Stones, Tekken and Pokemon Diamond. Thank you so much for the review and the link. I thought for sure this thing would be a scam. Glad I was wrong 😆
got 2 for 70 euro during chinese new year. incredible value for money. i prefer it over the rg35 and myioo mini as it has dual analog sticks. ps1 is really good
In my experience with N64 compatibility on the r36s, most fighting games and racing games are unplayable (exceptions I've found: ready to rumble, kart games, f-zero, wave race). But open world 3d games like Glover, gex, or Mario 64, Castlevania 64 all run great. Or 3d shooters like Doom, quake, duke nukem, perfect dark, 007 the world is not enough (couldn't get golden eye to a playable speed). I was also able to get excite bike and super smash bros playable, but to get it to a playable speed, you have to sacrifice graphics to the point it looks a bit glitchy.
M17 gen 1 was my first retro handheld and it was great but broke easily. The r36s was my second device and is vastly superior. In fact, i intend to purchase another of each just because i love them both. Sad that my m17 broke and doesn't work anymore. Still running r36s on stock but will update it soon.
I gave a few of these as gifts this past Xmas. Just put some good sd cards in 'em and let 'em rip. The dpad is...ok, but everything else is really decent. You can even replace the freakin' battery...! Can't ask for more for the money, period. Oh, I got the wifi working well, did a full update on the OS and scraped art too. Guess it's a hit and miss experience though.
@@fnfxncyyYou clone it with free cloning software. I use Balena Etcher myself, slow but good and stupid easy to use, the "clone" option is right on the opening screen after you download it, lol. You'll need two different sd card readers, but thats all and if you buy more than one of these retro devices, it'll pay for itself down the road. Happy cloning!
Yup. Seems like a good little handheld. Got one and set it up with Ark OS and gave it to my brother for Christmas. He has two toddlers so he may be able to play it in eight or ten years...Just make sure to replace the garbage Micro SD card with a good one!
I snagged a handful of these for 30 bucks a piece during a sale that popped up. Did the quality sd card upgrade to them, added my rom library, added the stardew valley and half life ports and pico 8 games. And gifted them to friends. Put one in kid mode and gave to kids to enjoy. Friends wives all give me the same glare of them back buttons are horrendously loud when buddies play it in bed lol
It is so ironic... In the end this console delivered so much at such a low price. That it didn't generated that much CFW, config videos, modding videos and so on. People didn't talk about it a lot cause it was good price for performance with Ark OS out of the box. But dual Card Ark OS for me is kind of trolling since If the second Card dies both becomes useless🎉
I love mine, and I got a wifi dongle and it works great. There are a couple of setup menu things to do, but overall the wifi dongle works for all the scraping and updating perfectly. There is one particular brand that is the best. TP link nano is what you want.
Joke's on you, I already got the purple R36S after getting the R35S and finding its only major flaw was the stick placement. Still on the fence about the R33S since it's kind of redundant as hell tho.
While I agree with you about the R33S for the most part, I'm still getting one now that it's a bit easier to get. Also there's supposedly a horizontal R50S in the works.
Can you do review on KeyBoy? Or find out where they are probably drop shipping from? Are they just downloading their own extra games and enhancing one of these?
Also if you're going to mess with these, buy the proper one, and use things like portmaster etc to run roms right on the hardware vs retroarch, pico, scumm or whatever. PSP, N64 etc run smoother. Also update the firmware. This is a cheaper "game consoie" not a game console r36s with all the proper labels and it will have a chipset missing between the L1 & L2 buttons where there will be a blank circle on this cheaper model.
I prefer the XU10 comes with more emualtors games in library and cleaner build the only downside is it doesn’t have wifi blue tooth or hdmi but it’s a great cheap offline handheld
happy to share photos with you of the original "R36S Game consoles" Not the game consoie... I have side by side photos of both. I imported alot of these.
