Current_Year AAA gaming is in an absolute garbage state with hardware prices for storage and RAM going 500% up and studios enshittifying their games on purpose with Wokeness and agressive "monetization".
Meanwhile, it has never been a better time to get into emulation. A crappy PC or laptop with integrated graphics will emulate anything up to DS and PS1 games and the ROMs and easy to find. Chinese handhelds ( either Linux or Android based ) at every price ranges with some offering price / performance absolutely unthinkable in the West.
Android PC emulation just took off to run quite a few games, but consider that a "bonus" if your favorite light PC games run rather than a feature you can count on.
The main barriers of entry are being able to follow a youtube setup guide and for more recent systems, storage space for the ROMs. ( And some manufacturers might not ship to your country or currency conversion rates might be horrible... ).
Just strike the Steam Deck from the list ( probalby the other handheld PCs too ), the article was written before the massive price hikes.
The AYN Thor also got substancial price increases, especially the high end 16GB / 1TB model, but it still by far the best dual screen emulation handheld you can find.
The Base 8GB / Snapdragon 8 gen 2 model will be fine for up to Switch games ( the Switch itself only has 4GM RAM ), but if you want to tinker trying to run PC games on it, I suggest at least the 12GB Pro model as some games that can run will push the device oveer 8GB RAM.
The Lite Snapdragon 865 model will struggle with some Switch games, but if you don't care to emulate above 3DS, then there is nothing better for dual-screen games.
You'll get better ergonomics with a Retroid Pocket 6 or an Odin 2 or 3.
Current_Year AAA gaming is in an absolute garbage state with hardware prices for storage and RAM going 500% up and studios enshittifying their games on purpose with Wokeness and agressive "monetization".
Meanwhile, it has never been a better time to get into emulation. A crappy PC or laptop with integrated graphics will emulate anything up to DS and PS1 games and the ROMs and easy to find. Chinese handhelds ( either Linux or Android based ) at every price ranges with some offering price / performance absolutely unthinkable in the West.
Android PC emulation just took off to run quite a few games, but consider that a "bonus" if your favorite light PC games run rather than a feature you can count on.
The main barriers of entry are being able to follow a youtube setup guide and for more recent systems, storage space for the ROMs. ( And some manufacturers might not ship to your country or currency conversion rates might be horrible... ).
A few suggestions to start looking, I'll shill for a Retro Games Corp article.
Just strike the Steam Deck from the list ( probalby the other handheld PCs too ), the article was written before the massive price hikes.
The AYN Thor also got substancial price increases, especially the high end 16GB / 1TB model, but it still by far the best dual screen emulation handheld you can find.
The Base 8GB / Snapdragon 8 gen 2 model will be fine for up to Switch games ( the Switch itself only has 4GM RAM ), but if you want to tinker trying to run PC games on it, I suggest at least the 12GB Pro model as some games that can run will push the device oveer 8GB RAM.
The Lite Snapdragon 865 model will struggle with some Switch games, but if you don't care to emulate above 3DS, then there is nothing better for dual-screen games.
You'll get better ergonomics with a Retroid Pocket 6 or an Odin 2 or 3.