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Review on ๐ŸŽฎ OpenDingux Classic Portable: The Ultimate Handheld Console Experience by Matt Jenkins

Revainrating 4 out of 5

Retro but modern, best plug and play video games

I bought this a little over a day ago and after sticking to it for a good four hours I think it's a reliable winner. At first I was looking forward to the sudden rise of open source emulator consoles taking the Revains retro gaming scene by storm with numerous LDK and RS9 clones, this being an example of the latter I think that it's easier to use for an important reason. than other systems like PocketGo. I'm not very tech savvy so I went with this one specifically so as not to break out a screwdriver every time I want to mess around with the firmware. On first impressions, the design of this console is very pretty, not only because it has weird additions that I'll probably never use. The one I got was in pure smoke (pure black for tough guys), which personally fits the wearable aesthetic of the early 2000s very well. It features a smart button layout made even more useful by the trigger buttons. I'd say my first design complaint is the ABXY button placement, but I think a few tweaks can be made and a screwdriver will fix it. However, the buttons and ergonomics are really great. The triggers use OMRON, a recognized Japanese brand of microswitches used in various computer mice and maybe even other hardware - I had no idea about such a thing until I did a little research. on-line. The RG-300's screen is of acceptable quality, not the richest colors, but brightness and viewing angles are good with no ghosting or other artifacts. Ergonomically, I have small hands, so the OG Gameboy-style design isn't a problem for me. I would add that the form factor combined with the really great triggers makes it easy to play, my fingers slip off my shoulders after a while and it's the only handheld console other than the 3DS that I've had that gets around this issue. The sound is at its worst here, and I'm only interested in AUX and USB-C, not the A/V out feature. I love that I can remove the battery and just pull out the boot drive (the second MicroSD card) when the moment comes. picky about the Game Boy Advanced and Super Nintendo, although these two are notorious for their mediocre emulation on everything but PC. You get what you pay for on cheap games. I like working with the full Atari 2600 library, but beware, loading a folder with 100+ ROMs seems to tax the OS, which resolves itself if you leave it idle for a few seconds and then wake it up again. I have to deduct a star from my account due to this issue, which I hope will actually be fixed at some point, as I am seriously considering using this as my daily retro gaming platform. As far as battery life goes, it can vary greatly from emulator to emulator, with Arcade and SNES in particular draining the battery the most as they are more resource hungry. update when things change for better or worse.

Pros
  • Happy so far
Cons
  • I'll write back later