Excuse me but I didn't understand: the games are loaded inside? I am searching an affordable portable game console for my son 9 years old. Do you think that one is a good option?
straight out of the box it will run maybe 70-80% of the games loaded. But once you update Arkos and play with the frame skip setting on whatever game your playing, I promise you wont be able to put it down.
Ughh, I need a better gameboy form factor!! MM+ is great but slightly too small. I considered 35XX Plus and R36S and a few others but there just isn't a solid vertical handheld to me yet.
Ive had 3 RGB30 N I LoVe them .... that said.... 1st one stopped charging a month into ownership .... 2nd rgb30 had to return it after it arrived .... 3rd unit 2 weeks in and suddenly just stopped playing any sound at all .... and all 3 take forever to charge up when they do charge .
For WiFi access on the r36s you can connect the r36s to your phone via USB C then go into your mobile hotspot settings on Android and turn on tethering and that works to update ArkOS and download box art. It will stay connected to the Internet as long as you would like.
Solid tip 👍
Yeah that's what i thought and tried with 2 different cables and 2 different phones after watching multiple videos and stuff. Didn't work for me and doesn't work with every phone apparently
@@heheheha9094 It can depend on the cable too. Some cables aren't capable of data transfer. Also your probably well aware but it won't work unless you plug it into the OTG port of the r36s. Again your probably well aware of all of this. I can't say how well it works on other phones but it did work great for me on Galaxy S 22 plus.
Does that mean its possible to play multiplayer online with WiFi on?
Huh wouldn’t that technically allow u to download roms that aren’t on the emulator too then?
Funny story: I was torn between this device and the RGB30 (I know they are not that similar, but they were the ones that caught my attentjon). I had the money for either one, but the way taxes work in my country forced me to get the R36S.
This video made me feel better about this decision, so, thank you for that. I am waiting for my R36S to arrive.
A triste vida de um brasileiro e compras internacionais hahahahahahahahah
It's amazing! You won't be disappointed! BUT there are necessary mods to make it great.
@@suhtangwong so I've heard. I think it'll suffice to loosen the screws for the Dpad and face buttons. And, of course, I'll update ARKOS and use a new, branded, SD Card. I don't think I'll require anything else to feel pretty good about it.
@@juniorbarranqueiro Every Latin American felt this comment lmao. Fuck the chunky taxes they make us pay for foreign products
I bought one a week ago and for someone who is 36 with a newborn, being able to play anything I really want to through SNES, at a whim, is pretty amazing. Absolutely worth it.
does it come with games pre installed
@@nymiradrippyep, and ofc if there if you want you can delete the games you know you’ll never play with a computer
just curious if there's any arcade games installed?Was hoping for the Simpsons arcade,X-men, or Alien arcade.(also congratulations on your new addition to the family)
Bro, im 36 and I've been looking for a handheld that already has games on it. That'll bring me joy of games from my childhood.
PLEASE ANSWER, DOES IT HAVE POKÉMON??
Usb tethering with your phone.. it's easy to update the R36S and scrape for game art.. already done it plenty of times! Just make sure you use a good quality usb c to c cord
Solid tip!
@@TechDweeb solid video!! Thanks
i bought r36s last week and i didnt buy game sd card, i bought new one. now i have to download games and upload to the my new sd card but i dont know how to do. could you help me
Can it be done with an iPhone? Or android only?
@@bubbauanif if it's usb-c should work..I have android never tried iPhone
This is a great handheld. Despite what the package says it actually accepts 512 GB sd cards as long as they are Samsung. I tested it. Put thousands of games on it as well as a bunch of cartoons and power rangers. This will be a great Easter gift for my nephews!
Wish I had a cool uncle (or aunt?) Like you growing up!
How does one apply to become a nephew?
How do you get videos to play on it? What's the video player?
@@gabgab7544 You have to put videos into the movies folder, it's on the same sd card as your roms. Accepted formats are avi, mov, mp4, mkv, mpeg at a maximum resolution of 720p.
The video player is FFplay
This game system is very amazing! The price point is a bonus! I use this over my mm+, rp3+, rp4 pro, and steam deck, that's how convenient it is. It's not the best but with mods it's amazing. You can unscrew the dpad to loosen it up, cut the buttons so it won't be so stiff, the bad will stay hard but it's usable. It's a great device and amazing for it's price. I recommend.
Bought 2 of these on sale last month for my children for $36/ea w/free shipping. Best deal ever considering what you get. Its basically ready to use out of the box using ArkOS other than a recommended update to ArkOS. No other tweaking was actually necessary other than for my own customization ADHD. Plays up to PS1 including DS without any issues. build is better than most Powkiddy devices. Had no issues as some reviewers have said with d-pad or buttons, not enough to warrant opening the device, ie dont play fighting games. If you can find it for $40-45 its an easy purchase, especially for a child. If you were going to spend $50+ on it, I would look at the Miyoo mini+ or RG35xx plus
Dude you crack me up. I love your humor. Glad you showed up in my feed a few weeks ago. Still making my way through your videos. Keep up the great work!
Haha thanks buddy. And welcome!
Dude YOU are my number ONE source for great retro entertainment. ABSOLUTELY LOVE this channel. PLEASE keep doing what you do .Thank you so much .
Thanks buddy. Will do!
ahhh. the R36s. my first retro handheld. on black Friday i got it for 36$. I'm stoked you're reviewing it. i was happy just being able to play DBZ budokai.
oh and it can actually play 007 golden eye N64
I couldn't get goldeneye to run smoothly for me, but I was able to get the the world is not enough, and perfect dark to run for me.
yeah the controls are a little weird but when it started up and the music played I automatically got hit with 90's flashbacks
@@findinghumorthruitall took me a while to figure it out, but you can remap all the controls to have it be like a modern shooter, with left stick controlling movement, and right stick controlling aim. Then save that remap file to only apply to the current content, and it will only like that for only that game.
Where did you order yours from?
Got one of these a few weeks ago, and it's my first retro handheld. It's set me up nicely for the future, playing with it adding games and just sorting the settings out, learning experience. I had some issues with the shoulder buttons making my hands cramp a but but otherwise its really nice and makes me want to continue with my new hobby. 11/13 seems about perfect.
i bought r36s last week and i didnt buy game sd card, i bought new one. now i have to download games and upload to the my new sd card but i dont know how to do. could you help me
Let's not forget about portmaster's ports. I solely bought this machine for Fallout 1 & 2, TMNT Shredder's revenge, Duke 3D, Blood, Shadow warrior and so much more... ❤
I'm thinking of doing a future video on 'getting the most of your r36s' type thing. 🤔
Please do. This cheap little handheld deserves it. Then nobody will have an excuse not to buy it 😂
@@TechDweebthen I hope you do a few of the physical things also, like loosening the dpad screw a smidge (maybe two) and snipping the button connections.
Even if you don't, I would love to see you do ports and pico8
@@TechDweeb Please and thank you. 👍✨🎮
1:51 I like to imagine Techdweeb being like Smaug from Lord of The Rings sitting atop of a giant stash of retro handhelds.
More like Scrooge McDuck, swimming in a pool of handhelds.
@@TechDweebSomehow that actually sounds even more painful to swim in than the pool of gold doubloons
@@dmys143as long as they don't have joysticks...
I actually use a wi-fi dongle with this for a while with no problems at all, even have Netplay sessions on retroarch playing fighting games (mostly). I don't like using it all the time though, so I only connect it to scrape, download ports or connect with SFTP to send my roms over.
Got this device only to check it out and fell in love with ArkOS as well, specially the build made for this that uses the Fn button :)
This is incredible for the price, I've been recommending it to everyone for a while now :)
Finally! I've been asking you to review this since last year 🤣 I bought this for my kid for xmas, best purchase ever!
I just got mine in the mail two days ago and I love it. Highly recommend
Hey TechDweeb, I modded my purple R36s transparently by replacing the Dpad with membrane with an RG353V Dpad and membrane😅 Now it's no longer sharp-edged and has good diagonal inputs😋 The only thing that's perhaps a bit stupid is that the face buttons sometimes hang, but that's true hopefully goes away with use. For the price it's a remarkable handheld and looks good in my collection😎
Nice! I will consider doing the same
@@TechDweeb It's definitly worth it😁
awesome! where did you buy the dpad+membrane?
@@RomuloAndradeI bought a lot of Dpads and membranes from the Anbernic Shop on Aliexpress😅 Since I have already replaced a lot of Dpads on my handhelds because I value a very good Dpad😊
Don't tell me you bought a rg353v and used the parts for r36s, it's so much pricier ain't it?
Paid 35 for mine and I love it. Miyoo mini plus is way more premium and more portable but this one has the analog sticks. Also more powerful than the Miyoo.
You're slowly becoming my favorite reviewer ..........I'm always laughing my ass off while watching your videos:))))))))))))))))))))))))))
Wifi can be fixed by adding external power supply trough USB switch. Also some dongles works just fine, for example Tp-link TL-WN725N. In any case it is just power supply issue, not device itself.
if the r36s just did n64 flawlessly. i would treat these as stocking stuffers and send them out like mad. Next gen probably, next gen
The steam deck runs n64 flawlessly, maybe stock those?
I think you should do a video series with "bargain' handhelds. Since theres so much on the market, it would be great to narrow down the quality ones with less issues so consumers know what theyre getting. Os and ergonomics being very important. Amazing video as always!
I just got mine about a week ago. I'm still familiarizing with it, but so far I like it.
!!!Very inportant change out the SD card for a new branded one. And flash the newer version of ArkOS on it.
You can get internet on it with USB-Tethering with your phone, I heard newer phones don't work with it.
I tried a few PS1 games, all run perfectly. PSP not so much, but I just tried them out.
I have one of those and I love it. After I've used it a bunch the d-pad did get a little better, but it did take some time. We're gonna have to have a discussion about how you got the ports on that bad boy. I was excited when I got Dragon's Lair to work on it. Love that 'game'.
Got one of these for my younger brother on Christmas and he loved it 😎
R36S is awesome, especially after some simple mods: ArkOS update, D-pad mod, screen fix... we even developed a new grip! New to UA-cam but we've got tutorials for all of that.
your videos have been very helpful to me
Thank you for the kind words@@X91X-km7hp❤
You didn't design anything. You slightly modified an existing design so it works with the R36S and then didn't share it back with the 3D printing community. Instead, you only sell it via your store. When I discovered this and added a comment on the video about this, you made sure all my comments were deleted. Not very sincere.
For anyone with a 3D printer, you can get the grip on thingiverse and printables for free, just search for "R36S grip" and find the red one.
Good channel
Where’d you get the new d pad and membrane?
Sir TechDweeb, when I tell that I’ve been WAITING for you to review the R36s, you finally delivered when I least expected it 😁😎
I'm not super into tech stuff, but obviously I love gadgets ---- and also I love this guy's voice. And also I love that he says "gigglebyte".
I ordered one of these last week.
Thanks for uploading a TechDweeb video while I wait!
Update: I'm loving this handheld. I didn't get a fun sticker on the back like you. Oh well.
Another banger of a video from my fellow Canadian root beer lving tech reviewer! Thanks for doing all this for our community! I found this for $53 (Canadian) on Ali-express but it seems some sellers had it marked down even more in the past.
Cheers 🍻🍁
@@TechDweeb why are you deleting comments here?
@@ramrodbldm9876 hell yea! And a bad russ copy too!
Just got one of these from the AliExpress sale and I am pleasantly surprised! Love the feel, the OS seems great, and hey it’s transparent orange and looks slick as heck.
Can u look down and shoot in contra specifically?
I have this, it’s pretty good. The screen is great, not thrilled about the L1/L2/R1/R2 buttons, they are very loud. The rest of the buttons are ok, can’t say I enjoyed a fighting game on that device, but for $40 it’s a good entry level handheld.
You can also connect a usb cable from the R36s to your android phone, do usb internet tethering and it will provide internet to the device.
Have had mine for a couple of months now. Never had a big problem with the controls and while compatibility with the 3D systems may vary, for 40 bucks I'd say this was one of my better investments in the past couple of years. Also the amount you can do without WiFi to customize it is surprising. And when you do use WiFi tethering or a dongle, it's nice to get even more on the device. I'd say people who have first hand experiences with the good and bad are both equally valid but for me, it's a great, cheap device.
Several new updates that are easy to install with a wifi adapter or just using a sdcard. These improve the OS in several ways, much better emulation of some systems, a proper hibernate function so your battery doesn't drain and the function key now works! I paid less than £30 from Aliexpress including delivery and got it in 5 days to the UK!
I couldn't find anything less that 42 with delivery to uk. What was I doing wrong?
price changes 😓
I just got one of these about 2 weeks ago and I’m enjoying it. I agree for that prices it’s not bad at all
Personally. I'm waiting for the premium one. Anbernic or retroid need to make an updated one with hall sticks, maybe a slightly larger screen off the 405m (but not a chonk like the 405v) a more modern chipset (why tf aren't we getting snapdragon 8 yet) and my wishlist would include a slightly analog l2/r2 if it could be figured out.
I love vertical form factors much more than horizontal. But it seems like only the realm of the cheap, which bums me out
U can connect that to wifi through USB tethering with ur (old worked fine) smart phone. No need to dangle.
Good to know!
I have it and I love it! The community OS fixes the FN button, btw (and some other stuff)
My fn works. Do I have to update it?
@TechDweeb I love that the quality is somewhat there. I mean, good screen, decent power. And losing the antennas makes this device a fair price I find
It is a pretty awesome device. The screen is great and so is the battery life. Even better when you update it.
How do u update?
What do I get with the update?
Just got mine today
Bro, please allow me the honor of being your villian commentor in your future videos. This is one was too funny.
Aww what a caring shout out! 1:27
The real star of this is native Pico8! Cheapest handheld out there that can do this, I believe.
That's great news.
My daily driver (V90) doesn't like Pico-8
There's ways to get a Miyoo Mini Plus for cheaper and it can do pico8 just fine.
I got my r36s for $35, my mm+ was $65 @@dgevert
I have an R36S and it was wonderful until I started messing with the settings and then I messed everything up somehow someway I made my way back to fixing the problem but I no longer have right bumper activity for Game Boy advance. It’s just the fast-forward feature even though I have it turned off.
just reinstall arkos and it will reset everything :)
Just a quick tip, if you have an android phone that allows usb thethering you can actually connect it to your phone and update and scrape artwork that way without needing to take out the sd card. I bought one a couple days ago and i love it but the dealbreaker for me is the loud shoulder buttons, it makes it so obnoxious when youre playing and theres somebody next to you. Its the only reason im probably not keeping it and sticking with my rg35xx
Great video! Definitely going to check back if this gets topped by the time I pick this up. I think January sounds good!
I just installed some virtual boy roms on my r36s and they run really well! The red alarm spaceship game was the only one I tried.
ArkOS is good but i find Jelos much better, and it became available less than a month ago for this device. Highly recommended!
Just bought this for 29 euro .
I am exited for this emulator console to come.
Thanks for the tip 👍🏻
Good for someone who's new to this,I got myself a retroid pocket 2S instead
How on earth did you not buy the orange version?
All the sellers who sold that one don't ship to me here in Canada :.(
@@TechDweeb What, did the Canadian government also ban the color orange?
I was wondering the same thing. That stinks!
I’ve bought this mainly for the MAME and PS1 games and if everything goes okay I’ll definitely be asking for an upgrade for Christmas
Buttons can be relieved by turnin' some screws, scrape and flash it via SD saves you some hussle, alotta tutorials would help you, yes its freakin heck yeah worth it!
Great review! For my girst handheld I was choosing between this, rg35xx plus and rg353v (while rg35xx h was still not otu, bummer), and ended up with the plus as it seemed the best middle ground, sacrificing the sticks for wifi and price, basically... And love it .. but I seem to want them all! Though sadly I have not enough time to even enjoy one fully .. I cheer myself up watchig you playing all of them lol
Dude is a W, he's funny, witty and dope W video
Go for it its amazing no issues with any pad or anything
What’s the best one of these for just loads of games that work well
Like the best buy out there
I at first ordered the X6 handheld for 12$ on sale.... it appeared amazing.. but I upon reaching realized the R36S was superior in every possible way for 35$ rather than 12$ so I cancelled the X6 and ordered the R36s in Black color. So glad I found I UT b4 it was too late
I ordered yesterday and can't wait for this to arrive.
This is the new gold standard for budget handhelds.
Updating os is worth the while; fn button now functional, performance increase etc
Just bought one for $28 using your link! Can't wait to try it!
Nice! Enjoy!
@TechDweeb do you know the difference between the GBs? Is it just more games?
Just got it in and you're right, this thing is amazing. I spent the morning playing Power Stones, Tekken and Pokemon Diamond. Thank you so much for the review and the link. I thought for sure this thing would be a scam. Glad I was wrong 😆
got 2 for 70 euro during chinese new year.
incredible value for money. i prefer it over the rg35 and myioo mini as it has dual analog sticks. ps1 is really good
I just ordered one and it’s my first retro handheld so I’m super excited to play some classics
In my experience with N64 compatibility on the r36s, most fighting games and racing games are unplayable (exceptions I've found: ready to rumble, kart games, f-zero, wave race).
But open world 3d games like Glover, gex, or Mario 64, Castlevania 64 all run great. Or 3d shooters like Doom, quake, duke nukem, perfect dark, 007 the world is not enough (couldn't get golden eye to a playable speed).
I was also able to get excite bike and super smash bros playable, but to get it to a playable speed, you have to sacrifice graphics to the point it looks a bit glitchy.
Update your ArkOS! We've got a simple guide
@@hyperplayrpg I updated it a few days ago. Consensus is that the r36s just can't play a lot of N64.
M17 gen 1 was my first retro handheld and it was great but broke easily. The r36s was my second device and is vastly superior. In fact, i intend to purchase another of each just because i love them both. Sad that my m17 broke and doesn't work anymore. Still running r36s on stock but will update it soon.
I gave a few of these as gifts this past Xmas. Just put some good sd cards in 'em and let 'em rip. The dpad is...ok, but everything else is really decent. You can even replace the freakin' battery...! Can't ask for more for the money, period.
Oh, I got the wifi working well, did a full update on the OS and scraped art too. Guess it's a hit and miss experience though.
how do you get the games onto a different sd card?
@@fnfxncyyYou clone it with free cloning software. I use Balena Etcher myself, slow but good and stupid easy to use, the "clone" option is right on the opening screen after you download it, lol. You'll need two different sd card readers, but thats all and if you buy more than one of these retro devices, it'll pay for itself down the road. Happy cloning!
Yup. Seems like a good little handheld. Got one and set it up with Ark OS and gave it to my brother for Christmas. He has two toddlers so he may be able to play it in eight or ten years...Just make sure to replace the garbage Micro SD card with a good one!
Just got one they are awesome.
me too and i laab eeet
I'd say it's even a better buy than the PowKiddy, just because the analog sticks are on the bottom here.
I snagged a handful of these for 30 bucks a piece during a sale that popped up. Did the quality sd card upgrade to them, added my rom library, added the stardew valley and half life ports and pico 8 games. And gifted them to friends. Put one in kid mode and gave to kids to enjoy. Friends wives all give me the same glare of them back buttons are horrendously loud when buddies play it in bed lol
Why didn't you buy it in your favorite orange color? That's the one I bought, arrived today and it looks amazing!!!
Absolutely agree, it's stunning.
I saw him answer this question to someone else. The store that has it wouldn't ship to Canada. 😢
It is so ironic... In the end this console delivered so much at such a low price. That it didn't generated that much CFW, config videos, modding videos and so on. People didn't talk about it a lot cause it was good price for performance with Ark OS out of the box. But dual Card Ark OS for me is kind of trolling since If the second Card dies both becomes useless🎉
I love mine, and I got a wifi dongle and it works great.
There are a couple of setup menu things to do, but overall the wifi dongle works for all the scraping and updating perfectly.
There is one particular brand that is the best. TP link nano is what you want.
This is what i was definetely waiting for!! Are u reading my mind or someting??!!
Joke's on you, I already got the purple R36S after getting the R35S and finding its only major flaw was the stick placement.
Still on the fence about the R33S since it's kind of redundant as hell tho.
While I agree with you about the R33S for the most part, I'm still getting one now that it's a bit easier to get.
Also there's supposedly a horizontal R50S in the works.
Those "speaker" holes at the bottom are probably for venting, also very nice if your battery explodes.
Thanks I just bought one and then I showed my friend. Your video so then I had to buy another one.
Using a tp-link tl wn752n wireless adapter with mine with few issues. I can ftp across new roms in small batches and they'll show up.
Good to know!
I heard rumor that there is a 1:1 screen variant of this in the works.
Rgb20sx!
@@flanhed that’s the one!
Sounds yucky...
Can you do review on KeyBoy? Or find out where they are probably drop shipping from?
Are they just downloading their own extra games and enhancing one of these?
Also if you're going to mess with these, buy the proper one, and use things like portmaster etc to run roms right on the hardware vs retroarch, pico, scumm or whatever. PSP, N64 etc run smoother.
Also update the firmware.
This is a cheaper "game consoie" not a game console r36s with all the proper labels and it will have a chipset missing between the L1 & L2 buttons where there will be a blank circle on this cheaper model.
any recomendations on search terms or how to tell if it is legit
id definitely check reviews of larger sellers on ali that have photos... avoid game consoie@@ryanopfer6845
I prefer the XU10 comes with more emualtors games in library and cleaner build the only downside is it doesn’t have wifi blue tooth or hdmi but it’s a great cheap offline handheld
happy to share photos with you of the original "R36S Game consoles" Not the game consoie... I have side by side photos of both. I imported alot of these.
Hi, can you please send me photos or examples of how to tell the difference between real R36s?
M17 and R36S, Which do you think is better?
Is there a way to somehow plug it into your TV and actually make it work????
On AliExpress in New Zealand it's $65 so getting for $36 to $40 in alot cheaper than we can buy it for on other sites it's $140
Belkin F9L1001v1 is recognized in my R36S. In the OTG port.
Excellent presentation dude and love the comedy lines 🎉
Excuse me but I didn't understand: the games are loaded inside? I am searching an affordable portable game console for my son 9 years old. Do you think that one is a good option?
straight out of the box it will run maybe 70-80% of the games loaded. But once you update Arkos and play with the frame skip setting on whatever game your playing, I promise you wont be able to put it down.
Does it have legend of zelda games?
Games are built in?
With this level of processing power, I could do without the sticks, but I guess that depends on how many/ which PS1/Dreamcast games you want to play.
Ahh, then you want the R33S. No sticks.
Sticks make the body longer which makes it easier to hold imo
Any thoughts on the R43 pro? Came here from a positive mention from "2 Loud Tech"!
Ughh, I need a better gameboy form factor!!
MM+ is great but slightly too small.
I considered 35XX Plus and R36S and a few others but there just isn't a solid vertical handheld to me yet.
I like this honest review now i know if it's good enough to buy it or nah
Ive had 3 RGB30 N I LoVe them .... that said.... 1st one stopped charging a month into ownership .... 2nd rgb30 had to return it after it arrived .... 3rd unit 2 weeks in and suddenly just stopped playing any sound at all .... and all 3 take forever to charge up when they do charge .
I'm genuinely wanting to buy this but can't find a gamelist anywhere,would love to play medievil again